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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.