Jim Durrett’s 3 Questions October 2024

Jim Durrett, president and CEO of The Buckhead Coalition, has three questions for Matt Bronfman, Principal & CEO of Jamestown.

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Last month, your company, Jamestown, announced the acquisition of the Atlanta office of North American Properties, which has $2 billion in assets under management as of June 2024. As a result, Colony Square, Avenue East Cobb, and The Forum Peachtree Corners are among the properties that will be part of your portfolio once this deal closes.

You will also manage Avalon in Alpharetta, a live-work-play mega-development previously owned by a separate real estate firm. What was the strategy behind this massive deal and how will it impact your company?

The acquisition aligns with several strategic objectives for Jamestown. It will reinforce our position and expertise as a leading operator of mixed-use environments, further diversify our portfolio into suburban, high-growth markets, and enhance our third-party real estate services business.

Taken as a whole, we believe the scale and additional suburban placemaking capabilities achieved through the acquisition will enhance our market position and competitive advantage in the mixed-use category.

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Does this acquisition send a message to the Atlanta commercial real estate market that investment in mixed-use development is the future?

Our acquisition of NAP’s Atlanta subsidiary may be the latest proof point, but the trend toward mixed-use has been in the making for years. We have been investing in mixed-use environments for decades, from Chelsea Market in New York to Ponce City Market here in Atlanta.

With mixed-use developments, there can be more control over the levers of success. There can be a more pronounced opportunity to shape the experience of a place and optimize its uses to build a synergistic ecosystem.

These advantages are perhaps more compelling post-COVID when corporate office users are seeking environments that support return-to-office strategies, retailers are seeking ways to surprise and delight shoppers, and people are seeking living accommodations that provide a community.

In mixed-use environments, there can be more flexibility to address those needs. Public programming, design interventions, and experiential entertainment offerings can be deployed to connect the dots between uses and create destinations that are more than the sum of their parts.

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Jamestown also owns The Buckhead Village, the heart of a significant shopping and dining area in the Buckhead community. The development is spurring growth throughout the neighborhood. Has Buckhead Village become what you imagined and what does the future hold for it and the neighborhood?

When we bought Buckhead Village in 2019, the property was experiencing an identity crisis. We heard from the community the need to broaden the offering to foster a more dynamic neighborhood, focusing on fashion and lifestyle micro brands and innovative food & beverage integrated with luxury.

To date, our efforts to align the property with community feedback have yielded positive leasing activity, as well as retail sales well exceeding 2019 volumes. We continue to curate a mix of contemporary and independent retailers, in addition to modern luxury brands, as part of our long-term plans for the property.

But I would add that the best days are ahead for Buckhead Village as COVID certainly slowed our progress, but we are very excited about the future.