Investors’ appetite for South Florida industrial properties doesn’t appear to be letting up anytime soon.
Charles Dimston and Jerome Berko, a pair of New York landowners, just paid $13.7 million for a Hollywood warehouse fully leased by Finnish manufacturing giant Wärtsila. The deal comes as developers are doubling down on new speculative industrial parks throughout South Florida amid tightening vacancies and steadily growing rents.
County records show the seller of 2900 Southwest 42nd Street is the Hanseatic Land Trust, whose managing member is North Palm Beach attorney David Shaw.
The deal appears to be an investment play for Dimston and Berko, whose purchase breaks down to about $167 per square foot. They financed the purchase with a $8.3 million loan from Principal Real Estate Investors, which has a fixed rate and term of 25 years.
Cushman & Wakefield’s Dominic Montazemi, Greg Miller and Scott O’Donnell represented the sellers for this deal, while Alan Levy of Levy Realty Advisors brought the buyer. The financing was also arranged by Cushman’s Jason Hochman.
The warehouse, which measures 81,922 square feet, was custom built for Wärtsila as its only U.S. training facility in 1998 and has since undergone hefty upgrades, including the installation of overhead cranes and “high-tech” testing suites.
The Finnish firm manufactures products in the energy and marine fields worldwide. County records show its facility last traded for $7.6 million in 1998, right after it was built.
Info on Wärtsila’s rent wasn’t immediately available, though data from the CoStar Group shows industrial leases in the area average $13.71 per square foot.
While condo builders have started taking a backseat in South Florida’s development scene this year, industrial firms are cranking out new projects as market conditions tighten.
Bridge Development Partners has so far launched more than 1.8 million square feet of speculative warehouse development over the past two years, and Flagler Global Logistics just announced the first phase of a new 8 million square foot commerce park.