Developer plans industrial park near Atlanta larger than Lenox Square mall
A national developer’s bullish outlook on the Atlanta industrial market could result in one of the region’s largest new warehouse projects.
Bridge Logistics Properties requested a state infrastructure review Wednesday for a planned 1.7 million square foot industrial park in city of South Fulton. The warehouse project, which is in preliminary planning stages, would include more floor space than Lenox Square mall in Buckhead.
The developer, also known as BLP, has been growing its presence in metro Atlanta, recently acquiring 1.6 million square feet of warehouses in McDonough. The developer’s plan for new construction in South Fulton comes as the region’s industrial sector grapples with trade disruptions and a growing amount of vacant space following a warehouse boom that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic.
BLP, which is a subsidiary of Bridge Investment Group Holdings, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The new industrial park is slated for a roughly 83-acre site along Fulton Industrial Boulevard near Campbellton Road, according to a Development of Regional Impact filing. Other details are scant in the filing, which triggers a required state infrastructure review for large projects before local leaders can consider rezoning or permit requests.
The project site’s parcels are currently zoned for commercial and residential use and would need the South Fulton City Council to rezone for the industrial project. If approved, BLP estimated it will complete the project by January 2028.
Reginald McClendon, the city’s managing director of community development and regulatory affairs, said the rezoning application has not been scheduled. “We will have more information in a few weeks,” he wrote in an email.
Atlanta’s market for rentable industrial space has recently slowed down after more than a decade of record growth.
The region in the second quarter posted its first period of negative net absorption — a measure of whether a sector is growing or shrinking — since 2011, according to real estate services firm CBRE. It rebounded into the green for the third quarter.
Atlanta’s nation-leading data center market, a niche segment of industrial space designed to house computer servers, has similarly seen its construction figures balloon over the past two years. But while demand for computer storage space has yet to skip a beat, the same can’t be said for logistics warehouses and rentable manufacturing space.
The region’s industrial vacancy rate has increased to 9%, more than double what it was in 2022, according to CBRE.
Real estate experts credit the downward turn, even if brief, to economic uncertainty and trade wars that gave industrial tenants pause before signing leases. It’s also taking time for tenants to lease up all of the new warehouses built around metro Atlanta in recent years, which has slowed down the number of new projects.
BLP, however, is cutting against that trend. And it’s been aggressive in expanding its Atlanta area portfolio.
In August, BLP acquired two fully leased warehouses in McDonough at an undisclosed price.
“The transaction marks a strategic investment of capital into one of Atlanta’s most resilient logistics hubs at a time of tariff-driven dislocation and broader macroeconomic uncertainty,” the company said in a news release at the time.
Connor Tamlyn, managing director of BLP, added, “This acquisition highlights our thesis for investing at the intersection of supply chain infrastructure and rapidly expanding population centers.”
About the Author
Zachary Hansen, a Georgia native, covers economic development and commercial real estate for the AJC. He's been with the newspaper since 2018 and enjoys diving into complex stories that affect people's lives.
