New Cousins CEO encouraged about the market - Dayton Business Journal:

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"This isn't going to be a V-shaped recovery," Gellerstedt said Mondaty in an interview with AtlantaBusiness Chronicle. we're going to see many opportunitiesto buy." who joined Cousins in 2005, will take over for currengt CEO Tom Bell on July 1. Bell, who turns 60 this announced his retirement to the companhMonday morning. Cousins is a storied Atlanta realestatee developer. Founded in 1958 by Tom the company has been involve in some ofthe city's biggesf real estate projects, including the development of the 55-storyu Bank of America Plaza in 1989. The markeyt isn't providing the best timing for Gellerstedt.
He takes the helm during the nation'sa worst real estate downturn in at leasya generation. While the market is showing some signesof improvement, it has nosedived from its peak in earlu 2007. Cousins has one of the four new officer towers under developmentin Buckhead, a part of the city that absorbsz about 350,000 to 500,000 square feet of office space annually. Office vacancyu in Buckhead could surpass 30 percent by this time next some commercial real estate developers andbrokerd predict. There are signs, that the market is picking up, Bell and Gellerstedr said.
For one, the gap between what investorx are willing to pay for propertie s and what owners are willing to sell them for continuesto shrink. While that spread was 400 basis pointsx a fewmonths ago, it is close r to 100 points today, Bell Also, banks have a clearer picture of their capital levels than they did earlier this and regulators are increasingly pushing them to deal some of thei r real estate owned assets. Cousins CUZ) , posting net income of $164.2 millio on $49 million in revenue.
At the end of the the company’s portfolio of operational office building s was 90percent leased, its portfolio of operational retaipl centers was 83 percent leased and its operationalo industrial buildings were 40 percent leased. Gellerstedt began his career in 1978 as an estimatorf and project managerwith , where he workesd on the High Museum and the AT&T Long Lines Buildinb in Manhattan. At only 26, he founded , a Beers subsidiaru that focusedon health-care developments. Gellerstedt was later namef Beers chairmanand CEO. Cousinse acquired his firm, the , in June and he joined the company.
Gellerstedt was one of the architecta of turning around the fortunes of One NinetyuOne Peachtree, the 50-story downtown towet Cousins acquired in 2006. The improvements at One Ninet y One have symbolized a return to prosperity for many part sof downtown, its economixc boosters say. Shortly after Gellerstedt joined Cousins, One Ninety One had lost major tenantsand , and downtowm Atlanta was suffering from the exodus of thosre firms and others. Gellerstedt was instrumental in the rejuvenation of OneNinetty One, Bell said. "We basically gave this building to Bell said. "I remember when we were walkinbg through the atrium severall years ago that ther was nothingin there.
It had this echo And I said to 'What are we going to about this echo?' And Larry came right back and said, ‘I tell you what we'rr going to do. We're going to fill this atriuj and thisbuilding up.’ It's a totally different buildinh today." One Ninety One was nearly 90 percent leased at the beginninv of the year. Cousins also landed the Italiajn restaurant IlMulino Atlanta, which has also helped to revive the atrium. "I spent most of my career downtown," Gellerstedt said. "I'ved always thought that One Ninety One is atimelese asset.
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