“US 27 is an excellent freight corridor for professional drivers traveling to and from Port Everglades and Port Miami to the rest of the state,” says Kealey Dorian, Love's Communications Specialist. “With the great location close to the highway, we're in a tremendous position to serve members of the Glades County community and the motoring public.”

The first phase of AGLC is being developed as a public-private partnership between Glades County and Americas Gateway, LLC. Duda donated 15 acres to Glades County to create the easements for the infrastructure; the Florida Department of Transportation funded more than $700,000 in improvements to U.S. 27; and Glades County secured nearly $1.5 million in state infrastructure grants to tie surrounding parcels together. Pending Glades County Board of Commissioners approval, site preparation is expected to begin shortly.

“Once utilities and the entrance road serving the travel center are complete, enough land to accommodate approximately 1.5 million square feet of commercial and industrial space at AGLC will be shovel-ready,” Erin Archey, president of Americas Gateway, tells GlobeSt.com. “Additionally, there are rail-served industrial lots in a range of sizes from 18 to more than 150 acres.”

According to Tracy Whirls, executive director of Glades County Economic Development Council, this has been a pioneering public-private partnership between local, state and private property owners ending a stalemate in economic development in Florida. She explains private property owners and developers are reluctant to invest millions of dollars in infrastructure on a greenfield site in advance of proven market demand, and companies won't consider greenfield sites unless they are shovel ready.”

“The closer we get to being shovel ready, the more deal flow we're beginning to see,” says Whirls. “Right now, we are actively pursuing four projects representing $141 million in capital investment and 245 jobs with an average annual wage of $40,000 to $70,000 a year.”

ORLANDO—Americas Gateway Logistics Center, a 770-acre master-planned industrial campus A. Duda & Sons is developing in Moore Haven, FL, has picked Cushman & Wakefield as its exclusive leasing agent. The announcement comes at a time when Central Florida's industrial real estate market is exploding.

Cushman & Wakefield director Larry Kahn and senior director Christopher Thomson are marketing the rail-served logistics park. The park, which can accommodate industrial distribution and manufacturing space and features commercial frontage on US 27 and direct rail access from South Central Florida Express to both CSX and Florida East Coast Railway/Norfolk Southern, is on the site of former sugar cane fields in Glades County at the corner of US Highway 27 and Florida State Road 78.

“Americas Gateway offers a unique set of investment drivers for industrial users,” Kahn tells GlobeSt.com. “It provides the opportunity to acquire modestly priced land with excellent access to Palm Beach, Broward, Dade, Lee and Collier counties. Further, the Glades County training facility is on-site, the project already has water and sewer service, and users will have access to a strong, diverse local workforce. Americas Gateway has the right ingredients at the right time and right place to serve all of South Florida.”

Oklahoma City-based Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores is the park's first tenant. Love's broke ground on an $11 million, 10,000-square-foot, 24/7 facility, which will include fuel and diesel pumps, an Arby's restaurant, a convenience store, five private showers and 77 truck parking spaces. The Love's development project is expected to employ 150 area residents via Harman Construction. When it opens its doors to the public in early 2017, the store will create 40 new jobs.

“US 27 is an excellent freight corridor for professional drivers traveling to and from Port Everglades and Port Miami to the rest of the state,” says Kealey Dorian, Love's Communications Specialist. “With the great location close to the highway, we're in a tremendous position to serve members of the Glades County community and the motoring public.”

The first phase of AGLC is being developed as a public-private partnership between Glades County and Americas Gateway, LLC. Duda donated 15 acres to Glades County to create the easements for the infrastructure; the Florida Department of Transportation funded more than $700,000 in improvements to U.S. 27; and Glades County secured nearly $1.5 million in state infrastructure grants to tie surrounding parcels together. Pending Glades County Board of Commissioners approval, site preparation is expected to begin shortly.

“Once utilities and the entrance road serving the travel center are complete, enough land to accommodate approximately 1.5 million square feet of commercial and industrial space at AGLC will be shovel-ready,” Erin Archey, president of Americas Gateway, tells GlobeSt.com. “Additionally, there are rail-served industrial lots in a range of sizes from 18 to more than 150 acres.”

According to Tracy Whirls, executive director of Glades County Economic Development Council, this has been a pioneering public-private partnership between local, state and private property owners ending a stalemate in economic development in Florida. She explains private property owners and developers are reluctant to invest millions of dollars in infrastructure on a greenfield site in advance of proven market demand, and companies won't consider greenfield sites unless they are shovel ready.”

“The closer we get to being shovel ready, the more deal flow we're beginning to see,” says Whirls. “Right now, we are actively pursuing four projects representing $141 million in capital investment and 245 jobs with an average annual wage of $40,000 to $70,000 a year.”