MIAMI-First Industrial Realty Trust has purchased a parcel of a little more than 6.1 acres in the Pan American Business Park in the Medley submarket here. This is the Chicago-based industrial REIT's second land-buy and third acquisition in South Florida since it entered this region about six months ago.

As with the earlier acquisition of an eight-acre parcel in Flagler Station Business Park, Jeremy Shapiro, senior regional director here, declined to disclose the price but confirms to GlobeSt.com that "generically, land prices in both areas range between $10 per sf and $15 per sf," which would put this acquisition at between $2.7 million and $4 million. Pedro Garcia of locally based Gateway Realty Services brokered the transaction.

Ground will break on the Pan American site for a 125,000-sf industrial condo facility, "in which we'll sell small bays," Shapiro says. The pricing is not final, but he says, "the market is now experiencing industrial sales of between $120 per sf and $160 per sf."

Meanwhile, instead of awaiting a build-to-suit client for the Flagler Station land, as initially planned, Shapiro says, "we're going ahead with a 156,000-sf spec industrial facility and will market the entire building for sale." The asking price, he says, "will be about $97 per sf," which would yield in excess of $15 million.

These development projects join the 268,000-sf building First Industrial acquired in the Medley submarket. "We're always looking," Shapiro says. "There's a scarcity of sites, but we're looking at land, existing buildings we can reposition and sale-leaseback opportunities."