AT&T Seeking Sale Leaseback of Large Office Portolio in Atlanta

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution - July 9, 2007

AT&T has put several big properties in Atlanta up for sale, including BellSouth's ex-headquarters in Midtown.

The former BellSouth building, known as Campanile, sits at the southeast corner of 14th and Peachtree streets. The prominent Midtown site will be sold because AT&T no longer needs the space. The Campanile sits at the southeast corner of 14th and Peachtree streets.

AT&T also wants to sell two other complexes, then lease them back for ongoing use by the company. Employees at the sites have been told they won't have to move. One of the spots is in Midtown and has two buildings, both located near AT&T's landmark white tower. The other location includes a cluster of five structures at Lenox Park, a development not far from Lenox Square mall in Buckhead.

AT&T bought BellSouth in December. Many people anticipated that AT&T would sell some of the Atlanta real estate the company inherited in the wake of the massive deal.

"Rather than keeping a lot of capital tied up in office buildings, we're selling some of them and leasing them back so we can redeploy the proceeds into growth projects, or using them to build value for stockholders," said AT&T spokesman Joe Chandler. "In other cases, as is the case with the Campanile building, we're selling the buildings outright."

With the sale-leaseback plan for other buildings, AT&T aims to repeat a pattern used elsewhere. The company has sold and then leased back buildings in St. Louis, Cleveland, Bedminster, N.J., and New Haven, Conn.

AT&T's Midtown 1 and 2 buildings, as they are known within the company, have a combined 842,421 square feet. Chandler said the structures were built in 2002 and 2003 and, even after a sale, would continue to house about 1,800 AT&T staffers. The structures are close to AT&T's 27-year-old tower located at 675 W. Peachtree St. Together, the buildings form what is known as AT&T Midtown Center.

AT&T's five-building Lenox Park complex has a combined 1.1 million square feet, enough room for about 2,800 staffers. BellSouth created the campus by purchasing three existing buildings in 1999 and adding two more in 2001. AT&T workers will stay at the site.

Chandler said Staubach Co. is handling the sale of Lenox Park, while CB Richard Ellis is in charge of marketing the Midtown properties. AT&T declined to say how much it is seeking for the structures. Sphere: Related Content