This Week's Atlanta Deal Sheet: Science Square Nabs State Agency As Second Tenant

Georgia Tech’s new Science Square Labs tower in Midtown has nabbed another major tenant: the Georgia Department of Agriculture.

The Georgia State Properties Commission inked an 11K SF lease for the Agriculture Department, which will take the 11th floor of the 13-story tower that was delivered in April. The 368K SF office and lab project, developed by Trammell Crow Co., is part of Tech’s 18-acre Science Square mixed-use innovation district that plans to ultimately offer up to 1.3M SF of lab and office space.

GDA, which ensures food and fiber safety in the state, is the second tenant to lease space at the development. Last summer, coworking lab space operator Portal Innovations leased 33K SF at the tower. 

CBRE’s Eric Ross, Jessica Doyle, and Graham Little represented Trammell Crow, while Savills’ Erik Weiss and Kari Downing brokered the deal for the state.

LEASES

E|Spaces inked a 32K SF lease at 1600 Parkwood Circle, a six-story office building across Interstate 75 from The Battery Atlanta and the Atlanta Braves’ Truist Park, the Atlanta Business Chronicle reported.

Avison Young’s Kirk Rich, Chris Godfrey and Monica Speak represented the landlord, Adventus Realty Service Co., while Record Real Estate Partners’ Patrick Braswell represented the tenant.

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Law firm Carlton Fields inked a 16K SF lease at Promenade Tower in Midtown. The firm is downsizing and relocating from its 23K SF office at One Atlantic Center, according to CoStar information obtained by Bisnow. 

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Christian nonprofit Samaritan’s Purse leased 172K SF at Prologis Northpoint 1347, a distribution center off Highway 92 in Acworth, to house its processing center for its Operation Christmas Child humanitarian program. Prologis’ Kent Mason brokered the deal for the landlord, while Lee & Associates’ Brett Chambless represented Samaritan’s Purse.

SALES

EastGroup Properties purchased Riverpoint Industrial Park, a three-building, 779K SF industrial campus in Cartersville, for $88M. The seller was an LLC tied to Ares Management, according to public records.

All three buildings are fully leased, with tenants like Carlisle Construction Materials, RaceTrac Petroleum, Pflug Packaging & Fulfillment and children’s book publisher Scholastic, according to marketing materials from Cushman & Wakefield.

"We continue to be pleased by the resiliency of the Sunbelt, shallow bay industrial market,” EastGroup CEO Marshall Loeb said in a statement.”Looking ahead, we are excited to see the market environment being created by the rapid decline in the industrial construction pipeline.”

Cushman & Wakefield’s Stewart Calhoun, Casey Masters, Ryan Bellows and Drew Stanford represented Ares in marketing the properties.

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Watkins Real Estate Group of Atlanta sold Publix at Harbins 316, a 70K SF Publix Super Markets-anchored shopping center off Georgia Highway 316 in Dacula, to an undisclosed 1031 exchange buyer from San Diego. 

Built in 2023, the shopping center is fully leased to tenants like Great Clips, Starbucks, Wingstop and Heartland Dental.

Hanley Investment Group Real Estate Advisors’ Kevin Fryman and Ed Hanley brokered the sale for the buyer, while CBRE’s Chis Decouflé, Kevin Hurley and Matt Karempelis represented Watkins. 

Dallas-based S2 Capital purchased The Landing at Pleasantdale, a 618-unit garden-style apartment complex at 3497 Meadowglenn Village Plane in Doraville formerly known as Forest Cove Apartments, for an undisclosed sum. The previous owner was TerraCap Managment, which purchased the 75-acre apartment campus in 2021 for $82.6M, according to Reonomy. 

“Current effective rents sit $280 below comparable market properties, having witnessed a 12% drop in rents onsite [year-over-year] while surrounding comps have increased +1%, giving S2 conviction in their ability to execute their value-add business plan and deliver a superior living experience to tenants,” S2 CEO Scott Everett said in the release.

DEVELOPMENT

Grandview Partners, in a joint venture with Farpoint Development, broke ground this month on two buildings at the 134-acre Lafayette Logistics Park in LaGrange. The developers are underway with 188K SF and 270K SF distribution centers, both of which will deliver in the first quarter of 2025. 

Lafayette Logistics Park, at 79 Pegasus Parkway, is planned to eventually have up to 2M SF of warehouse space.

FINANCING

Branch Properties and Corebridge Real Estate Investors refinanced a loan covering a portfolio of grocery-anchored shopping centers in the Southeast, including two in Metro Atlanta. PGIM provided the $171.4M loan for the portfolio that totals more than 1M SF and is more than 96% leased.

The portfolio includes Shallowford Falls, a 97K SF Kroger-anchored shopping center in Marietta, and Village Shoppes at Gainesville, a two-building shopping center anchored by Publix and Marshalls just outside of Downtown Gainesville. According to Reonomy, Jackson National Life Insurance Co. had a $110M loan on the portfolio that was set to mature on Oct. 1. 

CBRE’s Richard Henry, Mike Ryan, Brian Linnihan and Taylor Crowder arranged the financing for the borrowers.