Gellerstedt sees opportunity in recession - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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"We're beginning to see banks slowly acknowledge their real estats problems and push these Gellerstedtsaid Friday. "You may see some as low as 20 cents on the This is going to be a slow but it is also going to presenyunprecedented opportunities." Gellerstedt, a was speaking at the Atlant a chapter's UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School Alumnj breakfast. The event, held at ' 3344 Peachtree tower, drew about 90 Gellerstedt, who is replacintg the retiringTom Bell, said investors are putting their money behind real estate investment trustzs so the development companies have the capital to buy distresseds assets, noting that REITS have raised abou $13 billion in the stock markef this year.
"They're not interestedc in earnings. They want liquidity for the next three he said. "They want us to have the power to Cousins (NYSE: CUZ) will not face any serious debt maturitiesx until 2012, he said. Its relativelty healthy liquidity could putthe Atlanta-based developer in a stront position as other prominent real estate companies try to pull themselvesa out from under mountains of debt -- a problej created primarily by the easy acces to credit in recenf years, buying assets at the top of the market and the subsequen crash in property values. But Cousins hasn't made it through the market unscathed.
It has strugglexd to sell high-end condos in where its 32-story 10 Terminus Place was one of 35 condominiunm projects in an area of the city knownm for expensive homes andluxury shopping. Ten Terminus, completed in has 137 units. The market is affectinfg high-end units at other including John Williams' The Mansiojn on Peachtree andRegent Partners' Sovereig n at 3344 Peachtree. "There’s just no market for them," Gellerstedt Cousins is also trying to fillits 25-story Terminua 200 office building, which has one tenant, mobile banking technologt firm . Firethorn is leasing two floors.
Three othee buildings still under construction in Buckhead haveno Buckhead, Gellerstedt said, offers an example of "thr runaway credit markets." In the monthzs following the spate of bank failures that claimexd , the markets shut down. "Now," Gellerstedt said, "I see some of that fear and panic alleviating."