(Carl Cronan is editor of Real EstateFlorida.)
JACKSONVILLE, FL-Schafer Development LLC has sold a 75-acre parcel at its New Berlin Commerce Park here to Atlanta-based Oakmont Industrial Group. The new owner plans to proceed with a 386,000-sf industrial project at the site to be completed later this year.
Steve Schafer, president of the Farmington Hills, MI-based industrial and manufacturing firm, tells GlobeSt.com that the site has all the proper entitlements, making the deal more attractive. He would not disclose a specific price for the sale, other than to say it exceeds $10 million.
"Oakmont basically gave us an offer we couldn't refuse," Schafer says. "We had a quick closing. It was good for us and it was good for them."
New Berlin Commerce Park was assembled from four separate tracts that were previously zoned for residential development, Schafer says. The site at New Berlin and Faye Roads is approved for nearly one million sf of new industrial space, which he believes Oakmont will now complete. The building will also seek LEED certification by the US Green Building Council.
Schafer notes that there is strong demand for local industrial space despite current national economic woes, especially given the prospects for expansion at the Port of Jacksonville. The area's industrial vacancy rate through the first quarter was 4.9%, according to CB Richard Ellis.
Schafer Development has one other large-scale development in Jacksonville—the 810,000-sf Main Street Commerce Park on 92 acres at Interstate 95 and Pecan Park Road near the city's port. It has a total of 10 million sf of projects in the works in Florida, primarily in the Tampa area, adding to the three million sf the company has already developed within the state.
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