FedEx’s downtown Miami site for sale, could fetch $40M

FedEx’s downtown Miami distribution facility is up for grabs, and could fetch close to $40 million, The Real Deal has learned.

The property, at 200 South Miami Avenue, is leased to FedEx until 2029, with a five-year renewal option. The company leases the entire nearly 110,000-square-foot building, using it as its “last-mile delivery” facility serving downtown, said Cushman & Wakefield Vice Chairman Robert Given, who has the listing. Starting in 2019, rent will be $14.82 per square foot, triple-net, with 2.5 percent increases each year thereafter, according to listing information.

Given told TRD bids are due on Friday and so far, close to 150 people have requested packages. The property is listed without a price, but he said he expects the sale price to “approach $40 million.” That would equate to about $364 per square foot.

Property records show the seller as the Fifteen Group, a Miami-based real estate investment and development firm led by Mark and Ian Sanders. The company purchased the site for $19 million in 2014. The building was built in 1999.

The 1.4 acre site could eventually be redeveloped, with current zoning allowing 2 million square feet and up to 1,395 units, according to the listing brochure.

“It’s an opportunity for someone to have a covered land play. You have a triple-net lease credit tenant paying a certain rent for the next 12 to 17 years, so that piece of land becomes that much more important,” Given said. “It’s a last-mile distribution center in the heart of downtown, so it’s hard to reproduce. Down the road, it could be a tall office building or a tall condo building…. Imagine having an acre downtown 17 years from now, so it’s great for estate planning and long-term development.”

Fifteen Group has been active buying and selling property in Miami in recent years. In 2014, the company paid $14.25 million for a former Christian Science church at 256 Northeast 19th Street, on which it has sought to build a garage or condominium on top or alongside the church. Also in 2014, it sold a Midtown Miami land assemblage for $12.3 million.

Downtown Miami is in the midst of major redevelopment. According to a Downtown Development Authority report released in January, Greater Downtown Miami will see more rental apartments delivered than condos in 2017 for the first time ever, as developers focus on the multifamily market amid slumping condo sales. The report showed that 3,575 rental units will be delivered in 2017, compared to 2,774 condos.