Investor group envisions thriving Macy's building

A group of Atlanta investors hopes to transform the bottom three floors of the now-vacant downtown Macy's department store into a thriving retail and restaurant space.

The group, called the Davison's Downtown LLC, has the bottom three floors (including the grand street-level space complete with chandeliers) under contract. Those three floors total 185,000 square feet, which will be sold as a condo interest for $16.5 million. The sale is expected to be completed by the end of March. The group, which includes 18 investors (all from Atlanta with one exception) plans to spend up to $14 million more to revitalize the space.

Once the Atlanta investors take control of the space, the future looks bright. The spectacular main shopping floor will once again be open to the public and will become an integral part of a well-balanced downtown, a downtown that has been hungry for new retail with more restaurant choices.

Weak dollar makes Atlanta a good buy for overseas investors

Investors like Jarvis are helping to buoy Atlanta's real estate market in the tough 2008 economic climate. Increasingly, as U.S. buyers struggle under the weight of a slowing economy, marketing executives are searching the globe for potential customers.

Haynes, representing a range of U.S. developers, many of them in Atlanta, spent almost two months participating in trade shows in the Middle East and Asia making connections with international buyers like Jarvis. His company provides a range of services for investors who want to buy residential real estate in the United States.

Metro Atlanta mortgage fraud ring convicted

Focusing on the Country Club of the South neighborhood and other high-end developments and subdivisions in metro Atlanta, Keith Garner and his co-conspirators bought properties in the name of their straw borrowers, often without the straw borrower's consent. Each of the properties was accompanied by an inflated appraisal, which in addition to the submission of false loan applications, enabled the defendants to secure real estate financing from SunTrust Mortgage in excess of the fair market value of the properties. The defendants then stole the spread between the inflated and fair market value of the properties primarily through defendants Latesha Garner and Khodadad, who ensured that SunTrust Mortgage either directly paid a bogus seller's obligation or was never made aware that a substantial portion of seller's proceeds was being paid to the defendants outside of closing pursuant to a criminal agreement with the seller.

Best In Atlanta Real Estate Awards

We invite you to share in the celebration of our annual Best in Atlanta Real Estate Awards ceremony on March 6 from 6-9 PM at the Grand Hyatt Buckhead. Come for great food, cocktails and a room full of the "hottest properties" in real estate while we hand out awards for these categories: Office, Industrial, Retail, Land, Residential, Design, Mixed-Use, Rehab/Renovation and Overall Deal of the Year. We'll also induct our highly esteemed Visionary Award winner!

Noble Investment Group

ATLANTA, Privately held Noble Investment Group ("Noble"), a leading sponsor of private equity real estate funds and an integrated lodging and hospitality operating and development organization, today announced that it has added additional leadership depth to its operations team with the naming of Gary Rosenberg as vice president of resort operations. The company has current developments underway that will double its resort portfolio within the next three years.

Pinnacle at Symphony Place

Atlanta-based developer Barry Real Estate Cos. says it completed financing of The Pinnacle, the office tower currently under construction in downtown, from first-time partners Canyon-Johnson and Integral Urban Fund I LLC.

The Pinnacle marks the second investment in Nashville for the Los Angeles-based Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund, a joint venture between Canyon Capital Realty Advisors and Johnson, the former Los Angeles Lakers star.