Portman Lists Peachtree Office Tower for $14M

A historic piece of Downtown Atlanta real estate is hitting the market at a fire-sale price, the latest blow to the struggling district.

Atlanta’s Portman Holdings listed the office portion of 230 Peachtree Street for $14 million, just $50 per square foot, CoStar reported — a sharp drop from the area’s prior highs and an indicator of downtown’s office real estate distress.

JLL brokers Richard Reid and Huston Green have the 18-story, 280,000-square-foot listing, which is about 60 percent leased, the firm said. The building includes a Hotel Indigo on its lower floors but it’s not included with the sale.

It’s a symbolic asset, first developed in 1965 by the late John Portman Jr. The renowned architect and developer’s Peachtree Center complex aimed to bring vitality back to the city’s urban core amid white flight and suburban expansion. It contains the developers’ headquarters, which is at 303 Peachtree Center Avenue.

Nearly 60 years later, the vision is fading. Other buildings in the Peachtree Center — now under different ownership — have been through foreclosure, and more distress could follow.

If Portman Holdings offloads 230 Peachtree, it will be the firm’s second time parting with the building.

Portman Holdings sold the office tower after its initial development but bought it back from New York mortgage servicer NorthStar Realty Finance Corp in 2014. It then converted the lower floors into the 206-key Hotel Indigo, one of Portman’s final projects before his death. The tower was last renovated in 2016.

The federal government recently said it plans to offload the Peachtree Summit building. Also downtown, Lone Star Funds recently handed 55 Allen Plaza back to lender Aflac to avoid foreclosure, and the 36-story 101 Marietta is on the market.

Downtown Atlanta saw negative absorption of 65,000 square feet in the first quarter, with vacancy now at 30 percent — or 5 million square feet, data from Cushman & Wakefield shows.

— Judah Duke