Mysterious bidder lobs $15M offer for sizable chunk of downtown’s Gulch

A masked bidder just reportedly lobbed an offer to buy 9.3 acres of South Downtown’s Gulch.

Could it be CIM Group, starting to make good on plans to invest a billion dollars to develop the area?

Might it be the harbinger that Amazon has tapped Atlanta as the site for the fought-over HQ2?

Let the rumor mill turn.

In June, Georgia’s State Properties Commission put the property (well, technically, four properties) up for sale, according to the Atlanta Business Chronicle. Now, a prospective buyer using the handle “30 Spring St. Fee Owner”—a nod to a Gulch address—has bid $15 million for this piece of the pie.

The site in question hosts a handful of parking decks fronting Philips Arena and the CNN Center on the Gulch’s northeast side, under downtown’s old viaducts.

Georgia State Properties Commission

It’s a prime piece of real estate for any developer vying to play a role in the neighborhood’s colossal proposed transformation. With just one bidder eyeing the property, the State Properties Commission has closed the bidding window.

The commission is scheduled to vote on the offer in September, the ABC reported.

There’s already some speculation that CIM Group is behind the bidder’s pseudonym, meaning the Los Angeles-based developer could be a step closer to building some 9 million square feet of office space and a million square feet of retail space in the underutilized pit.

The Gulch also neighbors other prominent downtown properties primed for major overhauls of their own, including CIM’s own Norfolk Southern Building.

Underground Atlanta’s four-block transformation is underway, with developer WRS having hosted the rebirth and expansion of the Masquerade music venue, as well as securing a handful of tenants for under-construction spaces.

A stone’s throw away, developer Newport is working on a major makeover of a few dozen South Downtown buildings.

And lest we forget the $192 million upgrade going on over at Philips Arena and the other coliseum’s forthcoming mega-lawn.

• Mystery buyer bids $15M for key piece of downtown’s Gulch [Atlanta Business Chronicle]