COVER STORY, DECEMBER 2006

INDUSTRIAL PARKS SPOTLIGHT
Developers try to keep pace with industrial demand.
Daniel Beaird

Throughout the Southeast, industrial development is churning along at a rapid pace. Developers are trying to keep up with the demand for new warehouse/distribution facilities complete with modern amenities such as tall ceilings and high- tech flex office space. Some developers are building designated industrial condominiums for interested users. Others are integrating traditional warehouse space in an office park setting. Southeast Real Estate Business examined parks across the region to learn how new space was taking shape.

Beacon Lakes Business Park

Beacon Lakes Business Park

• Location: Intersection of
State Road 836 (Dolphin Expressway)
and the Florida Turnpike, Miami

• Developer: Flagler Development Group
and AMB Property Corporation

• Size: 480-acre master planned
development

• Start Date: Fall 2004

• Completion Date: With the current
absorption rate, Beacon Lakes should be
at capacity within the next 6 to 8 years.

• Current Activity: Beacon Lakes is in the first phase of development.  Upon completion, it will contain more than 6 million square feet of warehouse/distribution, office and retail space for lease. Plans include land for sale, build-to-suit options and dock/height condominium warehouses. Currently, there are three newly completed industrial buildings, totaling approximately 600,000 square feet, and two industrial buildings under construction. Building E1 is a 53,000-square-foot dock/height warehouse condominium and Building 7 is a 192,000-square-foot speculative dock/height warehouse for lease. When these two building are complete, the park will approximately be 850,000 square feet.

• Amenities/Features: Beacon Lakes is on one of the last major parcels of undeveloped land in the Miami market within close proximity to Miami International Airport and the Port of Miami. Beacon Lakes’ location offers immediate access to the airport and Port via major thoroughfares (Florida Turnpike, S.R. 836 and S.R. 826), which is essential to firms moving goods through the global supply chain.

Beacon Lakes is the only park in the market offering the 28’clear height advange. All distribution buildings for lease are 28’clear and provide ESFR sprinkler systems, allowing companies the potential to rack goods higher, which increases efficiencies and decreases the total amount of floor space they need to lease.

Tenants in the park include Panalpina, with 192,000 square feet; Ryder, with 206,000 square feet; and UTI, with 95,000 square feet. Tenants planning to take occupancy early next year include Freight Logistics (35,000 square feet) and RMS Services (35,000 square feet).

Innovation Business Center

Innovation Business Center

• Location: 9371 Innovation Drive,
Gainesville, Virginia

• Developer: Buchanan Partners

• General Contractor:
Hubert Construction

• Architect: Morgan Gick McBeath &
Associates

• Size: Three buildings, totaling 125,000 square feet, as part of the 1,600-acre Innovation @ Prince William business and technology park.

• Start Date: Summer 2005

• Completion Date: August 2006

• Current Activity: To date, about 33 percent of the space in Building A is committed.  Fairfax, Virginia-based Christopher Consultants, an engineering and land planning firm, has leased 9,000 square feet. Washington, D.C.-based ECS, an engineering consulting firm, has leased 4,010 square feet. Prince William County’s Property Management Department has leased 20,156 square feet and will take occupancy in February. Mediatech, a life science, R&D biotech company, has leased 8,713 square feet. This is a flex/office/industrial project. Most of the space leased to date is being used as office space.

• Amenities/Features: Prince William County has the fastest job growth rate of any county in the nation, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 2004, the county added 2,068 new jobs, an over-the-year employment gain of 8 percent, compared with a national job growth of less than 1 percent and Virginia job growth rate of 1.9 percent.

Last year, the Federal government purchased 15 acres at Innovation for a build-to-suit structure to house about 300 Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) employees. The new location will allow the FBI to consolidate offices that are currently in leased space, gain access to a large and well-educated labor force, plan for future expansion, and comply with new Federal building security guidelines.

Westlinks–East Business Park

Westlinks–East Business Park

• Location: off of Daniels Parkway in
Fort Myers, Florida

• Developer: McGarvey Development
Company

• Size: 46.85 acre site with three
industrial/flex buildings, totaling 173,000
square feet, and four office buildings,
totaling 180,000 square feet.

• Start Date: First quarter 2007

• Completion Date: First building in June 2007

• Project Cost: $45 million

• Amenities/Features: The park provides easy access to Interstate 75, U.S. 41 and the Southwest Florida International Airport. It also acts as an expansion to the successful Westlinks Business Park,  which contains more than 600,000 square feet of space developed during the past 5 years.

Mid Cape Corporate Center

Mid Cape Corporate Center

• Location: Near the intersection of
Pine Island Road and Santa Barbara
Boulevard in Cape Coral, Florida

• Developer: McGarvey Development
Company

• Size: 31-acre site with three
flex/industrial buildings, totaling 102,000
square feet, four Class A office buildings,
totaling 176,500 square feet, and a
77,320-square-foot charter school.

• Completion Date: February 2007

• Project Cost: $48 million

McGarvey Development Company’s Mid Cape Corporate Center is located near the intersection of Pine Island Road and Santa Barbara Boulevard in Cape Coral, Florida.

• Current Activity: Phase III

• Amenities/Features: Mid Cape  Corporate Center is among the first Class A office environments in Cape Coral. The site is located near shopping centers and restaurants along the rapidly growing Pine Island corridor and provides easy access to Interstate 75 and U.S. 41. Tenants include Exel (37,933 square feet of warehouse and office space), Next Move (4,000 square feet of warehouse space) and Image First Gulf Coast (4,000 square feet of warehouse and office space).

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