Smith, Gambrell & Russell says it's taking another floor at its future headquarters space, 1105 West Peachtree St. N.W., ahead of the firm's planned relocation to the new office, hotel and condo development in mid-2021.

Last December, Smith Gambrell signed on as the anchor tenant for the project's office tower, now under construction, and preleased four floors of space on the 9th through 12th floors. The firm said Monday that it's adding another 18,443 square feet—the eighth floor—to its future Atlanta office for a total of 120,763 square feet on five floors of the 31-story office tower.

"We needed the extra room to anticipate current and future growth," said Smith Gambrell's chairman, Stephen Forte, in an interview.

The firm's initial lease, signed late last year with developer Selig Enterprises for 120,763 square feet at 1105 West Peachtree, was one of 2018's largest office leases for Midtown.

At that time, Forte noted, the firm had not yet added local employee benefits boutique Mazursky Constantine. The 12-lawyer firm plus its staff became part of Smith Gambrell on Feb. 1, and Forte said his firm intends to keep growing locally.

The extra floor will increase the lease cost, Forte acknowledged, but he said it's "an investment in people." He declined to specify the cost per square foot.

"We've been playing a long game here, and it's really paying off," Forte said of the firm's recent growth. "We've been investing in ourselves and been patient about it—and the results are quite good."

Smith Gambrell has been expanding its turf over the last three years, adding a Miami office—its 10th—last December after opening offices in Los Angeles; Austin, Texas; London; Southampton, England; and Munich and expanding its New York office by acquiring a local boutique. The firm generated $114 million in revenue in 2018, according to ALM data.

It currently has about 250 lawyers in 10 offices. Of those, about 125 are located in its Atlanta headquarters, according to the firm's website.

Smith Gambrell is debt-free, Forte said. "We tend to be frugal in how we spend."

The firm has been located at its current Midtown headquarters in the Promenade building at 1230 Peachtree St. N.E. since the building opened in 1991.

One major selling point for signing on at the new 1105 West Peachtree development, Forte said, was the firm's access to a one-acre Sky Plaza adjacent to the ninth floor that features green space, a rooftop bar and restaurant. "It will allow us to have more functions with clients and colleagues and thus afford greater access to the business community," he said.

In addition to the new 675,000-square-foot office tower, the almost 3.6-acre site at 1105 West Peachtree will have a Marriott Autograph Collection hotel and 64 luxury residential units.

Smith Gambrell partners Jay Schwartz and Eric Mandus participated in the firm's lease negotiations. Cushman & Wakefield's Shea Meddin, Andrew Ghertner, Carla Williams and John Izard represented the firm in the negotiations, and Chris Ahrenkiel and Steve Baile of Selig represented the developer.