Photo courtesy of photographer Erica Brough May, 2011
Transwestern’s South Florida industrial team announced it negotiated 285,985 square feet of transactions on behalf of Crowley Maritime Corp., a marine solutions, energy, and logistics services company operating in domestic and international markets.
Transwestern Senior Managing Directors Ben Eisenberg and Walter Byrd, Managing Director Thomas Kresse, and Vice President Carlos Gaviria facilitated the transactions, which included Crowley entering a long-term lease extension and expansion totaling 179,672 square feet to completely occupy a building in Flagler Station Phase II at 10205 NW 108th Ave. in the Medley submarket.
Additionally, the team subleased 106,313 square feet of a 148,750-square-foot, fully renovated, Class A distribution building in International Corporate Park at 9950 NW 17th St. in Doral. The space, which Crowley previously occupied before expanding, was subleased to Aeropost International Services Inc., a transport services company. Nick Wigoda and Steve Medwin of Newmark Knight Frank’s Miami office represented Aeropost during the sublease. Crowley continues to occupy the remaining 42,437 square feet at the building.
“Crowley tapped our team to provide a strategic review of its Miami real estate, and ultimately the decision was to expand and combine most of its Doral operations into the entire free-standing building in Flagler Station, nearly 70 percent of which housed Crowley’s main regional office and distribution center,” said Eisenberg. “With Makita Corporation, the tenant adjacent to Crowley, engaged in a lease accounting for the remaining space within the building not set to expire until 2019, the challenge was to negotiate the long-term lease extension and expansion on behalf of Crowley and simultaneously find a suitable alternative space for Makita.”
PriceSmart Inc., for which the Transwestern industrial team completed a $45.56 million industrial built-to-suit acquisition in Flagler Station in 2017, controlled the only available space in the landlord’s portfolio that could accommodate Makita. Building upon relationships with the landlord and other tenants within the complex, the team strategically facilitated the termination of PriceSmart’s vacant 56,344-square-foot lease, allowing the tenant to relocate within the park and Crowley to fully occupy the 179,672-square-foot building while gaining significant outside storage.
“Most of Miami’s industrial submarkets boast vacancy in the low single digits, including Doral at 4.1 percent,” said Byrd. “With county-wide vacancies continuing to decline, we were able to attract active interest from corporations seeking a foothold in a key submarket and sublease Crowley’s available space at International Corporate Park.”
According to research by Transwestern, Miami-Dade County reports a 4.8 percent vacancy rate, and Medley and Doral continue to be two of the most in-demand and active industrial submarkets.
