Dalfen Buys Atlanta-Area Industrial Asset

Gwinnett Logistics Center. Image courtesy of Dalfen Industrial

Dalfen Industrial expands its footprint in metropolitan Atlanta with the purchase of Gwinnett Logistics Center, a fully occupied industrial building in Dacula, Ga. The company acquired the 320,500-square-foot asset from Marengo Real Estate Co. LLC which, according to Gwinnett County records, appears to be an entity of the sole occupant of the property, The Goodwin Co.

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Sited on 19 acres in Atlanta’s I-85 Northeast Corridor submarket, Gwinnett Logistics first opened its doors in 1989 and has been home to Goodwin since 2005. The well-located last-mile property, which carries the address of 4125 Highway 316, offers direct access to rail service and sits within close proximity of Gwinnett County Airport at Briscoe Field. As Kevin Caille, market officer with Dalfen Industrial said in a prepared statement, the Atlanta market continues to sustain a strong business climate and population growth. With scarcity of land being an issue for Atlanta, the ever-increasing barriers to entry will lead to the continued increase in the property’s strategic importance.

The Gwinnett Logistics transaction follows Dalfen’s purchase of another last-mile, Atlanta-area asset by roughly four months. In September 2020, the company acquired the 71,600-square-foot, two-building Shiloh Crossing Distribution Center in Alpharetta, Ga. Dalfen’s presence in metro Atlanta is now greater than 1.1 million square feet. The company has good reason to be keen on the area.

“The end of 2020 was a high note for the Atlanta industrial market, which saw continued expansion of fundamentals as demand from e-commerce and logistics companies skyrocketed due to the pandemic,” according to a fourth quarter 2020 report by Newmark. “Many of the dynamic shifts in consumer shopping behaviors in the retail industry over the last year are expected to become permanent, which will be positive news for the warehousing sector. Atlanta remains a top location for logistics and e-commerce companies due to its proximity to the Georgia ports and various interstates.” Dalfen’s most recent transaction brings its presence in metropolitan Atlanta to more than 1.1 million square feet.

Staying on point

Dalfen has been highly acquisitive since changing its name in mid-2019 and rebranding to reflect its focus on the last-mile industrial property sector. And even amid the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company has barely missed a beat. Dalfen was active throughout 2020. In the fourth quarter of the year, it completed the purchase of five Texas assets totaling 1.2 million square feet in Fort Worth and San Antonio and joined forces with Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking Division on the purchase of 10 properties totaling 1.9 million square feet across multiple states. And with the Gwinnett Logistics deal, Dalfen has already announced the completion of its second transaction of 2021.