While the home markets are also piling up everywhere near local interstate exits, the hot ticket item seems to be the plots of cow pastures that are slowly turning into warehouses, truck stops, and other industrial access points here in Florida. Amazon and a solar plant are the newest items to hit the Tampa area, hopefully some more warehouses like a Walmart fulfillment center could hopefully be in Tampa's future.
Hot, hot, hot
Tampa was ranked number 10 in industrial space from a recent survey by Colliers International. Vacancy rates for industrial leasing in the state has dropped by 6.3 percent (and nearly 4.4 million square feet of construction last year).
But the industry leasing space doesn't seem to be off I-75, SR 41, SR 301, but I-4, a busy highway that even the slightest accident or slow driver can halt to a crawl. Ryan Kratz, the Colliers regional president told the Tampa Bay Times, "They say if you can sell it or source it in Tampa Bay, you can send it by plane, train or truck anywhere on the planet." You can also say that about the Amazon warehouse off 30th St and Laurel Ridge Rd in Ruskin. There is another distribution center in Lakeland and both warehouses contribute to the growing population of Floridians buying their groceries and other items online, even those items for more intimate encounters.
More industry
The other major industrial space is CSX's 218 acre-terminal in Winter Haven that can process nearly 300,000 containers a year.
930 acres that surround the CSX plant can be turned into other industrial facilities such as solar plants or gypsum quarries. There is an up-and-coming solar plant to be opened this year off SR 41 and Big Bend Road in Apollo Beach. But there are other spaces in the Tampa area that are still up for sale. The rent for industrial space finished at $5.06 per square foot, and is expected to grow this year. On the list of top ten industrial markets, Tampa is included, along with Denver, South Carolina's Greenville and Spartanburg areas, Columbus, and Kansas City, to name a few.
