With the window to capitalize on bargain rental rates quickly closing, industrial tenants are jumping on leasing deals, Cushman & Wakefield’s Brian Smith tells us. As a result, the company secured 345k SF in leasing transactions in the past 60 days.

Brian and industrial team members Wayne Ramoski and Audley Bosch worked the deals. Brian says the Airport West and Doral submarkets are performing exceptionally well because they’re tied to strong import/export activity at the Miami International Airport. The transactions included: Exel Logistics’ 138k SF lease at Medley Logistics at Flagler Station, Soljer Inc’s 96k SF lease at 5959 NW 37th Ave, American Furniture Rentals’ 45k SF lease at AMB Pargo Distribution Center, North Bay Produce’s 24k SF renewal at 8900 NW 33rd St, Quality Custom Distribution’s 22k SF renewal at 7890 NW 80th St, and Gulf Atlantic Warehouse’s 20k SF expansion at 3200 NW 110th St.

On the Brink of Recovery

It’s a good time to be an investor in South Florida with apartment, industrial, hotel, office, retail, and land attracting deals (in that order), says Flagler Real Estate Services’ Jack Lowell. We snapped this of Jack, who participated in a commercial and residential RE panel Tuesday during the first-ever South Florida Economic Summit in Miami, which drew 350. Jack joined fellow panelists Blanca Commercial Real Estate’s Tere Blanca, CBRE's Paco Diaz, Esslinger-Wooten-Maxwell Realtors’ Ronald Shuffield, and moderator William Werther, a University of Miami professor. All shared the view that 2011 shows promise, but challenges surrounding property oversupply and unemployment still exist.

New Florida Gov. Rick Scott conducted a Q&A with members of the press prior to his keynote address. The new governor, who took office Jan. 4, says he intends to keep his campaign pledge to produce 700,000 jobs in seven years, drawing on Florida’s business ties to the growing regions of South and Central America and the expansion of the Panama Canal set to open in 2014.

Wisdom for the Next Generation

Over a 27-year career in CRE, Colliers International South Florida CEO Donna Abood has been a fan of dedicating her time to industry organizations. One of her favorites is the FSU Center for Real Estate Education & Research. Donna recently traveled to Tallahassee where she served as a panelist at the “If I Were 21” student/mentor roundtable. The program was designed specifically for students of the FSU RE program to discuss career opportunities and strategies. After the panel, Donna met one-on-one with several students to give them an overview of the industry and provide direction for future plans. She invited several of them to visit Colliers South Florida offices to shadow brokers. Donna is currently leading the effort to plan the group’s annual Real Estate Market Strategies— South Florida Executives’ Forum for the end of January.

Success in Six Months

When PEBB Enterprises acquired the 90k SF office building at 7900 Glades Rd for $8.5M on June 1, industry observers were skeptical, PEBB Enterprises’ Jared Weiner tells us. Some observers felt previous owner Invesco, which acquired the building in 1998 for $16.5M, had not properly maintained the property (its occupancy had dropped to 35%). But with a capital improvement program and an aggressive leasing campaign, Jared says PEBB has secured 19 leases totaling 41,114 SF with an average base rental rate exceeding $17.50/SF in the past six months. The building is 80% occupied. Jared says the success was the result of taking an institutionally owned building and putting it in the hands of a private owner.

Send your news to Natalie.keith@bisnow.com.