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The Trends in Commercial Real Estate
Strong Industrial Demand
The law of supply and demand indicates that now’s a good time to invest in Florida’s industrial market. In most major markets, the supply of suitable land is extremely limited due to zoning rules and rising construction costs. At the same time, demand for warehouses, distribution and manufacturing facilities is rising due to the state’s growth in population, business activity and international trade.
 [Photo: Daniel Portnoy] |
In the area near Miami International Airport, the state’s leading industrial market, occupancies are in the 95% range, says Cushman & Wakefield’s Tere Blanca. “This location is highly desired by companies that want to service the Caribbean and Latin America,” she says. “That’s not likely to change.”
But shifts in global trade patterns could benefit other parts of the state as well, says Larry Richey, of Cushman & Wakefield. The widening of the Panama Canal in the next decade will allow larger freighters from Asia to dock at Florida ports rather than in Los Angeles and Long Beach and shipping by rail to the East Coast.
“It’s very expensive to ship goods to the Southeast U.S. via trains or trucks from the West Coast,” Richey says. “And because Florida is not a manufacturing state, they usually return with empty loads.”
That pattern could change in the next decade as Africa becomes a major site for low-cost manufacturing. Since the closest U.S. ports are in Florida, the state could see a greater flow of imported goods. That would push up demand for industrial space in Tampa, Jacksonville and even central Florida, where CSX is building a major intermodal facility near Winter Haven. “Florida could become a major distribution center for the entire U.S. East Coast,” says Richey, “changing the dynamics of the global supply chain.”
Lewis M. Goodkin is president of Goodkin Consulting in Miami.
