A joint venture between Bridge Development Partners, Akard Street Partners and Elion Partners just scored a $16.6 million construction loan for a new distribution facility in Fort Lauderdale.
Bridge Point Riverbend will span 221,542 square feet, according to a press release. The loan, issued by Webster Bank, was secured by CBRE’s Steve Roth.
In July, Bridge Development paid about $10.4 million for the 11.7-acre site. It bought the property from Dev Motwani after the Fort Lauderdale developer rezoned the land to allow for commercial uses. Motwani still owns about six acres and plans to build a three-story, 130,700-square-foot self-storage facility, with about 8,000 square feet of retail. Records show Motwani bought the entire 17.7-acre site in 2014 for $5.9 million.
The joint venture said it will break ground on the project this month. Once completed in the third quarter of 2018, the facility will feature 32-foot-tall ceilings, rear-dock loading and warehouse space to accommodate tenants of 40,000 square feet and up, according to the release.
Steven Wasserman of Colliers International is handling leasing for Bridge Point Riverbend. The speculative development project is near Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and Port Everglades.
Bridge Development has more than 16 million square feet of industrial real estate in South Florida, northern New Jersey, Los Angeles and Chicago, according to its website. Akard Street Partners is an investment partnership operated by Dallas,Texas-based Banner Oak Capital Partners. Elion Partners is a Miami-based real estate investment group that manages more than $1 billion in real estate, according to the release.
Industrial markets throughout Florida are experiencing a return to pre-recession occupancy levels and rental rates, according to a Cushman & Wakefield report released last month. In Broward, 1 million square feet of industrial space is under construction and 80 percent of that is speculative.
Last week, TIAA Global Asset Management’s TH Real Estate purchased two industrial properties in Broward County for $54 million. – Amanda Rabines