Here are South Florida’s priciest industrial sales of 2023

Institutional buyers seeking massive warehouse portfolios dominated the top five largest industrial deals in South Florida in 2023. 

National industrial players primarily gobbled up complexes and business parks in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, which are much larger industrial submarkets than Palm Beach County.

Overall, 2023’s top five industrial deals combined for $590 million. That compares to last year’s largest quintet of warehouse sales that sold for a combined $628 million. This year’s top five deals break down to an average of about $168 per square foot for 2.9 million square feet of industrial space. 

Owning industrial warehouses is one of the safest bets in South Florida’s commercial real estate landscape. In the third quarter, median asking rents in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties jumped by 14 percent, 16 percent and 18 percent, respectively, compared to the same period of last year, according to a recent JLL report. Meanwhile, occupancy rates in the three counties hit roughly 96 percent. 

Here are the five priciest industrial sales for 2023 based on data provided by Colliers and Cushman & Wakefield:

$262M | Miami-Dade/Broward portfolio | Longpoint Partners 

This month, Boston-based Longpoint Partners acquired 25 industrial buildings spanning 1.4 million square feet in Miami, Hialeah, Hialeah Gardens, Miami Gardens, Davie, Deerfield Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Lauderhill. 

Seagis, the seller, assembled the portfolio between 2005 and 2019, paying a combined $93.2 million for two dozen warehouses and one building in Fort Lauderdale as part of a $23.2 million purchase in 2007. The buildings were completed between 1975 and 2004. 

$162M | Deerfield Beach portfolio | Link Logistics

In July, Blackstone’s industrial subsidiary Link Logistics bought seven buildings within the Quiet Waters Business Park at 710-750 South Powerline Road and 3155-3161 Southwest 10th Street in Deerfield Beach. 

Built in 2004, the warehouses add up to a combined 675,000 square feet. Newark, New Jersey-based PGIM Real Estate developed the nearly 46-acre portfolio.

$113M | Hialeah cold storage warehouse | Pontegadea

This month, Spanish family office Pontegadea picked up Bridge Point Cold Logistics Center, a freezer facility in Hialeah. 

Pontegadea is the private equity and real estate arm of Amancio Ortega, the billionaire founder and owner of global retail chain Zara. 

Chicago-based Bridge Industrial and Newark, New Jersey-based PGIM Real Estate sold the 20-acre site to Pontegadea, In 2020, the joint venture paid $11 million for the property at 3995 West 108th Street, and completed the cold storage building last year. 

$66M | Lauderdale Lakes industrial park | Harbert Management

Harbert Management Corporation, a Birmingham, Alabama-based investment management firm, acquired Lauderdale Lakes Industrial Flex Park in January. 

Sitting on a 17-acre site, the 11 small-bay warehouses are at 3435-3699 Northwest 19th Street and 1814-1896 Northwest 38th Avenue. The sellers, two entities managed by Steven Cooperman in North Lauderdale, paid $5.8 million for the 360,000-square-foot industrial park in 2000. 

$52M | Brownsville warehouses | Walton Street Capital

In July, Chicago-based Walton Street purchased Seaboard Industrial Park, a complex of three warehouses at 3455 Northwest 54th Street, 5530 Northwest 32nd Court and 5400 Northwest 32nd Court. 

Completed in 1959 and 1968, the buildings are in Brownsville, an unincorporated neighborhood in Miami-Dade County. The seller, West Palm Beach-based HighBrook Investors, paid $33 million for the industrial park in 2021.