Blackstone, a New York-based investment giant, and its subsidiary Link Logistics have purchased an industrial site in northwest Miami-Dade for $15.5 million. The property, located at 7320 Northwest 61st street, spans 6.3 acres and includes a 5,000-square-foot warehouse. The previous sale price is not available in records.

Blackstone launched Link Logistics in 2019 after its $7.6 billion acquisition of real estate investment trust Gramercy Property Trust, which specialized in industrial real estate. Link Logistics, led by CEO Luke Petherbridge, paid $291 million for the former Calder’s horse racing track in Miami Gardens last year. The firm plans to redevelop the 115.7-acre property into an industrial complex and movie studios.

South Florida’s industrial market continued to show signs of stability in the first quarter of this year, with landlords pushing up rents by double digit percentages. In Miami-Dade County, industrial asking rents reached $14.25 a square foot in the first quarter, a 14 percent increase compared to the same period of last year. The vacancy rate remained flat at 3.2 percent.

In the first three months of the year, industrial developers delivered 3.1 million square feet of new warehouse space in Miami-Dade.

This purchase is part of Blackstone’s ongoing investment in South Florida’s industrial market. The firm is bullish on the region’s growth prospects and is looking to acquire additional properties.

Original article published by The Real Deal here.

In Q1, net absorption remained stable, with over 684,000 sf of occupancy gains.

Vacancy dropped 40 bps to 1.6%, despite 5.4 million sf of new inventory.

No major completions occurred, maintaining tight market conditions.

Confidence among developers remains high, with 3.7 MSF under construction and 6.0 MSF of planned projects starting preparations.

Demand decreased by 25.6% in Q1, reaching normalized levels due to limited space availability.

Asking rents soared, with overall industrial rents at $13.83 PSF NNN, up 35.0% YoY.

Absorption gains in Q1 matched 4Q22, remaining stable but not reaching record levels seen in 2021-2022.

Original article published by Cushman & Wakefield here.