Foxfield, AEW Land 200 KSF Industrial Tenant in Metro Atlanta

October 2, 2024

A food distributor signed a full-building lease at an upcoming 2.2 million-square-foot campus.

Rendering of Sugarloaf Logistics Hub's first phase. The master-planned industrial development will rise inside metro Atlanta. — Sugarloaf Logistics Hub’s first phase facilities will feature cross-dock, rear-load and front-load configurations, measuring between 193,150 square feet and 624,280 square feet. *Image courtesy of Foxfield*

Foxfield and AEW Capital Management have signed a full-building, 200,000-square-foot lease at Sugarloaf Logistics Hub, a 2.2 million-square-foot master-planned industrial development in Lawrenceville, Ga., within metro Atlanta.

Souto Foods, a subsidiary of Alex Lee, committed to the space, which also includes a cold storage element. The food distributor plans to invest $28 million in the site and expects to create 70 new jobs.

JLL and OnPace Partners worked on behalf of the landlords, while NAI Brannen Goddard represented the tenant.

Developers broke ground on the first phase earlier this year. It is planned to total 1.1 million square feet of industrial space across three buildings. The owner is pursuing LEED certification through the usage of recycled concrete, energy-efficient frameworks and environmentally conscious practices.

The three buildings will have a total of eight drive-in doors, 189 dock-high doors, as well as 569 and 225 car- and trailer-parking spaces. Clear heights will range between 36 and 40 feet, while the truck courts will measure 185 feet for each facility.

Located at 5030 Sugarloaf Parkway, Souto Foods’ upcoming building is roughly 27 miles northeast of downtown Atlanta, as well as about 4 miles from U.S. Route 29 and Interstate 85. The Gwinnett County Airport is some 6 miles east.

JLL Executive Managing Director Reed Davis alongside Stephen Bridges, partner at OnPace, led the broker team on behalf of the landlords. NAI Brannen Goddard Managing Director Bill Kee spearheaded the negotiations on behalf of the tenant.

Office-to-industrial redevelopment

Foxfield and AEW purchased the six-building, 740,000-square-foot office campus in 2022 with plans to reshape the site into a seven-building, 2.2 million-square-foot industrial park, set to include warehouse, industrial and logistics space. Prior to the sale, Cisco owned and occupied the campus.

Additionally, the 290-acre, master-planned development would include some 800 residential units and five retail pad sites. Concurrent with the lease, the developer duo also sold a 13-acre, multifamily-zoned parcel to Westplan Investors.

Atlanta industrial leasing improved in the second quarter

Industrial demand picked up steam in metro Atlanta during the second quarter. Leasing activity increased 11.6 percent compared to the first three months of the year, according to a report by Cushman & Wakefield.

Leasing activity totaled nearly 6.4 million square feet from April to June, the same source shows. Although most transactions encompassed small deals, the number of signed leases north of 300,000 square feet outshined the one registered during any of the past five quarters.

Metro Atlanta’s second quarter absorption clocked in at 3.4 million square feet—only six of the 83 markets tracked by Cushman & Wakefield broke the 3.0 million square feet mark. The delivery of Target’s build-to-suit, 1.4 million-square-foot facility aided the metro’s absorption figure.