2017 The Year For Industrial Warehouse in Florida

February 24, 2017

industrial warehouse florida There are several reasons that 2017 should see a marked increase in industrial volume which will result in lower vacancy rates and increased development to meet the increasing needs of the state. What are the causes and how will the new immigration and border tax affect this? Let’s look at the causes for the increased needs first. In what should have an even greater effect on the industrial market in 2018, medical marijuana is a new industry that is driving need for industrial space. Warehouses are necessary for the processing, manufacturing, shipping and storing of the product and the industry is expected to exceed to $1.9 billion in just 3 years. The medical marijuana expansion has been virtually limited to Northern Florida at this point but will expand to South Florida later this year. Another cause for increased industrial space is the expansion of the Panama Canal, which happened last year. The trade floodgates didn’t exactly open when it happened but increased trade is slowly ramping up and should have a significant effect on the industrial market in 2017, depending on the new immigration and border tax proposals shake out. But before we even get into that, it must be noted that most of the international trade to Florida ports is coming from South America and to a lesser extent the West Coast (Asia). These areas are not currently being discussed for punitive border taxes, except China. Mexico, subject of both border tax and immigration proposals, is not an area which will affect Florida trade. Areas which will be affected will be the West Coast and Northwest. As a result of all of that I expect Florida to benefit even more, and from increased domestic trade as well. A wild card is Cuba, which just had 2 deals with Port of Palm Beach and Port Everglades scuttled thanks to the governor’s threat to withdraw state funding from any port doing business with Cuba. There is certainly no border tax or immigration issues with Cuba and some possibility of increased trade exists despite the threats. Either way, you can see that there is lots of reason for optimism on the industrial side of commercial real estate. If any of you are looking to lease or buy warehouse units, buy or sell industrial properties or if you are an owner looking for a leasing agent to help you find tenants for your industrial property please don’t hesitate to give us a call! This is exactly what we do at Rosenfeld Realty Advisors. As always thanks for reading and have a great day.