Fordome Investment Group, a real estate investment firm led by Kristopher Rodriguez, sold the 2.2-acre site at 9800 N.W. 87th Ave. for $3.3 million to GPT NW 87th Avenue Owner LLC, part of the industrial arm of Blackstone. It was used for automobile storage.
Malcolm Butters’ firm has been building industrial properties in South Florida for about 30 years. But the last three or four of those years have been nothing like what came before.
Companies such as Butters Construction have been forced to adapt to changes within an industrial market that has seen a massive influx of institutional capital from the likes of Blackstone and Prologis. Thanks to the rise of Amazon and e-commerce, these firms — especially Blackstone, which has north of $500 billion in assets under management — are paying top dollar for institutional properties.
That makes it difficult for smaller players like Butters to compete for deals to buy and develop new properties, especially in a place with little land left to build.
Blackstone bought a huge industrial portfolio next to Miami International Airport for $56 million.
The private equity giant bought the three warehouses totaling 367,848 square feet at 3208 Northwest 72nd Avenue and 3108 Northwest 72nd Avenue for $152 per square foot, records show. Airport Trade Center, which lists Haim Yehezkel as one of its principals, is the seller. Yehezkel leads the real estate firm Elysee Investments in Miami Beach. The warehouses were built in 1972 and last traded for $13 million in 1999.
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