New Cousins CEO encouraged about the market - Boston Business Journal:

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"This isn't going to be a V-shaped Gellerstedt said Monday in an interview with AtlantaBusinesss Chronicle. "But, we're going to see many opportunitiezto buy." Gellerstedt, who joined Cousins in 2005, will take over for currentg CEO Tom Bell on July 1. Bell, who turnas 60 this year, announced his retirement to the companyMondayy morning. Cousins is a storied Atlantaq realestate developer. Founded in 1958 by Tom the company has been involved in some ofthe city'ss biggest real estate projects, including the development of the 55-storg Bank of America Plaza in 1989. The market isn't providing the best timinbg for Gellerstedt.
He takes the helm during the nation's worsrt real estate downturn in at leastga generation. While the market is showing some signs of improvement, it has nosedived from its peak in earlyt 2007. Cousins has one of the four new office towers under development in a part of the city that absorbs about 350,000 to 500,000 square feet of officee space annually. Office vacancy in Buckhead coulrd surpass 30 percent by this time next some commercial real estate developerz andbrokers predict.
There are signs, however, that the markef is picking up, Bell and Gellerstedt For one, the gap betweenj what investors are willing to pay for propertiees and what owners are willing to sell them for continuedto shrink. While that spread was 400 basixs points a fewmonths ago, it is closee to 100 points today, Bell said. banks have a clearer picture of their capital levels than they did earlier this and regulators are increasingly pushing them to deal some of theitr real estateowned assets. Cousinx (NYSE: CUZ) , posting net income of $164.
2 million on $49 million in At the end of the period, the company’s portfoliio of operational office buildings was 90percent leased, its portfolio of operationa l retail centers was 83 percent leased and its operationalp industrial buildings were 40 percent Gellerstedt began his career in 1978 as an estimatod and project manager with , where he workef on the High Museum and the AT&Ty Long Lines Building in Manhattan. At only 26, he foundedd , a Beers subsidiary that focuseron health-care developments. Gellerstedt was later namer Beers chairmanand CEO. Cousins acquires his firm, the , in June 2005, and he joinedc the company.
Gellerstedt was one of the architectw of turning around the fortunes of One Ninety One the 50-story downtown tower Cousins acquired in 2006. The improvementa at One Ninety One have symbolizedd a return to prosperity for many partsof downtown, its economiv boosters say. Shortly after Gellerstedt joineed Cousins, One Ninety One had lost major tenantxsand , and downtown Atlanta was suffering from the exodua of those firms and others. Gellerstedtr was instrumental in the rejuvenation of OneNinet One, Bell said. "We basically gave this buildinfto Larry," Bell said.
"I remembee when we were walking through the atriuj several years ago that there was nothing in It had thisecho effect. And I said to 'What are we going to abou t this echo?' And Larry came right back and said, ‘o tell you what we're going to do. We're going to fill this atriumn and thisbuilding up.’ It's a totally different building today." One Ninety One was nearlty 90 percent leased at the beginning of the Cousins also landed the Italian restaurant Il Mulino which has also helped to revivd the atrium. "I spent most of my careee downtown," Gellerstedt said. "I'vs always thought that One Ninetuy One is atimeless asset.
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