Cobalt Capital Buys Industrial Portfolio

The class A buildings, located at 4125 Buford Highway and 3270, 3280 and 3290 Summit Ridge, are 100% leased and include a small amount of office space. Major tenants include PBD Inc. in 173,360 square feet, Masonite Corp. in 100,800 square feet and National Gypsum Co. in 142,800 square feet.

CB Richard Ellis executive vice presidents Frank Fallon and Chris Riley, along with associate Brian Budnick, represented DCT Industrial in the transaction. "They owned the property for a number of years and decided it was time to sell," Fallon tells GlobeSt.com. "This was a very clean transaction—an all-cash deal," he says, adding that core transactions such as this one are still happening in Metro Atlanta despite the economic slowdown and capital markets freeze.

Lew Friedland, managing partner at Irving, TX-based Cobalt, says the properties allowed the company to expand its Atlanta-area portfolio. Through two private REITs, Cobalt owns over 3.5 million square feet in Atlanta and 24 million square feet across the country in 15 markets, he tells GlobeSt.com. DCT's portfolio fit the REITs' focus on light industrial property, described as multitenanted space under 250,000 square feet in size with a low percentage of office space.

"We bought this portfolio at an attractive price," he reveals. "We tend to acquire property below replacement cost, and this was at a fairly large discount to replacement cost and lower than recent comparable sales in the area." Friedland tells GlobeSt.com that despite the slowed investment sales market, the REIT manager still has access to equity and debt capital. "We're being very selective and buying high quality properties, such as these, that have the opportunity to add value as leases roll over in the next few years."