Miami-Dade County Refrigerated Warehouse at 1351 NW 78th Avenue, Doral

After nearly two years in the making, the ComReal Miami Industrial Team announces the successful lease of a 64,000 sq. ft. warehouse building by Miami-Dade County. The property is located at 1351 NW 78th Avenue in Doral right on the Palmetto Expressway just west of Miami International Airport. What is most unique about this property is that 50,000 sq. ft. of the warehouse is refrigerated. The landlord is Maya Plantation and the warehouse was previously occupied by another tenant named Florida Beauty Flora (FBF), a flowers distribution and trucking company. FBF, aka Floral Logistics, has expanded and relocated to their new cooler warehouse at Miami Cargo Park at 3400 NW 74th Avenue.

Miami-Dade County intends to use the property for the distribution of foods and other perishables for the Corrections Department. The lease term is for five years and valued at about $4,000,000. The property is now in the process of being upgraded including the installation of a backup generator; a 3,000 sq. ft. walk-in freezer; paint and flooring in the office space; and ADA compliance.

ComReal was first contacted by Miami-Dade County in the Spring of 2012 in regards to another refrigerated warehouse in Miami. When that property became no longer available, ComReal presented the Doral cooler warehouse which was becoming available on an off-the-market basis only. “There is a waiting list for refrigerated warehouse spaces in Miami. There is a high demand from distributors of flowers, produce and other foods, however our inventory supply of refrigerated warehouses is very low.” states Ed Redlich of ComReal. “Our team specializes in tracking these properties so that we know when they become available for sale or lease.” 

According to the Miami International Airport, over 90% of fresh cut flowers entering the USA are flown into MIA. Over 70% of all perishables enter MIA. View more statistics for Miami International Airport’s cargo at www.miami-airport.com/cargo.asp. In addition, Port Miami is increasing it’s tonnage of perishables being shipped. For more information, visit Port Miami’s website on perishables at www.miamidade.gov/portmiami/perishables.asp.

ComReal would like to take this opportunity to especially thank the principals/owners of Maya Plantation, the Miami-Dade County Real Estate Department and the Corrections Department. “Everyone remained incredibly patient during this long process. We first introduced the parties then toured the property nearly two years ago. The #1 killer of all transactions, is deal fatigue. Each participant maintained their focus and enthusiasm for reaching a successful conclusion.” adds Redlich.

Americas’ Gateway Park Building for Sale or Lease

ComReal is currently marketing the Americas’ Gateway Park Building in Doral for sale or lease. This 102,000 sq. ft. is one of the few, available refrigerated warehouses in Miami. It also happens to be one of the few warehouses over 100,000 sq. ft. for sale in South Florida. For more information on this Miami cooler warehouse, please visit the website and video tour at www.AGPBuilding.com. Ed Redlich is joined by Chris Spear and Edison Vasquez. They are the only industrial team in Miami that have all three Realtors designated as Certified Commercial Investment Members (CCIM).

“There were three lease transactions that closed in December in Miami-Dade County that each measured over 250,000 square feet.” states Edward Redlich, SIOR, CCIM who is the Vice-President of ComReal Miami. “All three of these transactions are expansions and relocations of their existing warehouses. The enormity of this particular transaction and its expeditious closing is a testament to the current strength of Miami’s industrial real estate market. The vacancy rate has fallen from a high in 2009 of 12% to now just under 8%.”

In November, ComReal was retained by Cargo Ventures to market Miami Cargo Park for lease after the prior tenant, Trans World Forwarding (TWF), began to vacate the premises. Within thirty days, ComReal procured several prospective tenants. The transaction was closed shortly thereafter in December of 2011. Redlich also notes that ComReal has two additional leases pending with two other perishables distribution companies for refrigerated warehouses located in Airport West Dade; the sizes are 53,000 sq. ft. and 25,000 sq. ft. respectively. For more information, visit the website for the Miami Cooler Warehouse. >>>

There is approximately 234,000,000 sq. ft. of total warehouse space in Miami-Dade County. There are about 90 industrial properties that have refrigeration installed in the warehouse. This equates to about 4,863,762 sq. ft. of which about 773,858 sq. ft. (or 15.9%) is now vacant. More specifically, here is a quick summary of the largest, contiguous warehouses with refrigeration that are now available:

For more information and/or a tour of the Sunburst Farms 53,000 sq. ft. warehouse space at Miami International Distribution Center, please visit www.MiamiCoolerWarehouse.com.

On a side note, according to the Miami-Dade Aviation Department, the Miami International Airport imports 69% of all perishables imported in to the United States. This equates to about 422,000 tons of air cargo that is made up of perishables including flowers, seafood, fruits and vegetables. (see Chart below). Mr. George Ackler with Centurion Logistics (aka Lynx Global Logistics ) now has a 800,000 sq. ft. refrigerated warehouse under construction on-site that will be delivered in 2012.

Click image for Miami Air Cargo Stats

The ComReal Companies have specialized in the commercial real estate industry in South Florida for over thirty years. Our Miami Industrial Division specializes in all warehouse property types including refrigerated, cold storage facilities. We recently represented Armellini Trucking with their lease renewal and expansion of their 100,000 sq. ft. refrigerated distribution facility in the Miami Airport West Dade sub-market. Please note that this study did not include the packing houses typically found in South Dade. For the more info and/or the complete report including details of available freezer warehouses, cold storage and cooler warehouses in Miami, please contact Ed Redlich, Vice President of the Industrial Division of ComReal Miami at 786-433-2379.