Commercial Property Executive – February 20, 2020 – Bixby Land Co. has acquired two new industrial properties in Georgia, one in Atlanta and the other near Savannah. The two buildings total 431,000 square feet, which increases Bixby’s presence in the region to more than 1 million square feet.
The Atlanta property was completed in 2019 and is situated at 3435 Jonesboro Road SE, only about 2 miles from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The seller for 3435 Jonesboro Road SE was represented by Dennis Mitchell and Matt Wirth of JLL.
The other Class A property is located at 200 Nordic Drive in Pooler, Ga., within 10 miles of the Port of Savannah and less than 5 miles from Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport. The facility was also delivered in 2019. Although this property was vacant when the contract for its sale was finalized, Bixby’s team reportedly was able to fully lease it before the transaction closed. Chris Riley, Frank Fallon and Trey Barry of CBRE represented the seller for 200 Nordic Drive.
AMPLE ACTIVITY
Though it has inched up from a rock bottom 2.4 percent in the past three years, Savannah’s industrial vacancy toppled from 18.6 percent in 2009 to 3.8 percent in late 2019, according to a fourth-quarter 2019 report from Colliers International. Nearly 6 million square feet of industrial space is under construction—evenly split between built-to-suit and spec space—against an inventory of about 71.9 million square feet.
Driven by traffic growth at the Port of Savannah, industrial activity in the region has been substantial. Last March, Duke Realty Corp. leased a 194,210-square-foot, rail-accessible BTS warehouse in Savannah to a 3PL company, Schilli Distribution Services. The same month, a joint venture was formed that intends to develop a 510-acre industrial park of up to 4 million square feet in Hardeeville, S.C., just 10 miles from the Port of Savannah’s intermodal terminal.
In November, The Broe Group and affiliate OmniTrax began development of the first building, of 1 million square feet, in their 2,700-acre Savannah Gateway Industrial Hub. And just last month, Plymouth Industrial acquired a five-building, 924,036-square-foot industrial portfolio that included three properties in Savannah, along with two in Atlanta.
