A New York real estate investment firm paid up for a huge swath of land in Georgia near the Alabama border, with plans to build a new data center.
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Thor Equities Group paid $50M to acquire 270 acres, including a 506K SF distribution facility, 70 miles south of Downtown Atlanta in LaGrange, a source familiar with the transaction told Bisnow.
The site includes a dedicated substation capable of producing 100 megavolt-amperes and 50 megawatts of power output, according to a release. With the transformers, water, sewer and natural gas infrastructure already set up at the site, Thor is eyeing plans for a data center project with a joint venture partner.
“We are exploring opportunities for a strategic partnership to develop a state-of-the-art facility and look forward to showcasing our expertise and capabilities,” Thor Chief Investment Officer Jack Sitt said in a statement.
A Thor spokesperson declined to provide further details on the project. The property also includes a CSX Corp. rail spur and is 10 miles north of the $2.8B Kia West Point Assembly plant.
The property was sold by Jindal Films Americas, which is winding down its operations there and moving out, JLL Senior Managing Director Tom Cromartie told Bisnow. Cromartie brokered the sale for Jindal, along with Managing Director Austin Kriz and senior associate Rachel Roberts.
Jindal filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification with the state in March, disclosing that it was closing the facility and laying off 98 employees.
Cromartie said JLL had a “host of bettors” for the property, each with its own thesis on its highest and best use, including a couple of other parties that also envisioned turning the property into a data center campus.
“LaGrange, there’s a good economy there,” he said. “You have a lot of suppliers for Kia. You have a lot of interest there.”
Thor Equities entered the data center market in 2022 and began the development of a $655M, 2.2M SF data center called Madrid One in the capital of Spain. At completion, the data center is expected to have a 100 MW capacity.
The data center push is another layer of diversification for Thor, run by Chairman Joseph Sitt, which has also launched life sciences and industrial platforms in recent years. The firm, which has acquired or developed more than $20B in real estate since its 1986 founding, is also bidding to develop a $3B casino complex on Coney Island in Brooklyn.
Sitt grew to prominence after the Global Financial Crisis as an investor in luxury retail properties in Europe and New York City, but his firm has lost several properties in that space to lenders in recent years.
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