Industrial Park’s Owner Bringing In 495,000 SF Of Restaurants, Retail

Office developers have in the past turned to restaurants, entertainment venues, fitness centers and shops as standard enticements for companies hoping to lure workers.

Now one of the world’s largest industrial property owners is bringing in a developer to add these amenities to its giant industrial park just outside Miami to cater to its tenants and freshen up the utilitarian concept of the big-box warehouse complex.

Prologis Inc. has plans to add about 495,000 square feet of retail to its Beacon Lakes Industrial Park, potentially bringing in restaurants, recreational venues and home goods retailers as well as clothing and sporting goods stores. The sports entertainment brand Topgolf is pursuing approvals to build a Beacon Lakes location with high-tech, climate-controlled hitting bays, food venues, live events and music.

Industrial real estate consultants view Beacon Lakes‘ addition of retail amenities as the next evolution in industrial properties as technology advances and as companies need to recruit and retain skilled workers in a tight labor market.

“There is no doubt that the market for labor in our business and additional businesses in this economy has become more competitive,” said Nick Kittredge, east region president at Prologis. “To work in a beautiful environment and have amenities at the ready is definitely a differentiating factor.”

Stiles Corp. is developing the retail portion, which will be designed as an open-air shopping destination with landscaped paths. Among the key factors allowing Beacon Lakes to add the retail segment are the park’s critical mass of over 2,000 workers as well as a location adjacent to Florida’s Turnpike and across from the Dolphin Mall in a densely populated area, real-estate executives said.

Beacon Lakes is home to logistics and e-commerce tenants such as United Parcel Service Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Ryder System Inc. Prologis owns and manages 2.5 million square feet of industrial property at Beacon Lakes, with plans to develop an additional 1.6 million square feet over the next two to three years. NBC Universal Telemundo Enterprises is building its new headquarters at the site, bringing as many as 1,100 more workers.

“The industrial park workforce has also has been changing to include executives, engineers, salespeople and designers in addition to the usual warehouse and operations workers,” said Brian Smith, a managing director at real estate services firm JLL, which markets Beacon Lakes’ industrial space. “We have a lot of executives visiting. We see the amenity base as a strong competitive advantage.”

“Top concerns for industrial tenants are the availability of labor and transportation costs,” said Chris Zubel, a managing director at real estate services firm CBRE Group Inc. “Training and hiring employees is also expensive, so these companies are looking for ways to keep them. If all things are equal, the occupier is going to go to the park that has amenities because it’s easier to recruit and retain employees.”

As an industrial market, the Miami area has served as a staging ground for exports to Latin America. The metropolitan area’s population growth also has made the area an increasingly attractive industrial market. The vacancy rate in the Miami-Dade market fell to 3.8% in the first quarter, a decrease of 0.7 percentage point from the previous year. Average warehouse and distribution rents rose 3.2% to $7.04 per square feet, according to real estate services firm JLL.

While it might be a new evolution of the industrial park concept, the Beacon Lakes project isn’t something that can be easily replicated,” Mr. Smith cautioned. “The cost of land, the proximity to the right demographics, a lot of things have to fall in place to do something like Beacon Lakes.”

 

Source: Fox Business

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Larry W. Genet is a Senior Vice President in the CBRE, Inc. Miami, FL office. As part of the CBRE platform Mr. Genet can provide a wide range of services from local to Fortune 1000 clients including agency and tenant representation, asset or portfolio management, high level logistics, labor and data analytics prior to site selection, project/construction management, capital markets, owner user sales and valuation advisory services. CBRE is the global leader for real estate services worldwide.

Larry has extensive experience in landlord agency, tenant representation, acquisitions, dispositions and property management. As a third-generation commercial real estate professional and South Florida native, Larry boasts deep community ties, an intimate knowledge of the South Florida market and numerous professional contacts. Larry’s leasing expertise of industrial, office, land, retail and medical properties coupled with his experience in acquisitions and dispositions gives him the ability to represent a myriad of clients in the South Florida market. Additionally, Larry controls a portfolio of 13.5 million square feet allowing him to see every deal in the market. This ensures his clients never miss an opportunity. His knowledge of tenants and buyers in the market is top notch and when coupled with his team's vast portfolio, it's a winning combination.

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Larry Genet
Senior Vice President

Larry W. Genet is a Senior Vice President in the CBRE, Inc. Miami, FL office. He is a consistent Top 10 producer locally and Top 10% in the Americas Industrial & Listings business line. Co-leading the top multimarket institutional level landlord team, Larry has closed some of the most significant deals in our market selling land, portfolios, one-off buildings and completing critical leases. Clients count on Larry to put their Marketing Action Plans into motion and execute by being a proactive force to fill vaccines and get buildings sold quickly and for top dollar. He and Tom O’Loughlin oversee the largest landlord portfolio in the South Florida market.   

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Executive Vice President

Tom O’Loughlin has earned a reputation of being one of the top performing brokers in South Florida. As a trusted advisor, Tom has fostered relationships with our market’s top brokers making sure they deliver quality tenants to his client’s buildings. Tom is exceptional at understanding client’s needs, the obstacles they wish to overcome and creating a clear plan to succeed in surpassing all goals. A relative encyclopedia of market knowledge, building owners and businesses, not many brokers know our market better. Tom’s goal is to foster his client relationships and become their trusted advisors while delivering superior results regardless of the size or complexity of the transaction.

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