The Gainesville industrial market is rather modest and totaled only about 3.5 million square feet of inventory as the millennium approached. However, there has been an increase in development in the city of Alachua, which is located just a few miles north of Gainesville, says Audley Harris, senior vice president of Coldwell Banker Commercial, M. M. Parrish, Realtors.

This year Dollar General Corp. completed a 1.2 million-square-foot, $61 million distribution center on 250 acres in Alachua. In the vicinity of this facility, Waco of Jacksonville, Fla., a developer new to the Gainesville area, has announced plans to develop more than 1,700 acres. Also in the city of Alachua, the Progress Center was recently purchased and renamed Progress Corporate Park. This 200+ acre park, devoted similarly toward research and development activities, especially in the field of biotechnology, also accommodates retail, general office, medical office and distribution facilities. The park is, of course, attracting high tech firms as well as other research and development tenants that would meld with the University of Florida amenities, Harris says.

A major movement in Gainesville is occurring in the research and development of tissue technology and the processing of human donor allograft tissue for transplantation. The leader in this research, Regeneration Technologies, Inc., is a spin off of the University of Florida Tissue Bank. "This is a prime example of a trend toward increased activity resulting from technology spin offs from the University of Florida biotechnology research and product development," says Harris. "These activities, I believe, will continue to grow in the future."

A definite pattern in industrial development appears to be growing in the U.S. Highway 441 corridor from Gainesville north through the city of Alachua. Major reasons for this are the accessibility afforded by U.S. Highway 441 and Interstate 75, relatively inexpensive land costs and receptiveness of the Alachua city governmental authorities for industrial, warehouse, distribution and biotechnology development.

Vacancy rates are low, averaging 2.3 percent. "There is a steady demand for 5,000-, 10,000- and 20,000-square-foot spaces, especially with 20+ foot eave heights," Harris says.

Gainesville's economy is steady due to the high percentage of government-related jobs available as well as the University of Florida, Harris concludes. "This has afforded us a steady growth over the years. While Gainesville has not been an industrial town, the trend is for an increasing market to serve the growth and to take advantage of a well-educated labor base."

Audley Harris serves as senior vice president with Coldwell Banker Commercial, M. M. Parrish, Realtors in Gainesville, Florida.


©2001 France Publications, Inc. Duplication or reproduction of this article not permitted without authorization from France Publications, Inc. For information on reprints of this article contact Barbara Sherer at (630) 554-6054.