Photos: Inside Atlanta’s first new office tower in ages

The Atlanta office scene is piping-hot with few signs of slowing down right now.

That’s according to Coldwell Banker’s biennial Blue Book Market Intelligence Report, which was released this week.

The analysis profiles top commercial real estate markets across the U.S.—using industry data and anecdotes from commercial real estate brokers—and it found that a combination of “strong population and job prospect growth is fueling reinvestment in Atlanta,” helping knock the unemployment rate back down to 4.8 percent.

“Office rental rates in metro Atlanta are projected to reach a new high in 2017,” the report notes. “This may be the highest priced office space ever seen for the area. Office vacancy is decreasing because of the strong employment market and population growth near the Atlanta area.”

Which makes it an appropriate time to have a look, via this installment of Visual Journeys, at one of metro Atlanta’s only office high-rises that’s come to fruition since the Great Recession.

At 30 stories, Tishman Speyer’s Three Alliance Center is taller than the flashy new State Farm corporate headquarters at the Perimeter, and it completes the three-tower Alliance Center complex in Buckhead.

The building was designed by noted local firm Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects, and prior to it even breaking ground, much fuss was made about its “faceted glass curtain wall system,” which plays with light throughout the day and is said to be a first for Atlanta.

Otherwise, the 500,000-square-foot tower is LEED Gold certified, and it stands on what was one of central Buckhead’s last remaining parcels for development. It took the unusual route of going spec, and while several signings have been announced, the building is now seeking tenants.

Have a look around:

Photos: Jonathan Phillips, Curbed Atlanta

• Other eye-popping Visual Journeys from around Atlanta [Curbed]