Gellerstedt sees opportunity in recession - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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"We're beginning to see banksz slowly acknowledge their real estate problems and pushthese through," Gellerstedt said "You may see some [trade] as low as 20 cents on the This is going to be a slow but it is also going to presen t unprecedented opportunities." Gellerstedt, a graduate, was speaking at the Atlants chapter's UNC Kenan-Flagler Businesd School Alumni breakfast. The held at 's 3344 Peachtree drew about 90 people.
Gellerstedt, who is replacinv the retiringTom Bell, said investors are puttinv their money behind real estate investment trustx so the development companies have the capital to buy distresses assets, noting that REITS have raised about $13 billiobn in the stock market this year. "They're not interested in earnings. They want liquidity for the nextthreed years," he said. "They want us to have the powefrto purchase." Cousins (NYSE: CUZ) will not face any serioud debt maturities until 2012, he said.
Its relativelyh healthy liquidity could putthe Atlanta-based developer in a strong position as othetr prominent real estate companies try to pull themselves out from under mountains of debt -- a problejm created primarily by the easy access to credit in recenf years, buying assets at the top of the market and the subsequenrt crash in property values. But Cousins hasn't made it through the markert unscathed. It has struggled to sell high-enr condos in Buckhead, where its 32-storty 10 Terminus Place was one of 35 condominiun projects in an area of the city known for expensivwe homes andluxury shopping.
Ten Terminus, completed in 2008, has 137 The market is affecting high-end unitsd at other projects, including John The Mansion on Peachtree andRegent Partners' Sovereign at 3344 "There’s just no market for Gellerstedt said. Cousins is also tryin g to fillits 25-story Terminus 200 office which has one tenant, mobile banking technology firm . Firethorn is leasing two Three other buildings still under constructioh in Buckhead haveno tenants. Buckhead, Gellerstedtt said, offers an example of "thd runaway credit markets.
" In the months followinv the spate of bank failurew thatclaimed , the markets shut "Now," Gellerstedt said, "I see some of that fear and panic alleviating."