JV Acquires Marietta Business Park for $10M

ATLANTA-Locally based Ackerman & Co and First Colony Financial Corp. have partnered to purchase Johnson Square Office Park, a 121,000-sf business park in the suburban Marietta. The property was acquired from Abrams Property for $10.3 million, or approximately $85 per sf, according to First Colony Tony Swann and Brad Simmell with CB Richard Ellis represented the seller in the transaction.

“It was an opportunity for us to acquire a property at a price significantly below replacement cost in a niche market,” Karen Dick, executive vice president of brokerage for Ackerman and president of the Atlanta Commercial Board of Realtors, tells GlobeSt.com. “It’s in East Cobb (County), which is an affluent neighborhood not accessible by the interstate, that is supply constrained in terms of office. It will always be a small eclectic market.”

The Marietta/Kennesaw submarket consists of 2.1 million sf of inventory at a 15.4% vacancy rate, according to a Grubb & Ellis second quarter market report. Another 75,000-sf are under construction with average class A asking rents at $21.69 and class B asking rents at $18.69, says the report.