Where to start?
I (Maritsa) arrived in Social Circle, Georgia this morning to just get my feet on the ground. I’m working in partnership with The Save America Movement to report on the recent DHS acquisition (to the tune of $128.6 million) of a vacant warehouse in this small city of about 5,000 people an hour east of Atlanta.
I had called a few friends I know in the real estate world for some insider help to understand what kind of due diligence would normally go into purchasing a 1,000,000 sq. ft. warehouse, having never been in the market myself. Someone connected me to someone else they know—a person with deep knowledge about real estate transactions within the federal government.
Right out of the gate, the acquisition raised red flags for this source— and not just because it was sold for nearly 5x the property’s last assessed value. Or that the company that sold it, PNK S1, LLC, was reportedly originally founded in Russia (Records show PNK purchased the property in 2023 from Walton Leaf, LLC for $29,392,500). My source was referencing something found in a warranty deed obtained by The Covington News, which shows the Feb. 3 transaction lists "the United States of America, and its assigns, by and through the Department of Homeland Security” as the grantee. My source tells me the General Services Administration (GSA) normally handles leasing, acquisition, and selling for most federal agencies.
The source explained that there are different levels of authorities within the GSA to approve a purchase like this and there’s a general playbook that’s followed. My source says every government agency has a client manager (like a liaison) at GSA. An agency like DHS would normally contact that manager and explain the need, the details, etc.
As NPR reported in a story debating the merits of buying vs. renting all the way back in 2014, “leasing gives agencies flexibility to grow, shrink, upgrade or move.”
The report echoed what my source described, saying that securing “upfront capital has been an increasing problem in a cash-strapped Congress. The GAO found in its reports that the government rarely has the money to cover the costs of buying land and buildings, even if that means the agencies will end up paying 10 times as much in rent over the years.”
And because of that, my source says it’s highly unusual that the federal government would recommend purchasing this property over leasing it—and this person says it’s even more unusual that it would list the Department of Homeland Security instead of the GSA (See this GSA Leasing Desk Guide for the section “Freeze the Footprint” and “Reduce the Footprint” policies).
After this conversation, I went to a Social Circle diner with the rest of the SAM team on the ground to wait out a lightning storm. One woman from a neighboring town told me she doesn’t see the big deal because immigrants need to come here legally and follow the rules. I asked if she was aware some people are being detained who are already in the process of becoming legal citizens, with some even being “plucked out of line” at their naturalization ceremony. That surprised her. We asked how she felt about the federal government paying almost $100 million more than the warehouse’s last appraised value. She didn’t know about that number, and said she was glad we were there to tell the story.
The rain cleared and we made our way to the facility. As I said in a video update earlier today, we didn’t know what to expect and planned for the possibility we would have to shoot footage from outside a fence. We showed up and found no guards, no gates, no fence, no signs warning about private property or trespassing. There was a sign on the corner advertising “industrial space for lease.”
The building is shockingly massive in person. We walked right up to the doors and looked inside to find a completely unfinished warehouse with just industrial support beams. We walked from one end to the other and it took us more than six minutes at a decent clip.
Data from LoopNet shows the property has 140 dock doors, four drive-ins and the potential to divide. It advertises trailer storage and parking with a 190’ concrete truck court. It also happens to be right next to railroad tracks.
After city officials were largely kept in the dark about plans from the federal government, Social Circle leaders issued a press release Feb. 18 outlining details from a recent meeting with representatives from DHS. The release says no construction contract has yet been awarded, but is expected to be within the week. Once that happens, “the estimated construction timeline is approximately 60–75 days, which would place the potential start of intake between mid-May and June. The facility is projected to employ approximately 2,000 to 2,500 staff members.”
60-75 days. To build out a 1,013,621 sq. ft. warehouse to house up to 10,000 ICE detainees.
The city release says DHS officials also provided documents detailing plans for the facility, including a rough blueprint. But city officials say their concerns over water and sewer infrastructure were not addressed to their satisfaction.
“We continue to have more questions than answers. DHS referenced a wastewater analysis to support its claims of available capacity; however, a portion of that capacity was attributed to the A. Scott Emmons Treatment Facility. This treatment facility is not owned by the City of Social Circle, is not located within the city limits, is in a different county, and does not connect to the City’s utility system or this building,” the release said.
“Plans provided by DHS indicate the potential for on-site wastewater treatment; however, what remains notably unclear is where the resulting liquid effluent would actually be discharged. Where exactly is this effluent intended to go, given that the City’s existing wastewater treatment plant is already operating at capacity and is strained to manage current demand, let alone accept additional waste from a facility of this scale? In addition, this raises concerns regarding potential impacts to local wetlands depending on the final disposal location.”
The city release says leaders have repeatedly communicated that it does not have the capacity or resources to accommodate the demand this detention camp would bring. It finishes by saying DHS has referenced an economic impact study on this proposed facility, but nobody in the city offices have seen a copy of that study.
After about an hour of shooting footage and checking out the area, a police officer showed up. He questioned our photojournalist and asked for his ID. We asked if we needed to leave and he let us know it was federal property and if something like vandalism happened, we would be the last people they interacted with on the scene. We told him we were leaving and took note of the time stamp of our departure.
We made our way back downtown to talk to more residents. One local told me Social Circle is “painfully uneventful,” so the recent national focus has added a flurry of activity they’re not used to. They explained that most people are pushing back against the center, and it’s not necessarily about immigration policy. The conservative stronghold has already seen the impacts of higher costs because of the approval of multiple data centers. They said they don’t know how the town would handle the influx of 2,000 to 2,500 employees coming and going, much less the concerns about water, sewage, and other infrastructure. Another woman told me she’s concerned about the facility’s proximity to a nearby school and bus routes.
We spoke to a woman who is the daughter of Cuban and Nicaraguan immigrants. She moved to town not long ago from Miami because she fell in love with it. She has started carrying her birth certificate everywhere and worries about her family’s safety despite being U.S. citizens. She also worries about how this will change the entire composition of the town.
We also met several people who didn’t want to say a word.
There’s a lot more work to do here. If you made it this far into this post, thank you. If there’s something you think we should be looking into, please let us know. I’ll check back in tomorrow and will be live with Steve Schmidt and The Save America Movement Monday afternoon.
