Walmart is shopping for sites south of the city to develop a 1.2M SF e-commerce distribution center. (Too bad it just can't go to one of its stores and buy one off the shelf.)

Numerous sources tell us the country's largest retailer is eyeing sites in Henry and Coweta counties for a new DC to handle online sales. (It better get moving, too, because soon Amazon will have drones in the sky to compete with.) Among the sites being considered is the Shugart Farms property that Red Rock Developments' John Barker and Burke Holding's Bill Hare (above) have been marketing for a couple of years now; Prologis Park I-75; Pattillo's Coweta Industrial Park in Newnan; and an industrial site owned by Lambert Family Investments off of Kings Mill Road in McDonough. The deal is being fronted by Colliers International's Mike Spears, who did not return calls seeking comment.

This would be Walmart's second mammoth distribution center in metro Atlanta dedicated to Walmart.com sales. It already operates a nearly 1M SF warehouse  in Carrollton, built in 2002. And sources say the Henry County facility could eventually expand past the 1.2M SF mark. This comes at a time when Walmart's online sales have been exploding; the company has reported online sales jumping 30% even before Black Friday last year.