Miami’s multifamily market now ranks among the country’s strongest overall performers (if not the strongest). The city attracts, and benefits from, numerous tourists, investors, financial institutions, real estate funds, retailers and tourists from countries around the globe. The demand for condominiums and apartment buildings in Miami seems insatiable with the investors competing for increasingly scant deals. In practical terms, that means hotel and office developers often lose out across asset classes to the “ever-on-fire” multifamily sector. There is every indication in the first quarter of 2015 that Miami’s multifamily market’s upward trend will continue. Debt and equity continue to stream into the Miami-Dade County apartment and condominium sector from both local sources and out-of-area buyers attracted to solid asset performance and robust housing demand generators. Continued employment and population growth have bolstered housing demand as the overall Miami economy strengthened in 2014. The Miami metropolitan area added more than 30,000 jobs last year, and based on figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Miami-Dade County’s unemployment rate continued its downward trend to 5.4 percent in February 2015. According to the Florida Bureau of Economic and Business Research, South Florida’s population is expected to increase by approximately 29 percent between 2013 …
TAMPA, FLA. — PCCP has formed a joint venture with Banyan Street Capital to purchase Rivergate Tower, a 515,965-square-foot office complex located at 400 N. Ashley Drive in downtown Tampa. PCCP and Banyan Street Capital purchased the property for $70 million, according to Tampa Business Journal. CBRE brokered the sale and arranged acquisition financing for the joint venture. The property comprises a 31-story office tower and an adjacent five-story pavilion office building that houses the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts. Other tenants include Malio’s Prime Steakhouse, an upscale café, full-service bank branch, dry cleaner, two-story parking garage and a fitness center. The office complex was built in 1988 for $150 million.
MIAMI — Coldwell Banker Commercial (CBC) Alliance has brokered the $15 million sale of a 213,131-square-foot industrial facility located in Miami’s Airport West industrial submarket. The property is located on an 8.9-acre site at 6950 N.W. 77th Court. The facility features 175,000 square feet of industrial space, 27,000 square feet of office space and 10,000 square feet of retail space. The property’s retail tenants include Perry Ellis and Bijoux Terner. The seller, Leyjon Investments Corp., will retain office and industrial space in the facility. Jim McCoy of CBC Alliance and Jeff Hartsook of Americas Industrial Realty Corp. represented Leyjon in the transaction. Luis Nunez of Realty Professionals #1 Inc. represented the buyer, The Apollo Group, a Miami-based cruise ship catering and logistics company.
ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. — Cushman & Wakefield has brokered the $103 million sale of a 1.7 million-square-foot industrial portfolio in St. Petersburg. Evergreen Industrial Properties purchased the 34-building portfolio from Miami-based Fleeman Family Trust. The portfolio comprises five industrial parks, including Gateway Business Center, Gateway Business Park, Metropointe Commerce Park, Westbay Corporate Center and Joe’s Creek Industrial Park. The portfolio was 84 percent leased at the time of sale to tenants such as Lockheed Martin, Jabil, L–3 Communications, FedEx, MTS Systems, Worldpac, Digital Lightwave and Jagged Peak.
NAPLES, FLA. — Inland Private Capital Corp. (IPCC) has sold the 146-unit Berkshire Reserve Townhomes located at 3536 Winifred Row Lane in Naples for $20.3 million. IPCC, through its subsidiary, which serves as asset manager, facilitated the sale of the property on behalf of one of its 1031 investment programs. Constructed in 2000, Berkshire Reserve comprises three-bedroom, two and one-half bath townhome apartments. Each unit contains 1,300 square feet of livable space and energy-efficient appliances, private patios, washers and dryers and a gourmet kitchen. The 189,800-square-foot property is located in the northern portion of the Naples-Marco Island metropolitan area, and is approximately five miles northeast of the Naples central business district. The multifamily residential complex includes 37 two-story apartment buildings and a clubhouse building with a swimming pool, barbeque area and children’s playground.
PALM SPRINGS, FLA. — Trinity Place Holdings has executed a long-term lease with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to bring a new Walmart Neighborhood Market to South Florida. The new 42,000-square-foot grocery store will anchor Trinity’s 112,000-square-foot Shoppes at Forest Hill, a shopping center located at the intersection of Forest Hill Boulevard and South Military Trail in Palm Springs. The Walmart Neighborhood Market is expected to open in the spring of 2016 and will bring approximately 95 new jobs to the area. David Lipp of Atlantic Commercial Group Inc. and David Emihovich of Katz & Associates were the broker and the agent, respectively, for the transaction.
FORT MYERS, FLA. — Cushman & Wakefield has brokered the $10.2 million sale of Forum Corporate Park II, a 60,777-square-foot, Class A office building located at 9160 Forum Corporate Parkway in Fort Myers. The office building is positioned within The Forum at Fort Myers, a 706-acre master-planned development. Rick Brugge, Mike Davis and Michael Lerner of Cushman & Wakefield, along with Robert Brooks of Songy Highroads, represented the seller in the transaction. The buyer was Holden Properties. The three-story suburban office building is currently 82.3 percent leased to tenants such as Verizon, Prudential Insurance and Regus.
Miami, the “Gateway to Latin America and the Caribbean,” boasts one of the strongest industrial markets in the nation, with over 200 million square feet of industrial space serving one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the United States. Stronger-than-average population and employment growth count among the region’s chief demand drivers, along with robust international trade, a booming housing market and a globally acclaimed tourism industry. South Florida’s population is expected to grow by 100,000 people annually over the next five years, while the region also has the fourth-highest job growth rate in the nation. As a result, demand for housing and consumer goods is rising, creating a very dynamic industrial development, leasing and sales environment. Significant and ongoing investment in South Florida’s seaports, airports and intermodal transportation infrastructure is giving investors and businesses confidence in the long-term growth of the region. On the infrastructure front, there is the highly publicized, $2 billion expansion of PortMiami, one of the busiest ports in the U.S. for container traffic. The project includes a deep dredge, the addition of several post-Panamax gantry cranes, an intermodal/freight rail linkage, and a new truck/freight tunnel. Once completed this year, PortMiami will be the only port south …
NORTH MIAMI, FLA. — Institutional Property Advisors (IPA), a division of Marcus & Millichap that serves institutional and major private real estate investors, has brokered the $21.3 million sale of North Miami Business Park. The 12-building, 214,318-square-foot property features office, warehouse and mini-storage facilities. The business park is located at 1922 N.E. 149th St. midway between Fort Lauderdale and Miami. Douglas Mandel and Benjamin Silver of IPA represented the seller, a fund based in Boston, in the transaction. The buyer was a limited liability company based in Coral Gables, Fla.
JACKSONVILLE, FLA. — Cushman & Wakefield has brokered the $90.5 million sale of Coach’s distribution and fulfillment center in Jacksonville. The Class A, 851,696-square-foot property is located on Coach Way within the 425-acre Jacksonville International Tradeport, which houses other global companies such as Mercedes-Benz. The facility includes 50,000 square feet of office space and serves as the hub for all distribution and fulfillment services of Coach products throughout North America. Mike Davis, Michael Lerner, Rick Brugge, David Bernhaut, Karl Johnston and Tyler Newman of Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller, Pantheon Properties, in the transaction. The buyer was Intercontinental Real Estate Corp. According to Cushman & Wakefield, the transaction is the largest non-portfolio industrial sale in the Jacksonville market since 2013.