First Industrial Realty Trust scooped up a Pompano Beach manufacturing building for $25 million, marking continued investor appetite for South Florida’s industrial market.
Chicago-based First Industrial purchased the 113,610-square-foot building on 8.4 acres at 1801 North Andrews Avenue, and leased it back to the seller, according to a news release from the seller’s broker.
Printing services firm Screen Graphics, through an affiliate, sold the property, records show. The company has both digital and screen presses and also offers finishing and installation services, according to its LinkedIn.
Sal Bonsignore and Rod Loschiavo of Colliers represented the seller. Richard Etner Jr. of Cushman & Wakefield, and Chris Willson of First Industrial, represented the buyer.
The two-story building was completed in 1985 and renovated in 2014, according to Colliers. Screen Graphics paid $3.5 million for the facility in 2012, records show.
First Industrial, founded in 1994 and led by CEO Peter Baccile, owns, manages and develops industrial real estate, its website says. As of March, the real estate investment trust’s portfolio spanned roughly 68.6 million square feet of properties it owned or had under development, according to the release.
First Industrial has been heavily investing in Pompano Beach. It paid $19.8 million for two industrial properties at 1021 Northwest 12th Terrace and 1001 Northwest 12th Terrace in 2019.
In 2018, it also bought the Pompano industrial site at 1200 and 1272 Northwest 15th Street for $8.7 million.
South Florida’s industrial market has prospered thanks to an imbalance in supply and demand. While companies have been clamoring to lease space, the region is plagued by dwindling developable land.
In the first quarter, Broward County’s industrial vacancy rate hit 4.2 percent, matching pre-pandemic levels, according to a JLL report. The average asking rent increased to $11.19 a square foot, year-over-year, from $8.58 a square foot.
North Miami Beach-based Elion Partners also is betting on Pompano Beach, It paid $15.3 million this month for a property at 1121 Northwest 31st Avenue.
Also in Broward this month, Bridge Industrial bought the property at 2200 Northeast Seventh Avenue between Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and Port Everglades for $20 million, with plans to build a logistics facility.