Heidelberg Plant Sold in $17.2M Sale/Leaseback

ATLANTA-In what area brokers tell GlobeSt.com may be the largest sale/leaseback of an industrial property in metro Atlanta in decades, Dallas-based Macfarlan Real Estate Investment Management has bought the nine-year-old, 176,000-sf printing press manufacturing plant and corporate headquarters in suburban Kennesaw, GA from Heidelberg USA Inc. for $17.2 million or $97.73 per sf.

Paul Severn and Todd Shutley of SunTrust Robinson Humphrey represented Heidelberg. Todd White and Jeff Ledyard of Macfarlan, and Steve Brookshire of Atlantic Financial Group, negotiated for Macfarlan.

Heidelberg is leasing the asset for 23 years at an undisclosed aggregate rent. However, area industrial brokers familiar with the property, tell GlobeSt.com the estimated value of the leaseback deal is at least $73 million, based on an average effective annual rent of $18 per sf. Using CB Richard Ellis Inc.’s yearend 2002 statistics, Macfarlan officials say the average asking rent in Atlanta’s northwest office market is $19.76 per sf.