DCT Industrial has started construction on the second phase of its warehouse project near Miami International Airport.
The Denver-based industrial developer (NYSE: DCT) plans to construct 425,740 square feet in three buildings at Northwest 17th Street and Northwest 129th Street. Building C, with 136,540 square feet and 32-foot ceilings, is currently under construction and should be completed in the fourth quarter, DCT Senior VP Todd W. Watson said.
It was designed by Cornerstone Architects. The developer is offering space there at $9.50 a square foot. The minimum leasable space is 28,800 square feet.
DCT acquired the 23.5-acre site for $12.23 million in 2015. It built the first phase of DCT Commerce Center in 2011 and 2012.
Watson said he’s comfortable starting Phase II on speculation without any tenants because most of the industrial construction in Miami-Dade County isn’t in the Airport West submarket, which he considers the most desirable market. Of DCT’s 1.4 million-square-foot Miami-Dade portfolio, about 1.2 million square feet is in Airport West.
“Waiting for a large prelease in Florida doesn’t seem to work well,” Watson said. “When you build it, the majority of the time, tenants will come. Having a multitenant building steads our risk.”
According to JLL’s first quarter market report, the Airport West submarket accounted for 472,893 square feet of the 1.84 million square feet of industrial space under construction in Miami-Dade. Airport West had an industrial vacancy rate of 4 percent and average asking rent of $7.66 a square foot, compared to vacancy of 5 percent and asking rent of $6.78 a square foot countywide.
