Friday, September 18, 2009
News Buckhead promotes real estate 'fire sale'
Posted by Scott Henry @ScottTheHenry on Fri, Sep 18, 2009 at 4:43 PM
Over its 20-year history, the Buckhead Coalition has advocated for earlier bar closings, weighed in on road projects and published a coffee-table book touting its namesake neighborhood.
But tomorrow, the Coalition will do something seemingly out of character for an organization of its rarefied influence and prestige. Typically, the group is content to promote Buckhead as a luxury brand, but on Saturday, a full-page ad will run in the Wall Street Journal offering a piece of Buckhead at bargain-basement prices.
Sam Massell, the Coalition's president and a former Atlanta mayor, says the move was deemed necessary because Buckhead — which is on the tail end of a building boom — will soon have more than 2 million square feet of vacant office space, 1,000 unoccupied condos and 600,000 square feet of retail space to fill. Prices are now at an historic low.
"Even though we're a luxury market, we've been affected by the economy," he explains. "The ad will let folks know we've got a surplus of inventory, so make us an offer, don't be shy."
Massell says he was uncertain how the Coalition board — composed of CEOs of major Buckhead companies — would react to his suggestion to turn their community into a blue-light special. But, far from shooting the idea down, they voted to place the ad twice. The ad will run again next Saturday.
In addition to extolling Buckhead's virtues as a place to do business, the ad will list contact info for dozens of Buckhead real estate firms. The ad itself was designed pro-bono by Buckhead-based advertising agency Fitzgerald + Co., but running it in the WSJ will cost the Coalition a pretty penny. Massell wouldn't reveal the price, but confirmed it's well into the six figures.
Comments (6)
Showing 1-6 of 6
I would love to see The Dollar Store, Payless and any other random low-end store open up shop in Buckhead. Maybe even a JR Crickets or a Taco Bell.
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Serves those hypocrites right. They crushed the nightlife that use to be their calling card for attracting visitors from all over the region. Way to go boneheads!
Buckhead, the little center of it that housed the restaurants, stores, and yes, bars, used to be so unique. A funky and trendy place that blended an almost quaint look with its low-rise buildings with a true variety of offerings. Upscale residents as well as true city types co-existed. Then the conservative and scared residents decided to end it all. Now they are paying the price. Buckhead is ugly, overdeveloped, and its soul is gone. The old Buckhead used to house antique stores, funky clothing stores, great bars and good restaurants that had personality and were affordable. Now all that is there are hair salons, a hunting and fishing store, and some nondescript furniture stores. Sad.
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