JLL Income Property Trust Buys Atlanta Industrial Property for $31 Million
JLL Income Property Trust purchased Mason Mill Distribution Center in the Atlanta suburb of Buford, Georgia for approximately $31 million.
JLL Income Property Trust, an institutionally managed, perpetual life REIT (NASDAQ: ZIPTAX; ZIPTMX; ZIPIAX; ZIPIMX), has purchased Mason Mill Distribution Center, a newly-constructed 340,000 square-foot Class A industrial property in the Atlanta suburb of Buford, Georgia, for approximately $31 million.
Mason Mill Distribution Center is a state-of-the-art distribution facility with 32-foot ceilings, LED lighting, a cross-dock design, air conditioning and 376 parking spots.
The property is fully leased to a publicly-traded global pharmaceutical distribution company through 2027. The tenant invested heavily in the property which is a mission critical facility servicing the southeast region.
“We are pleased to add this high-quality industrial property to our portfolio, as we increase exposure to core assets in high-barrier-to-entry markets,” said Allan Swaringen, president and CEO of JLL Income Property Trust. “The fundamental tailwinds benefitting the industrial real estate sector are numerous, and we expect to continue to capture upside associated with this trend as long as it continues. This investment brings our aggregate industrial allocation to nearly $560 million and nearly six million square feet, and represents 23 percent of the value of the overall JLL Income Property Trust portfolio.”
Atlanta is the largest economy in the Southeast U.S. and the region’s hub for finance, commerce, communications, transportation, education and cultural activity. The population of Atlanta is expected to grow by an average of 2.1 percent annually over the next five years according to economy.com, indicating the current growth rate among industrial tenants attracted to the local consumer base should continue.
The northeast submarket where Mason Mill Distribution Center is located is Atlanta’s largest and has historically been the favorite of institutional investors and tenants. This area has higher barriers to entry due to topography, few available developable land sites, and the increased resistance by municipalities to permit industrial development, which is curtailing new starts compared to other adjacent submarkets.
Jones Lang LaSalle Income Property Trust owns and manages a portfolio of office, retail, industrial and apartment properties located primarily in the United States. Since 2012, the company has raised a total of approximately $1.5 billion through its ongoing public and various private offerings, as well as its distribution reinvestment plan, according to Summit Investment Research. As of September 30, 2017, the REIT’s $2.2 billion portfolio consisted of 69 properties.
