Meridian signs Sarasota deals

Meridian Development Group has signed a pair of deals that solidify occupancy at its Meridian Distribution Center in Sarasota, a nearly 1 million-square-foot project that is among the largest industrial spaces in Sarasota or Manatee counties.

United Natural Foods Inc., on the heels of its purchase last month of food distributor and fellow Meridian tenant Global Organic Specialty Source Inc., has expanded its presence by 60,000 square feet, to 460,000 square feet.

United Natural, a Rhode Island-based firm, moved into the 45-acre center in 2007, bringing with it 250 workers. Prior to the purchase, Global Organic occupied about 80,000 square feet.

At the same time, discount retailer Beall's Inc. has elongated its lease for 200,000 square feet in Meridian with a “long-term extension,” says Meridian Managing Director Steven Kossoff.

The two deals maintain occupancy at the distribution center, a former Winn-Dixie Inc. warehouse, at 100%.

“If we had more space at Meridian Distribution we could fill it, because in terms of big-box warehouse, we're really the only game in town, and we can reach like 84% of the state's population within 24 hours,” Kossoff says.

Meridian and Hudson Realty Capital bought the distribution center for $30 million in 2005 and spent more than $11 million retrofitting and upgrading it, according to the Tampa-based company's website.

Both new lease deals also follow Meridian's $10.2 million sale last September of the Imagine School at Palmer Ranch, adjacent to the distribution center, to Oregon-based Charter School Capital. The 53,000-square-foot school, at 6220 McIntosh Road, was completed in 2009.

Kossoff also says he hopes to more than double Meridian's 2 million-square-foot portfolio within the next three to five years.

“The markets have really recovered, and that's fueled a bullish investment horizon,” he says.