Land Swap Jumpstarts 1M-SF Corporate Office Park Plans

ALPHARETTA, GA-In a no-cash deal, Atlanta-based Barry Real Estate Cos. and Smyrna-based Thomas Enterprises have closed a 22-acre land swap in this Atlanta suburb where Barry plans to develop a 1.2-million-sf corporate office campus at the prime corner of GA 400 and Old Milton Parkway. The site is about 30 miles north of Downtown Atlanta.

Thomas plans to develop a multimillion-dollar mixed-use project, Prospect Park, on his land. Although neither party disclosed the aggregate value of the deal, area industrial brokers tell GlobeSt.com the dirt exchange is valued at an estimated $6.6 million or about $300,000 per acre ($6.88 per sf).

Barry Real Estate chairman Hal Barry confirms he has eyed the Thomas dirt for several years. “We envision this to be an excellent corporate headquarters location with unparalleled visibility and accessibility,” says Harvey Rudy, Barry Real Estate’s senior vice president of development. “This site is the perfect location for a corporate campus.” Although just announced, Rudy says the company already has heard from prospective corporate tenants interested in leasing a portion of the first building.

Under terms of the land exchange, developer Stan Thomas will build part of Westside Parkway that will connect Old Milton Parkway to Webb Bridge Road, a move that will improve access to Barry’s property, Rudy says. Roy Ashley & Associates are the landscape architects for the venture which doesn’t yet have a formal name.

The Barry project will be developed in phases over several years, Rudy says. The company will be submitting a new site plan to the city this summer. The dirt is already zoned for office and institutional use.

For Barry Real Estate, the Alpharetta project will increase the company’s track record of developing and renovating about 3.5 million sf of rentable office space in metro Atlanta over the 10 years of its corporate existence. Among the complete projects are two office buildings at Deerfield Point, a campus for Nortel Networks and a two-building complex that Barry leased to Cingular Wireless.

Barry Real Estate is currently completing the first and second phases of its estimated $2-billion, 1.2-million-sf, three-building Allen Plaza complex Downtown, as GlobeSt.com previously reported and with new stories on this page. The company has also been selected to develop a multimillion-dollar mixed-use project to help revitalized Alpharetta’s Downtown district.