A California investment firm picked up a data center built in 1992 near Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

The 760 Doug Davis Drive data center purchased by Menlo Equities.

An affiliate of Menlo Park, California-based Menlo Equities purchased 760 Doug Davis Drive in Hapeville for $65.5M from Digital Doug Davis LLC, an entity registered to the Dallas address of Digital Realty Trust, according to Fulton County records.

The 383K SF facility is off Virginia Avenue and just outside the airport. Digital Realty purchased the facility from Delta Air Lines in 2011 for $63M, according to the Reonomy real estate database.

Neither firm responded to a request for comment as of press time. 

Menlo bought the 33-year-old data center for $171 per SF, a relative bargain compared to the $300 per SF average for data center sales in Georgia over the past year, according to data from Avison Young. The average data center sold for  $465 per SF nationally. 

Buying older data centers and spending to upgrade their power capacity makes sense considering Georgia Power is fielding 8 gigawatts of pent-up demand from potential data center users in Georgia, Avison Young associate Nick Steen said. 

“For an existing data center, upsizing the power is a great opportunity,” Steen said.

Atlanta is the fastest-growing and second-largest data center market in the country after developers tripled capacity by more than 1,200 megawatts over the past year, according to CBRE. The metro area led all major data center markets in 2024 with 700 MW of absorption.

Menlo has been an active investor in the metro area market. In 2020, the firm purchased 30 Ivan Allen Blvd., the 15-story, 281K SF office building in Downtown Atlanta overlooking the Interstate 75-85 interchange. Menlo also purchased the empty office portion of Lincoln Properties’ Echo Street West development in December for around $60M.

Digital Realty owns three other data centers in Metro Atlanta, including the 10-story 56 Marietta St. colocation tower in Downtown Atlanta. Digital Realty also filed an application in May to develop a 1.9M SF data center campus on 97 acres within the former U.S. Army base Fort Gillem in Forest Park. 

The REIT plans to create a mix of hyperscale and colocation facilities at the Fort Gillem project, citing the site’s proximity to Downtown Atlanta, vacancy rates of less than 1% and competitive-costing power as lures for the project, Digital Realty Chief Investment Officer Greg Wright said during an April earnings call. 

The firm also announced a new data center campus in Charlotte earlier this year.

“We think those are both critical markets for us, as we’re really excited to have between those two projects over 600 MW of developable capacity,” Wright said.

CBRE completed a 139,377-square-foot office lease for the General Services Administration on behalf of Customs and Border Protection (CPB) at One Aviation Plaza in Queens’ Jamaica neighborhood. CBP will relocate its operations from Building 77 at John F. Kennedy International Airport to the entire first, second, third and part of the fourth floors at One Aviation Plaza, located at 159-30 Rockaway Boulevard. The space formerly housed the Federal Aviation Administration.

The CBRE team of Vincent LaManna, Richard Freel, Maria Kobe and Ralph Guiffre represented GSA/CBP in the lease negotiations with the building ownership. Jeffrey Sussman of the Edward J. Minskoff organization and JLL’s Joe Brennan and Chloe Edwards acted on behalf of the building ownership.

“This was one of the most significant regional transactions the federal agency has recently undertaken,” said LaManna. “One Aviation Plaza became the logical choice given its immediate access to the airport, its high-level security infrastructure, with a landlord with the proven ability to create the 21st century HQ the agency envisioned.”

J.B. Hunt Transport bought 34 acres at 8329 OId Dowd Road, near the Charlotte airport, from Strategic Real Estate Partners for $10.75 million.

The Charlotte Business Journal reports that Strategic may be planning to develop a 260,000-square-foot industrial building at the site. The land was still undeveloped at the time of the sale.

The site sits directly west of Charlotte Douglas International Airport near Interstate 485. It neighbors SunPoint CLT, a 373,950-square-foot industrial building recently delivered by SunCap Property Group.

JB Hunt Transport was founded in 1961. It is a Fortune 300 company with nearly 38,000 employees. Its companywide revenue last year was over $12.8 billion.

The airport is in the midst of a massive overhaul. Destination CLT, as the $3.5 billion capital investment project is called, will have an impact on everything from the lobby and the terminal to the runway.

Crosland Southeast has been chosen by the Charlotte Douglas International Airport to move forward on a deal to develop the city-owned Destination District Central property.

Destination District Central spans nearly 40 acres at Wilkinson Boulevard and North Josh Birmingham Parkway. The project would likely include multiple phases initially focused on retail and hospitality development.

Early plans call for 50,000 square feet of retail and two hotels totaling 300 rooms.

The Charlotte Business Journal reports the best case would see a groundbreaking there in early 2026. If a deal is reached and approved by City Council this winter, the entitlement process for the site would likely take 12 to 15 months. 

Crosland has worked with the city before, developing a master plan of Eastland Yards. Crosland is also behind major mixed-use projects like Commonwealth in Plaza Midwood and Waverly in south Charlotte. 

Middleburg Communities and KDM Development will break ground next month on a 280-unit apartment community near Charlotte Douglas International Airport. Construction is slated to take two years. The $70 million project will include five buildings and will go up at 3309 West Blvd. The property is about five miles to uptown and 3.5 miles to South End.

The Charlotte Business Journal reports KDM secured two parcels for $7.7 million and reached out to Middleburg to partner. Middleburg will build the project.

West CLT will feature one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments ranging from 789 to 1426 square feet. The property’s amenities include a pool, fitness center, dog park and pet spa, coworking spaces, package lockers and electric vehicle charging stations.

Construction financing for the project has been secured from Trustmark Bank, with CIBC as a participant. Phoenix Capital Partners has made an equity investment.

Cline Design Associates is the architect on the project.

StandardAero, an aircraft maintenance company, plans to expand its operation at Augusta Business Aviation’s MRO (maintenance, repair, overhaul) facility. The company recently began work on a $33 million upgrade that will create 90 new jobs.

Operating in Augusta since 1974, StandardAero currently supports more than 170 jobs in the area. The facility annually processes approximately 425 aircraft and 500 turbine aircraft engines for MRO service.

StandardAero will construct a new hangar and engine shop at 1150 Hangar Road adjacent to the Augusta Regional Airport. The expansion will add 80,500 square feet to the company’s footprint in Augusta.

StandardAero’s Chris Bodine added, “The new facility will add over 60 percent of new space to our existing footprint. The current facility was built in the 1970s, when aircraft were a lot smaller.” The expansion will allow the company to work on larger Dassault Falcon, Gulfstream, and Bombardier aircraft.

Oldacre McDonald is planning a 22-acre mixed-use development on Stewarts Ferry Pike near Nashville International Airport. Oldacre recently filed a zoning application to change the current use of single-family housing to allow for commercial and multifamily.

The Nashville Business Journal reports the development could offer a hotel, restaurant and retail space, as well as apartments. Potential tenants represented in renderings include a Chipotle, Hyatt House hotel and a PNC Bank branch.

Nashville-based Barge Design Solutions will handle engineering for the project.

The Stewarts Ferry development will go before the Metro Planning Department on March 28 for approval.

Oldacre McDonald is the lead developer of Century Farms, a 300-acre mixed-use development in Antioch, just south of the airport. The massive development is already home to Tanger Outlets and more than 60 national retail and restaurant concepts. Plans for several hundred more multifamily units, four hotels, Tiger Wood’s golf concept Popstroke and a Whataburger are in the works at Century Farms.