1.2 MSF Northmeadow Business Park in Atlanta for Sale

By Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor

Five years after picking up Northmeadow Business Park in Atlanta for $93.5 million, an affiliate of BPG Properties Ltd. has put a for-sale sign on the 1.2 million-square-foot business park. BPG purchased the sprawling campus from a joint venture involving First Industrial Realty Trust Inc. and California State Teachers Retirement System on behalf of BPG Investment Partnership VII L.P., a discretionary private equity fund.

Located on a 125-acre site in Atlanta’s tech-centric North Fulton submarket, Northmeadow consists of 20 institutional-quality buildings that delivered in phases between 1997 and 2000, in sizes ranging from 15,000 to nearly 104,000 square feet. Currently, the property, which can accommodate both office and light industrial uses, is 83 percent leased and features a 53-business tenant roster.

Commercial real estate services firm Colliers International in onboard to secure a buyer for Northmeadow. The office market climate in Atlanta bodes well for the asset’s future success. As Colliers notes in a recent report, the market closed 2011 with its strongest quarter of absorption in four-and-a-half years, and it is expected to continue to increase as technology companies dominate the leasing landscape. Investors have been taking notice of the office sector’s progress; sales exceeded $1 billion in 2011, marking the highest amount sold since 2008.

BPG is eager to capitalize on increasing investment activity across the country. The the private equity real estate fund manager disposed of nine assets in transactions totaling in excess of $225 million in 2011 and plans to sell additional properties this year as the improving market presents more opportunity to turn a profit. “The assets of BPG’s prior funds remain well-positioned in the current market and value creation has resumed,” Daniel M. DiLella, president and CEO of BPG, noted in the company’s fourth quarter newsletter.

However, it’s not all about sales for BPG. With BPG Investment Partnership IX, L.P., a $250 million value-added real estate fund, the company is pursuing acquisitions as well. Its latest value-added real estate fund has $250 million in commitments. “We look to strengthen our existing portfolio in 2012 through acquisitions on behalf of BPG Investment Partnership IX, L.P., a $250 million value-added real estate fund,” Arthur Pasquarella, executive vice president and chief operating officer at BPG, said.

Currently, BPG has a national portfolio encompassing approximately 24 million square feet of office, retail and industrial assets and 18,000 apartment residences across the and 18,000 apartment residences.