Colony Industrial Nabs 891 KSF Atlanta Portfolio

By Keith Loria

1645 Satellite Blvd.

Colony Industrial has acquired a nine-property, Class A industrial portfolio totaling 890,920 square feet in Northeast Atlanta, Ga. The deal ups the company’s light industrial warehouse portfolio in the city to more than 7.7 million square feet.

“Our focus is on smaller metro buildings, 300,000 square feet and less, multi-tenanted infill locations in major markets and Atlanta is one of our largest markets in our portfolio,” Michael Wenaas, Colony Industrial’s managing director of investments, told Commercial Property Executive. “This portfolio checked all the boxes of what we buy.”

The six properties consist of 2150 Boggs Road NW (Buildings 100, 200, 300, 400, 500 and 600) in Duluth, a building at 1645 Satellite Blvd. in Duluth and two buildings at 2925 and 3255 Shawnee Industrial Way in Suwanee.

Industrial growth

All nine industrial properties offer immediate access to Interstate 85, a major north-south corridor connecting Atlanta to Charlotte and the Mid-Atlantic.

According to Wenaas, Atlanta is one of the top five industrial markets in the country and because there’s very little available land in the area to build buildings like these, it made for a very attractive deal.

“It’s been a successful market for us with a lot of leasing activity,” he said. “There’s huge population growth and good job growth there. Plus, it was located near several of our other buildings in the area, which works to our strategy, as well.”

At the time of sale, the portfolio was 96 percent occupied by a tenant roster of 23 companies, including General Electric and UPS. There are about four years of average term left on the leases. “With the rush to e-commerce and speedy delivery, large companies need smaller spaces to be close to the population to meet that 1-2 day delivery window, and these warehouses meet that criteria,” Wenaas said.

Colony Industrial will make some minor aesthetic changes to the properties, but overall, they were in good shape so no big renovations are planned at this time.

Newmark Knight Frank’s Matt Tritschler and Peter Everett served as real estate brokers on the deal.

In April, Colony Industrial acquired Westside Industrial Park, comprised of four Class A light industrial buildings in Jacksonville, Fla., from Pattillo Industrial Real Estate for $77.5 million. Also in April, the company purchased Enterprise Industrial Park buildings I and II, a  Class A San Antonio light industrial portfolio. Overall, the company owns and operates 47.5 million square feet of warehouse buildings in 20 major U.S. markets.

Image courtesy of Colony Industrial