California-based Highridge Provender has purchased a 528,000-square-foot cold storage/food distribution center in Southeast Atlanta from Kroger for $14.5 million. The three-building Bouldercrest Distribution Center, near I-285 and I-675, contains a 374,155-square-foot dry grocery warehouse, a 132,184-square-foot freezer warehouse, and a 21,119-square-foot truck maintenance building.

Kroger has operated the facility since 1992 and is in the process of relocating to its new 1 million-square-foot distribution center in the recently redeveloped Gillem Logistics Center in Forest Park.

Chris Cummings and Turner Wisehart of Colliers International Atlanta represented Highridge Provender in the transaction.

“This transaction is significant because it moves approximately 528,000 square feet of vacant cold storage and food distribution space into the Atlanta market. Cold storage of this size and quality is extremely hard to find in the Southeast, and this asset will generate interest from food companies across the U.S.,” said Cummings, National Director of the Colliers Food Advisory Services group.

“Kroger meticulously maintained the facility, and more importantly, the ammonia refrigeration equipment, which is capable of minus 20 degrees” he said.

Kroger will lease the facility back from Highridge Provender for approximately one year while it phases into its new facility. During this time the building will be fully marketed for lease by the Colliers team of Cummings and Wisehart.