NorthPoint Acquires Tampa Parcel for Industrial Project

NorthPoint Development recently acquired the 19.21-acre parcel in Tampa to build its first industrial project in Florida.

The project, dubbed the Tampa Airport Logistics Center, will sit at Johns Road and W. Sligh Avenue. It will span two buildings and nearly 300,000 square feet. NorthPoint will break ground immediately and is scheduled for delivery in Q4 2021.

NorthPoint Development has built and managed more than 97.7 million square feet of industrial space across the country since 2012. WELBRO Building Corporation will be the general contractor.

“We are very excited about bringing this Class A industrial development to the airport submarket,” said Tim McElroy, NorthPoint Development’s director of Industrial Development, said in a prepared statement. “Due to land constraints, new development has been minimal for over a decade.”

Avison Young has been retained to lease Tampa Airport Logistics Center. Avison Young Principals Clay Witherspoon, who is also managing director of the brokerage’s Tampa operations, and Tim Callahan will oversee leasing services for Tampa Airport Logistics Center.

“Demand for industrial space over 50,000 square feet has remained consistently high near the airport for the past 14 years,” said Witherspoon in a prepared statement. “The lack of space and opportunities for new development due to land constraints previously forced larger users to seek space in other submarkets while still looking out for better-positioned options.”

The Airport industrial submarket recorded a 3.51% vacancy rate as of year-end 2020, according to Avison Young. Additionally, the area has had one of the lowest vacancy rates in Tampa Bay for several years, coming in at under 5%.

Industrial development has been taking off throughout Florida in the past year. There was 15.4 million square feet (MSF) under construction at the end of 2020, according to Cushman and Wakefield’s “Florida Industrial Construction” report. In addition, another 29.7 MSF is poised to come online in the next three years.

Drilling down into individual markets, Miami leads the way with 8.7 million square feet of industrial space proposed. Tampa Bay (6.0 million), Lakeland (5.8 million), Jacksonville (3.7 million), Broward (2.4 million), Orlando (2.0 million) and Palm Beach (1.2 million) are next.

Tampa Bay leads with 3.4 million square feet of industrial space under construction. It is followed by Miami (2.7 million), Broward (2.2 million), Orlando (2.2 million), Jacksonville (1.9 million), Lakeland (1.7 million) and Palm Beach (1.4 million).