ATLANTA — A property that would have produced one of Atlanta’s tallest buildings went on the auction block Tuesday after the ambitious development failed to get traction.
The building would have poked up past the landmark Atlantic Center building at 14th Street and Crescent Avenue.
It was up for sale on the Fulton County courthouse steps Tuesday morning along with countless other tax lien and foreclosure properties. The Opus Place project was due to spring up across from the Four Seasons hotel. Renderings showed a building due to rise 70 stories into the air.
Tuesday a bank put down a winning bid of $40 million for the site; its representative disappeared into the thick crowd at the auction without comment.
"Commercial real estate is going through a very difficult time right now, especially office buildings. But the flip side of that is there’s segments in commercial real estate that’s doing exceptionally well, like industrial and warehouses. You know, non-office buildings," said Tareq Salaida, an investor from Montezuma GA who visits the Fulton County auction regularly.
Auction regulars said it's been a busy time.
"There's a lot of property right now. There’s a lot of foreclosures right now because of the pandemic," said Wendell Robinson, another regular who says residential properties are driving demand that, apart from skyscrapers, keeps real estate around Atlanta spiking upward.
He said investors are keeping prices high, and in many cases, out of reach of customers with modest budgets.
We watched one property price soar twentyfold in a flash. It started at $9,813.16 and its tax lien was sold within 10 seconds for $200,000.
"I bought a junk yard here four years ago," Salaida said. "We find that if you pick the right location, you generally can’t go wrong."
The junk yard yielded a 40% return, he said.
It’s still unclear what will ultimately happen with the Midtown tower site – a circumstance it shares with much of the property sold on the courthouse steps.