UPS to Build 250-Acre Atlanta Distribution Facility

By Scott Baltic, Contributing Editor

Atlanta—Having recently completed a five-year entitlement process for Fulton County Airport-Brown Field, Majestic Realty Co. will now lease 250 acres there to United Parcel Service for that company’s largest-yet distribution facility, it was announced late last week.

The new 1.5 million-square-foot distribution center, to be developed by Majestic, will reportedly be capable of processing 100,000 packages per hour. The building broke ground earlier this month, and UPS expects it to be fully operational on Nov. 1, 2017.

Majestic Realty, based in City of Industry, Calif., has a 50-year ground lease at the 985-acre airport, which is owned by Fulton County and the city of Atlanta, a Majestic spokesperson told Commercial Property Executive.

Majestic Realty Co., Invest Atlanta, the city of Atlanta, the State of Georgia, Fulton County and UPS make up a public/private partnership backing a redevelopment of much of the airport site. In other aspects of the project, Majestic will provide additional infrastructure, including a new $1.1 million operations center and up to 20 new hangars for the general-aviation field, which is otherwise known as Charlie Brown Airport.

Additionally, the existing 9/27 runway, at 2,800 feet the shortest of the airport’s three runways, according to an FAA diagram, will be repurposed.

“The infrastructure in the surrounding area is too strong for this plot of land to be vacant,” Stan Conway, Majestic executive vice president & board member, said in a prepared statement. He noted the site’s easy access from I-285, I-20 and Fulton Industrial Boulevard.

The Atlanta industrial market is seeing tightening vacancies (down to 10.3 percent in the third quarter), and even with 14 million square feet currently under construction, that is not expected to drop noticeably, according to a third quarter report from CBRE. Meanwhile, net absorption is on track to surpass the 17.5 million square feet taken up in 2015.

The average asking rental rate for the Atlanta industrial market is $4.13 per square foot, a year-over-year increase of 7.0 percent.