FORSYTH, GA. — Discount retailer Five Below will invest $70 million to build a new distribution center in Monroe County, roughly 60 miles southeast of Atlanta. According to local media reports, the facility will be located within Meridian 75 Logistics Center, a 186-acre master-planned business park in Forsyth. The new building will create 130 new jobs. The initial investment includes $42 million in land and building, and approximately $28 million in machinery and equipment. Additional investment will occur over the next five years. Founded in 2002, Philadelphia-based Five Below sells products that cost $5 or less. The chain operates more than 650 stores across 32 states, and plans to open 125 new stores this year. A construction timeline for the Monroe County facility was not disclosed.
NEW YORK — New York-based PMZ Realty Capital LLC has arranged a $32 million loan for the refinancing of a three-property hotel portfolio located throughout Georgia. The portfolio includes the 150-room Hyatt Place Airport North in Atlanta, the 132-room Hampton Inn Atlanta/Norcross in Norcross and the 80-room Fairfield Inn & Suites in Commerce. The 10-year loan was arranged on behalf of the borrower, Elite Hotel Management Group LLC. The loan features a fixed interest rate below 4.85 percent.
ATHENS, GA. — The Shopping Center Group (TSCG) has signed Blasted Barley Beer Co. to a 5,000-square-foot lease at Georgia Heights, a student housing community with 40,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space in Athens. The Phoenix-based restaurant and brewery plans to offer more then 30 craft beer varieties on tap, including its own signature brews, along with bar food. Harry Croxton and Amy Kennedy of TSCG arranged the 10-year lease on behalf of the landlord, Memphis-based EdR Collegiate Housing. Blasted Barley is expected to open at the 317-unit community early next year, bringing the property to full occupancy. Additional tenants include CVS/pharmacy, J.Crew, The Athlete’s Foot, SunTrust Bank, Dress Up, D.P. Dough, Cinnaholic, European Wax and Treehouse Interiors. The property encompasses a city block between Broad Street, at the main entrance to the University of Georgia, and Clayton Street, home to the Georgia Theatre.
NEWNAN, GA. — CRG, in partnership with Pope & Land Enterprises Inc., has unveiled plans to develop The Cubes at Bridgeport, a 560-acre industrial project located along the Interstate 85 South Corridor in Newnan. At full build-out, the park will include 8.5 million square feet of industrial space. The development is located near both CSX and Norfolk Southern railroads, roughly 30 miles from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and approximately five miles from Newnan-Coweta County Airport. The first phase of the development will include a 1 million-square-foot speculative building with 40-foot clear heights, trailer storage and car parks. The building will be capable of handling warehousing, e-commerce and manufacturing tenants. Phase I will also include infrastructure improvements such as ramp upgrades, a new signalized intersection on Highway 29 and a public parkway and overpass above the CSX main line. Other planned infrastructural improvements include water lines, two miles of new sanitary sewer and electric utility improvements. Clayco is the design-builder for the project and its subsidiary, BatesForum, is the architect. Developers expect to wrap up construction on the first building at the project in December 2018. Chris Tomasulo and Steve Grable of JLL are handling The Cubes’ leasing assignment.
“How long will Atlanta’s retail boom last?” That is the multibillion-dollar question everyone in the market is asking themselves. Nobody knows for sure, although there are many valid reasons to think that Atlanta will sustain its growth through 2018 and beyond. The state of Georgia has placed a strong emphasis on drawing technology companies to the state, and Atlanta’s tech boom has catapulted the city to the front of the race for Amazon’s $5 billion HQ2 project. The city already boasts the world’s busiest airport, which makes it easy for any company to relocate here because they can directly connect to anywhere in the world. Most recently, Facebook announced it will build a sprawling data center campus at Stanton Springs, about 40 miles east of Atlanta, and NCR Corp. recently opened its new headquarters campus in Midtown. The emerging tech community includes startup hubs such as Atlanta Tech Village, Switchyards Downtown Club, the upcoming Coda project at Tech Square and Advanced Technology Development Center, an affiliate of Georgia Tech. With elite local colleges like Georgia Tech, Emory University and the state’s flagship school, the University of Georgia, about 60 miles east in Athens rapidly producing new graduates, the city is …
ALPHARETTA, GA. — A joint venture between Hines and Cousins Properties will develop 10000 Avalon, a 251,000-square-foot, Class A office building in Alpharetta, a northern suburb of Atlanta. The new building will be the second and final office building within Avalon, a 2.4 million-square-foot mixed-use development. The total development cost for the building is expected to be $97 million. Cousins has a 90 percent ownership interest in the joint venture and Hines has a 10 percent ownership interest. AXIS Reinsurance Co. will anchor the new building, occupying 76,000 square feet. Sam Holmes of CBRE arranged the 15-year lease on behalf of the insurance company, which is a subsidiary of AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd. Hines and Cousins will start construction on 10000 Avalon this month, with initial occupancy scheduled for early 2020. The building is located adjacent to 8000 Avalon, which Hines and Cousins delivered in June 2017. The building is currently 98 percent leased to tenants such as SAP, Microsoft and coworking operator Spaces.
ATLANTA — Hotel and brand management company Dream Hotel Group, in partnership with Atlanta-based Cartel Properties, has unveiled plans to develop Dream Atlanta, Buckhead. The 200-room hotel will be located near the intersection of Peachtree, Roswell and East Paces Ferry roads in Buckhead Village. In addition to guest suites, Dream Atlanta, Buckhead will feature 90 private residences, a spa and wellness concept and five dining and nightlife venues, including a 17,000-square-foot rooftop pool, bar and lounge. The dual-tower development will also include 80,000 square feet of additional office and retail space. New York-based Dream Hotel Group currently operates 18 hotels, with more than 20 others in various stages of development. Atlanta-based architecture firm Cooper Cary is designing Dream Atlanta, Buckhead, which is scheduled to open in 2021.
Construction Underway, First Tenants Announced at $40M Mixed-Use Project on Atlanta’s Upper Westside
ATLANTA — Eden Rock Real Estate Partners, in partnership with Stein Investment Group and Frank Buonanotte, has kicked off construction on Westside Village, a $40 million adaptive reuse project on Atlanta’s Upper Westside district. Redevelopment plans call for the transformation of the existing 51,000-square-foot warehouse building situated along Marietta Boulevard, the demolition of other smaller buildings and the new construction of three additional commercial buildings on the 10-acre site. The 100,000-square-foot development will also include 19 townhomes. The first announced tenants at the development are Primrose Schools, an early education and childcare provider, and The Refinery, a fitness training club. Primrose Schools will open a 12,400-square-foot facility, serving infants through Kindergarten-aged children. The Refinery will open an 11,700-square-foot facility that will offer adult fitness training, youth sports performance enhancement training, a private Pilates studio and a therapeutic “chiro-spa” for sports recovery, pain management and everyday wellness. Both tenants are expected to open at Westside Village in early 2019. Additional retailers, restaurant and service providers are expected to be announced within the next 60 days. Atlanta-based Shroeder Architects is the architect for the project, which is slated for completion by spring 2019.
SAVANNAH, GA. — GCP has acquired 150 Portside Court, an 800,000-square-foot industrial facility in Savannah, for $34.8 million. Located within the Port Logistics Center at Crossroads, the facility is less than five miles from the Port of Savannah. The building is fully leased to The Home Depot and is a key component of the home improvement retailer’s East Coast import distribution operation. The warehouse features front-loading configuration, 165-foot deep full concrete truck courts and 25-foot minimum clear heights. CBRE represented the seller, Duke Realty, in the transaction, and GCP was represented internally. Wells Fargo Bank provided acquisition financing on behalf of GCP. The acquisition increases the Birmingham-based company’s portfolio to more than 8.1 million square feet.
Atlanta is the logistics hub and economic engine of the Southeast, which is the fastest growing region in the country. Its 700 million square feet of industrial space makes it the fifth largest logistics market in the United States. Traditionally, population and job growth are key drivers of industrial demand, and Atlanta has had strong growth in each. The metro added 78,000 people in 2017, or nearly 214 new residents every day, which is reminiscent of the solid population growth of the 1990s when Atlanta averaged nearly 100,000 new residents every year. Additionally, Atlanta has had solid job growth, growing 2.5 percent last year, second only to Dallas/Fort Worth among the 12 largest metro areas in the U.S. E-commerce has caused a surge in demand for industrial space that has benefitted the Atlanta industrial market. Online retail sales now make up over 9 percent of total retail sales, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, up from 5 percent in 2012. A recent report from Cushman & Wakefield stated that while e-commerce accounted for just 5 percent of leases in 2013, it now commands over 20 percent of all warehouse leasing. As Amazon and others ramp up delivery times from two-day …