How Downtown Stacks Up to Other Submarkets

July 29,2015

What is the difference in tenant mix in the Downtown Atlanta submarket compared to other parts of town such as Midtown, Buckhead, and Central Perimeter? And how has the tenant mix evolved in recent years?

Those were among the questions I asked David Horne, part of the JLL team that handles leasing for Peachtree Center. The office building sits at 225 Peachtree Street NE. You can read about Downtown Atlanta’s big office comeback in yesterday’s article featuring his colleague, Kay Younglove.

“Downtown is really starting to bridge the barrier between technology and start-up tenants, and the professional services and government tenants typically found downtown,” Horne tells GlobeSt.com. “Start-up hubs like Microsoft’s Innovation Center and the Women's Entrepreneurship Initiative are demanding the kind of authenticity that can’t be found in any other submarket.”

Of course, major companies Coca-Cola are also bringing jobs back downtown. In June, the company announced it is relocating 500 employees from Cobb County back to its headquarters campus and SunTrust Plaza Garden Offices.

“Since 2013, more than 2,000 employees have relocated to the company’s downtown locations,” Horne says. “High- density users like Coca-Cola have realized the benefit of a centralized location with abundant parking as well as a handful of transit options. Marta and the regional bus service allow employers to limit their carbon footprint and appeal to younger workers looking for that value-add.”