Drugstore giant Rite Aid is scouting the Northeast Atlanta market for space that could accommodate a nearly 1M SF distribution center. 

The potential deal is part of Rite Aid's hunt along the I-85 corridor between the southern end of North Carolina and Northern Georgia, an effort that would consolidate three smaller distribution centers—in Tuscaloosa, Charlotte, and West Virginia—that comprise its southeast footprint, says Rite Aid spokesperson Ashley Flower. “The capital required to upgrade and modernize these existing distribution centers, each of which is more than 30 years old, would be cost-prohibitive,” Rite Aid officials stated in April. Jones Lang LaSalle is leading the search. Rite Aid is among several big names with big requirements hitting Atlanta that have developers like Majestic Realty's Stan Conway ( picture below catching his latest big fish) moving forward on spec.

This will be Rite Aid's first new distribution facility in 15 years, and is scheduled to open “sometime in 2016,” officials say. A handful of massive industrial deals floating the market has developers and brokers bullish in Atlanta for the first time in years. Most recently, Walmart announced plans to develop a 1M SF e-commerce facility with Majestic Realty (we reported here). And sources told us that NAI Brannen Goddard trio Mike Chambers, Brad Pope and Jack Haden are representing Colgate-Palmolive in a 1M SF warehouse search to consolidate overflow space (at 2501 Rock Springs Road, here). Officials with NAI/BG did not return calls seeking comment.

The pipeline is like the starting pistol for the latest spec development cycle in Atlanta, as we reported here yesterday. Majestic Realty's Stan Conway (catching yet another big fish) confirmed to us that his firm is moving forward on a 1M SF spec warehouse at Majestic Airport Center IV—behind the coming Walmart facility. “We've quoted some users on that site already. And we're setting it up like it's a build-to-suit,” he says. Expandable to 1.2M SF and with 500 truck trailer spaces, Stan says it's part of a five-building lineup in Atlanta for 2015, including 325k SF at Golden Park in Buford, a 175k SF facility off Highway 92 in Cherokee, and another two facilities totaling 255k SF at Majestic Airport Center III.