Eben Hardie Returns to Buy-Side in College Park
Eben Hardie is taking one of the most visible old warehouses by the airport and giving it a major update. Hardie Real Estate Group's founder, Eben, who dusted himself off from the credit crunch after losing a portion of his former industrial portfolio to creditors, is back on the investment side, this time buying 2750 Sullivan Rd, a 200k SF warehouse formerly used by the Sam Levitz Furniture Co as a cabinet and staircase manufacturing facility for John Wieland Homes. Eben—along with investment partner Miami-based Palatine Capital Partners—is completely redoing the empty facility to attract more modern warehousing operations.
Part of that redo has been to raze 70k SF to up the ceiling height. The building, which fronts I-285 in College Park, would be parceled out to at least two tenants. Eben says “it's going to be interesting” to see if a tenant is willing to pay a premium for highway signage—a rare treat in the Fulton Industrial area. But with recent deals by Walmart and other e-commerce operations, Eben says he's hoping to benefit from that demand's ripple effect. “It's kind of like locating a Wendy's next to a McDonald's.” Eben has tapped CBRE's Greg Haynes, Todd Barton and Mark Hawks to lease the property. After selling Braselton Distribution Center One last year, Eben most recently secured a 225k SF build-to-suit deal with Sugar Foods Corp at Villa Rica Industrial Park.
