Amazon Likely To Reduce Warehouse Space In South Florida Amid E-Commerce Slowdown
Amazon.com Inc. is expected to scale back its warehouse holdings nationally, including in Broward County.
At a June 8 public meeting, John Biggie, chairman of the Coral Springs Economic Development Advisory Committee and principal of JBI Development, said the Seattle-based e-commerce giant has “nixed” plans to move into 225,000 square feet within the Commerce Park of Coral Springs, at 4000 N.W. 126th Ave. The facility was slated to hire 200 people, according to previous announcements from Amazon.
Yuri Quispe, a broker with JLL and a member of the committee, said Amazon will also pull out out of a lease deal that it signed 2.5 years ago at a couple warehouse facilities near Sample Road and the Florida Turnpike.
In May, it was widely reported that Amazon executives said the company was losing billions of dollars due to fewer e-commerce sales and an overabundance of warehouses. As a result, the company planned to shrink its national industrial footprint.
Within South Florida, Amazon controls 8.7 million square feet of distribution space. Of that amount, about 2.3 million square feet has yet to be occupied, according to figures from CoStar Group.
Aside from Commerce Park, a source said Amazon has yet to fill an 823,000-square-foot facility at 4600 N. Hiatus Road in Sunrise, a 216,000-square-foot facility atĀ 3750 Palm Drive in Homestead, and 1 million square feet at 13200 S.W. 272nd St. in unincorporated Miami-Dade that itĀ purchased in 2020.
Keith Graves, senior VP of Berger Commercial, said that in the “big scheme of things,” Amazon will have a minimal impact in this industrial market, which has more than 45 million square feet of inventory.
“We are in the single digit vacancy rates. It’s not going to have a dramatic effect,” Grave said.
Nationally,Ā the industrial market is shattering records. However, Quispe and Biggie warned that rough times may be ahead for Coral Springs’ industrial sector.
“We are starting to hear key indicators of leasing activity drying out and demand slowing, of not enough money to put a down payment,” Quispe said during the meeting. “All these ingredients are adding up … and if we are not proactive … when it hits it is going to be very bad.”
Biggie added: “The market has changed dramatically in the past 60 days.”
The 430,000-square-foot Commerce Center of Coral SpringsĀ was built in 2018 by Pennsylvania-based EQT Exeter.Ā Exeter paid $14.88 million for the site a year prior. EQT Exeter sold Commerce Center to an unknown buyer in late 2021Ā as part of a $127.8 million deal.Ā EQT Exeter still manages the site.
Source: SFBJ
