South Florida Industrial Real Estate: Navigating Growth in a Gateway Market

Merritt Etner serves as senior vice president and market officer overseeing South Florida industrial real estate leasing for Link Logistics, where she manages a warehouse and distribution portfolio across one of the nation's most dynamic and land-constrained markets. With expertise spanning Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, Merritt helps businesses navigate South Florida's unique position as a logistics gateway serving not only the region's rapidly growing population but also the Caribbean and Latin America. Her experience includes working with e-commerce providers, international distributors and manufacturers drawn to South Florida's strategic location and increasingly modern industrial real estate infrastructure. In this Q&A, Merritt discusses what drives warehouse demand in South Florida, emerging customer priorities and how the market has evolved to attract larger corporate users.

What's driving demand for industrial real estate in South Florida right now?

Merritt: Strong population growth and consumer demand are the main drivers, really fueling last-mile distribution needs. We're seeing more and more e-commerce companies in the South Florida market because they need to be close to serve our growing population.

We also have a unique geographic position. Link Logistics customers in this market are serving the South Florida region—but also the Caribbean and Latin America as international gateway markets. They're not coming to Miami to reach customers in Orlando or Atlanta. It's very regionally focused on South Florida and points south.

Another major factor is South Florida’s very limited amount of land remaining for industrial real estate development, so high-quality warehouse space is always in high demand down here.

What recent trends are you seeing in terms of who is leasing warehouse and industrial space in South Florida and why?

Merritt: A lot of our tenants are growing right alongside the population growth—they're serving the local consumer base and expanding with it. But we're also seeing new-to-market tenants. Just in the last few weeks, Link Logistics has signed three leases with companies from the Caribbean and Brazil. Companies based in those countries increasingly want a presence in Miami—they want space here to operate and reach South Florida customers.

I've also heard directly from tenants that as tourism picks up in the Caribbean—which took time to rebound after COVID—there's increased demand for South Florida warehouse space. We have a lot of the industrial infrastructure that supplies the Caribbean and Latin America, so we're very much intertwined with their economies as well. For example, some resorts in the Caribbean are actually using South Florida for distribution operations.

How does Link Logistics support companies looking for warehouse space in South Florida?

Merritt: First and foremost, from the very beginning when we're acquiring or developing properties, there's a strong focus on choosing locations close to dense population centers. That keeps our portfolio consistently in demand because we're very strategic about which submarkets we enter and why. Our industrial properties tend to be in well-populated locations.

Another major advantage is our system for make-ready spaces. Tenants in South Florida need to move very quickly. We regularly sign leases where customers are moving in within 30 days of lease signature—that's just business as usual here. We've implemented an efficient system for turning spaces around with make-ready work so tenants aren't waiting for offices, paint, new finishes or windows. Since we put that system in place, it's been a huge benefit to our customers. The day they sign the lease, they're getting the keys. There's no downtime.

Overall, we tend to act more as a long-term partner in our customers' business operations rather than just a landlord signing a lease. It's not uncommon for tenants to come to us during their lease term with needs for relocation, expansion or even downsizing. Because of our scale and portfolio size—we have spaces from 5,000 square feet to 300,000 square feet—we're usually able to accommodate our tenants. Just recently, I signed two leases with former Link Logistics tenants who came back wanting to occupy Link Logistics buildings again. That partnership approach really sets us apart.

Are you seeing shifts in demand for different building sizes?

Merritt: We've always had very steady demand for smaller-bay spaces. Historically, the average tenant size in South Florida is between 30,000 and 40,000 square feet. But in the last six months, we've also seen more tenants over 100,000 square feet than we've seen in the past. A lot of that is due to businesses growing to serve the growing population base. So, we're seeing an influx of more bulk users—which, for this market, means over 100,000 square feet. But our small-bay demand stays very strong.

What customer requirements are emerging in South Florida's industrial market?

Merritt: We're seeing two major trends in customer requirements in the South Florida warehouse market. First, we're seeing more manufacturing users and more tenants with a manufacturing component to their business. The number-one request across the board is for heavy power—almost every deal involves customers needing power upgrades.

In the past, you'd typically see warehouses delivered with three-phase power with around 400 amps. Most of our tenants now, if they need HVAC in the warehouse and manufacturing equipment, require a minimum of 600-800 amps. Even tenants not doing heavy manufacturing will need supplemental power if they want air-conditioned warehouse space along with their machinery. Manufacturing tenants are typically requesting more than 1,200 amps—sometimes for a single 50,000-square-foot space, whereas that amount of power used to be sufficient to serve entire multi-tenant buildings.

The second trend is more requirements for HVAC in warehouse spaces, which in South Florida was typically unheard of unless it's a cold storage company with coolers or freezers. Now we're seeing much more demand for climate-controlled warehouse space.

Looking ahead, what opportunities do you see for businesses considering South Florida for their warehouse needs?

Merritt: There was a wave of new industrial real estate development in South Florida in the earlier part of this decade. As a result, we're now attracting larger corporate users—Fortune 500 companies—that previously had their eye on this market but couldn’t find the right product available. We now have 36-foot+ clear heights, LEED-certified industrial buildings and all the modern warehouse features large companies need to enter a market. Before 2020, corporations looking to enter South Florida were finding 24-foot clear buildings with two dock doors. That just wasn't going to work for them, but now we have the infrastructure to support their requirements. 

I'd say the market overall is transitioning from the rapid expansion we saw during COVID to more sustainable long-term growth. With the modern industrial infrastructure now in place, South Florida is positioned to attract and support larger, more sophisticated distribution and manufacturing operations than ever before.

Explore available warehouse space for lease in South Florida to learn more about industrial real estate opportunities serving Florida, the Caribbean and Latin America.