While Broward County might not have the same glitz and glamour of its southern cousin Miami-Dade, the county had plenty of big-ticket commercial deals last year that racked up millions.
The Real Deal analyzed data from the CoStar group, an information company, to compile a list of Broward’s biggest commercial buyers during 2015.
3375 Southwest 24th Street in Hollywood, one of the 23 properties Prologis purchased
#1 Prologis – $407.5 million
Prologis, one of the country’s biggest industrial real estate firms, racked up more pricey property purchases in Broward than any other company.
The company sank a total of $407.5 million into 23 properties spread throughout the county, mostly concentrated in Hollywood and Fort Lauderdale.
What helped push Prologis to the top this year was its $820 million acquisition of a 21-property portfolio from Morris Realty Associates. Three of those properties were located in Broward, totaling about $69.4 million.
The Miramar Centre III office complex
#2 Starwood Capital Group – $281.9 million
Second on the list was investment firm Starwood Capital Group, headquartered in the wealthy enclave of Greenwich, Connecticut.
The firm put $281.9 million down on 13 properties in Broward, most of which were office buildings located in Fort Lauderdale business parks.
Not to be outdone, Starwood also closed on a massive commercial sale last year. The investment firm was one of three buyers that paid $1.1 billion for Duke Realty’s portfolio of 62 properties in the Southeastern United States.
Among those properties were eight office buildings in Fort Lauderdale and one in Pompano Beach, which made up the bulk of Starwood’s investment total for Broward County last year. Together, they totaled almost $180 million worth of properties.
The building at 2800 North Andrews Avenue
#3 Norges Bank – $272.3 million
Close behind Starwood was the Norwegian central bank, which had a serious hankering for South Florida real estate last year.
Norges Bank assembled $272.3 million worth of Broward County commercial properties during 2015, landing it in third place for the year’s list of biggest buyers.
Those purchases were spread out over 13 properties between Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Pompano Beach, Hallandale and Dania Beach.
All 13 were purchased in a joint-venture with Prologis — our No. 1 contender — as part of the $5.9 billion acquisition of KTR Capital Partners’ portfolio of 322 distribution properties throughout the U.S.
Norges Bank is one of many foreign sovereign wealth funds picking up big chunks of U.S. real estate.
The Manor at Flagler Village mixed-use development
#4 TIAA-CREF – $238.8 million
TIAA-CREF is a Fortune 100 company that provides pensions for teachers and other professionals. It’s also one of the country’s largest real estate investment companies, and holds the No. 4 spot on the list of Broward’s biggest commercial buyers.
The company spent $238.8 million on Broward County properties last year. The interesting part? That was split between just two purchases.
In the first deal, the financial giant picked up Orlando-based Zom’s Casa Palma apartment complex in unincorporated Broward for nearly $90 million.
Next, TIAA-CREF paid the Related Group an incredible $149 million for its Manor at Flagler Village apartment project in Fort Lauderdale.
The warehouses at 2301 Stirling Road
#5 Global Logistics Properties – $187.7 million
Last but certainly not least is Chicago-based Global Logistics Properties, a multinational real estate firm that specializes in — you guessed it — logistics properties.
Last year, GLP put down an impressive $187.7 million for 11 Broward County properties, all but one of which was located in Fort Lauderdale.
The commercial giant continued this list’s trend of massive portfolio deals with its purchase an Industrial Income Trust assemblage in a deal valued at $4.55 billion.
In Broward, that portfolio’s biggest piece was Sunrise Distribution Center in Fort Lauderdale. It alone fetched $43.8 million.
TRD researcher Eda Kouch contributed to this report.