Newmark Grubb Knight Frank (NGKF) has fully leased Building A of Turnpike1 Business Park in Southwest Miami-Dade County.

Executive Managing Directors Steven Medwin, SIOR and Nick Wigoda, SIOR lead the marketing efforts for GBX Capital, a U.S. division of a major Brazilian developer that broke ground on the 117-acre site in mid-2016.

The multi-phase development can accommodate buildings from 5,000 to over 250,000 square feet. Phase One of Turnpike1 Business Park includes the first speculative industrial building that has been developed in the Park in several years. The two large corporate tenants that signed leases at Building A were attracted to the property due to its modern specifications and build–to-suit offices/showrooms.

The first tenant to sign a lease was PepsiCo/Frito-Lay, which will use the building as its distribution center for South Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties. Goodman Distribution, Inc. recently signed a lease for the remaining 24,000 square feet for its main distribution center, which will serve the same areas as PepsiCo/Frito-Lay. In addition to this lease, Goodman also committed to lease the entirety of Building B, a 35,000-square-foot building that will be completed in approximately 12 months.

“These leases demonstrate that Homestead is a viable location for major companies to establish distribution centers that serve the growing population of South Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties,” said Medwin. “We are pleased to see how much interest there is in Turnpike1 Business Park, from large and small companies looking to position their goods closer to their customers.”

As NGKF’s latest South Florida Industrial report noted, forecasts are continuing to predict strong industrial demand in all of South Florida, pushing the vacancy rate down below pre-recession levels of 5.5 percent. Notably, the Southwest Miami-Dade County submarket has the second lowest vacancy in all of South Florida.

“We took the risk of building spec product in a location that had not seen such construction activity in a number of years,” said Bret Bobo, chief operating officer of GBX in the U.S. “We are pleased to see how the market has responded by leasing up the first building prior to completion, and fully pre-leasing the second building.”

Turnpike1 Business Park is near residential neighborhoods with an excellent labor pool, as well as restaurants, shopping centers and the Homestead-Miami Speedway. The property is located between Miami and the Florida Keys, directly off the Florida Turnpike and US 1, with immediate access to major freight movement centers connecting South Florida with South America, Asia and Europe.