An international private jet operator is setting up a base near Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport in a deal valued at more than $120 million, The Real Deal has learned.
Jet Aviation, led by President David Paddock and a subsidiary of publicly traded General Dynamics, signed a 40-year sublease at AVE Aviation & Commerce Center at 14350 Northwest 56th Court.
Landlord AVE Airside, led by warehouse developer Ernesto Cambo, will construct 170,000 square feet of hangars and a base of operations for Jet Aviation on roughly 28 acres. The proposed site also has access to an airport runway.
The deal’s value is in excess of $120 million, including the sublease and development costs, Ernesto Casal, principal of the Casal Group, told TRD. Casal Group represented AVE Airside.
“This is the culmination and exclamation point of a great project,” Casal said. “When we got into this, [Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport] wasn’t high on the radar screen.”
Founded in 1967, Swiss-based Jet Aviation currently manages some 300 aircraft globally, including 180 in the Americas, according to a press release.
Casal said AVE Aviation & Commerce Center has maintained 100 percent occupancy over the last several years. Cambo, through his other company CPF Investment Group, is the developer of the master-planned, mixed-use business park situated on 178 acres of land leased from Miami-Dade County. AVE Aviation & Commerce Center consists of 2.5 million square feet of airplane buildings. The massive site abuts the airport and neighbors the town of Miami Lakes.
Casal said the business park is close to being built out, with 5 acres under contract and three pre-leased buildings under development.
In 2019, CPF sold 948,000 square feet of space, with an additional 1 million square feet of industrial and aviation-related development rights on 47 acres, to a joint venture between BentallGreenOak and Bridge Development Partners. The partnership paid $126 million and recently obtained a $78.3 million construction loan.
The deal included a 478,000-square-foot United States Postal Service facility; 15 acres occupied by car wholesaler Off Lease Only; and three Class A multi-tenant buildings that encompass 470,000 square feet. Tenants include Turbopower, Boar’s Head, Johnson Controls, Rolls-Royce and Herbalife.