Ryder System Makes Plans for New HQ

MIAMI-Ryder System Inc. has reached an agreement for a new, approximately 230,000-sf headquarters facility here in Beacon Station, Florida’s largest business park. Under the agreement, Jacksonville, FL-based Flagler Development Co., owner of Beacon Station, will own the build-to-suit building and lease it to Ryder.

Flagler would not disclose exact rental rates, but the asking rental rate in Beacon Station ranges from $5.40 to $6.35 per sf. The capital investment for the project is reportedly $40 million.

The building should be finished within two years. With the new headquarters, Ryder will be scaling back from its current 405,000-sf facility on Northwest 82nd Ave. in the Doral area of Miami-Dade County, where the company has been based since 1973. Space planning reviews show Ryder can operate most efficiently with about 40% less space than it has now.

The decision to build in Beacon Station, located at Northwest 106th St. and Florida’s Turnpike, comes after an intense site-selection process that lasted a year. Originally, the company considered 22 sites in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

“Our search for a new headquarters facility arose from Ryder’s growing need for more cost-effective and efficient office space,” says Gregory T. Swienton, Ryder’s chairman, president and CEO. “To ensure our continued success, we need a facility compatible with our current business model and with efficiencies the present headquarters building could not provide.”

Swienton notes Ryder chose Beacon Station because the company is committed to staying in South Florida and it wanted a location that wouldn’t create a significant change in employees’ travel patterns. Beacon Station is just a few miles from Ryder’s current facility.

Codina Realty Services will market the sale of Ryder’s current headquarters, a five-story complex on 40 acres in the Airport West/Doral area. In addition to marketing Beacon Station, Codina represents Ryder.

Ryder System Inc., founded in Miami in 1933, is a publicly traded company that provides logistics, supply chain and transportation management solutions worldwide.

When completed, Beacon Station will consist of more than 9 million sf of office, warehouse and retail space on 960 acres. Currently, Beacon Station contains 30 buildings with 3.3 million sf of space.