Amid warehouse surge, two huge ones set for Buford
A Pennsylvania-based industrial and office developer said Monday it plans to build a new industrial park near the junction of I-85 and I-985 in Gwinnett County.
It’s the latest sign of the surge in warehousing and distribution around the region since the Great Recession. Increased consumer spending and corporate investment, along with the growth at Georgia ports, have helped stimulate the need for new distribution space.
Liberty Property Trust said its new Liberty Business Center will be located on 38 acres along Gravel Spring Road in Buford. The project will include two warehouse buildings totaling about 355,000 square feet, according to a news release.
Companies filled up — or “absorbed” — about 17.3 million square feet of space last year, and they gobbled up about 9.4 million square feet through the first six months of 2015, according to CBRE Research, the data crunching arm of real estate services firm CBRE.
That rate of absorption for the first half of 2015 is the highest for any January-June period in past 15 years, CBRE Research said in its second quarter report.
“The amount of industrial product under construction in Atlanta is unprecedented. No other quarter in Atlanta’s history has experienced higher activity than the 18 million square feet currently under construction,” the report said.
About the Author
J. Scott Trubey is the senior editor over business, climate and environment coverage at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He previously served as a business reporter for the AJC covering banking, real estate and economic development. He joined the AJC in 2010.
