ATLANTA—For all the talk of Atlanta as a growth market, the southern city is not without commercial real estate challenges. If you ask anyone about traffic patterns in Atlanta, a groan is likely to precede the answer.
Indeed, although Atlanta traffic is not among the Top 10 worst-congested cities in the annual Traffic Scorecard report, you might have a hard time convincing daily commuters of that fact. Atlanta does rank at 21, though, which is bad enough considering the competition is the likes of Boston, Seattle, San Jose, CA, and Austin.
“While we have that perennial problem, we have a unique cooperation,” Walt Mercer, executive vice president of Commercial Real Estate for SunTrust Banks in Atlanta, tells GlobeSt.com. Mercer will be on hand at RealShare Atlanta, serving on the Inside the Capital Stack panel.
“I've never been in a region where the mayor and the governor get along so well, like each other, meet twice a week and do things together,” Mercer says. “Cooperation that takes a view of Atlanta and Georgia has been uniquely successful.”
As Mercer sees it, Atlanta has similar challenges to other major metros. Traffic is one of them. Teacher pensions, fostering development, providing affordable housing, and instilling cooperate with the state are among the others. But Mercer says Atlanta has something many other cities don't have: cooperation that drive economic development despite these challenges.
“We have companies moving in, job creation, in-migration, and a good cost of living,” Mercer says. “We also have a mayor and a governor that are working together to solve some of these classic problems.”
Mac McCall, regional managing partner at Franklin Street, to get his take on the market. McCall will be at RealShare Atlanta participating in the “Power Panel: The State of Atlanta Real Estate.” He has his own perspective on Atlanta commercial real estate challenges. Click here to read what he has to say.
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