MetLife to Develop 3 Million Square Foot Industrial Park in Atlanta Market for More Than $110 Million

Thursday, July 10th 2014

Project is One of Eight in Works to Further Diversify Portfolio

NEW YORK, NY & ATLANTA, GA  – MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) announced today that it will develop a new large-scale industrial distribution park on 183 acres near Atlanta with Panattoni Development Company, a privately held, national developer based in Newport Beach, California. The Lambert Farms Distribution Center will offer up to 3 million square feet of quality distribution space and may accommodate up to two 1.5 million square foot facilities. MetLife will be the majority partner and Panattoni will be the managing member.

Lambert Farms Distribution Center will be built on King Mill Road in Henry County, 15 miles south of the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and 25 miles from Atlanta. The Class “A” development will feature LEED Certified buildings, clear heights of 36 feet and truck court depths of up to 240 feet, which will attract a wide variety of corporate tenants seeking quality distribution and warehouse space.

The construction of the park will take about three years and is expected to create about 1,200 full-time construction jobs. The total development costs will run about $110 million.

“The Lambert Farms development in the Atlanta area shows that MetLife is further diversifying its real estate equity holdings by adding a high quality industrial asset to our portfolio,” said Robert Merck, senior managing director and global head of real estate for MetLife. “Nationally, we think the long-term growth factors for industrial markets in core cities are very positive, and we are excited to have an experienced partner with national reach in Panattoni Development.”

Merck added that the two companies have plans for an initial portfolio of eight state-of-the-art industrial facilities in four states totaling nearly 6 million square feet on 356 acres. In addition to the Lambert Farms project in Atlanta, the companies plan to build facilities in Seattle, Chicago, the Inland Empire market of California and another project in the Northeast Atlanta sub-market.

“MetLife and Panattoni intend to develop in other major industrial markets throughout the United States as economic conditions permit,” Merck said.

About MetLife

MetLife, Inc. (NYSE: MET), through its subsidiaries and affiliates (“MetLife”), is a leading global provider of insurance, annuities and employee benefit programs. MetLife holds leading market positions in the United States, Japan, Latin America, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. For more information, visit www.metlife.com.