L. Scott Helms is founder of Helms Development LLC in Fort Lauderdale. Courtesy photo
The developers of the South Florida Distribution Center sold the industrial property for $108 million in a three-part deal, including the $40.4 million disposition of one building.
Helms Development LLC based in Fort Lauderdale and Core5 Industrial Partners LLC based in Atlanta sold the property to Weston-based Bang Energy drink parent company Vital Pharmaceuticals Inc., also called VPX Sports.
All three transactions closed before the coronavirus pandemic with the last one wrapping up March 10.
The 66-acre center on the site of a former women's prison northeast of U.S. 27 and Sheridan Street in Pembroke Pines is planed as a three-building industrial park with the third facility yet to be built. Vital Pharmaceuticals bought the land for the third building in the latest transaction for $32.5 million.
"They had the right to purchase the third building, but they didn't know really what they wanted to do," said L. Scott Helms, principal at Helms Development. "We ended up working out terms for them to buy the remaining land."
Helms and Core5 are under no obligation to develop a third building as Vital Pharmaceuticals will take the leadership on this project.
This land deal followed the $40.4 million purchase of a completed 249,005-square-foot building Jan. 22. Vital Pharmaceuticals bought the first completed 252,000-square-foot warehouse for $35 million in February 2019. The finished warehouses are at 20351 and 20311 Sheridan St.
Helms, who founded Helms Development in 2016, has an extensive industrial real estate career working for nearly three decades at Atlanta-based IDI Logistics LLC before starting his own industrial development company.
He relocated to Florida in the early 2000s when he established IDI's Florida office to develop the company's 7 million-square-foot South and Central Florida portfolio.
The South Florida Distribution Center was Helms Development's initial project. In total, the company has embarked on $150 million of development in four projects.
They include the 300,000-square-foot, two-building Port Everglades International Logistics Center developed in partnership with Illinois-based CenterPoint Properties.
Vital Pharmaceuticals will use the first South Florida Distribution Center warehouse as its headquarters as well as for production and distribution, according to Helms. The second building will be for production and distribution.
"They also have looked at the idea and concept of expanding the second building, making that a larger building. So that's one reason we went head and sold them the land," Helms said.
The industrial park offers immediate access to U.S. 27 and is near Interstate 75. The complex has trailer parking at each building and high ceilings.
"It could be last mile, but it's really more of a regional distribution center because of its location," Helms added.
This was a speculative project that generated heavy interest from prospective buyers.
"We had quite a bit of activity on it, but they came in fairly quickly and responsive, put the first one under contract," Helms said. "While that was going under contract, they were contracting the second one."
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Lidia Dinkova
Lidia Dinkova covers South Florida real estate for the Daily Business Review. Contact her at [email protected] or 305-347-6665. On Twitter @LidiaDinkova.
