Published: February 08, 2006 07:03 pm      

IDA discusses marketing of Hwy 36 land

Real estate company sees potential for tract

At a called meeting of the Butts County Board of Commissioners in late December, members of the Industrial Development Authority Board spoke with the commissioners regarding funding sources and marketing plans for the development authority; the BOC had expressed interest in funding the majority of the IDA’s budget in fiscal year 2007. That evening, the IDA also told the commissioners of its plan to obtain a $100,000 loan to fund itself through June 30, 2006, which is the beginning of fiscal year 2007.

Both the loan and county funding were welcome news to the IDA, which was in the peculiar position of having a surplus of assets, but lacking a taker to liquidate them. As the IDA is actively interviewing companies for possible marketing of its assets, a big conversion could be on the horizon.

The most significant IDA asset is the 298-acre tract located off Highway 36 West. Purchased in 2003, the tract spreads over three counties: Lamar, Spalding, and Butts, with the majority of the land – 186.10 acres – falling inside the Butts County line. The acreage includes the northern part of High Falls Lake where the Towaliga River feeds into the lake, and is partially bordered on the west by Short Road.

At a called workshop by the IDA this past Thursday morning, the board met with Wit Truitt and Chip Watson of Trammell Crow, a commercial real estate company in Atlanta, to discuss the marketing of the site.

“Consider Atlanta: everything keeps moving further and further out,” said Truitt, sitting in the conference room of the Hawkes Building. “Land is hard to come by, therefore the big box style distribution is hard to come by. We feel this market still has some play, but [developers] are running out of land; they’re are already some moving further down I-75.

“I like the [298-tract] site a lot,” said Truitt. “We don’t see it as something someone’s going to build on immediately, but it’s likely that within two or three years that it could be ready for a spec building. We think the product would have to be absorbed before a spec building is put down, but that doesn’t preclude a build-to-suit construction.”

“Since you were involved in the Solo Cup site [in Social Circle], tell me about the differences between that site, and our site,” said IDA Board Vice Chairman Pam Browning.

“This site is better that the Solo Cup site. It was on the I-20 East corridor; they wanted to keep their labor base,” said Truitt. “Typically, you wouldn’t look at the I-20 East corridor as a distribution corridor. Northwest access is where the majority of the traffic is.”

“Are there already people that you would show the site to?” asked Browning.

“Yes. Chip and I don’t just do land: we go after deals. But, it’s very important to incorporate local officials into these deals,” said Truitt. “As far as marketing strategy goes, I’ve already contacted some large developers, and they are always contacting me because they are running out of land. Some say it’s too far down to build; others say it’s interesting and that they might buy today and hold the property. The biggest factor is the cost of the land.

“When we do the marketing, we talk to developers,” said Truitt. “It’s a large site for them; they may want to take it down in chunks and pay your debt service. Initially, we would contact people in Atlanta and tell them that we have a great site that’s right off of the interstate and within one day’s drive from Miami. Then you’re going to look and see how you can lay out the buildings.”

“Would you separate the lakefront property from the rest of the tract?” asked IDA Board Member George Weaver.

“I would carve that on out,” said Truitt. “There’s probably more value there in the residential.”

“You don’t think that residential would be precluded?” asked IDA Board Member Bruce Bartholomew.

“I would hope not,” said Truitt. “You would have to have a buffer. But, right on the lake: that’s beautiful property.

“I can’t stress enough though, from experience, when you’re coming in here, you’ve got to have the support of the county – all the factions in it; you want everyone behind it. With the Solo Cup project, different [county] entities were involved. I’m not sure how the money was split, but it was a joint operation; for example, roadwork wasn’t done so there had to be another road put in, which the county paid for. Projects depend on lots of different things, and you’ve got to have involvement from everyone,” said Truitt.

“I’m really interested to see what surrounding counties do to attract industry,” said Browning.

“Well, the Solo Cup deal was brought about to attract industry; and that’s just what it did,” said Truitt.

Truitt, Watson and the Board then discussed proposals, and contract and listing agreements, and commission. Truitt explained that if the IDA decided to go with Trammell Crow, they would then launch into a full marketing effort.

“If there’s someone you’re thinking about for this property, we’re going to get on their doorstep and say, ‘look, you need to buy this thing because we’re gong to be marketing it to the world now,’” said Truitt. “There’s so much moving out there now; telling someone that buying [the 298-acre tract] now means a three year hold means nothing.”

“There is something I want to get back to,” said IDA Board Chairman Bill Jones. “Let’s say it’s your site; do you split off residential and use the rest for industrial?”

“Yes,” said Truitt. “You can only use so much for industrial. We have to look at depths for the truck courts and buffers will have to be put in.”

“And the property overlays three different counties,” said Jones.

“None of these things are easy,” said Truitt. “But we’re used to complicated issues. An engineer is going to have to really look at it and study it.”

“The layout was driven by the type interest expressed in this area; the developers played to the market, you see,” said Jones.

“What about a time frame?” asked Bruce Bartholomew. “Do you hit the ground running, or does it take four to six weeks to put it together?”

“We start calling people – multitasking – putting together marketing packages. But packages don’t sell buildings; people sell buildings,” said Truitt. “And we’ve already talked with people just to take the temperature. The big seller is already there: the site is right on the interstate.”

The Board thanked Truitt and Watson for their presentation, and said that they would be in touch.