“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.