South Florida’s priciest industrial sales in 2017

Demand for industrial real estate in South Florida was up again this year as consumer sentiment continued to favor faster deliveries — calling for more distribution centers closer to heavily residential areas.

In 2017, South Florida’s industrial market took center stage, making it a potential suitor for the next Amazon headquarters and seeing yet another wave of activity by larger industrial real estate investment trusts like Prologis and Duke Realty.

Notable big-ticket purchases came from buyers like Blackstone Group, Foundry Commercial, Brookfield Asset Management and CenterPoint Properties. Here, The Real Deal breaks down the top five sales in the tri-county region, priced from $59 million to more than $117 million.

Equity Office scoops up industrial portfolio from Prologis

430 South Congress Ave. and Prologis’ Hamid Moghadam (Credit: CBRE and Prologis)

San Francisco-based REIT Prologis just recently made the list with its sale of an assemblage of warehouse properties in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.

Earlier this month, the industrial giant sold the portfolio, valued at about $117 million, to Chicago-based Equity Office, according to Real Capital Analytics. The properties included industrial buildings in Miami-Dade County, as well as in cities like Delray Beach, Mangonia Park, Hollywood, Dania Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Pompano Beach and Coconut Creek.

Equity Office is owned by the Blackstone Group, which acquired its assets in a $39 billion leveraged buyout in 2007. The seller, originally KTR Capital Partners, was acquired by Prologis and Norway’s sovereign wealth fund in 2015 for $5.9 billion.

The Blackstone Group, America’s largest private landlord, is on an industrial real estate spending spree. Last week, TRD reported that the firm is buying a 22-million-square-foot industrial portfolio for $1.8 billion from the Boston-based private equity firm Cabot Properties. The portfolio covers 146 properties, including some in South Florida.

Foundry Commercial partnership buys business park in Doral for $85.5M

Miami Free Trade Zone and Foundry managing director Ford Gibson

Orlando-based developer Foundry Commercial, which is also behind one of the county’s largest leases to Amazon, landed itself in second place on the list with its acquisition of the Miami Free Zone in Doral.

Foundry Commercial and American Realty Advisors paid $85.5 million for the 823,000-square-foot industrial complex at 2305 Northwest 107th Avenue. The seller, an affiliate of Seattle-based Expeditors International of Washington, bought the complex in 2006 $76.2 million.

The partnership also plans to develop another 300,000 square feet of industrial space on an adjacent 18-acre lot, which was included in the sale. Transwestern’s John Bell represented the seller.

Over the summer, Foundry Commercial had the real estate world buzzing when Amazon signed a lease in its Carrie Meek International Business Park in Opa-Locka, marking the e-commerce behemoth’s largest warehouse in Miami-Dade County. Amazon also operates a fulfillment center near Doral and a recently completed one in the South Florida Logistics Center near Miami International Airport.

Bridge Development sells Hialeah Gardens warehouses to Duke Realty for $80M

Bridge Point Crossroads East and Bridge Development Partners founders Ronald Frain and Steven Poulos

Industrial developer Bridge Development Partners made a splash in South Florida this year with its many land acquisitions to build industrial projects, capturing the attention of several prominent investors.

In April, Bridge sold three of its warehouses in Hialeah Gardens for $79.97 million to Indianapolis-based Duke Realty, making it one of the largest industrial sales to close this year.

Bridge sold its Crossroads East buildings at 15002 and 14802 Northwest 146th Street and its Crossroads South building at 10701 Northwest 140th Street. The buildings have a total of 676,835 square feet, with the deal breaking down to about $120 per square foot.

CBRE’s Chris Riley, Christian Lee and José Lobón represented Bridge Development, which is building several industrial communities, including some in Miami Gardens and a facility in Fort Lauderdale.

TA Realty sells Miami-Dade portfolio to Brookfield for $60M

BLP Industrial Palmetto Airport Center

Yet another portfolio sale made the list, underscoring the nationwide chase for warehouse space.

In April, TA Realty sold a 45-asset portfolio to Brookfield Asset Management for $854.5 million, including at least five properties in Miami-Dade priced at more than $60 million.

The trade included office and industrial properties in Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago and Washington, D.C. The Realty Associates Fund IX sold the 8.6-million-square-foot portfolio to Brookfield-managed funds.

The deals in Miami-Dade County total more than 550,000 square feet of office and warehouse space. TA Realty’s Nicole Dutra Grinnell, Michael Haggerty, Jim Raisides and Luke Marchand worked on the national deal, and JLL represented TA.

Brookfield Asset Management is a global alternative asset manager with approximately $250 billion in assets under management, according to its website.

CenterPoint picks up massive Opa-locka distribution center for $59M

3300 Northwest 123rd Street and Robert Chapman, CEO of CenterPoint

In August, CenterPoint Properties added a colossal 59-acre distribution center in Opa-locka to its portfolio.

The Oak Brook, Illinois-based firm paid $59 million, or about $61 per square foot, for the 961,345-square-foot industrial facility at 3300 Northwest 123rd Street. The seller was a Minneapolis-based company that bought the property in 1999 for $35.7 million.

Erik Lundberg and Jeff Hughes of the national brokerage firm Stan Johnson Co. represented the seller. The warehouse, built in 1993, is leased to a single tenant, C&S Wholesale Grocers.

In December of last year, CenterPoint entered the South Florida industrial market with its $108 million purchase of a FedEx distribution center in Medley.

Harunobu Coryne contributed reporting.