JLL Income Property Trust Pays $95M for Atlanta Campus

Friendship Distribution Center Building 400. Image via Google Street View

JLL Income Property Trust has acquired Friendship Distribution Center, a master-planned industrial park in the Atlanta suburb of Buford, Ga., for $95 million. The acquisition of the Class A facility was funded with cash on hand, according to a form filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The property was 96 percent leased at the time it changed hands.

Taylor & Mathis developed the facility with the help of ARCO Design/Built acting as general contractor. Completed in the first quarter of this year, the industrial park encompasses four buildings totaling 649,183 square feet. The property features architectural tilt-wall construction, building depths ranging from 160 to 280 feet as well as front-loading and rear-loading doors.

Located next to Interstate 985, the distribution center is roughly 40 miles from downtown Atlanta and some 50 miles northeast of Hartsfield Jackson International Airport. Interstate 85 is 2 miles south. 

According to a Taylor & Mathis announcement, the facilities were leased shortly after completion to a tenant roster that includes:

• E & S International Group, that occupies 101,663 square feet in Building 100
• Furniture Galleries of Atlanta, occupying 50,500 square feet in Building 200
• Thermacell Repellants, taking up 74,373 square feet in Building 200
• Belting Holdings Inc., occupying the entire 126,360-square-foot Building 300 
• Link Futures, leasing the entire 272,160-square-foot Building 400

Industrial expansion

With this recent acquisition, the trust’s industrial holdings total 53 properties across 13 markets representing $1.6 billion in asset holding value, according to the REIT.

JLL Income Property Trust has made a series of large investments in the industrial market this year. According to a report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, shortly after acquiring the Friendship Distribution Center, the trust purchased South San Diego Distribution Center, a 655,000-square-foot industrial property in San Diego, Calif., for approximately $158 million.

In May this year, the trust secured a $650 million credit facility to continue growing its holdings. Lenders included JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, PNC Capital Markets and Wells Fargo Securities LLC acting as co-syndication agents.