Brian Bollins
Atlanta Vice President and Division Manager
Choate Construction Co.
As Georgia marks its 10th consecutive year as the nation’s top business state, Bollins says the influx of domestic and global companies moving there has kept contractors busy.
“At the heart of it all, Atlanta’s AEC industry is reaping the benefits of this influx through the resulting demand for new projects to further develop the city and accommodate this growth,” he says.
Ranked by Area Development magazine, which tracks corporate site selection and economic development, Atlanta scored highly on more than a dozen factors companies consider important when deciding where to locate— yes These include the ability to hire and train the right people, as well as the ease and speed of getting a new project off the ground. This performance builds confidence in companies looking for space and fuels the resulting projects in the region. With Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport as one of the busiest airports on the planet and with the state having one of the largest ports in the country, Atlanta has all the ingredients for businesses looking to grow, Bollins says.
“It’s not just US-based companies either,” he says. “Thanks to substantial investments from corporations and municipalities, these two major centers have attracted more foreign investment for the same reasons that bring domestic companies to Atlanta: logistics potential, accessibility to the global market, a highly educated workforce and reliability and energy costs.”
When those ingredients are thrown into the mix along with the relatively low cost of living among American metro areas, Bollins says it’s no surprise that the result is an impressive growth trajectory for the Atlanta market. As a result, the AEC industry is buzzing with demand for new developments in the city and across the state. This new development is spearheaded by the city’s most active sectors: manufacturing, data center, entertainment/film, supply chain management, retail and healthcare, he says. Atlanta has been working hard to bolster that growth and support its byproducts, such as affordable housing, he adds. The city is pouring millions of public and private dollars into incentive programs to build affordable housing, but there are obstacles. The high need and incentives available for affordable housing developments provide opportunities for some companies to take advantage of the situation by working quickly and cheaply, which Bollins says could lead to problems for the community and the city down the road .
Another trend emerging in the Atlanta market is what Davis Myers, Choate’s director of business development for Atlanta, calls “office hopping.” As companies’ leases expire, they’re looking for better, rather than bigger, office space. This trend, along with the rise of work-from-home jobs following the COVID-19 pandemic, has left corporate office spaces vacant. The result has stacked the deck in favor of companies looking for a new headquarters with more amenities.
And after the initial slowdown in construction activity caused by the pandemic, Atlanta AEC firms saw a “boomerang effect” as commercial construction demand returned in full force, even surpassing levels before the pandemic, says Bollins. Since then, activity has slowed to a more sustainable pace.
Today, Atlanta is seeing more diverse construction projects as companies move further away from traditional office space and toward more office and retail, multi-use and mixed-use developments.
“We’re seeing this trend extend beyond downtown skyscrapers and into the entertainment industry, as companies are building bigger, more robust campuses to house their film and studio productions ” says Bollins. “These projects are incorporating trails and dining options into the design, creating what is essentially a community within a community.”
Office vacancies lead to a subsequent surge in the sublease market, while many B and C properties have maturing debt in an environment that makes recapitalization difficult, he says, presenting both a challenge and an opportunity for the local market to reimagine what these office buildings can. to be. Overall development in several Atlanta markets could soon see challenges such as rising interest rates, leveling or declining rents, declining property valuations and current construction prices. He doesn’t expect to see a change in the trend of retired workers outpacing new hires. Making an extra effort to foster good relationships with colleagues and finding more opportunities to work together will be key to helping business partners shoulder the brunt of the shortage, Bollins says.
