Atlanta Office Occupier's Guide - Q4 2020

Q4 2020 signifies the end of a year most of us, unless you are in the mask, hand sanitizer, or political advertising business, are very ready to be over. With recent uprises in COVID-19 cases this quarter, almost all offices are still implementing widespread work from home measures. A lack of employees in the office and an economic downturn has caused a recession level of office sublease space available in Atlanta. A large number of companies are willing to dissolve some office space but are not hurting bad enough to give it away for pennies on the dollar. Q4 posted 2.1 million SF of leasing activity, a 700k SF improvement from Q3. This was highlighted by Insight Global’s new 91,000 SF headquarters at 1224 Hammond Drive and Papa Johns inking a deal for 61,000 SF at 3 Ballpark Avenue in The Battery Atlanta. The Atlanta Beltline has been and still will be a huge driver of development in the eastern and western fringes of the city. In the east, 760 Ralph McGill is officially under construction after the large lease agreement from Mailchimp. In the west, Microsoft purchased the “Quarry Yards” development site and has acquired 90 acres of land surrounding the project. Rumors are circulating that the company is planning an employee campus that could create 15,000 new jobs that would transform one of Atlanta’s poorest areas. COVID-19 and a stressful election year has made some of us forget that Atlanta has landed large corporate relocations, has an extremely healthy construction pipeline, and is above the national average in its population growth, positioning the city for a healthy post-COVID recovery.