Jewish School Cuts $10M Deal on Old Lucent Land Site

The Doris and Alex Weber Jewish Community School, an eight-year-old institution, triggered the conversion by selling a third of a 30-acre Lucent site it purchased in 2003 to Atlanta townhome developer Jolly Development. The $10-million deal, equating to $952,381 per acre or $21.86 per sf, will be added to the $10 million school supporters have already raised for the new 19.5-acre, 125,000-sf campus, sources tell GlobeSt.com.

Area industrial brokers tell GlobeSt.com the almost $1-million-per-acre price is one of the highest recorded in recent suburban land deals here.

Weber now houses 127 students in 11,000 sf of portable classrooms on Womack Road on the campus of the Marcus Jewish Community Center in suburban Dunwoody. The school, which focuses on the teachings of Judaism and offers college preparatory classes, anticipates the new campus will accommodate at least 400 students. The campus will also have a gymnasium, baseball diamond and soccer field. Annual student tuition is $14,850.

"The sale of this land was absolutely critical to our plans to move forward," says Arthur Tillem, president of Magellan Properties and member of the real estate committee for the Weber School. "This new facility will allow us to better serve our student and our community." Tillem commended Carter's assistance in finding a buyer for the 10.5-acre land portion of the 30-acre tract.

Jolly Development is demolishing three other former Lucent buildings on the 30-acre tract to make room for an undetermined number of new townhomes. Brokers Bruce Propst and Keith Guthrie of Carter negotiated the land deal for the Weber School. RJA Properties represented Jolly Development.