Developers building $25M Lakeland industrial park

A pair of development firms will build a new 213,500-square-foot industrial park off of Interstate 4 in Lakeland.

Fort Lauderdale-based BBX Logistics Properties and Jacksonville-based FRP Development have formed a joint partnership to build the park. Construction is expected to begin later this year with tenants moving in sometime next year.

The park will be on 22.5 acres at 8255 State Road 33 N., just north of the interstate and not far from an Amazon facility.

Polk County property records show the land sold for $2.8 million last month to an LLC sharing an address with BBX. It was previously owned by a Boca Raton LLC that paid $1.35 million for it in 2008.

A spokesperson says the estimated development cost for the project is $25 million.

A news release announcing the new park did not provide much in the form of details, only calling the project a “state-of-the-art logistic” facilities.

Despite the rapid growth of industrial space along the I-4 corridor between Tampa and Orlando, an October report from CBRE found that while 897,000 square feet of industrial space was delivered in East Polk County during the third quarter of the year, “the construction pipeline was mostly unreplenished as only a single 80,000 square foot rear load building broke ground.”

(CBRE will handle the leasing for the project when it is complete.)

BBX was founded in 2021 and is a division of BBX Capital Real Estate. The company, according to the statement, specializes in “high-barrier, infill locations with direct proximity to ample labor pools, highways, port and airport infrastructure, and densely populated areas.”

In addition to the Lakeland project, BBX is working on the construction of another industrial park as part of a joint venture. This one is a 672,533-square-foot complex on 40 acres in Delray Beach.

BBX Capital, in an earning statement released March 15, reported its total revenue for the fourth quarter dropped 10.6% to $96.1 million when compared with the same period a year ago. Its total revenue for the full year, however, grew 17.3% to $401.3 million.

As for FRP, the company has offices just outside of Baltimore and in Jacksonville. On its website, FRP says it specializes in the “investment, development, management and disposition of mining, industrial, office, flex, mixed-use and residential real-estate along the Eastern Seaboard of the United States.”

According to FRP’s most recent earnings statement, its fourth quarter revenue was up 2.5% to $10.1 million when compared with the same period the previous year. And its annual revenue rose 10.7% to $41.5 million.