By Jim Thompson – the Walton Tribune
The 1-million square-foot warehouse in Social Circle purchased earlier this year by the federal government for planned conversion into an immigrant detention facility that could have housed as many as 10,000 people awaiting deportation to their home countries is now up for sale through the private market.
That information was first reported by Project Salt Box, an activist research initiative that monitors federal fiscal accountability through diligent tracking of public records ranging from federal procurement databases to local permit records.
The project’s recent searching led to a “Federal Warehouse Portfolio” published by Cushman & Wakefield, a global commercial real estate firm. The portfolio lists the Social Circle warehouse, located at the intersection of East Hightower Trail and Social Circle Parkway, among seven industrial properties totaling more than 5.3 million square feet that are up for sale individually or as a package.
In addition to the Social Circle warehouse, which the federal government bought for $128.5 million earlier this year, the portfolio lists another Georgia facility, in Flowery Branch, that had been planned for immigrant detention. Also in the portfolio being marketed by Cushman & Wakefield are warehouses in Romulus, Michigan; Salt Lake City, Utah; Tremont, Pennsylvania; Hamburg, Pennsylvania and Socorro, Texas. According to Project Salt Box, the federal government paid more than $700 million for the seven properties now listed in the portfolio.
In Social Circle on Tuesday, City Manager Eric Taylor was encouraged by news that the warehouse, sold to the federal government by its former private owner, PNK S1 LLC, is listed in the Cushman & Wakefield portfolio.
“We are also glad to see that the property may return to the tax digest,” Taylor said. “We hope that whoever buys the property will be a good partner that will work with the city in finding a use that is compatible with the desires of the community.”
Taylor added that the city is “… excited to see further evidence that DHS (the federal Department of Homeland Security) is moving on from making the building an ICE (federal Immigration & Customs Enforcement) detention center.”
The city is currently engaged in a lawsuit it filed against DHS, ICE and officials associated with both agencies, in which the city contends the federal government failed to conduct adequate due diligence before deciding the Social Circle warehouse could work as a detention center. The city has noted that the water, sewer and emergency services in the town of a little more than 5,000 people would clearly be overwhelmed by the needs of a massive detention center.
The case, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, was stayed on Sept. 10 for 60 days, while parties to the action prepare a status report detailing the status of the property’s excession by the federal government, steps that could be taken to accomplish that process, and proposed next steps in the case.
“Excessing” property means the agency that holds it has no use for it, and if no other federal agency needs it, it can be sold. The information uncovered by the Salt Box Project appears to indicate the Social Circle warehouse and the other noted properties have moved into being offered for sale.
In his order, the judge in the case mandated that the federal government “SHALL NOT (boldface and capital letters as written by the judge) take any action to convert the Social Circle Facility into an immigration detention center during the stay.”
In its online listing of the warehouses, Cushman & Wakefield notes that all are currently vacant and describes them as “state-of-the-art” facilities with “… functional configurations designed to accommodate a broad range of logistics and distribution users.”
Further describing the properties, Cushman & Wakefield notes that “(g)iven the tenant demand for modern, high-quality bulk distribution buildings, the Portfolio offers investors the rare opportunity to capture substantial value creation through the lease-up and stabilization of these properties.”
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