Blackstone and its subsidiary Link Logistics paid $28.6 million for a last-mile facility in Pompano Beach as the investment giant’s industrial buying spree continues in South Florida.
The acquisition of the Whole Foods distribution center at 2700 Northwest Street in the Broward County city marks the joint venture’s second tri-county industrial purchase in the past month.
Blackstone and Link paid roughly $231 a square foot for the nearly 124,000-square-foot warehouse, which was completed in 2007. The seller is an affiliate of IDI Logistics, an Atlanta-based industrial real estate firm that developed the building, according to property records and Vizzda. IDI paid $15 million for the 7.2-acre site in 1999, records show.
Whole Foods has leased parts of the facility since 2008, according to published reports. Over the years, the grocer expanded its operations there from roughly 71,000 square feet to the entire building, including a 30,000-square-foot bakehouse.
The deal comes a few weeks after Blackstone and Link paid $15.5 million for a 6.3-acre boat and truck yard in unincorporated northwest Miami-Dade County.
Blackstone, the New York-based investment firm led by CEO Stephen Scharzman, launched Link Logistics in 2019 after its $7.6 billion acquisition of Gramercy Property Trust, a real estate investment trust that specialized in industrial real estate. Link, led by CEO Luke Petherbridge, says it has more than 3,000 industrial properties in is portfolio, spanning 534 million square feet of logistics space across the country.
Link made a splash in South Florida last year when it acquired the former Calder’s horse racing track in Miami Gardens for $291 million. The firm plans to redevelop the 116-acre site into movie studios and an industrial complex.
Blackstone’s recent real estate activity in South Florida has included trimming its portfolio of economy hotels, selling a Hampton Inn & Suites, three Motel 6 sites and two Studio 6 hotels in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties for a combined $78.8 million.