PLANTATION, FL-Cell phone service provider MetroPCS Florida, LLC has signed a 10-year, 30,985-sf lease for warehouse space at 1800 NW 66th Ave.

Morris Southeast Group/Corfac International vice president Lois Paskow represented the tenant in the transaction. Keith Graves, of Berger Commercial Realty Corp., represented the landlord, Plantation Properties of Broward LLC. Paskow tells GlobeSt.com that MetroPCS will use the space as a switch room. "We identified the space a few months ago before the market tightened up and it was a perfect fit," she says. "MetroPCS is a huge player in the South Florida market and securing this space will allow the company to continue to thrive in the marketplace."

The lease is the latest transaction in an industrial market that has been thriving in recent months with positive absorption, increasing average asking rental rates and limited speculative construction. "Over the past six months, the market has really started to climb especially with the larger bays, but also with the smaller bays," Paskow says. "As a result, rates have increased."

According to a CB Richard Ellis Broward County Industrial Q2 market report, the industrial vacancy rate were 3.2%, down 2.1 percentage points from 5.3% a year ago. As a result, the average asking rates have increased 14.7 percentage points over the year, from $6.59 per sf a year ago to $7.54 during the second quarter. "The remainder of 2006 looks good for Broward County's industrial arena as South Florida grows along with the national economy," the report states. "Market conditions aren't expected to soften anytime soon as some area professionals suggest."