Vacancy rates in the prime submarkets such as Doral, Medley and Northeast and Central Miami-Dade are generally less than 5%. Considering the delivery of 2 million square feet of new construction product so far this year, we continue to experience robust positive absorption. Rental rates have seen an increase, especially in the past 12 months, across the region's industrial market. When compared to markets with similar characteristics and barriers to entry like Northern New Jersey or Seattle, it seems South Florida's industrial market has plenty of room for growth in value and rental rates.

GlobeSt.com: With the Panama Canal expansion a reality now, is Miami-Dade's industrial market starting to see an uptick in activity?

Smith: At a local level, we have not seen a large uptick in activity that is directly related to the Panama Canal expansion. It is another plus for the region's growing industrial market and will only help to further solidify Miami as a primary market in the global supply chain and logistics puzzle. It represents an incremental change with potential increase in volume over time, but Miami's port is already experiencing a high volume of activity and we expect that to continue over the long term.

MIAMI—JLL managing director Brian Smith is now leading the firm's industrial business practice in South Florida. As the South Florida broker lead, he works closely with JLL's leadership to lead the brokerage team's strategic direction, identifies growth opportunities and works with the various industrial teams in support of achieving clients' goals and real estate decisions.

Smith, who has handled more than $2 billion in transactions during his career, led the completion of the 550,000-square-foot lease that paved the way for Telemundo Enterprises/NBC Universal's world headquarters and studio campus in western Miami-Dade earlier this year. GlobeSt.com caught up with Smith to discuss the activity he's seeing in the market in this exclusive interview.

GlobeSt.com: Tell us about the levels of activity that you are seeing in South Florida's key industrial submarkets.

Smith: We see very healthy activity across South Florida's key industrial submarkets. The market's fundamentals are strong as there is a nice mix of new construction, net absorption and rental rate increase.

Vacancy rates in the prime submarkets such as Doral, Medley and Northeast and Central Miami-Dade are generally less than 5%. Considering the delivery of 2 million square feet of new construction product so far this year, we continue to experience robust positive absorption. Rental rates have seen an increase, especially in the past 12 months, across the region's industrial market. When compared to markets with similar characteristics and barriers to entry like Northern New Jersey or Seattle, it seems South Florida's industrial market has plenty of room for growth in value and rental rates.

GlobeSt.com: With the Panama Canal expansion a reality now, is Miami-Dade's industrial market starting to see an uptick in activity?

Smith: At a local level, we have not seen a large uptick in activity that is directly related to the Panama Canal expansion. It is another plus for the region's growing industrial market and will only help to further solidify Miami as a primary market in the global supply chain and logistics puzzle. It represents an incremental change with potential increase in volume over time, but Miami's port is already experiencing a high volume of activity and we expect that to continue over the long term.