Lakeland industrial project continues development wave

Los Angeles-based Xebec Realty has kicked off construction on a 403,000-square-foot, speculative bulk logistics building in Lakeland, the latest industrial development in the Interstate 4 Corridor hoping to take advantage of the pandemic-inspired shift to online shopping and its distribution needs.

The company’s Logistix Hub at County Line, on 40 acres at 3075 Whitten Road, in the West Lakeland Industrial Park, is slated for delivery in April 2021.

Josh Tarkow, a senior director with commercial real estate brokerage firm Cushman & Wakefield who is representing Xebec, says the project will differentiate itself from the competition by providing ample off-dock storage and parking.

“We think this building will be pretty unique,” says Tarkow, who is marketing the project together with Cushman & Wakefield’s Lisa Ross and Trey Carswell.

“They’re going to have three times the off-dock trailer storage than the typical industrial building of this size, which is really important for today’s logistics firms.”

The building will feature a 36-foot clear ceiling height, insulation so that it can be air conditioned, a 175-foot truck court, parking for more than 525 cars and trailers, 118 dock-high doors and an ESFR fire suppression system.

Rents in the new building are expected to range from $5.25 per square foot to $5.35 per square foot, on a triple-net basis. Some tenants may incur an additional cost based on their level of off-dock storage, Tarkow says.

Xebec, which has developed more than 11 million square feet of industrial space, is no stranger to Lakeland. It also is developing a 537,000-square-foot, “single-tenant, cross-dock bulk logistics facility” in Lakeland slated for delivery before the end of this year, according to the company’s website.

In addition to Xebec, at least a handful of other developers — including Duke Realty, Parkway Property Investments and Brennan Investment Group — are working to deliver new industrial properties to the corridor, a location that allows access to roughly 20 million consumers within a day’s drive.