Roberts Realty Buys Land From Sister Company for $15M-Plus

Roberts Realty paid Roberts Properties Peachtree Dunwoody LLC $15.7 million or $1.6 million per acre ($36.63 per sf). The price was the highest Roberts has paid for land since the first of the year when the firm purchased separate parcels from Cousins Properties Inc. and another sister company, Roberts Properties Peachtree Parkway LP.

The Peachtree Dunwoody property is zoned for a mixed-use development of 120 condominium units, 236 apartment units, 210,000 sf of office space and 56,000 sf of retail. "We plan to develop the apartments and condominiums ourselves and involve a joint-venture partner to develop the office and retail space," says company founder and chairman Charles S. Roberts.

"With over 70,000 people living within three miles of the property and shopping anchored by the prestigious [1.4-million-sf] Perimeter Center Mall, this is an exceptional in-fill development opportunity" for Roberts Realty Investors, Roberts says.

Roberts Properties Peachtree Dunwoody LLC bought the site in 1999, spent two years winning a rezoning request and another year defending the rezoning in a homeowners' lawsuit against Fulton County. "Since the sale of our Preston Oaks apartment community, which was our best performing property for many years, we have been eager to re-enter the Perimeter Center area," Roberts says.

He calls the Perimeter Center submarket "one of the most dynamic office, retail and housing markets in the Southeastern United States. It is Atlanta's largest employment center outside of Downtown and is comprised of more than 27 million sf of office space." Roberts says the Perimeter Center submarket has over 100,000 jobs and is projected to have over 180,000 jobs in the next 20 years.

The Peachtree Dunwoody land purchase marks "the third outstanding acquisition which redeploys the proceeds from the sale of St. Andrews at the Polo Club, located in Palm Beach, FL, into new development assets as part of a Section 1031 tax-deferred exchange," Roberts says. "Combined with our land on Northbridge Parkway, the company now has investments in land with entitlements for 748 apartment units and 229 condominium units."

In an earlier land acquisition, as GlobeSt.com previously reported, Roberts Realty Investors acquired a strategically located 29.5-acre tract from Cousins Properties Inc. for $5.9 million, or an average $199,457 per acre ($4.58 per sf), in the north Atlanta submarket of Alpharetta.

In a separate transaction, Roberts purchased an 82% undivided interest in 23.5 acres in north Atlanta for $7.8 million, or about $330,617 per acre ($7.59 per sf), from Roberts Properties Peachtree Parkway LP. Charles S. Roberts controls all of the Roberts-branded companies.