Proof that The Sherwin-Williams Co.'s search for a new headquarters site extends to at least one other state and an indication of the scale of the project under consideration — a million square feet — have surfaced from observations by the top executive of a publicly traded Real Estate Investment Trust based in Atlanta.

Brent Smith, CEO of Piedmont Realty Trust Inc., said on the Atlanta-based company's conference call with investors and stock analysts on Oct. 31 that it's "in the running for a potential build-to-suit for Sherwin- Williams" at its Galleria office park, which is near Sun Trust Park, the home ballpark of the Atlanta Braves and about 10 miles from the midtown Atlanta arts and commerce district. Piedmont owns five high-rise buildings with a total of 2 million square feet in the park. Its overall portfolio consists of 55 properties in several major cities, from Boston to Chicago.

In response to an analyst's question, Smith said the Sherwin-Williams search is "very early" and the company has multiple Atlanta sites it could entertain. He also cited press reports that other suitor cities might be Charlotte and Dallas.

"I think I wanted to mention that," Smith said, according to a Seeking Alpha transcript of the call, "because it demonstrates the scale of the opportunity that we have at that location. It's effectively unhindered in terms of development only by the actual footprint itself is zoned for an effect of — you could build it even greater than 1 million square feet, although we think that's probably logical given the overall size of the site."

Smith was elaborating on the Galleria office park because his company recently bought two structures in the park to put all of the office buildings under control of a single company for the first time. He noted Piedmont paid $18.5 million for the development site alone.

Giving up the name of a potential tenant before it commits to buy or lease a property is generally eschewed by commercial real estate companies because it might alert competitors to a juicy opportunity. It's also anathema to state and local economic development groups, which as a rule maintain that secrecy is sought by companies until they commit to incentives and a location.

Michael Cantor, managing director and principal at Allegro Real Estate Brokers & Advisors of Cleveland, said he does not believe disclosing that it's wooing Sherwin-Williams hurts Piedmont in its efforts. Allegro primarily bills itself as a real estate consultant for companies and has run site searches for major concerns.

"It's actually helpful to Sherwin- Williams," Cantor said of the disclosure, because it proves to Ohio and regional economic development groups that the paint and coatings maker, which has a 150-year history in Cleveland, is seriously considering locations outside Northeast Ohio.

"The one group that would be unhappy about it being public would be state and economic development groups who don't want it known they are pursuing a particular piece of business to avoid competition," Cantor said. "The CEO might want the investors to know that it has a property for such a nice opportunity and would prefer for them to know before the company makes its decision known."

Sherwin-Williams, whose CEO, John G. Morikis, has said it would announce a decision by the end of this year or early in 2020, has not previously said how large its new facilities might be.

A million-square-foot office building could be 44 floors, if such a structure has a floor plate similar to that of Ameritrust Center, the ill-fated 60-story building that the late developers Richard and David Jacobs proposed building on Public Square. The site, considered a contender for Sherwin- Williams, remains under the control of a corporation linked to the Jacobs family and is used for parking.

The other big unknown is how large the research-and-development center would be — and Sherwin-Williams has mentioned the research center first when discussing its site search. The company's headquarters is in Landmark Office Towers, which it owns, although the 900,000-square-foot property includes a portion of office space rented to outside firms.

Mike Conway, spokesman for Sherwin-Williams, said in an email Thursday, Nov. 7, that the company had nothing new to report beyond its initial statement about its site search.

While Northeast Ohio has in its favor its status as the company's birthplace and the size of its current staff, Atlanta boasts the nation's busiest airport, with many international flights, which puts it automatically on the list of most site-search consultants for relocation of a global corporate headquarters.

The site that Piedmont's CEO pointed to is similar in size to the superblock in downtown Cleveland that is considered a potential new location for Sherwin-Williams, or part of one. Construction crews conducted soil tests on the asphalt parking lots there the week of Nov. 4. That sea of parking spaces is primarily owned by Weston inc., a Warrensville Heights-based real estate company.

Sherwin-Williams has about 3,600 employees downtown and 4,400 in Northeast Ohio. All told, the company, which had $17.5 billion in sales in 2018, employs a total of 60,000 associates and sells its products in 120 countries.