McDONOUGH, GA-In its first industrial venture and after two years of negotiations, Cousins Properties Inc. has signed locally based Snapper Products to a 287,400-sf lease in the first 417,400-sf phase of its spec-built King Mill Distribution Park. The 2.9-million-sf distribution park is being built in three phases in this southeastern Atlanta suburb.
A Cousins representative declined to disclose the length and value of the transaction. However, area industrial brokerage sources tell GlobeSt.com the lease at the under-construction building is probably for 10 years at an effective rent of $2.50 per sf. That would place the estimated aggregate value of the lease at a little more than $7 million, local brokers tell GlobeSt.com.
"After two years of hard work, it's a thrill to sign that first lease at King Mill," Forrest Robinson, president of Cousins' Industrial Division, says in a prepared statement. "We said from the start that we needed to have this building under construction in order to capitalize on the fast-moving opportunities available in today's market." Cousins formed its Industrial Division in 2004 with locally based Weeks Properties as a partner.
Robinson says Cousins/Weeks has broken ground on the second spec-built, 379,050-sf building at King Mill Distribution Park and expects to have the structure completed by fall. The partnership is also planning a third building with up to 900,000 sf but hasn't set a ground-breaking date.
"It's too early to start construction on the third building but Henry County has a history of attracting massive space requirements and we need to be prepared to start quickly," Robinson adds. King Mill sits on 182 acres at the intersection of Highway 42/23 at King Mill Road in McDonough. Earlier this year, Cousins acquired 304 acres in Jackson County, northeast of Atlanta, for its second industrial park, Jefferson Mill Business Park, as GlobeSt.com previously reported.
Snapper plans to occupy its space at King Mill Distribution Park by early summer and use it as the main distribution center for a nearby Snapper manufacturing facility. The 112-year-old company, started as Southern Saw Works, introduced the industry's first self-propelled rotary lawn mower in 1951. Snapper is a division of the Yard Power Products Group of Briggs & Stratton Corp.
Trammell Crow brokers Adam Richards and Jim Bob Taylor negotiated for Snapper. Bob Currie of Cousins represented Cousins/Weeks.
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