With 27 offers from a variety of potential buyers—including pension funds, life insurance companies, REITs, private investors and foreign investors—the sale of Palmetto Distribution Center highlights the strong interest for core industrial real estate in Miami.

“This sale makes a statement,” Edward Redlich, principal of ComReal Miami, tells GlobeSt.com. “Here’s an institution acquiring a property and they are not looking at 2010. They are looking beyond. They paid a premium for this asset. This is good class B functional warehouse space. AMB is making an investment in the future of Miami’s industrial market.”

Now known as AMB Miami International Business Park, the industrial property is located at the interchange of the Palmetto Expressway and US Highway 27 in Medley, Florida. The property offers five class A distribution buildings totaling 880,543 square feet.

At 95% occupied, the park beats market norms. Miami’s overall industrial vacancy settled at 8.3% at mid-year, according to Cushman & Wakefield. This rate was the lowest reported in the past four quarters, signaling that declining vacancy will be a continued trend.

“It’s very rare that you can get this much critical mass in one sales transaction in Miami,” Davis says. “That drove investors to push on pricing. The fundamentals in the Miami industrial market, specifically leasing fundamentals, are improving significantly and because of that people wanted to own this real estate.”