|
 Atlanta’s
historic
Hurt Building,
said to be the
17th-largest office
building in the world at
the time of its
construction (1913 to
1926), is the proud
winner of the 2007 TOBY
Award (The Office
Building of the Year)
for historic buildings
from
Building Owners and
Managers Association (BOMA)
International.
The
building is owned by
Electra Real Estate Ltd.
(TASE: ELCRE), one of
the leading real estate
companies in Israel, and
its U.S. partner
Harbor
Group International LLC,
headquartered in
Norfolk, Va. They bought
the building for NIS 190
million ($47 million)
with Electra holding a
40 percent interest
worth NIS 76 million
($19 million). At the
time of the purchase,
Electra said net annual
rent from the property
was NIS 61 million
($15.25 million),
reflecting a return of
7.25 percent on
investment. The purchase
was financed with a
10-year, non-recourse
loan, amounting to 76
percent of the purchase
price, from a local
bank. The building is 78
percent occupied with
main tenant
SunTrust
Banks, Inc. in a lease
through 2010.
Electra
Real Estate Ltd. was
established in 1994 and
has been operating
internationally since
1997. The major growth
in the company’s
activities has taken
place over the past
three years. Electra had
a successful public
offering on the
Tel Aviv
Stock Exchange in August
2005, and its shares are
included in the Tel Aviv
100 Index and the Tel
Aviv Real Estate 15
Index. Total assets
owned by the company
amount to 1.1 million
square meters (11.8
million square feet), of
which 94 percent is
outside Israel. In the
United States, Electra
owns seven office
buildings in Cleveland,
Ohio; St. Louis, Mo.;
Atlanta; Louisville,
Ky.; and Chicago – all
rented on long-term
leases.
But its
outstanding property for
now is the
Hurt
Building, an 18-story,
40,500 square meter
(436,000 square foot)
office tower in downtown
Atlanta. Its historic
rotunda was recently
renovated with a
dramatic restoration of
its intricate ceiling
and original marble
floors. HGI and Electra
bought the Hurt Building
and an adjacent parking
structure in 2006 for
$40 million from A.R.C.
Inc. and reportedly
invested more than
$500,000 in interior and
exterior upgrades.
The
building earned its
award by meeting high
standards of energy
efficiency, tenant
satisfaction, community
service, excellent
employee relations and
strong management.
The Hurt
Building was a landmark
development in the early
20th century and
continues to be a
historically significant
and renowned building in
this market. Its
triangular footprint was
dictated by its
irregularly shaped site.
It is one of many
similarly shaped
buildings in the city
and has been acclaimed
as a standout example in
Atlanta of the
skyscraper form
developed by
Louis
Sullivan and the Chicago
School.
The
builder,
Joel Hurt
(1850-1926), was one of
the most dynamic
business leaders in turn of-the-century
Atlanta. A civil
engineer by training, he
became one of Atlanta’s
first major real estate
developers. Atlanta’s
first planned
residential suburb,
Inman Park, was
developed by Hurt’s East
Atlanta Land Company in
1890. He pushed through
a new city street,
Edgewood Avenue, to make
a straight-line
connection between Inman
Park and the site of his
proposed downtown office
building. He also
engineered one of the
country’s first electric
street railways to
provide rapid transit
between the two.
While the
building is more
ornamental than other
streamlined buildings of
the modernism school,
architectural
commentators say the
unity between structure
and design is maintained
and holds up well
against more recent
postmodern designs in
architecture. The Hurt
Building remains one of
the most highly visible
and architecturally
important examples of
early skyscraper
construction in Atlanta.
The Hurt
Building is conveniently
located near city and
state government
offices,
Georgia State
University and
destination attractions
throughout the Downtown
area. It is also easily
accessible by
interstates 85, 75 and
20 and by public rail
(MARTA). The parking
garage is seven stories
of covered parking with
approximately 625
parking spaces. Current
tenants include the
City
Grill restaurant, Sun
Trust Banks, Inc., the
Robert W. Woodruff
Foundation, the
Community Federation of
Atlanta and
Central
Atlanta Progress.
As one of
the early Israeli-backed
investors in Atlanta,
Electra Real Estate Ltd.
hopes to write new
history with the Hurt
Building.
Click here for more
information
about the Hurt Building
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