Developer wagers on Cobb's commuter appeal - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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The developer seems to be on its way towarxd its goal of establishing the locationm as oneof Atlanta'sx top office submarkets. By it had already deliveredr three buildings tothe mixed-use TownParkl Commons campus. The first building appeared in the second in March oflast year, and the thirf in November. All are located in the 243 acre-TownPark complex off Interstateds 75 and 575 nearChastaij Road. Thirty percent of the third building is alreadyt leased and is expected to be full by the middler ofthis year, said Kerry senior vice president of marketing for Taylor & "The rent roll is pretth impressive.
Surprisingly, the majority of space has been leasex tofairly good- sized national O'Brien said, adding that Taylorf & Mathis anticipates delivering its fourtj TownPark office building by July 1998. TownPark Commonse is just one ofthe company'x developments in North Cobb. Last Taylor & Mathis teamed up with Quintus Corp. to producer Chastain Meadows, a 240-acre business park on the east side of Chastain Meadows currently hastwo large, build-to-suit developmentss in the works. Electronics retailer Circuit City decidecd to developa 160,000 square-foot building to serve as its regionaol headquarters, and Suzuki Corp.
announcedf plans to develop an office facility inChastaih Meadows. Overall in the Town Center approximately 412,000 square feet of office space isundedr development, said Tom Watson, a vice president at Jamisobn Research Inc. Developers managed to delived closeto 300,000 square feet of office space in 1997 to the This brought the area's total office developmengt inventory to more than 2 million squarre feet, with a 16.9 perceng vacancy rate, according to Jamison. A main reaso so many office developments are poppinh up in North Cobb is the growth in the residentialhousintg market, O'Brien and Watson said.
Peoplre want to work close to home, and housing development across Cobb and neighboring Cherokee countiea are allowing them todo so. "It's pure and Suburban office space is drivenm by its proximity toexecutive housing," O'Brien said. Yet it'x also the residential growth that's curtailingt North Cobb's development in comparison to the North Fultonofficw market. area doesn't have the same level of executivse housing North Fulton Watson said. And, he the two areas differ in the type of developmentebeing constructed.
Town for example, is home to many one-stor y structures, while the Nortuh Fulton landscape is shaped by larged buildings averaging four tofive stories. "o don't think [North Cobb] will grow to a nort h Fulton stature inthis cycle, but maybr in the next 10 Watson said. North Cobb may eventuallyt compete withNorth Fulton, but it will neved become another Perimeter Center, Taylot & Mathis' O'Brien said. Taylort & Mathis began buyiny land in the Town Center area in the early It started developing office spacde there only inthe mid-1980s, a time when Perimetere Center development was at its height.
While the brisk expansion at Perimetefr Centerwas welcomed, it also gave developers and residents a quicl education in the problems that accompanu rapid advancement. "I don't think Town Center will develop like Perimeter Center because of the lessons we learned fromPerimetere Center," O'Brien said. "When you develo p office space atthat rate, you begin to choke the