Jeff Ostrowski
Alexandra Clough
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2008 Outlook: West Palm Beach warehouse developer sees opportunity
Six months ago, there was no hotter real estate market anywhere than Palm Beach County warehouses. Encouraged by microscopic vacancy rates, big real estate investment trusts were throwing cash at industrial land.
Things have changed, as West Palm Beach warehouse developer Steve McCraney recently learned. The $80 million sale of his 500,000-square-foot Vista Business Park west of West Palm Beach fell through after an institutional investor was unable to secure financing.
Following the superheated demand earlier in the year, McCraney says, “We’re back to a real market.”
McCraney is negotiating offers from other bidders, and he acknowledges that the housing market’s woes are affecting commercial real estate.
“What you’re seeing in the market is a hesitation,” he says. “People are trying to see which way it’s going.”
But McCraney sees not gloom and doom but opportunity. He recently bought 54 acres at Belvedere Road and Florida’s Turnpike from troubled homebuilder Standard Pacific. McCraney paid $14.25 million, $3.75 million less than Standard Pacific paid back in 2005. Considering that the industrial market remains strong, McCraney plans to keep building.
“A year and a half from now,” he says, “we’ve got to believe the market will be better.”
Coming Monday: The outlook from Stuart contractor Ken Ringe.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Jeff Ostrowski
Comments
By Curious
December 21, 2007 5:20 PM | Link to this
Basically, I like the way this guy thinks!
Probably an eager to succeed and straight forward honest guy — with a no bullchit allowances for people on the other side of his desk.
????
Cool!
At this point of guessing, and other things equal, he should suceed!