ATLANTA-Locally based Home Depot has picked up a bargain real estate deal with the acquisition of three 30-year-old office buildings totaling 198,400 sf at the 80%-leased Cumberland Office Park for $17 million or about $85.69 per sf. The sellers were Dallas-based Granite Properties and locally based Pope & Land Enterprises.
Granite managing partner Steve Martin, who represented his firm in the deal, tells GlobeSt.com estimated replacement cost of the three buildings is about $140 per sf, "so the sale was far below current replacement cost." Brokers Randy Merrill and Brent Woodruff of CB Richard Ellis Inc.'s Atlanta office negotiated for Home Depot.
Home Depot needs the additional space for expanding various divisions, including its merchandising and field operations, retail brokers familiar with the deal tell GlobeSt.com. For Home Depot, the transaction was a follow up on a deal the retailer had struck with the building's owners in fourth quarter 2004, the CBRE brokers tell GlobeSt.com.
The buildings are on the east side of Interstate 285, less than a mile from Home Depot's corporate headquarters in suburban Vinings. The retailer had leased 91,800 sf at 2690 Cumberland Parkway and 73,500 sf at 2580 Cumberland Parkway with options to buy the two buildings, along with the 33,100-sf 2600 Cumberland Parkway buildings.
Granite and Pope & Land acquired Cumberland Office Park from Prentiss Properties Trust in July 2003 for $40 million, as GlobeSt.com previously reported. The park "has been a great investment for us and, with its proximity to its corporate headquarters, is a perfect fit for Home Depot's growth plans as well," says Martin. Home Depot has 1925 stores nationwide.
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