Roberts Pays Cousins Nearly $6M for 29 Acres

At about the same time, Roberts Realty purchased an 82% undivided interest in 23.5 acres in north Atlanta for $7.8 million, or about $330,617 per acres, from Roberts Properties Peachtree Parkway LP, a partnership owned and controlled by Charles S. Roberts, the company's CEO. The Cousins' tract equates to $4.58 per sf; the Roberts Properties parcel, $7.59 per sf.

Although Roberts, the REIT's founder, didn't spell out what his company has planned for the acquired sites, area industrial brokers in a position to know tell GlobeSt.com the near-future planned projects will probably be multi-million-dollar apartments or condominiums.

The tract Roberts acquired from Cousins is between Haynes Bridge Road and Mansell Road within a 220-acre, master-planned development known as Westside. The acquisition is part of a Section 1031 tax-deferred exchange. Roberts Realty used a portion of the proceeds from the July sale of the company's St. Andrews at the Polo Club community in Palm Beach, FL.

The 29 acres are on Westside Parkway, directly across GA 400 from the North Point Mall and Office Park and is adjacent to a proposed Marta rail station. Roberts says Cousins' Westside is "a new upscale, mixed-use development which will be comprised of condominiums, office space, retail, university education and retirement housing." Westside will also include Encore Park for the Arts, a 27-acre arts complex with a performing arts center and a 12,000-seat amphitheater.

The land Roberts Realty purchased from sister company Roberts Properties is located in Gwinnett County on Peachtree Parkway at the intersection of Peachtree Corners Circle and across the street from the fashionable Forum Shopping Center. Charles Roberts says the land is zoned for the development of 292 apartment units.

"The acquisition of this 23.5 acres for $7.8 million and the 29 acres for $5.9 million in the Cousins Properties' Westside development, which total $13.7 million, is consistent with our previously announced plan of redeploying $36 million in debt and equity from the sale of St. Andrews at the Polo Club in Palm Beach, FL into new assets as part of a Section 1031 tax-deferred exchange."

Roberts Realty Investors Inc. invests in multifamily residential, office and retail properties in Atlanta, Charlotte, NC and Palm Beach, FL. The National Association of Real Estate Investments Trusts Inc. placed Roberts Realty Investors at the top of its list of best-performing REITs for 2004.