Peter Greyling, vice president of locally based Richard Bowers & Co., and broker Joe Thorne negotiated for the seller. James Timothy White, a partner in the Atlanta law firm of Stites & Harbison, represented the buyer. The property runs from 1618 East Main St. through 3218 East Main St.

Greyling tells GlobeSt.com the asset was sold at a discount because of its age and "there are several vacancies that need to be filled." Still, the property is generating gross average rents of $6 to $15 per sf. Dollar General is the largest of the 20 current tenants. Tenant spaces range from 1,000 sf to 25,000 sf.

The deal was done at this time, Greyling says, because "there was a willing buyer and a winning seller." The transaction took three months to complete, from contract signing to closing. The property was on the market for three months.

"Both the size of the property and its proximity to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport made it a very attractive investment, even with the above-market financing it carried, which could not be prepaid," says White, the buyer's broker. Despite several pending vacancies, the age of the center and the required assumption of a conduit loan with "a relatively high fixed interest rate," White is confident his client made a prudent investment.

"We started looking at TriCities back in January," he says. "It is one of the few large contiguous retail parcels close to the airport with more than 126,000 sf of rentable space and good potential for upgrading the tenant mix," White tells GlobeSt.com. "We believe the area is just beginning to go through major changes and has great potential."