Bridge Development buys dev site in Miami Gardens

Chicago-based Bridge Development Partners just paid $28.2 million, or $152,000 per acre, for a large swath of land in Miami Gardens where it plans to build a spec industrial park called Bridge Point Commerce Center.

Bridge Development acquired 185 acres at 3900 Northwest 215th Street, Kevin Carroll, Bridge Development Florida principal, said. Manheim Auto Auctions of Atlanta is the seller. Property records show it previously sold for $9 million in 2004.

The two-phase project will have 2 million square feet of Class A industrial space. Phase one will feature three buildings with more than 1 million square feet of space, including two nearly 287,000-square-foot buildings and a 535,000-square-foot building. The developer will break ground on the first phase once it secures financing. Carroll declined to identify the amount of the construction loan.

Phase two will be developed on the western portion of the site, a former landfill that has been closed for more than 40 years. According to its agreement with the city of Miami Gardens, Bridge Development must preserve 13 acres as green space.

Nearby, EastGroup Properties recently broke ground on Gateway Commerce Park, an 850,000-square-foot development planned for a 61-acre site previously home to the practice track for Calder Race Course. EastGroup purchased the development site in November for $26.5 million, which breaks down to about $434,000 per acre.

Bridge Development is also in the midst of building a new distribution facility in Fort Lauderdale called Bridge Point Riverbend. In September it closed on a $16.6 million construction loan for a site it bought from developer Dev Motwani in July.

Earlier this month, the firm announced it will sell a $700 million industrial portfolio with 3.4 million square feet and two soon-to-be-developed land parcels to Duke Realty Corp. Part of that deal included a 17.5-acre industrial project in Fort Lauderdale called Bridge Point I-95.