Atlanta– Riverside at Sweetwater Creek, a 309-acre corporate business park in Douglasville, Ga., west of Atlanta, has closed the sale of 112 acres to industrial parts supplier McMaster-Carr. The company, which currently occupies buildings in Northwest Atlanta, will consolidate operations in a new 700,000-square-foot corporate campus that will serve as an e-commerce fulfillment center for the products it supplies to manufacturing plants and commercial facilities across the globe.
McMaster-Carr has received city approval to expand the building to 1 million square feet. Groundwork for the 700,000-square-foot build-to-suit facility has begun and general contractor Holder Construction Company will start construction by the end of September and complete development in about 18 months. Lord Aeck and Sargent is the project architect.
CBRE’s Mark Hawks and Scott McGregor represented Riverside at Sweetwater’s owner, NMR&G LLC, in the land acquisition. Sim Doughtie of King Industrial Realty Inc. represented McMaster-Carr. The business park’s development partners include Charles Brewer, Sam Hatcher and Ron Orr.
“We’re very selective about the businesses we are working to bring to our community, so it’s exciting that a company of the caliber of McMaster-Carr has decided to build a 700,000-square-foot corporate campus and bring 600 employees to Douglasville,” said Douglasville Mayor Harvey Persons. “I believe we have one of the premier places in America to live, work and play, and I think this validates Douglasville’s strengths.”
He added: “It was a true team effort on the part of the City of Douglasville, the developers and a lot of people working together to make it happen.”
In addition to the 600 employees that will relocate to the new corporate campus, the company expects to add approximately 200 employees over the next several years. Riverside at Sweetwater Creek can accommodate an additional 1.5 million square feet of space for distribution, e-commerce, high-tech and other business operations.
“McMaster-Carr will be an ideal anchor for Riverside at Sweetwater Creek,” said Ron Orr. “As the site of the company’s regional order fulfillment operations, the business park will accommodate the company’s ongoing growth. At the same time, the local economy will benefit from McMaster-Carr’s presence for years to come.”
Riverside at Sweetwater Creek will provide a wooded setting as a backdrop to McMaster-Carr’s state-of-the-art e-commerce fulfillment center, which will be notable for its energy-efficient glass exterior. The building will feature 80,000 square feet of office space and will be in walking distance to the 2,500-acre Sweetwater Creek State Park, accessible via trails established by the developer.
“McMaster-Carr’s decision to establish its regional corporate campus at Riverside at Sweetwater Creek is great news for Douglasville,” said Jeff Noles, Director of Development Services for the Douglasville Development Authority. “The company is known for providing well-paying, high-quality jobs. We look forward to the company’s relocation to Douglasville and the prospect of the new jobs the company plans to create over the long-term.”
Located off of Riverside Parkway in Douglasville, Riverside at Sweetwater Creek provides convenient access to all of Atlanta’s major interstates. McMaster-Carr also benefits from the business park’s proximity to United Parcel Service and FedEx Corp. logistics centers.
About McMaster-Carr
McMaster-Carr is a private, family-owned supplier to industrial and commercial facilities worldwide, specializing in next day delivery of maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) materials and supplies. Based in Elmhurst, IL, the company has distribution operations in Robbinsville, NJ; Sante Fe Springs, CA, Atlanta, GA, and Cleveland, OH. McMaster maintains over 510,000 products in its catalog. McMaster-Carr offers a collection of mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and utility hardware not usually located from a single source.
About Riverside at Sweetwater Creek
Riverside at Sweetwater Creek business park consists of 309 acres that will contain up to 2.5 million square feet of space at build out. Surrounded by Sweetwater State Park with over a mile of frontage on Riverside Parkway, the business park provides access to exceptional infrastructure, including a strong fiber-optic network and triple electric redundancy. With its proximity to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and access to Atlanta’s educational, business and cultural infrastructure, Riverside at Sweetwater Creek is ideally suited for corporate relocation, e-commerce facilities and data centers. With the recent naming of Jeff Noles as Development Services Director and the leadership of new mayor Harvey Persons, Douglasville offers a business-friendly environment.