The rise of online commerce and social media has led to a push for the development of new data centers in certain pockets of the United States. The emergence of artificial intelligence has accelerated and magnified that trend.
Metro Atlanta is one of the largest markets for data centers in the country. As new projects continue to be announced, last year's sale of about 85 acres involving Microsoft stood out in the crowd. The deal was selected as the winner of the 2025 CoStar Impact Award for acquisition/sale of the year in the Atlanta area by a panel of local industry professionals familiar with the market.
Rick Sewell, owner of Creel Properties in Fairburn, Georgia, has worked with a local family for more than 20 years, selling the family's farmland in pieces. One piece of property caught the eye of Microsoft: an 85-acre parcel zoned for agricultural use along Georgia Highway 74 near Tyrone.
Through an arrangement with Fayette County, the family sold an assemblage of properties to the county's development authority for $21.4 million. In Georgia, local development authorities purchase land and lease the property to industrial users.
Creel represented the family on the sale. He declined to identify the family, but public records show the Hobgood family was the seller.
Microsoft has also acquired land in other parts of metro Atlanta for future development of data centers, including property in Fairburn near the site of the Hobgood family's sale. It's part of the tech company's strategy to spend billions to beef up digital infrastructure.
Microsoft has not disclosed details or a timeline for its plans for the Atlanta-area property involved in the recent sales.
About the sale: The Hobgood family of Georgia sold farmland in Fayette County to a local development authority for the future development of a data center for Microsoft.
What the judges said: "Given the challenges of getting these types of uses approved nowadays, this was a win-win for the sellers and buyer," said Scott Amoson, associate field research director at CBRE.
"Data centers are essential to keeping communities connected, particularly in rural areas," said Brianna Davison, project manager for research and impact at Central Atlanta Progress. "It is a landmark deal that transforms vacant land near a major highway into a critical piece of infrastructure."
They made it happen: Rick Sewell, owner of Creel Properties.