A California-based real estate investor bought a new Medley industrial park for $34.8 million, marking its first venture in Florida.
VlietCo Enterprises, based in Santa Monica, California, bought the South River Industrial property at 8200 Northwest 93rd Street. It scored a $13 million acquisition loan, according to the financing broker’s release.
Melissa Rose and Cody Brais of JLL secured the financing on behalf of VlietCo. An unidentified life insurance company issued the long-term, fixed-rate loan. Seller ED Medley is tied to real estate investor Elion Partners, with offices in North Miami Beach and New York City, records show.
South River was completed last year on an 8.9-acre lot, property records show. The two-building property totals 170,000 square feet and was 80 percent leased at the time of closing, according to the release. It’s less than five miles from Miami International Airport.
VlietCo, which is privately held and founded in 2001, focuses on industrial and residential properties, both single-family homes and multifamily, according to its website. It also co-invests, usually as a joint venture equity partner, in the purchase, development, repositioning and management of hospitality, residential, industrial and retail real estate.
“Florida’s business-friendly environment and population growth were reasons the company opted to invest here,” said Klaas Vlietstra, managing member of VlietCo.
South Florida’s industrial market remained one of the strongest regional asset classes over the past year, largely fueled by e-commerce growth, as consumers shopped online during the pandemic. In the second quarter, the Miami-Dade industrial vacancy rate was 5 percent and average asking rents were nearly $7.70 per square foot, according to JLL.
“Medley, a small municipality in northwest Miami-Dade, is reaping the benefits of the strong industrial market, as it attracted several leases in the second quarter. It also is seeing more than 900,000 square feet of speculative new construction,” according to JLL.
In other recent Medley industrial deals, Seagis Property Group bought a warehouse with cold storage space in May for $7.9 million.