Sarasota industrial inventory tightening

United Natural Foods Inc. took down an additional 40,038 square feet in Sarasota's Independent Business Center last fall, expanding on the 90,000 square feet it already had in the same park space the food distributor maintains in the massive Meridian Distribution Center off Clark Road.

And while the new lease itself at 1500 Independence Blvd. may not be extraordinary, the transaction demonstrates just how extraordinarily tight the Sarasota County industrial market has become.

Nick DeVito, a partner with Sarasota commercial real estate brokerage Ian Black Real Estate, says that United Natural's deal helped push the vacancy rate for warehouse and distribution space in the county to low single digits.

“It's at less than 3% for that kind of space,” says DeVito, who together with Ian Black agent Joanna Ginder represented the landlord in the transaction.

“And that means if you're looking for more than 10,000 square feet, you pretty much have to go to Bradenton in Manatee County,” he adds. “As a result, prices have jumped dramatically over the past two years.”

DeVito notes that in some cases, sales of industrial properties have topped $100 per square foot.

Independence Business Center, a 19-acre park containing roughly 205,000 square feet that sold for $4 million in 2016, is one of the few properties in the county that has more than 20,000 square feet available.

The only problem, DeVito acknowledges, is that the space isn't contiguous: It's spread out over three buildings. Case in point.