MIAMI—This week in Florida saw interesting news come out the Sunshine State's smaller markets. And Jacksonville is making a strong showing on the healthcare and retail fronts.

BY THE NUMBERS

The Jacksonville metro's healthcare and retail sectors have each expanded by more than 6,000 positions over the past two years, driving an overall rate of job creation that reduced area unemployment to a 10-year low. These additions coupled with a bump in financial-related professionals bolstered the median household income by $33,000 during the last 24 months. Increased earnings and the need for more employers to recruit from outside the market to fill openings spur a rise in Millennial relocations and household formations. Many of these new residents have opted to rent during a period of rapidly appreciating home prices, heightening demand for apartments. (Source: Marcus & Millichap)

Developers are responding with plans to complete more than 2,200 apartments this year, the highest annual total this cycle. Garden-style complexes in suburban locales comprise the bulk of new deliveries, with the 395-unit Carlton at Bartram Park in Mandarin being the largest. The boost in rental completions represents the first wave in a set of upcoming finalizations; more than 2,900 apartments are lined up for 2018 delivery. Positive absorption in 2017 will lessen new units' impact and allow effective rent growth to strengthen, yet vacancy will increase for the first time in six years. (Source: Marcus & Millichap)

NEWS & NOTABLES

BOCA RATON—Crossman & Company promoted Michael Rautbord to regional leasing director. Rautbord works out of the Boca Raton, Fla. office. Patrick Hughes joined Crossman as director of accounting. He most recently was accounting manager with Parkway Properties. Daphne Colverton has been promoted to accounting manager. She has been with Crossman & Company for over nine years.

POMPANO BEACH, FL—Grover Corlew appointed Laura J. Goetz as vice president of property management. In her new position, Goetz will oversee all property management activities for Grover Corlew across three states. With more than 30 years of industry experience throughout Florida, Goetz has supervised and managed retail shopping centers, central business district (CBD) and suburban office buildings, industrial complexes and mixed-use assets. She also has successfully supervised the coordination of renovation, redevelopment and tenant improvement projects.

DEAL TRACKER

PORT SAINT LUCIE, FL—Avison Young has been exclusively selected by the City of Port St. Lucie to market and sell the Florida Center for Bio-Sciences, a 101,000-square-foot, three-story, lakeside biomedical research facility situated on eight acres at 9801 Southwest Discovery Way in Port Staint Lucie. Avison Young's Michael T. Fay, Keith O'Donnell and Jay A. Ziv will spearhead the sale. Completed in 2012, the Florida Center for Bio-Sciences is LEED Gold Certified for its environmentally-friendly design features which minimize the building's carbon footprint and overall impact on the surrounding environment. Proximate to Florida's Turnpike and Interstate 95, the property provides easy access to the Central and South Florida markets making it an ideal location in which to conduct cutting-edge research.

POMPANO BEACH, FL—CBRE facilitated the sale of Bridge Point Powerline Road, a 40-acre development site in Pompano Beach. Located at 1971-1991 Northwest Powerline Road, the site sold for $12.3 million by Waste Management. The buyer, Bridge Development Partners, was represented by CBRE's Tony Hoover. “The site is one of the largest sites zoned industrial in North Broward County. It's ideally located in the shortest mid-point between Interstate-95 and the Florida Turnpike,” says Hoover, first vice president at CBRE. “While most buildings in this submarket do not exceed 120,000 square feet, Bridge plans to build two large floorplates, each of 172,000 square feet, offering multiple occupancy options for large tenants.”

TAMPA, FL—Electra America and its management affiliate Robins Electra completed the recapitalization and management assumption of Landmark at Avery Place, a 264-unit apartment community in Tampa. The property, formerly managed by Milestone, will be rebranded as The Avana, and is to be enhanced with a number of capital improvements, including interior renovations and amenity improvements, worth $2.5 million. Berkadia's South Florida team secured the financing on behalf of Electra America. With this acquisition, Electra America now owns seven multifamily communities in the Tampa metro area. Nationally, Electra's portfolio includes 23,000 apartment units totaling over $3 billion in value.

LONGWOOD, FL—NAI Realvest recently closed on the sale of a 0.95-acre parcel of retail land at 1015 S. US Highway 17-92 in Longwood. Jeff Bloom, vice president at NAI Realvest brokered the transaction representing the seller E & S Investment, Ltd of Casselberry. FDT Investments, LLC purchased the property for $335,000 to expand holdings in anticipation of increased real estate values along 17-92 with impending commercial development.

SARASOTA, FL—GBT Realty Corporation completed the second acquisition by its Capital Holdings Division, a division in pursuit of under-performing assets for long-term hold. The real estate firm acquired a 75-year ground lease from 19400 Cochran Boulevard Holdings, LLC for a nine-acre site in Port Charlotte, FL that currently houses a vacant Kmart building. “It's no secret that there is pent-up value in this site both within the vacant structure as well as the under-utilized land,” explains Scott Porter, managing director, Capital Holdings, GBT Realty. “Our preliminary plans call for renovating and upgrading the building that formerly housed Kmart as well as adding more square feet with new structures so we can accommodate some of the most popular names in retail, services and restaurants. With Best Buy, Home Depot and Walmart anchoring this corridor, the market is ripe for new offerings at this intersection.” GBT is currently in negotiations with several potential national tenants.

PEMBROKE PINES, FL—Cushman & Wakefield negotiated seven new office leases at Pembroke Pointe 880 totaling 59,130 square feet. CushWake's Deanna Lobinsky, Travis Herring, Katherine Ridgway and Chase Kulp executed the leases on behalf of the building owner and developer, Duke Realty. Pembroke Pointe 880 is a 143,355-square-foot class A office building developed in 2015. Lobinsky, Herring, Ridgway and Kulp were selected to lease the building by Duke Realty in October 2016. The team has secured leases with DeVry Education Group; Evolution Lighting, LLC; CoreStaff; Boxy Charm; Costa Cruise Lines; Kronos; and QEO Group, LLC.

WEST PALM BEACH, FL—KeyBank Real Estate Capital provided a $23 million bridge loan to Axonic Properties LLC, a New York City-based real estate private equity firm, for Palm Hill Apartments in West Palm Beach. The 386-unit, garden-style condominium apartment complex is on 24 acres of land. Built in 1981 and renovated in 2016, the property consists of 36, two-story apartment buildings. Axonic currently owns 298 of the total 386 units. The property includes access to a clubhouse, business and fitness centers, swimming pool with cabanas, tennis courts, barbeque grills, playground and dog-park.

BUILDING BLOCKS

MIAMI LAKES, FL—On a high-profile site in Miami Lakes' Town Center, Miller Construction Company launched construction of the 36,700-square-foot Crescent Pointe office, restaurant and retail center for owner and Miami Lakes master developer The Graham Companies. The $5.7 million project is creating the two-story, Class A building on the last open parcel
within the 225,000-square-foot Main Street development at the center of Miami Lakes. Second-floor office space will top ground-floor shops and restaurants. The fast-tracked project

MIAMI—This week in Florida saw interesting news come out the Sunshine State's smaller markets. And Jacksonville is making a strong showing on the healthcare and retail fronts.

BY THE NUMBERS

NEWS & NOTABLES

DEAL TRACKER

BUILDING BLOCKS

Instant Insights /

Middle Market Digest: This Week in Florida

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