#22 - Colin Connolly - Why Atlanta May Not Get a New Office Tower Until After 2030

Colin Connolly has spent 15 years at Cousins Properties — 8 of them as CEO — steering one of the premier office REITs in the country through a merger, a pandemic, and what may be the most consequential reset in office real estate history.As the Sunbelt office market tightens and new supply seems frozen until at least 2030, Cousins is gearing up for offense.Inside the episode:• Leading Cousins through Covid — and why the first call was guaranteeing no layoffs before making any strategic decisions• Doubling down in the pandemic: selling $1.3B of lower-quality assets and reinvesting in trophy product at the bottom of the market• The Houston bet that went wrong — watching OPEC's Thanksgiving Day announcement blow up 40% of the company• Merging with Parkway Properties and spinning out the Houston portfolio into its own publicly traded company• Why there will be no new office supply of any size delivered in Atlanta until after 2030 — and what that means for rents• Dallas as the canary in the coal mine: net rents climbing from $50 to nearly $90• Why companies relocating to the Sunbelt care far less about office rent than the cost of housing for their employees• Where Cousins sees opportunity today — and why the absence of competing capital has made trophy acquisitions unusually attractiveBig thanks to our sponsors for supporting this series:• Songy Highroads – songyhighroads.com• Corporate Environments – corporateenvironments.com• USA Cabling – usacablingtech.com• Scott Contracting – scott-contracting.com• The Beck Group – beckgroup.comIf you have a commercial real estate need, please reach out. My team and I have incredible resources through Cushman & Wakefield to help with any need you have.More info: https://linktr.ee/timwright.cre