The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Forge Atlanta site undergoes foreclosure: ‘Market killed it’
High-rise straddling downtown falls to uncertain times.
A 10-acre site straddling Castleberry Hill and downtown Atlanta that had been pitched as a multi-high-rise life sciences campus was foreclosed upon Tuesday by its lender.
Developer Urbantec Development Partners had said the project, known as Forge Atlanta, would include more than a half-dozen sleek towers. It would blend offices, apartments, retail, a hotel and an entertainment venue along Whitehall Street about a halfmile south of Centennial Yards.
The reversal comes amid the muddled post-pandemic office market as companies navigate hybrid work schedules and developers pause projects while facing an uncertain economy and rising interest rates. The Forge site joins several buildings within the Peachtree Center office complex among recent high-profile Atlanta foreclosures.
Urbantec bought the site near the Garnett MARTA station about two years ago for $26.1 million — most of which was financed with loans from the land’s previous owner, Mccall Railroad LLC.
Mccall, an entity created by Gourmet Foods International founder Russell Mccall, reacquired the property at Tuesday’s foreclosure sale on the steps of the Fulton County Courthouse. Its unchallenged bid was $20 million.
Forge Atlanta aimed to join downtown’s list of gigantic redevelopment projects, but it never broke ground.
“It’s not exactly prime real estate along Peachtree Street or the Beltline,” A.J. Robinson, the president of downtown
civic organization Central Atlanta Progress, told The Atlanta Journal-constitution. “So the guys (Urbantec) might have been a little bit early in their development ideas that they could pull off.”
Urbantec founder and CEO Jae Kim did not respond to requests for comment.
In October 2021, Kim announced the 3.8-millionsquare-foot development, about the same floor space as three Bank of America Plazas. Most of the 1.2 million square feet of offices was going to target life sciences companies, based on the pitch.
Henry Lorber, an expert in distressed real estate with Henry Lorber and Associates, said office projects are a tough sell in this economy, especially those targeting high-tech industries.
“The market killed it,” Lorber said.
Multiple tech giants, including Google and Meta, recently laid off workers. Amazon and Microsoft not only cut their global workforces but paused high-profile new campus expansions, respectively slated for Virginia and Atlanta’s Grove Park neighborhood.
Urbantec’s loans totaled $25.7 million, and pressure ramped up on the developer last year when Mccall and
Urbantec agreed to expedite the loan’s maturity date by a year to January 2025.
“That tells me that you have a nervous lender,” Lorber said. “You don’t do that if you have great faith. You only do that if you’re attempting to put pressure on the borrower.”
Several buildings within Peachtree Center, the landmark downtown office and retail complex designed and built by famed late Atlanta developer John C. Portman Jr., underwent foreclosure in September after debt restructuring fell through. Its loans totaled more than $140 million.
Real estate analysts said the Peachtree Center foreclosure — one of the largest in Atlanta since the aftermath of the Great Recession — could be a harbinger for older towers. But Robinson said Urbantec’s project, which had yet to begin construction and wasn’t financed through a traditional lender, doesn’t fit the same trend.
“I don’t think this is a barometer of what’s going to happen,” he said. “But I do think there’s going to be some other issues with existing buildings, not only downtown but across Atlanta as the office space continues to figure out what’s going to happen.”
Georgia Tech’s 2022-23 season reached its end Wednesday, with a furious rally in the second half falling short in a second-round ACC Tournament game against Pittsburgh. Down 13 points at halftime at the Greensboro Coliseum, the 13th-seeded Yellow Jackets rushed back to take a brief lead midway through the second half before the fifthseeded Panthers regained control and held off Tech for an 89-81 victory.
With the Jackets’ season over, the wait for a decision on coach Josh Pastner’s future
with the team begins. Athletic Director J Batt will determine whether Pastner will return for his eighth season after backto-back finishes in the bottom three in the ACC.
Tech (15-18) ends its season with a third loss the Panthers, who are enjoying their first winning season since the 2015-16 season and whose transfer-dominated lineup earned the team’s highest ACC regular-season finish since joining the conference before the 2013-14 season.
Pitt (22-10), which had lost its final two regular-season games, moves on to play No. 4-seed Duke in the quarterfinals today.
As was the case in the first half of Tuesday’s game, the Jackets did not appear their sharpest and were again off-target from 3-point range, where they had been so successful at the end of the regular season, making 41% of their 3-point tries in their final seven ACC regular-season games.
Against a defense that went into the game ranked third in the ACC in defensive field-goal percentage, the Jackets had trouble creating open shots for each other and saw several possessions go deep into the shot clock.
Tech trailed 44-31 at the half, having shot 11 for 30 from the field and 3 for 12 from 3-point range. Tech had cut an eightpoint lead to five when a steal by forward Ja’von Franklin turned into a layup by forward Jalon Moore. On Pitt’s next possession, guard Lance Terry deflected a midcourt pass that Moore had a chance to secure the ball for a steal and potential fast break. But he was unable, Pitt recovered and then Blake Hinson made a 3 to return the lead to eight points, a swing of five points.
But, like Tuesday, when the Jackets rallied from an 11-point deficit in the second half to advance past Florida State, Tech punched back with force. A ferocious charge early in the second half elevated the Jackets from their 13-point halftime deficit into the lead at 52-50, enabled by a phenomenal stretch of play by Franklin in which he had three steals that set up fast-break baskets, including one in which he threw down a reverse dunk.
Pitt took back the lead and pushed it to as many as nine but couldn’t extricate itself of the Jackets until the final 10 seconds, as guard Kyle Sturdivant led a determined charge. The senior point guard scored 12 points in the final eight minutes, including a basket with 22.2 seconds left that cut Pitt’s lead to 85-81.
Franklin finished with a teamhigh 19 points and 15 rebounds, along with six steals and four assists. Sturdivant had 16 points, with eight rebounds against two turnovers. The Jackets scored 50 points in the second half, shooting 52.8% from the field (19 for 36) in the final 20 minutes.