John Yates leaves MMM | UPS slashes Amazon deliveries | Development planned for wildlife area

Welcome to Atlanta Business Chronicle’s LinkedIn Weekly Edition! I'm Digital Editor Chris Fuhrmeister, bringing you the business news to keep you in the know. Here's a selection of our top stories this week.

After nearly four decades with one of Atlanta's biggest law firms, technology law pioneer John Yates is making a move to a new player in town.

Yates is leaving Morris, Manning & Martin?to be a founding partner at Gunderson Dettmer's Atlanta office. He's joining three more former MMM partners to open Gunderson's Atlanta office.

Yates joined MMM in 1987 and?was named co-chairman last June. At the time, Chairman Gerald Pouncey said Yates was "critical to the success of MMM." He had launched the firm's corporate technology practice decades ago.

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UPS?stock plummeted Thursday after the Atlanta-based shipping giant announced it would drastically reduce shipping volume from?Amazon, its biggest customer.

Atlanta-based UPS Inc. made the announcement in its fourth-quarter earnings report Thursday morning. The company plans to cut Amazon volume by more than 50% by the second half of 2026.

UPS has been shipping Amazon packages for nearly 30 years. The Seattle-based online retailer accounted for nearly 12% of UPS' total revenue in 2024.

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A chunk of the former Pine Log Wildlife Management Area could become a massive mixed-use development in Bartow County — with everything from industrial buildings to residential units.

Real estate firm Hines plans to fill 2,390 acres in northwest Georgia with a sprawling development dubbed Aubrey Village, according to a news release. The project would transpire through a partnership with Aubrey Corp. — an organization formed by the Neel family, who has?owned 19,500 acres of land in Bartow and Cherokee counties?for nearly a century.

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With a revamp of his Michelin-starred Marietta restaurant and a new project in the works just steps away, Spring chef and owner Brian So is doubling down on his investment in accolade-worthy meals outside the Interstate 285 Perimeter.

So is planning a renovation at Spring that will bring the addition of a bar and an expansion of the kitchen. Around the time the restaurant closes, the chef plans to open his second eatery, a Korean restaurant called Bōm.

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An office park near the cluster of hospitals in Sandy Springs known as Pill Hill is the latest target of investors as a buying spree intensifies in Atlanta.?

A joint venture led by Alan Joel and Dion Meltzer this month swooped in to buy Glenridge Point. The property includes two circa-1970 office buildings that overlook Interstate 285 and Georgia 400.

The deal underscores an uptick in the volume of office building sales.?In 2024, activity was up 20% across the U.S., the first increase since 2021, according to the Wall Street Journal.?

That's all for this week's top stories. Thanks for reading Atlanta Business Chronicle! For plenty more local business headlines, visit the Chronicle's website. Questions? Comments? Concerns? News tips? Send them to [email protected].