ORLANDO—Central Florida has seen some massive industrial assignments lately. In the most recent, Avison Young was awarded the leasing assignment for EastGroup Properties's Tampa Airport industrial portfolio.

The portfolio includes 31 buildings spanning 1,354,000-square-feet of industrial product. Tampa's Airport Industrial submarket makes up the bulk of the portfolio at 31 buildings and East Tampa is home to one property.

"Although the factors that drive our economies are still uncertain, it's clear confidence is trending towards stability even with, or possibly because of, us heading into an election year,” Avison principal Trey Carswell tells GlobeSt.com. "Small and mid-sized businesses are entering back into the market, extending their leases and even considering growth. This is key to the long-term strength of Central Florida.”

Carswell, who is based in the real estate firm's Tampa office, will serve as the exclusive leasing agent for the 31 buildings. This industrial assignment comes less than six months after Avison was awarded the exclusive leasing assignment of a 200,000-square foot class A multi-tenant industrial distribution center in East Tampa. This deal brings its total agency industrial leasing total to over 2.6 million square feet in Tampa.

“While much of the recent industrial discussion in Central Florida has been on the impact of ecommerce and growth of large-scale distribution hubs, a leading indicator of economic recovery and growth resides in the small to mid-sized tenant,” says Carswell. “As demonstrated by single digit vacancy rates in Tampa's East and Airport Industrial submarkets, demand from small businesses and ancillary vendors to larger users can be seen as a good indicator of Tampa's recovering economy and bright future.”

The new assignment includes the following industrial assets: Airport Commerce Center, two buildings located at 5415 and 5433 West Sligh Avenue in Tampa; Benjamin Distribution Center I, II and III, three buildings located at Benjamin Center Drive and West Sligh Avenue in Tampa; Expressway Commerce Center I and II, three buildings located at 5821-5845 Barry Road in Tampa; JetPort Commerce Park, seven buildings located at JetPort Industrial Boulevard and Benjamin Road in Tampa; Tampa West Distribution Center I-V, four buildings located at Tampa West Boulevard and Waters Avenue in Tampa; Westlake Distribution Center I and II, two buildings located at Corporate Lake Drive in Tampa; Westport Commerce Center, three buildings located at 6011-6015 Benjamin Road in Tampa; 56th Street Commerce Park, seven 7 buildings located at N. 56th Street and North Commerce Park Boulevard in Tampa.