Duke Realty Expands South Florida Industrial Portfolio

HIALEAH, FL—Duke Realty Corp.’s industrial holdings in South Florida now include three fully-leased buildings totaling more than 1 million square feet within the Countyline Corporate Park here.

HFF announced today Duke Realty’s purchase of the property from Flagler Global Logistics of Miami, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Florida East Coast Industries, LLC. The brokerage firm did not report financial terms of the transaction.

However, Duke Realty in its second quarter financial announcement released on Wednesday, stated that one of two acquisitions in the second quarter was the three-building industrial portfolio in the Miami area that totals 1.1 million square feet. Duke also purchased a 56,000-square-foot industrial building in an infill location in Orange County, CA. The Indianapolis-based company stated it spent a total of $187 million on acquisitions in the second quarter. The deal for the Countyline Corporate Park properties is believed to be valued at approximately $180 million.

Duke Realty Corporation purchased the Florida properties free and clear of existing debt. HFF’s managing directors Luis Castillo and Adam Herrin, executive managing director Manny de Zárraga, senior managing directors Rusty Tamlyn and Coleman Benedict and director Tracey Goo represented the seller in the transaction.

Countyline Corporate Park is Miami-Dade County’s newest master-planned business park and will ultimately contain up to 8 million square feet of commercial space within approximately 500 acres. KLX Aerospace., CGI Windows & Doors, Hyde Shipping and others, fully pre-leased the three buildings now owned by Duke Realty prior to completion.

Mark Denien, EVP and CFO of Duke Realty, noted in the company’s second quarter financial announcement that the company recycled a significant amount of the proceeds from the sale of a 3.8 million square foot portfolio in Columbus, OH in the second quarter into the purchase of the three buildings in the Miami market.

“Given the impending large vacancy in the Columbus portfolio and the superior rent growth prospects in Miami, we are confident that the long term returns of this Miami portfolio will be greater than the Columbus portfolio we sold,” Denien stated.  “These Miami properties are within two miles of some of our existing properties, which should facilitate operational and leasing synergies.”