newsworthy
Mega-logistics center planned for South Central Florida
A group that includes two large
landowners, a major commercial
real estate firm, and other interests
plans to develop
and market a 30
million-square-foot global logistics center
on 4,700 acres in South Central
Florida, another sign the global
supply chain is taking notice of
Florida’s stature as a population and
commerce center.
The consortium, made up of
landowners Lykes Bros. Inc. and A.
Duda & Sons Inc., has named real
estate services giant Cushman &
Wakefield to market the facility, the
landowners said in a statement. The
group also consists of supply chain
advisory firm Institute St. Onge;
Ware Malcomb, a leading industrial
master planning and architectural
firm; and Rockefeller Group
Foreign Trade Zone Services.
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according to the announcement. It is also
adjacent to major railheads and three interstate highways, with connections to airports and seaports, the firms said.
The core of the project will consist of an
industrial park and what is being billed by
its backers as the state’s largest integrated
logistics center. Susan Howard, a represen-
tative for the two landowners, said the mul-
tiyear project “could break ground right
away for the right user.”
For a region so geographically tied to
major international trade routes, Central
and Southern Florida has seen little in the
way of distribution center development.
That’s because the region is heavily skewed
toward consumption, rather than produc-
tion, due to its large retiree and tourist
population.
RIPPLE EFFECT
Local and regional officials hope the opening of the expanded Panama Canal in 2014
will establish the region as a major distribution point as long as the Port of Miami, Port
Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, and the Port
of Palm Beach can dredge their harbors and
channels to sufficient depths to accommodate the much larger containerships expected to transit the expanded canal.
In preparation for the potential change,
private sector interests have joined to develop Florida’s first inland port designed to
link the seaports, via road and rail, with a
centralized warehouse and distribution
cluster that will serve population centers
throughout Florida and the Southeast
United States. Separate inland port
alliances have been forged with the ports of
Jacksonville and Palm Beach.
Stephen F. Blau, senior director at Wayne,
Pa.-based real estate advisory firm
Newmark Knight Frank Smith Mack, said
the Moore Haven project is viable to support north-south trading patterns within
the Americas, but may have minimal
impact on east-west trade routes, considering that Florida’s location does not lend
itself to serving large portions of the United
States through distribution hubs. ;
