(Save the date: RealShare Industrial 2012 comes to The Bankers Club, Miami, December 5 - 6.)

MIAMI—How tight is industrial space getting in Miami? It took Blue Line Distribution more than 12 months to find a suitable space.

Blue Line needed to relocate from its existing 16,000-square-foot space. The firm wanted to find a location in Miami with major roadway access, offering trailer storage space, and capable of accommodating one dock per 1,500 square feet.

“Blue Line was in a tough situation,” Andrew Lehrer, an industrial specialist with CBRE in Miami, tells GlobeSt.com. “The door count they were looking for is not the norm and there were no active listings matching their requirements.”

CBRE was in the process of engaging AAA Cooper to market its 16,198-square-foot terminal at 10500 NW S. River Drive in Medley. CBRE was aware that Blue Line was still on the hunt and the two parties inked a deal. The AAA Cooper building in Medley had 43 cross-dock doors, offered trailer storage space and was located within the same submarket as Blue Line’s existing location.

Miami’s overall industrial vacancy rate at just 6.2% as of second quarter 2012, according to CBRE. That means tenants have a limited number of options to choose from when searching to fulfill new space requirements.

Lehrer said more tenants are looking for a heavy ratio of door to square footage and it’s getting harder to come by. Still, tenants aren’t settling.

“Tenants are taking their time,” Lehrer said. “I don’t see a lot of people looking for as long as Blue Line looked. But the opportunities out there are getting fewer and farther between and that’s why you are seeing some of the new construction coming out because there’s just not as much quality distribution space in Miami with vacancy rates tightening up.”

CBRE senior vice president David Albert and vice president Devin White worked with Lehrer to represent AAA Cooper in the lease negotiation.