Israeli-Backed Investment Group in United States
Wins Award with Historic Hurt Building

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.

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