Palm Beach County Industrial Leasing Ticks Up

PALM BEACH COUNTY, FL-The industrial market in the county finished the year with healthy total sales and leasing activity of nearly 3.3 million sf, states Cushman & Wakefield’s recently released fourth-quarter industrial report for the county. The figure is a small decrease of 400,000 sf compared with 2002, but the 2003 figure is solid, the report says.

The industrial leasing in the county grew from 1.5 million sf in 2002 to 1.9 million sf the next year. However, investor sales did drop slightly from about 1.5 million sf in 2002 to just over one million sf last year. During the same time, user sales were nearly cut in half, falling from more than 697,000 sf to more than 351,000 sf. However, one notable transaction did take place last year: the sale of the 538,933-sf Motorola building in the Boynton Beach submarket. Compson Associates purchased it for $25.5 million and plans to redevelop the property and adjacent land and build a mixed-use development.

Also in 2003, Palm Beach County experience a dramatic improvement in absorption with direct net absorption at a positive 330,000 sf, up from 232,000 sf absorbed in 2002. The West Palm Beach area saw the biggest amount of net absorption, more than 731,000 sf.