The Airport West submarket alone accounted for 1.98 million sfof Miami-Dade's total 5.1 million-sf first-half absorption. Yet itstill ended the six-month period with the highest vacancy rate(8.9%) of any submarket.

Responding to solid user demand, developers had 4.3 million sfof new industrial product under construction in the county atmid-year, with 855,888 sf more in some stage of planning. Thatlevel of new building may have been a factor in holdingMiami-Dade's average gross psf rental rate of $5.92 below theregional average of $6.25.

Broward's industrial space absorption during the first sixmonths of 2000 was slightly above the two million-sf mark andtrimmed the county's vacancy rate to 6.6% from 7.1% at year-end1999. A little over two million sf of new construction was alreadyin the ground at mid-year and another 2.22 million sf of projectsis on the drawing board.