Freight firm signs $8 million lease at Prologis Miami Industrial Business Park

Clockwise from left: George Pino, Frank Trelles and Prologis Miami

Just in Time Services, an international freight forwarding and logistics firm, has signed a 54,000-square-foot lease at Prologis Miami Industrial Business Park.

The total value of the lease at 11380 NW 34th Street in the Miami Airport West submarket is around $8 million, according to Frank Trelles of Westvest Associates, who represented Just in Time.

Prologis was represented in the deal by State Street President George Pino and Ed Lyden, a senior vice president, in the deal for the property. Pino opened his own firm, State Street Realty, earlier this year, bringing Lyden with him from Flagler Real Estate Services.

The terms of the lease include an option to expand to 85,000 square feet after 16 months, with a “good chance” that will happen, according to Pino. The building is a total of 85,000 square feet.

“It’s getting tougher to find good deals, and vacancies are dropping quickly, especially in the good Class A buildings,” Trelles said. “It’s weird what’s going on in the market, because lease rates have gone up almost 15 percent, but the economy hasn’t really improved.”

Just in Time is expanding from its 30,000-square-foot space at 11450 NW 34th Street.

It was originally looking for an additional 20,000 square feet of temporary space to expand, but ultimately chose to consolidate in the bigger space at Prologis, Trelles said.

Airport West continues to be a strong player in Miami-Dade County’s industrial market, although the city of Medley has been gaining strength, Pino said.

“The market is continuing to strengthen, and the Miami Airport West market is outperforming the other submarkets right now in terms of leasing rates and activity — but I can also say that my biggest competition to land this deal was in Medley,” he said.

The sweet spot for the Airport West submarket is the 20,000- to 30,000-square-foot range, Trelles said, with little Class A space of that size left on the market.

“A lot of companies are not expanding but reducing [space], so this was a good one,” Trelles said.