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Markets · Data centers · Logistics
Atlanta industrial land: data center, port and air-cargo demand
Atlanta has 2,882 MW of data center capacity under construction, up 52.3% year on year, overtaking Northern Virginia for the most capacity under construction of any market. Data as of Q2 2026. Pricing for 10-plus MW requirements rose 14.5%, and JLL recorded 918 MW absorbed in six months.
Key takeaways
- 2,882 MW is under construction, up 52.3% year on year, the most of any US market (Q2 2026).
- Pricing for 10-plus MW requirements rose 14.5% (Q2 2026).
- 918 MW was absorbed in six months according to JLL (first half 2026).
- Industrial vacancy is 8.5% with plus 5,872,585 square feet of net absorption and $7.48 asking rent (Q2 2026).
A quarterly brief on powered land, port capacity and air-cargo gateways, plus the Powered Land and Gateway Pricing Benchmarks data file.
- Dollar per megawatt and dollar per acre benchmarks by market, with the substation-distance and voltage premiums applied
- Every committed United States port capacity opening from 2026 through 2035, with cost, TEU and date
- Airport-adjacent rent premiums by gateway, and the constraint map that drives them
- The named project pipeline: site, megawatts, developer, power source, status
- Sources and periods for every cell. Nothing unattributed.
Atlanta in numbers
| Metric | Value | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Data center under construction | 2,882 MW, up 52.3% | Q2 2026 |
| Data center pricing, 10-plus MW | Up 14.5% | Q2 2026 |
| Absorption | 918 MW in six months (JLL) | First half 2026 |
| Industrial vacancy | 8.5% | Q2 2026 |
| Industrial net absorption, year to date | plus 5,872,585 sq ft | Q2 2026 |
| Industrial asking rent | $7.48 per sq ft | Q2 2026 |
What buyers are paying for here
Preleasing behaviour is setting land value here more than any single site attribute. Turnkey space is preleasing roughly a year before completion and build-to-suit roughly 2.5 years ahead, so a parcel is being valued on the delivery date its power can support, not on its acreage.
The substation premium of roughly 2x for sites within half a mile of a substation compresses the delivery date, which is why it is being paid in full in a market absorbing 918 MW in six months. The 230kV or 500kV premium of roughly 2.4x does the same work on the 2.5-year build-to-suit horizon.
Against a national range where infill under 25 acres has traded at about $3.3 million per acre and large greenfield over 1,000 acres at about $28,000 per acre, Atlanta's spread is set by the permitting calendar rather than by lot size. A published median land price per acre for this market is not publicly available.
Apply the published substation-distance and service-voltage premiums to a parcel in Atlanta with the powered land premium calculator.
What is under construction within 100 miles
2,882 MW is under construction across the metro as of Q2 2026, up 52.3% year on year. That is more active capacity than Northern Virginia's 2,420.2 MW, making Atlanta the largest construction market in the country by megawatt.
Absorption is keeping pace: JLL recorded 918 MW absorbed in six months, with turnkey space preleasing about a year before completion and build-to-suit about 2.5 years ahead of delivery.
Industrial construction is running alongside it, with plus 5,872,585 square feet of year-to-date net absorption against 8.5% vacancy.
Named individual project sites within 100 miles are not publicly available in the sources behind this page.
The constraint
Georgia House Bill 1012 bars data center permits through 1 March 2027.
That is the whole deal calculus in this market. A 2,882 MW under-construction pipeline and a 52.3% growth rate sit on one side of a permitting wall with a known expiry date on the other.
For a landowner, the moratorium does not reduce demand, it moves it. Buyers are underwriting entitlement and power position now for permits they cannot pull until March 2027, which favours sellers who can document interconnection standing and hold through the date rather than sellers who need to close against a permit.
Who covers Atlanta
Brad Cohen covers Atlanta for Landside Partners. Send one parcel and he will return a written read on what it is worth against the demand above, using data as of Q2 2026.
No fee. One parcel. One page. Usually back within five business days.
A quarterly brief on powered land, port capacity and air-cargo gateways, plus the Powered Land and Gateway Pricing Benchmarks data file.
- Dollar per megawatt and dollar per acre benchmarks by market, with the substation-distance and voltage premiums applied
- Every committed United States port capacity opening from 2026 through 2035, with cost, TEU and date
- Airport-adjacent rent premiums by gateway, and the constraint map that drives them
- The named project pipeline: site, megawatts, developer, power source, status
- Sources and periods for every cell. Nothing unattributed.
This research was produced by Landside Partners, a commercial real estate research and advisory firm working with owners of industrial land across North America on data center, seaport and air-cargo demand. To have a specific parcel assessed, contact Brad Cohen at Landside Partners.
Related research
- Markets — Index of the twelve covered metros with each market's headline figure, Q2 2026.
- Columbus industrial land — Columbus: 0.1% data center vacancy and the number four global primary market. Data as of Q2 2026.
- West Texas industrial land — West Texas: 2.9 GW under construction, the largest beneficiary of frontier-market migration. Data as of Q2 2026.
- Phoenix industrial land — Phoenix: More than 260 MW of colocation absorption in the first half of 2026 and 1.7 GW under construction. Data as of Q2 2026.
- Chicago industrial land — Chicago: The highest data center asking rents in North America at $200 to $230 per kW per month. Data as of Q2 2026.
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