King Industrial Sales Associate Marco Rodriguez, and our President, Sim Doughtie sold 3 buildings totaling 18,538+/- SF at 2450 Candler Road in Gainesville, Georgia.

“We are really pleased with the work that Marco and King Industrial Realty did selling our 9.8 acre, three building industrial property in Gainesville. We had previously listed it with another, more established local firm in the area who was unable to find us a buyer. Marco was able to get us multiple offers and helped us select the best one. From contract signing, through due diligence and to the closing, he was there to guide us and help along the way. If I ever need to sell again, I know who to call.”

Joe & Ana R. – Owners

For more information please contact Marco Rodriguez at mrodriguez@kingindustrial.com or Sim Doughtie at sdoughtie@kingindustrial.com.

Congratulations to our Senior Vice President, Wilson Covington, Vice President Randall Bryan, and our Vice President, Brad Bays, for being recognized as “Q4 CoStar Awards Quarterly Deals” Winners!

Wilson Covington and Randall Bryan were awarded for their lease of 342,217 SF at 767 Douglas Hill Road in Lithia Springs; the Top Industrial Leasing Deal of the Quarter in the Atlanta Market by CoStar Power Broker!

Brad Bays was also awarded for his lease of 301,900 SF at 4091 Southmeadow Parkway West in College Park; another Top Industrial Leasing Deal of the Quarter in the Atlanta Market by CoStar Power Broker!

For more information, please contact Wilson Covington at wcovington@kingindustrial.com, Randall Bryan at rbryan@kingindustrial.com or Brad Bays at bbays@kingindustrial.com.

King Industrial Realty has released its Overview and Point of View for 4Q20. Download now to read the fourth quarter industry highlights!

Download the Fourth Quarter Overview

Download the Point of View 4Q2020

By Douglas Sams  –  Commercial Real Estate Editor, Atlanta Business Chronicle

Atlanta is the most favorable market for commercial development in the country, boosted by low costs and a strong university system, according to a new report from real estate services company CBRE Group Inc. (NYSE: CBRE).

Atlanta ranks in the top 10 for total space under construction in office, industrial and retail, and the universities contribute to highly educated workforce, CBRE said.

Read the full article from Atlanta Business Chronicle here

Source: Connect Media

Swedish private equity firm EQT has agreed to acquire Exeter Property Group for approximately US$1.9 billion. The combination with Conshohocken, PA-based Exeter will create “a scaled, global real estate investment platform, adding one of the largest and well performing value-add real estate investment managers in the world to EQT’s successful platform,” EQT said Tuesday.

“EQT is a fantastic strategic and cultural fit for our business,” said Ward Fitzgerald, Exeter’s CEO and founder. “For our day-to-day activities, it will be business as usual. We will continue to be fully focused on driving returns by utilizing our unique local execution of small and mid-cap acquisitions, adhering to our real estate solutions ethic to our over 1,200 corporate client/tenants and directly performing our own leasing, property management and development.
 
Founded in 2006, Exeter focuses on acquiring, developing and managing logistics/industrial, life science/office and residential properties mainly across the U.S. and Europe. 

Read the full article

Source: Connect Media

International real estate firm Hines has broken ground on Busch Logistics Park, a 97-acre industrial project spanning two buildings and nearly 732,000 square feet in Bartow County. The project is Hines’ first Atlanta-area logistics property.

Hines will develop two speculative industrial facilities at Busch Logistics Park. Building A will span 523,541 square feet and feature cross-dock configuration as well as 36-foot clear heights. Building B will span 207,989 square feet and feature rear load configuration and 32-foot clear heights. Both buildings will deliver in Q3 2021. The project is located off I-75 and Cass White Road.

Bob Currie and Reed Davis have been tapped to handle marketing and leasing efforts for the site. More than 100 tenants are currently surveying the Atlanta industrial market, and 4.3 million square feet of new deals are expected to close before the year’s end, according to JLL’s Q3 Industrial Insight.

Read the full article

Source: REBusiness Online

The U.S. economy’s exit from the COVID-19 pandemic will mirror the flight path of a butterfly, according to economist Dr. Peter Linneman. In other words, it will move forward but also up, down and sideways — quite erratic and not terribly fast.

Linneman’s comments came during a “Walker Webcast” hosted by Walker & Dunlop CEO Willy Walker on Wednesday, Jan. 6.

The butterfly stage will continue until enough people get vaccinated where Americans feel safe resuming pre-pandemic activities, argued Linneman. Once that occurs, we’ll enter the flight path of a more steady “migratory bird.” Linneman’s best guess for that timeline is June or July of this year.

In order to gauge the economy’s progress, it’s best to monitor GDP growth and employment, not corporate profits or the stock market, said Linneman.

In Linneman’s view, 15 percent of businesses and citizens are “really struggling” and will need continued relief and roughly six more months to get their footing. A stimulus focused on that 15 percent segment — including hotel, airline and restaurant workers — is needed, according to Linneman.

“It’s not about spending; it’s about targeting,” he said.

If the U.S. government can effectively target that 15 percent with stimulus relief, then the result will be “productive spending.”

Read the full article

Source: Atlanta Business Chronicle

A big Atlanta-area distribution building leased to The Home Depot has been acquired for $96.7 million.

Monmouth Real Estate Investment Corp. (NYSE: MNR) said it bought the new 657,518-square-foot industrial building located at 3150 Highway 42 in Locust Grove, Ga.

The property is leased for 20 years to Home Depot (NYSE: HD). The building is situated on approximately 130 acres, providing ample opportunity for future development, Monmouth said.

“A common misconception is that all industrial real estate provides a linkage to the digital economy, but in fact, a new type of industrial real estate has been designed specifically to serve the computer-driven supply chain. These smart, highly-automated facilities are uniquely equipped to handle omni-channel distribution,” said Michael P. Landy, Monmouth’s president and CEO, in a statement.

New Jersey-based Monmouth’s portfolio consists of 121 properties containing approximately 24.5 million rentable square feet across 31 states.

Its other Georgia properties include two in Augusta leased to Fedex, one in Braselton northeast of Atlanta, one in Griffin south of Atlanta, and two in Savannah leased to Fedex and Shaw Industries, according to the company.

Read the full article

Source: Atlanta Business Chronicle

Despite 2020’s uncertain realities and significant change, Georgia turned those 2020 buzzwords – “pivot,” “adapt,” even “unprecedented” – into good news.

By partnering with our employers and communities in confronting challenges from COVID-19 head-on, we’ve regained our economic momentum while developing industries that will provide the jobs of the future. In fact, despite the downturn in our service industries, the number of people working in Georgia actually reached an all-time high during the COVID-19 pandemic!

Jobs and investment numbers from July through December are higher than the same period last year. During December, a month when the Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD) has traditionally seen a drop in secured locations and expansions, we’ve seen an increase over last year. Key industries like automotive, food processing and advanced manufacturing grew substantially during 2020, and the Georgia Centers of Innovation continue to build critical ecosystems to fuel additional growth and remain competitive.

To expand markets, small businesses are utilizing the specialists in GDEcD’s International Trade division, which earned an unprecedented fourth President’s “E-Star” Award for Export Services last year.

Across government and business, Georgia’s vital life sciences communities have supported COVID-19 response and developed life-saving vaccines. Vaccines are now being distributed with help from Georgia’s extensive logistics networks and Georgia-based Fortune 500 companies such as UPS and Delta. Vaccine effectiveness and availability has improved job creators’ confidence levels, too.

Our metro areas are seeing continued growth in Health IT, cybersecurity, and financial technology, and in Atlanta along with esports, have reinforced the city’s ranking as the No. 1 tech hub in the U.S.

Read the full article

Source: NAIOP

This sector of industrial was booming even before the pandemic, and future demand is expected to soar even higher.

In the age of one-hour package shipments, the infrastructure needed to serve a growing on-demand culture is scrambling to keep up. This has taken on even greater significance amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced millions to stay home for months.

According to Coresight Research’s U.S. Online Grocery Survey 2020, online grocery sales are expected to increase by about 40% this year due to the pandemic. That’s after a 22% increase in 2019.
The strong growth in e-commerce is a main reason that the industrial real estate sector is a bright spot in the U.S. economy, as developers and tenants continue to construct millions of square feet of warehouses and logistics centers.

Within the industrial sector is a unique class of buildings that maintain the continuity of the “cold chain,” which is crucial for the integrity of U.S. food and pharmaceutical logistics. While market factors are driving rising demand for cold buildings, there are also practical reasons behind the need for this asset class. The existing cold building stock in the U.S. is becoming antiquated, with an average age of 34 years, according to CBRE research.

In the past, cold storage buildings were built to suit, but due to the surge in demand and the need to upgrade these facilities, the era of the speculative cold building could be upon us.

Read the full article