Atlanta's Industrial Tenants Get A Small, Possibly Brief Reprieve
Industrial tenants have taken back a little bit of power from warehouse landlords after years of skyrocketing rents in Metro Atlanta.

Metro Atlanta industrial property asking rents declined for the first time since the first quarter of 2013, to $7.32 per SF, CBRE reported. Vacancy is also at a decade high, with 8.4% of the region's nearly 754M SF available for rent, the largest proportion since 2015.
The slip in these two fundamentals is imparting bargaining power back to tenants who for years were accepting ever-increasing rents with little room for negotiation, CBRE said in the report. Landlords are responding by offering more concessions like free rent and better tenant improvement packages.
“I actually experienced that. I actually just signed a lease earlier this month, and we got a pretty good deal for that tenant. For the first time, we didn’t have to compete with another group,” Bull Realty Vice President Shoumic Khan said about his 15K SF client. “We had great options.”
Metro Atlanta industrial landlords have been riding high for years, and the e-commerce boom during the early pandemic only supercharged their growth. Landlords pushed rents from an average of $5.21 per SF in 2020 to $7.32 per SF at the end of 2024, according to CBRE.
While many landlords are staying firm on the rental rate, especially for newer Class-A warehouses, CBRE Executive Vice President Blaine Kelley said there is much more negotiating room for tenants than in the recent past.
“I’m a tenant rep guy and I still don’t like what I see in terms of concessions. But it is better,” Kelley said. “Three years ago, it was take a number if you want it.”
Ackerman & Co. industrial veteran Brett Buckner also said the pendulum has only barely swung in tenants’ direction.
“I don’t think tenants are necessarily in the driver’s seat, but I’ve noticed that landlords are willing to provide incentives such as free rent and a larger tenant improvement allowance. However, landlords are mainly holding firm on rental rates,” Buckner said.
KMT Partners Managing Partner Greg Boler, who began his industrial development firm last year, said he is thankful none of his pipeline of projects will deliver in 2025. But next year, the market should be more favorable for landlords, especially with Class-A warehouses, since construction of new facilities has dwindled. After delivering 21M SF last year, the lowest level in three years, developers have a decade-low 9.1M SF underway in Metro Atlanta, according to CBRE.
Boler said free rent ranges between one and three months for leases lasting five to seven years. But with leasing activity remaining strong, new projects that deliver after this year may not need to be so flexible.
“What I’m glad to see is that kind of 300K SF to 600K SF, we are seeing a good amount of leasing activity picking up there,” Boler said.
Companies were hungry for warehouse space in Metro Atlanta last year, leasing a total of 56.4M SF, the third-most ever recorded in the region, according to CBRE. And annual net absorption jumped more than 26% year-over-year in the fourth quarter to 13.9M SF.
Q4 leasing activity alone was nearly 17M SF, and absorption rose above 5M SF, according to CBRE.
Furniture retailer Living Spaces inked the largest lease in the fourth quarter, taking 1M SF at Gravel Springs Logistics Center in Buford. Other large deals included battery-maker Duracell’s 874K SF renewal at Shugart Farms Lake Park Industrial in Fairburn, Mars Inc.'s 605K SF renewal at 7875 White Road in Austell in Cobb County, Inline Plastics Corp.’s 430K SF renewal at 100 Constitution Drive in McDonough, and aluminum manufacturer Ball Corp.’s new 418K SF lease at Georgia North Industrial Park in Adairsville.
“We’re expecting it to be a pretty strong year,” Kelley said. “Maybe not the crazy rush that we had in ‘21, ‘22 that was Covid-specific. But I feel like corporate America is going to make some attractive strategic decisions on their logistic network.”