Vacant 53-Acre Urban Parcel Goes Out for Bid

MIAMI-Fullerton, CA-based Beckman Coulter has decided to put up for sale some 53 vacant acres of its 102-acre campus in west Kendall. Coulter Electronics acquired the site in 1992 when it consolidated into five buildings aggregating 500,000 sf on the land. The company was later acquired by Beckman, and the now-merged entity wants to take advantage of market conditions and get rid of the excess land.

The owner retained Michael Sliver, first VP in the local office of CB Richard Ellis, to market the land, which consists of contiguous acres within the Miami-Dade urban development boundary. The land is unpriced, and bids are due Feb. 28.

It is currently zoned IUC, "one of the more restrictive of four industrial zoning categories within Miami-Dade," Silver tells GlobeSt.com. It is also of an irregular shape. "On a smaller parcel, triangle- or pyramid-shapes could be a problem, but this is large enough that its shape shouldn't be problematic. We've already had numerous calls from out of state," he says. "This is an area of explosive growth with a severe scarcity of land, and anyone with interest in commercial real estate--residential, mixed-use, or special use--knows that."

He confirms that GlobeSt.com's recent reports of land selling here in a range of between $10 per sf and $15 per sf, a price that, in the least, would exceed $23 million, "is right on," but declines to speculate on what this parcel will command. "It will depend on who can come up with the highest best use. Land speculators, special-use, residential and mixed-use bidders all place different values on land," he explains. "A high bid is only one line item," he adds. "Price, terms, closing date and who's capable of closing on this site, will all help determine the winning bid. We'll gather the information and make a recommendation to Beckman Coulter, which will ultimately decide."