BKM Buys Blackstone's Fort Lauderdale Industrial Park for $57M

BKM Capital Partners, already an owner of Fort Lauderdale flex industrial on NW 53rd Street, is adding a second Broward park near I-95, paying 3.3 times the 2013 price for 1980s buildings its own partner says could not be built today.

BKM and Boca Raton-based Kayne Anderson Real Estate bought the seven-building property at 2201, 2301 and 2381 Stirling Road from Blackstone affiliate Link Logistics for $57 million, according to Commercial Observer. The site sits less than a mile west of Interstate 95.

Why it matters

BKM partner Brett Turner said, “You could not build this park today, let alone assemble a site like it along the I-95 corridor.” That is a replacement-cost argument. Land that already carries small-bay buildings and tenants is scarcer than the buildings themselves.

For developers, the signal is that infill industrial sites near the interstate are priced as irreplaceable. A buyer who underwrites to existing rent rather than new construction is willing to pay up for a 1985 and 1987 vintage.

Our own record pull shows this is not BKM’s first Fort Lauderdale move this season. Broward appraiser records list BKM Aero Business Park 989 LLC as owner of 3320-3350 NW 53 St, a flex warehouse that traded for $13.75 million in a deed recorded Aug. 25. We found no other BKM-named buyer in our land wire, so we are not counting a third deal.

The numbers

• Price: $57 million, about $271 per square foot on 210,000 SF.
• Buildings: seven small-bay structures completed in 1985 and 1987.
• Occupancy: 97 percent leased with a 3.9-year weighted average lease term, per the buyers.
• Prior trade: $17.5 million in 2013, per property records. Commercial Observer reports it is unclear when Blackstone bought.
• Seller’s broker: Cushman & Wakefield’s Rick Brugge.

What’s next

Turner pointed to staggered lease expirations, so no single tenant decides the outcome. With a 3.9-year term, rent resets will be the test of the $271 basis. We are watching Broward deed records for the closing and any further BKM purchases in the corridor. See more deals in South Florida.