ATLANTA — JLL has negotiated a 150,000-square-foot lease with locally based Porter Logistics at Logistics Pointe, an industrial facility located at 605 Selig Drive on Atlanta’s west side. Porter Logistics already occupies 266,813 square feet of dry storage at the facility, bringing the third-party logistics firm’s footprint in the building to 412,513 square feet. Austin Kriz of JLL represented the tenant in the lease negotiations. The landlord was Covington Group Inc. Porter Logistics is backfilling recently vacated space at the 650,259-square-foot industrial facility, which features 20 exterior dock doors, four drive-in bays and clear heights ranging from 24 to 27 feet.
Georgia
Tenants are battling it out for Atlanta’s top-tier office space as trophy availability tightens and new office construction draws to a halt. With no end to the flight-to-quality trend in sight, Class B assets accounted for a whopping 70 percent of the market’s overall negative absorption (-736,682 square feet total net) in the first quarter of 2025, while Trophy assets recorded positive absorption (+114,579 square feet). Furthermore, office buildings that delivered between 2016 and 2021, which amount to almost 14 million square feet of space, currently average 92 percent occupancy. This underscores the growing divide between the haves and have-nots in Atlanta’s office market. Premium space in demand As office leasing activity reaches its highest level since 2019, decision-makers face a rapidly evolving landscape where securing the right space requires a highly motivated and strategic approach. With rising attendance mandates, workforce expansion and a limited supply of premium office space, competition for the best locations is intensifying. In Atlanta, submarkets like Midtown and Central Perimeter continue to outperform. Mini submarkets surrounding mixed-use districts like Avalon and The Battery (i.e. “urban-edge” in the suburbs) are also in high demand among tenants craving walkability and upscale amenities in the metro’s most sought-after …
Georgia Tech Repositions Biltmore Building in Midtown Atlanta as Strategic Hub in Tech Square
by John Nelson
ATLANTA — The Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) has launched The Biltmore at Tech Square, a 286,931-square-foot mixed-use building located within the larger 2.5 million-square-foot Tech Square innovation district of Midtown Atlanta. The Biltmore building originally opened in 1924 as a grand hotel before transitioning to office space in the 1990s. The property housed the first radio station in Atlanta. Georgia Tech purchased the property in 2016. The school has tapped Collaborative Real Estate, helmed by David Tyndall, an original co-developer of Tech Square, to oversee the Biltmore’s redevelopment. The reimagined Biltmore houses more than 100,000 square feet of Georgia Tech’s innovation sector, including the CREATE-X headquarters (Georgia Tech’s flagship student startup accelerator); Quadrant-i (Georgia Tech’s gateway for launching research-driven ventures); Office of Technology Licensing; VentureLab (home of the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps Southeast hub); Startup Scaling Platform; Corporate Engagement Office; and the Venture Investment Hub, as well as additional strategic partners. “Atlanta is becoming the startup capital of the South, and this next chapter for The Biltmore strengthens our momentum,” says Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens. “We are bringing together the people, places and resources to accelerate Atlanta’s growth as a world-class tech and innovation ecosystem.” Upon completion, …
HOUSTON — Hines Global Investment Trust (HGIT), a real estate investment trust (REIT) sponsored by Houston-based global asset manager Hines, has acquired three industrial assets located on the East Coast for a total $309 million. The acquired properties include two distribution facilities situated within the Georgia International Trade Center (GITC) in the Savannah market and two warehouse/distribution facilities located in Upton Crossing, a warehouse campus in Wilmington, Mass. The Davis Cos., a real estate investment and development firm based in Boston, sold both assets, which total 2.5 million square feet. Additionally, HGIT acquired I-85 Logistics Center, an industrial property in the Greenville-Spartanburg metro in South Carolina’s Upstate region. The seller of I-85 Logistics Center was not disclosed. The properties in Savannah total 2.2 million square feet and were fully leased at the time of sale. A joint venture between Davis and Atlanta-based Stonemont Financial Group developed GITC, which comprises a total 7.7 million square feet of manufacturing and warehouse space across 10 buildings. The site is located roughly 10 miles from the Port of Savannah. Totaling 215,000 square feet, the properties at Upton Crossing in Wilmington were 81 percent leased at the time of acquisition. Davis acquired Upton Crossing in …
Affordable Housing Developers Aim to Control What They Can Control, Say InterFace Panelists
by John Nelson
ATLANTA — Interest rates. Tariffs. Natural disasters. These three factors alone frighten any developer, let alone those who are tasked with delivering our nation’s affordable housing supply. Just to get to the ribbon-cutting ceremony, developers have an uphill climb. They have to obtain the land outright or in a ground lease agreement, navigate the permitting and entitlement processes, overcome any neighborhood pushback, raise equity and borrow the necessary capital and then build these communities on time and on budget. Editor’s note: InterFace Conference Group, a division of France Media Inc., produces networking and educational conferences for commercial real estate executives. To sign up for email announcements about specific events, visit www.interfaceconferencegroup.com/subscribe. “We try to stay in control of what we’re in control of,” said Christopher Byrd, Southeast region development director of LDG Development, an affordable housing developer based in Louisville, Ky. “As long as we are in the right markets with the right growth and the right partners, we are safe and insulated.” Byrd’s comments came while on stage during the development panel at InterFace Affordable Housing Southeast, a networking and information conference held at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta on Tuesday, May 7. Kelly Williams, vice president of …
The last four quarters in the Atlanta industrial market were something akin to a good old-fashioned roller coaster ride at the historic Southeastern Fairgrounds! The absorption, activity and new construction sectors all went for a somewhat bumpy ride this past year. What’s happening? First, the quarterly absorption numbers for the Atlanta industrial market have been anything but steady. Eight quarters ago there was 7.9 million square feet of positive net absorption, followed by five negative quarters in a row (totaling 13.2 million square feet), then came two positive quarters (totaling 7 million square feet) and then back down to 2.8 million square feet of negative net absorption for the first quarter of 2025. The annual absorption numbers were up and down as well. The last four quarters yielded 2.2 million square feet of positive net absorption, but a year ago, at this same time, the absorption numbers plummeted down to a negative 11.3 million square feet. Two years ago, the industrial market experienced 32.5 million square feet of positive net absorption. Second, the activity numbers also were up and down. The second quarter of 2024 recorded 14.4 million square feet of activity, but that number dropped to 13.6 million …
ATLANTA — Atlanta-based Lalani Ventures, in partnership with Ravine, will open a 181,000-square-foot live music and performance venue at Underground Atlanta, a shopping and entertainment district situated in the Five Points neighborhood of south downtown Atlanta. Following the closure of its former location in 2021, Ravine’s new location, Ravine at Underground, will feature two stages with covered indoor and outdoor event space. One stage will accommodate 6,000 guests, while the other stage will accommodate 2,500 patrons. Ravine at Underground will join additional entertainment venues at Underground Atlanta, including The Masquerade, a four-hall concert venue; The Frisky Whisker, a sound gallery and art space that includes a cat research and therapy center; and a 30,000-square-foot event hall.
POWDER SPRINGS, GA. — CenterPoint Properties has acquired a 347,013-square-foot industrial property located at 4795 Innovative Way in Powder Springs, a western suburb of Atlanta. The newly built facility is situated three miles from a Norfolk Southern intermodal terminal and 14 miles from I-285 via I-20. The metro Chicago-based investor purchased the facility, which was delivered in third-quarter 2024 and fully leased to two tenants, for an undisclosed price. CBRE brokered the off-market transaction. The facility covers less than a quarter of the 36-acre site and features 36-foot clear heights, 68 dock-high doors, two drive-in doors and parking for 210 cars and 77 trailers. CenterPoint now owns 90 assets comprising more than 18.5 million square feet in its East Region markets of New York/New Jersey, Lehigh Valley, Charleston, Savannah, Atlanta and South Florida.
SAVANNAH, GA. — McCraney Property Co. has obtained $84 million in senior financing for Phase I of Logistics 16 at Ottawa Farms, a 1 million-square-foot industrial development in Savannah. The three-building property is situated approximately 16 miles from the Port of Savannah. Melissa Rose, Michael DiCosimo and Nicole Barba of JLL arranged the financing package, which includes a three-year, floating-rate loan through Truist. McCraney delivered the three rear-load distribution buildings in 2024. The facilities, which were nearly 85 percent leased at the time of financing, feature 32- to 36-foot clear heights, dock doors and ESFR sprinklers. Logistics 16 at Ottawa Farms is expected to span 4.4 million square feet across nine buildings at full build-out.
DORAVILLE, GA. — A partnership between RangeWater Real Estate and North America Sekisui House (NASH) has opened Camino at BuHi, a 303-apartment community located at 3712 Stewart Road in Doraville, an eastern suburb of Atlanta. The new development is situated at the intersection of Buford Highway and Jess Norman Way. Camino at BuHi offers a mix of studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments and townhomes ranging in size from 474 to 1,411 square feet. Monthly rental rates range from $1,387 to $3,254, according to Apartments.com. Amenities include a dog park and spa, resort-style pool courtyard, coworking offices with dedicated podcast recording space, an outdoor grilling station, fitness center, rooftop lounge and a private speakeasy.