This article originally appeared on CoStar.
Atlantans have been in a festive mood the past couple of years, and they've thrown more and more lavish soirees that require lots of party supplies. That's good news for an aging nondescript warehouse in the city's upper westside.
As demand for chairs, tents, tables, flatware and glasses climbed over the past two years, so did Atlanta Party Rentals need for space. As a result, the company expanded its lease to 65,000 square feet at what's known as the Lower Building at 2160 Hills Ave., about 3 1/2 miles from Georgia Tech University. When Atlanta Party Rentals moved into the warehouse about two years ago, it occupied less than a third of that space.
Atlanta ranked as the country's No. 6 party city in 2018, based on the 47,000 events in the city planned using Evite, the digital invitation service. Houston ranked No. 1 with 70,000 events last year, according to Evite. Atlanta ranked third on Evite's 2018 list of top cities for Halloween parties, with 31,300.
"Business is booming," Tim Dodd, owner of the 2-year-old Atlanta Party Rentals, said in an interview. "We've grown at a 100% clip each year, and that's continuing."
Atlanta Party Rental's operation is located in the heart of Atlanta's burgeoning upper westside, a former gritty industrial part of the city that's attracted major mixed-use developers, including Jamestown and Selig Enterprises. Some $2.5 billion in development is underway in the neighborhood, with another $1 billion expected to start within a year. Dodd said he is well aware of the development activity surrounding his warehouse location.
Dodd hired Cresa Global brokers Jim Bob Taylor and Michael Bennett to search for the right place to expand, and they landed right back at 2160 Hills Ave., a 73,440-square-foot warehouse that was built in 1969 and is owned by Westwood Funding and Cyphers Brokerage Associates, according to CoStar records.
“Cresa was able to help Atlanta Party Rentals secure a long-term lease by showing them a full view of the market,” Bennett said in a statement.
Landing a long-term lease "was crucial to growing my business," Dodd said. Atlanta Party Rentals signed a 60-month lease with an option for another 60 months upon expiration.