From events to warehouses: BBX, FRP will redevelop Davie’s Signature Grand  

Signature Grand, a prominent venue in Davie that’s hosted weddings, galas, homecomings, politicians and political party events, will be replaced with an industrial park. 

BBX Logistics Properties and FRP Development bought the building at 6900 State Road 84 and an adjacent parking lot, with plans to redevelop the 11.3-acre site with a pair of warehouses spanning 182,000 square feet, combined, according to the buyers’ news release. The project, called The Park at Davie, will provide logistics space. 

Signature Grand, led by CEO Arlene Pecora, sold the properties to BBX Logistics and FRP for $24.5 million, records show. 

The 102,000-square-foot events venue, which opened in the mid-1990s, closed this year, after nearly three decades of business. Pecora’s late husband, Michael Pecora, and Democratic fundraiser Jerome Berlin opened Signature Grand, which was designed in the Mediterranean style, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel. The pair also opened the Signature Gardens venue in Miami-Dade County’s Kendall in 1985. 

In a 2003, during an argument in an office at the Signature Grand, Pecora fatally shot Berlin and then shot himself in a murder-suicide, the Sentinel reported. 

BBX Logistics and FRP plan to start construction in the fourth quarter and complete the project next year, according to their release. 

BBX Logistics is the logistics development and investment division of BBX Capital Real Estate, which itself is a subsidiary of BBX Capital. The holding company is also parent to the Altman Companies, candy retailer It’Sugar, and sliding door and hardware systems manufacturer Renin, according to the release. All three BBX companies are based in Fort Lauderdale. 

BBX Logistics is led by President Mark Levy, and BBX Capital is led by CEO Jarett Levan, the companies’ websites show. 

In other South Florida projects, BBX Logistics and Los Angeles-based PCCP scored a $31.1 million construction loan in April for a 200,000-square-foot warehouse, the first phase of the three-building BBX Park at Delray project in Delray Beach. 

FRP, with offices in Jacksonville and Baltimore, Maryland, is a subsidiary of FRP Holdings, a commercial and residential real estate and mining investment, development and management firm, according to the release. FRP Holdings is led by CEO John Baker III. 

South Florida’s industrial market boomed over the past four years, largely fueled by pandemic-induced growth of e-commerce. The tri-county region also has a limited supply of land for industrial development, which allowed landlords to raise asking rents during the demand frenzy. 

But in the first quarter, Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties each experienced an increase in the vacancy rate, according to CBRE. The Broward vacancy rate hit 3.8 percent, up from 2.7 percent during the first quarter of last year. 

Across South Florida, demand for larger blocks of space that offer over 100,000 square feet has weakened this year, with many of these buildings sitting vacant for longer than expected, Bisnow reported. Leasing activity in the region was 2.4 million square feet from January to March, marking the slowest first quarter in South Florida for the past five years. 

Still, landlords continued to boost asking rents. In Broward, the first quarter asking rent hit $15.70 per square foot, up from $15.25 a square foot during the same period of last year, CBRE data shows.