Real estate firm Highridge Provender, Irvine, Calif., purchased a 528,000-square-foot cold storage/food distribution center in Southeast Atlanta from Kroger for $14.5 million. The 3-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.

“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.,” says Chris 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 -20°F.”

Kroger will lease the facility back from Highridge Provender for approximately one year while it phases into its new facility.