A partnership between one of South Florida's biggest industrial builders and an insurance giant's subsidiary plans to build a cold storage facility on a Hialeah site they bought for $11 million.

Bridge Development Partners LLC, based in Chicago, and PGIM Real Estate, based in Newark, New Jersey, bought the 20-acre site where they plan to build Bridge Point Cold Logistics Center. The land is at Northwest 162nd Street and 102nd Avenue between Interstate 75 and Florida's turnpike.

The 312,103-square-foot facility will be South Florida's first sold storage facility built as a speculative development without a tenant lined up, but the developers are betting on demand based on positive market indicators. Construction is to be finished late next year.

The industrial sector is expected to fare better than other real estate asset classes from the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic with the prognosis for cold storage being bright. Demand is growing for climate-controlled cold storage as more consumers feel safer buying groceries online and skipping trips to big-box stores and supermarkets.

"South Florida has long served as an international gateway for imported perishables from South and Central America," Brian Niven, senior vice president for cold storage at Bridge Development, said in a news release. "However, demand for temperature-controlled space is at an all-time high across the region, thanks in part to shifting consumer preferences towards fast, fresh products and online grocery deliveries."

Bridge Point Cold Logistics will have 50-foot clearing heights, a 348-foot building depth, 39 dock-high doors, three grade-level truck ramps, 207 parking spaces and 49 trailer stalls. Tenants will have a temperature range from minus 10 degrees to 55 degrees Fahrenheit for their perishables.

The Bridge-PGIM joint venture last year started a $150 million cold-storage investment program across the U.S., and Bridge Point Cold Logistics is their first South Florida project. The program will include development of cold storage facilities and repositioning existing ones.

Bridge Development is one of South Florida's most prolific industrial developers, buying 473 acres and building more than 4 million square feet of space since 2012. Its South Florida portfolio spans more than 3 million square feet.

PGIM Real Estate is the real estate investment and financing arm of Prudential Financial Inc., which provides insurance, investment management and other financial products and services.

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