[ALERT] Atlanta Firm Acquires 31 Acre Perimeter Pointe Shopping Center

Perimeter Pointe, an expansive, well-located shopping center, has been sold.  Situated at the intersection of Mount Vernon Highway, Perimeter Center West, and Abernathy Road in Sandy Springs, the roughly 31 acre property had been on the market since 2023 and finally sold as of December 31.  

SITE Centers Corp. (NYSE: SITC), a publicly traded REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust), sold the roughly 360,000 square foot center for approximately $48 million, according to a release from the company.  

The center has several large vacancies, including big boxes previously occupied by Babies R Us, Stein Mart, and Michaels, which together total nearly 100,000 square feet, but those are likely to be replaced by a new multifamily residential development, according to several industry sources.  

The sales listing describes the vacancies as "±8.6 acres of land entitled for a repositioning and the addition of significant future density."

Kroger had reportedly expressed interest in opening a large-format store in the center several years ago, but a deal never materialized.  ToNeTo Atlanta reported in November that the grocer plans to open a new large-format store in most of the former Walmart along Ashford Dunwoody Road in nearby Dunwoody.  

While the sales price was made public, the buyer was not, but ToNeTo Atlanta has confirmed the buyer to be Atlanta-based investment firm The Ardent Companies.   

According to the Ardent website: "Ardent has acquired 11.8 million square feet of commercial space in $1.4 billion of transactions. Currently, Ardent manages a commercial portfolio of 5.6 million square feet with $1.5 billion in assets under management."

In Atlanta, the firm's past and current holdings include 1010 Midtown in Midtown, Piedmont Center in Buckhead, 3321 Lenox Road (former Houston's) in Buckhead, and West Midtown Center in West Midtown.  

Perimeter Pointe is currently anchored by Dick’s Sporting Goods, LA Fitness, ROAM, Office Depot, Five Below, and a ten-screen Regal Cinemas movie theater.  Perimeter Pointe is also home to freestanding outparcel locations of Chick-fil-A and Wendy's.  

ToNeTo Atlanta reported in late 2019 that popular regional grocer Wegmans had an LOI (Letter of Intent) on an 80,000 square foot space in the center.  The grocer was quick to deny their intentions with little movement thereafter. In the time since, and in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Wegmans, which is based in Rochester, New York, has continued its push south with four locations now open in North Carolina, but it called off a previously planned store at Fenton, a new mixed-use development in Cary, North Carolina. 

According to the SITE Centers website, the Perimeter Pointe Trade Area (10 minute drive time) includes a population of 170,000 with 77,000 households, and an average household income (HHI) of $116,000.  The center is located in a market with high barriers to entry, leading CBRE, who handled the sale, to say:  "The opportunity to acquire real estate of this magnitude with the future upside potential rarely presents itself."  

SITE Centers, previously known as DDR, has in recent years adopted a strategy that has involved the sale of the majority of its legacy power centers while acquiring smaller, neighborhood strip centers.  In 2024, the company completed the spinoff of its neighborhood strip center business into Curbline (NYSE: CURB).    

In metro Atlanta, this effort has led to the dispositions of Douglasville Pavilion in Douglasville, Brookhaven Plaza in Brookhaven, Barrett Pavilion in Kennesaw, and Cofer Crossing in Tucker, among other transactions.  The company's last remaining grocery-anchored center in the Atlanta area is Towne Center Prado in Marietta, anchored by Publix.  (SITE operates just 19 centers nationwide but has indicated that it plans to sell all of them by the end of 2026.)   

Curbline has in recent years acquired more two dozen neighborhood strip centers including: Hammond Springs at the corner of Hammond Drive and Roswell Road in Sandy Springs, Parkwood Shops along Powers Ferry Road in Atlanta, Alpha Soda Center on Haynes Bridge Road near Old Milton Parkway in Alpharetta, Brookhaven Station on Peachtree Road in Brookhaven, Barrett Corners on Barrett Parkway in Kennesaw and Shoppes of Crabapple along Crabapple Road in Alpharetta.  In total, the company owns 27 strip centers around the state, making it the largest market for Curbline by asset count.  

What would you like to see open at Perimeter Pointe?  What is your fondest memory of Perimeter Pointe?  What upcoming Perimeter area opening are you most looking forward to?

Please share your thoughts below.