The Georgia Aquarium has acquired another downtown tract —- this one from Sid Williams' Life Foundation.

The aquarium paid $5.35 million for 1.1 acres on Luckie Street opposite the attraction's parking garage. The land is across Simpson Street from where the Hard Rock Hotel and Residences is supposed to go.

Williams founded the Marietta chiropractic school Life University.

The aquarium bought the land to further Bernie Marcus' desire to revitalize downtown and doesn't have any immediate development plans, aquarium spokesman Dave Santucci said. Marcus, co-founder of Home Depot, funded most of the aquarium.

"Whether it is fish-related or not, we want something that attracts people to downtown Atlanta to go into this space and ensure it isn't still a flat parking lot in five years," Santucci said.

Burt Epstein of John Hunsinger & Co. and Rich Arroll of RJA Properties brokered the deal.

Late last year, the aquarium paid $3 million for a half-acre at Ivan Allen Boulevard and Marietta Street. The aquarium, the World of Coke and Centennial Olympic Park have all sparked redevelopment downtown. On Tuesday, the Peasant Bistro opened on Park Avenue near the aquarium.

ON THE MARKET

The Shops at Silver Comet —- home to Starbucks, Smyrna Bicycles and several other retailers —- is for sale for $6.5 million.

Craig Taylor of CB Richard Ellis is the broker. The building is 16,150 square feet, which works out to $404.77 per square foot.

> The Franklin Plaza shopping center in Marietta is on the market for $10.8 million.

The two buildings, totaling 72,529 square feet, are fully occupied. Andy Sutton of Lynx Real Estate is the broker.

> Be a homeowner, 486 times over.

The Westminster Square garden apartment complex in Marietta is priced at $37 million. With 486 units, Westminster Square costs $76,131 per apartment.

The property is west of the I-75 and Windy Hill Road interchange. Bo Brown of Brown Realty Advisors is the broker.

COMING UP

ULI Atlanta is sponsoring the discussion "How Restaurants Affect the Value of Your Real Estate" Wednesday from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at Trois Restaurant, 1180 Peachtree St.

Friday is the deadline to register; go to www.uli.org/register/index.cfm?id=3316.

For more information go to www.uli.org/events/index.cfm?id=3316 or call 1-800-321-5011.

TODAY'S BIG NUMBER: $12.8

In millions, what apartment developer Amli Residential paid for 6.75 acres in Alpharetta. The seller was GE Real Estate Equities.

Source: Databank

TRANSACTIONS

A Tempe, Ariz., company that helps investors defer capital gains taxes has bought Perimeter Place Business Park in Doraville.

Sun 1031 paid $8.5 million for the 102,000-square-foot building at 3988-4064 Flowers Road.

The company sells up to 24 ownership stakes in a property after making upgrades. The owners share the rental income.

Just as important, they use the 1031 tax-deferred exchange to put all their sales proceeds into the new property rather than pay taxes. They do that by making their purchase within a narrow time frame.

The 13-year-old building is 97 percent leased; tenants include Fortune-Johnson and Focus Brands.

Gary Lee, Andrew Murphy and Mark Joines of Carter represented the seller, Flowers Perimeter LLC.

> IDI (Industrial Developments International) has purchased 257 acres in Monroe County in central Georgia to develop up to 3 million square feet of distribution space.

The new business park, made up of four distribution centers, will be called Meridian 75 Logistics Center.

It's located at I-75 and Rumble Road, 15 miles north of Macon and 55 miles south of I-285 in Atlanta.

Atlanta-based IDI says pad-ready sites for buildings ranging from 200,000 square feet to over 1.2 million square feet should be ready by the third quarter, at which time construction on the first 500,000 square feet could begin.

Eventually, 1,000 to 1,500 people could work there, IDI says. The company bought the land from the Monroe County Development Authority.

> Shopping center developer Faison of Charlotte paid $5.5 million for 23.8 acres in Loganville, according to Databank.

That's $233,396 an acre. Faison also borrowed $33.5 million from Bank of America to fund construction, Databank says.

The project, called North Logan Commons, is at U.S. 78 and Oak Grove Road/Pecan Street. The former owner of the land was William Still of Loganville.

Databank says Still also sold 12.9 acres at the same location to Lowe's for $3 million.

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