AAA Awards 5 Diamonds to Midtown Hotel

The has received a AAA Five Diamond ranking from the American Automobile Association.

According to an Atlanta Business Chronicle article, the hotel will receive the honor at a Buckhead ceremony Wednesday along with several other Atlanta hotels receiving the award.

Midtown hotels that received four-diamond rankings were the , the Renaissance Atlanta Midtown and the .

Four diamond restaurants in Midtown are and .

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As expected, the Bank of America Plaza was sold at a public auction Tuesday. It was a somewhat circus scene on the steps of the Fulton County Courthouse as the Midtown landmark and Southeast’s tallest tower was taken back by its lender with a winning bid of $235 million.

Experts say the change in ownership won’t affect the current tenants, but certainly won’t provide a boost to Atlanta’s already depressed commercial real estate values.

According to Bloomberg Business, among the nation’s largest metropolitan cities, the city has the highest rate of late payments for loans on offices bundled into bonds at 25.3 percent. That’s more than triple the 7 percent national rate.

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On Tuesday, Coca-Cola announced that its fourth-quarter net income was $1.65 billion, or 72 cents per share, down from $5.77 billion, or $2.46 per share in 2010. The company, though, said that sales across the board were up in 2011 with North American sales increasing 1 percent and international volume growth up 5 percent.

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At Tuesday’s Neighborhood Planning Unit-E meeting, the owner of a new Mexican restaurant to be located in the former Fune Sushi Bar and Ultralounge space indicated he hopes to be open sometime this month. Senor Patron will open inside the Spire Condos at 860 Peachtree Street. 

Also, the Fifth Group Restaurants Steven Simon told the board that he hopes to have Lure, which will feature a “variety of seafood from around the world’’ opened by early July. Renovations are ongoing at the former Vickery’s Crescent Avenue Bar & Grill space located at 1106 Crescent Avenue.