Polk County: Chicago industrial developer starting Lakeland spec project

BUYER: MP Lakeland Logistics JV Co. LLC (AEW Capital Management LP), Chicago
SELLER: 40 Acre Corp.
PROPERTY: 2011 U.S. Highway 92 W. and a portion of Wabash Avenue, Lakeland
PRICE: $2.23 million
PREVIOUS PRICE: $8,000, June 1975 and $100, January 1963

SELLER: J.K. Properties Inc.
PROPERTY: 621 Lake Parker Ave., Lakeland
PRICE: $450,000
PREVIOUS PRICE: $150,000, December 1993
LAW FIRM ON DEED: Stanley, Esrey & Buckley LLP, Atlanta

PLANS, DESCRIPTION:
Ridge Development purchased a total of 46.5 acres of land, including an existing truck stop, for $2.68 million.

The price equated to $57,527 per acre.

The new owner plans to develop two speculative industrial buildings and retail space on the site in a project called the Lakeland Logistics Center. Ridge Development expects to start construction on the first building in May. The 245,000-square-foot distribution building will have 74 dock-high doors, 32-foot-high ceilings and 45 trailer parking spaces. Work on the first building is scheduled to take until the end of the year.

Once that building is 50% leased, work will start on the second, similarly sized, industrial building.

The project also features 6 acres of retail pads fronting on U.S. Highway 92.

Lisa Parks Abberger of Hauger-Bunch Inc. represented the seller in the transaction.

“It make sense as a logistical hub,” Abberger says. “It's near State Road 60, the Florida Turnpike and I-4. It's equidistant between Tampa and Orlando. It's also on a site that's extremely well known by the trucking industry.”

The property is also close to a Publix distribution center.

Julia Rettig of Cushman & Wakefield is handling leasing the industrial buildings.

Ridge Development is the industrial development arm of the international real estate firm Transwestern Development Co.