A New York real estate investment firm boosted its Palm Beach County portfolio by acquiring an industrial building for $22 million.
Avid Asset Management, led by real estate investor and developer Steven Samuels, in a joint venture with Fogel Capital, a Stuart, Florida-based financial advisory firm, bought the 142,082-square-foot warehouse at 1601 Hill Avenue in West Palm Beach, according to a press release. The deal equates to $155 a square foot.
An affiliate managed by Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania-based real estate investor Clay Hamlin sold the building for $13.3 million above its purchase price two years ago. Earlier this month, Hamlin picked up a Palm Beach townhome for $17.8 million.
The warehouse sale underscores that prices for South Florida industrial sites remain at a premium. In April 2019, Hamlin’s affiliate paid $8.7 million for the building, which was completed in 1985.
A Cushman & Wakefield team led by Dominic Montazemi and Mike Davis represented the seller, and the law firm Kapp Morrison represented the buyer. Jason Hochman and Ron Granite, also with Cushman & Wakefield, secured $17.5 million in financing through SoundPoint Capital on behalf of the buyer, the release states.
The property is in a prime area near the Port of Palm Beach, Palm Beach International Airport and downtown West Palm Beach, the release states.
The building is 99 percent leased, with tenants that include Merchants Metals, Florida MicroElectronics, and Delivery & Warehousing Solutions, a Cushman & Wakefield spokesperson said.
In a statement, Montazemi said Avid Asset bought the industrial building to capitalize on West Palm Beach’s strong population growth and “the expanding need for on-demand delivery” that has resulted in rising industrial rents.
Avid Asset has been active in Palm Beach County. In October, the firm paid $8 million for a four-building medical office campus called Mizner Place in West Palm Beach, according to records. And last month, Avid Asset paid $2.3 million for a single-family house in Delray Beach.
Avid specializes in buying older properties with low occupancies to renovate and turn them around, according to the firm’s website. The company also owns office and industrial properties in Brooklyn, Long Island, Hollywood and Delray Beach.
Other recent Palm Beach County industrial deals include Equus Capital Partners’ $41 million acquisition of three West Palm Beach warehouses. The deal is part of a massive $940 million purchase of a 5.4-million-square-foot nationwide industrial portfolio from Prologis.
In January, Woodmont Industrial Partners paid $40.4 million for 116.6 acres in the Palm Beach Park of Commerce where the developer plans to build eight class A industrial buildings.