Weingarten Buys Trophy Sears Ctr.

ATLANTA-It was a big deal in 1996 when Trammell Crow Co. and Boston-based TA Associates bought the high-tech former Whirlpool Distribution Center in Southside Industrial Park from Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Co. for $20 million. And it was just as big a deal this week when Houston-based Weingarten Realty Investors acquired the trophy 403,000-sf, 100%-leased property from TA.

The Houston-based REIT wouldn’t disclose the purchase price of the property, known as the Sears Distribution Center for the last six years. But area industrial brokers familiar with the submarket at State Road 54 and Interstate 285 tell GlobeSt.com the 13-year-old, 20-acre asset probably sold for about $20 million or $50 per sf, almost a third less than its replacement cost.

Area construction industry estimators tell GlobeSt.com the center, with a $10 million sprinkler system considered to be the most advanced in the Southeast, couldn’t be replaced today for less than $125 per sf or about $50 million. The building at 3700 Southside Industrial Way has 30-foot-clear ceiling height; 108 dock-high loading doors; and ample trailer parking.