The Illinois company paid View Properties Ltd. $1.8 million or $15,000 per acre (34 cents per sf) for a 120-acre tract at Bridgewater in Lakeland, FL. Lakeland is 60 miles south of Downtown Orlando. Tampa is 80 miles west of Orlando.

First Industrial plans to develop two million sf of industrial on the site in a three-phased development. Construction on the first 220,000-sf building is under way. The structure can be expanded quickly to 420,000 sf.

"Lakeland is a strong growth market and First Industrial is capitalizing on location and timing," Jeff Bardin of Advantis Real Estate Services Co. in Tampa tells GlobeSt.com.

First Industrial's entry into Lakeland "with a class A distribution center marks a giant step in completing the business in the technology quadrant from Orlando to Tampa," the broker says. "Companies can locate in Lakeland and be at an equal distance to two major airports with seven million people within a 100-mile radius."

Bardin and his partner, Mark Cooney, brokered the First Industrial transaction and two other deals. The three transactions are aggregately valued at $2.9 million.

Klockner Capital Corp. of Gordonsville, VA sold a 28,899-sf manufacturing building on a 1.96-acre site at 1816-57th St., Sarasota, FL to Robert Wacchter and Charles Keels. The $650,000 price equates to $22.49 per sf.

"The shortage of industrial space in Sarasota led this property to be on the market for only three months," Bardin notes. "We were able to put together an investor and a user to lease the building."

In their third deal, the Bardin-Cooney team represented Tampa-based AmeriSteel Corp. in the $450,000 sale ($23.68 per sf) of a 19,000-sf industrial building on four acres at 1002 Orient Road in Tampa. The property was sold to C.W. Kearney and Joanne Kearney, principal buyers of 6th Avenue 3-B Inc.

"Healthy market demand continues to absorb virtually all existing industrial product throughout the Bay area," Cooney tells GlobeSt.com. "This marks the first sale and the only park designated with industrial uses."