Once again the Young Leaders Group of ULI Atlanta has put on a great event with interesting panel discussion.  The event was held on the third floor of the posh Midtown eatery Trois located in 1180 Peachtree.  The sell out crowd of around 200 enjoyed great finger foods from the kitchen and networking before the panel discussion.

The moderator for the panel was Maranda Walker-Dowell – Senior Director | CB Richard Ellis – Retail Services

PANELISTS:
Bob Amick – Restaurateur, Managing Partner | Concentrics Restaurants
Adam Schwegman – Restaurant Leasing Rep | Cousins Properties
Steve Tedder – Project Manager | Barry Real Estate Companies

What are the design and development challenges in mixed use projects, especially vertically integrated projects with residential or office?

Adam Schwegman: Parking and the management of things like parking, 2,700 cars a week valet at Terminus.  Retrofitting a Bank into a restaurant space at 191 Peachtree and the costs difference of preplanning for a restaurant vs. retrofitting.
Steve Tedder: Provision that prevents valet parking in front of restaurant on the street must go around to a parking deck, HVAC chillers run during business hours, so you have to have separate flow through systems for the weekends and at night.  Security after hours, Parking, Good street presence.

How does process of luring a restaurant to the project affect the master plan?
Bob Amick: Are Atlanta diners ready to go as far downtown as Cousins 191 project?

Deal structure and lease structure question toward Bob Amick: some of the top restaurateurs will either own or contract to manage the restaurant.
What is the difference?   In your opinion what is the better choice?

Bob Amick: Anytime you can use someone else’s money it is a better choice!!!
50% of our business these days is concept development and then management (Novare Lobby, Scott’s downtown, Murphy’s virgina highlands all developed and managed for other people)
Trois cost close over 7 million dollars to develop and build out.
Nobody is building a 6000-7000 sq ft restaurant for less than 2.5 Million!
Keeping total occupancy costs under 6% of gross sales one of the keys to success.

Working with National verses Local restaurateurs

What are the Positives and negatives from a developer’s perspective as it relates to Marketing leasing and Management when you are bringing in a restaurant into your mixed use development?
Adam Schwegman: Restaurant amenities a big positive in selling the residential condos at Terminus, 9 in total when completed.   Bob Amick: We don’t rely on more than 25% of our business to come from the building or mixed use development our restaurants are located in.   Steve Tedder: On that note, that ability to draw people there has meant that Restaurants come first in emerging areas such as Inman Park before the areas have become popular for retail or other uses.

We touched on this earlier, what type of TI will developers expect to pay to attract a first rate restaurant to their mixed use development, any examples to give us perspective?
$50 a foot for fast food ranging all the way up to 170 a foot, however the restaurateur will pay more than that to finish the space.   To pay percentage rent it really makes it difficult to get your ROI, I like to put Caps on my percentage rent with natural break points.
 

Tenant Mix:  How restaurants affect Condo Development? And what are some of the factors that should be considered when determining the restaurant mix when building residential?
Choosing restaurants that your residents won’t get tired of and importance of national chains vs. local.

Check out this forum, it is interesting the market research that is just free on the internet…but then again that may be all it’s worth!   At that point the Panalists took questions from the crowd (the audio was so bad I am just going to leave it out).  Make sure and join us later this month as Emory University’s Goizueta Real Estate Group hosts an event on Wednesday, March 26 (if you have never been to see the business school, I highly recomend it just for that).
Again it will be a panel discussion this time on Walkable Cities and Gauging Atlanta’s Progress. 

Here is the Flyer, See below to register:  Over the past 15 years, there has been a gradual trend toward the re-introduction and expansion of higher density, walkable urban places throughout the country.  Please join our panel discussion to discuss the progress of these ongoing initiatives and the importance of walkability in our city. Foreword and Introduction by:
Dr. Lawrence Benveniste, PhD
Dean of the Emory University Goizueta Business School
Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Finance  PANELISTS
Helen Hatch – Chair – Walkable Atlanta Task Force
Ed McBrayer – Executive Director – PATH Foundation
Sally Flocks – Founder/President – PEDS
Steve Nygren – Founder – Serenbe
iannat Howett – Director Sustainability – Emory University
Jen Fabrick – Architect – Emory University
Click here for more info