All it takes is a few big deals, including one with the world's largest online retailer, to convince DCT's Atlanta captain that this industrial renaissance isn't going to end anytime soon.

DCT's Jay Mitchell found himself dusting off 1.6M SF in lease deals through his 8M SF Atlanta warehouse portfolio, with a majority of the deals ranking in the bread-and-butter level of up to 50k SF.

Still, DCT scored a few big leases, including Turnils North America, a custom window covering maker, which pre-leased 230k SF at North Satellite Business Center (below), a 550k SF spec warehouse development off Interstate 985 and Satellite Boulevard in northern Gwinnett County; and Amazon Fresh, which inked a deal for 65k SF at 2232 Northmont Pkwy in Duluth.

DCT's experience is certainly not an anomaly. Atlanta's industrial market experienced a true renaissance last year. According to a Q4 JLL Atlanta industrial report, industrial landlords leased 16.6M SF all of last year, including the 1.5M SF megadeal with UPS, Variety Wholesale's 1.4M SF deal in the former Kmart distribution center and William-Sonoma's 1.1M SF lease at Braselton Commerce Center.

“The one thing that has been amazing has been the ripple effect of the e-commerce transactions that have been going on,” Mitchell said. “We don't see that tailing off yet either.”

To that end, Mitchell has been eyeing further sites in Atlanta to buy, secure entitlement, and start spec warehouse development ranging anywhere from 250k to 750k SF.