'Landlords looking to make concessions on warehouse space'

As the first quarter comes to an end, Miami-Dade County's warehouse market space remains stable, local industrial space real estate experts say.

From an income property standpoint, pricing in rent and sales is correlated. Instead of rents dropping, landlords are looking to make more concessions, said Matt Rotolante, president at Lee & Associates South Florida.

"Landlords are maybe giving more free rent or giving a bigger offer package, but we haven't really seen rents really come down," he said. "A whole new category of investment called iOS, or industrial outdoor storage, has definitely put pressure on industrial land pricing as well. I haven't seen too many land trades at super-low values. When developers model things, they want to hit rates of return and yields, which is typically something that they're looking to achieve."

Developers are forecasting on rent and cost to build to determine how much they can pay for the land, and from this standpoint, there has not been so much trade happening, Mr. Rotolante said.

"There have still been some good developments that have been projected and announced. So, I wouldn't ay that there's no development taking place, but it just wasn't at the same rate as we saw prior," he added. "I tend to find that maybe there's a built-up demand that sits there and is waiting for the right timing, and I think we might see that this year. When we' re working with some of the larger tenants, we're advising that they should be looking to sign longer-term leases to lock in values right now before they may start increasing again."

According to a Cushman & Wakefield industrial market report, Miami recorded 2. 7 million square feet of new leasing during the fourth quarter of 2025. Absorption slowed s lightly, with just under 314,000 square feet of net occupancy gains, bringing the annual total net absorption to nearly 1.9 million square feet.

Notable move-ins included Frito-Lay, which occupied 130,000 square feet at Bridge Point Doral in the Airport West area, and Cordis, which occupied 89,000 square feet in Northwest Dade. These activity levels continued to reinforce Miami's position a a high-performing industrial market heading into 2026, Cushman & Wakefield said.

Construction completions increased, with nearly 1.2 million square feet of new inventory being delivered, and about 1.3 million square feet is under construction. PepsiCo's impending 800,000-square-foot occupancy is expected to offset the majority of available supply scheduled to deliver in 2026, limiting upward pressure on vacancy, the report said.

As a result, levels are expected to remain relatively stable and could fall in 2026, supported by disciplined development and healthy demand for new industrial space. The weighted average asking rate recorded little movement from the previous quarter and a slight increase of 1.5% year-over-year to $ 16.83 per square foot.

Many landlords are keeping pricing on newly delivered, high-quality space listed as negotiable, which allows second-tier availabilities to hinder overall average rate increases. Increased demand growth, combined with a more limited speculative development pipeline, is expected to contribute to greater rent fluctuations through 2026, the Cushman & Wakefield report continued.

"When we look at the import-export side of the business, we had a little bit of a hit because of the tariffs that caught some people sideways. It's not to say that the businesses can't weather the tariffs ultimately, it's just that they happened quickly and people weren't prepared," Mr. Rotolante added. "So, there were some businesses that got disrupted and we saw a little bit of a pullback in some other larger Class A import, export-style warehouse space."

E-commerce continues to be a major player, he said.

"When you talk about e-commerce, we've seen a hybrid from a lot of other major corporations.

Home Depot, for example, is a good one, where they have their storefronts, but then they also have their e-commerce that is driving a lot of the business," he explained.

Warehouses next to Mian1i International Airport and closer to the seaports always have good traction, Mr. Rotolante said.

"It's not just the seaports, because you 're getting product off of the ships, which is a lot of it as well, but it's also the fact that the cruise ships are leaving from those seaports," he said. "When you look at the demographic algorithms that they use to forecast sales, we don't capture as readily in our demographics the amount of business that comes from the cruise ships. So, having the ability to get to that cruise ship and put the product on it quickly is also something we see people paying a premium for."

...

About Lee & Associates South Florida

Lee & Associates South Florida is a fully vertical commercial real estate brokerage firm focused on industrial, office, retail, multifamily, investment and land sectors. Our dedicated team of professionals is led by Matthew Rotolante, CCIM, SIOR a 4th generation South Florida native in a family that has owned and operated commercial property here since 1928. Lee & Associates is the largest agent owned brokerage in the nation with Senior Agent’s ability to earn profit share resulting in the highest splits while still receiving full resources, support and leads from our national network. Our collaborative and cheerful culture allows for open communications throughout the company, fostering the sharing of information and best practices to better enable client decision making.  The Lee & Associates’ robust national network that sold and leased over $120 Billion in the last 5 years offers clients a cross-market platform of expertise and deal opportunities across all asset specialties and representation roles. For the latest news from Lee & Associates South Florida, visit leesouthflorida.com or follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram, our company local news.

About Lee & Associates

Lee & Associates is a commercial real estate brokerage sales, leasing and management firm. Established in 1979, Lee & Associates has grown its service platform to include over 75 offices in the United States and Canada. Lee & Associates is the largest agent owned commercial real estate brokerage where agents get the greatest return for their efforts and hence are more committed and better enabled to provide superior results for their customers.  For the latest news from Lee & Associates, visit lee-associates.com or follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Link, our company blog.