Industrial strength: GLP Capital Partners scores $64M construction loan for Doral logistics project

As demand outpaces supply in South Florida’s industrial market, GLP Capital Partners scored a $64.2 million construction loan for a new logistics park in Doral, The Real Deal has learned.

The Santa Monica, California-based industrial real estate firm is building Modlo Air Logistics Center on the former site of PepsiCo’s regional headquarters and bottling plant at 7777 Northwest 41st Street. The project will be a three-building, Class A industrial logistics park totaling 495,073 square feet.

A JLL team led by Bill Fishel and Melissa Rose arranged the three-year, floating rate Bank of America loan on behalf of GLP Capital. Over the summer, GLP Capital, led by CEO Alan Yang, raised $2.3 billion for the company’s logistics property fund.

In a statement, Rose said surging leasing demand and the property’s “stellar location” in Miami-Dade County’s Airport West submarket “resulted in a seamless execution on the construction financing.”

In February, GLP Capital closed its $55 million acquisition of the nearly 24-acre site from Terra and Terranova Corporation. The previous owners had originally planned to transform the former PepsiCo HQ into an industrial and retail development, after buying it in 2018 for $40 million.

The property, which fronts the Palmetto Expressway and is near Miami International Airport, is zoned for industrial development and has 500,000 square feet of buildable commercial space.

With a completion targeted for spring, the three buildings will have a 36-foot clearance height and 110 dock-high doors — two key features for logistics tenants seeking 100,000 square feet or more.

GLP Capital is moving forward with the project at a time demand is consistently outpacing net deliveries, according to a JLL third quarter report. Miami-Dade had an overall third quarter vacancy rate of 3 percent, and Airport West, 4 percent. Asking rents in the submarket have hit a historic high of $16.45 a square foot, according to JLL.

Through the third quarter, Miami-Dade’s industrial market has absorbed about 4.6 million square feet, while 2.5 million square feet of new construction has been completed, JLL said.

According to another third quarter report, by Avision Young, large blocks of 100,000 square feet or more “have become increasingly scarce.” In addition, a tightening supply is among the factors industrial asset pricing has increased 22 percent since March 2020, with properties selling at an average of $149 a square foot, Avision Young said.