This year, Invesco Advisers Inc. received a $98 million industrial portfolio made up of seven commercial real estate properties located within the Miami-Dade and Broward counties. Doral-based commercial real estate firm, The Easton Group had retained a 10 percent interest rather than sell off the properties completely, and held its title as property manager leading the buildings’ leasing efforts. In South Florida, last year industrial sales included Apollo Group’s $15 million purchase of the 213,131-square-foot building at 6950 NW 77th Court for $15 million . There was also the trade of $12.8 million for the 400,000-square-foot Airport East Distribution Center in Miami by Blackrock to Terranova Corporation. In 2015, there have been a total of 22 industrial transactions closed in the last quarter. Commercial real estate investors had paid average of $69 per square foot in the Miami-Dade area, according to CBRE.

Invesco Advisers’ blockbuster deal with The Easton Group closed last month, solidifying the join venture between the two firms. Invesco purchased $145 per square foot for the industrial portfolio. The deal consists of four buildings in Lake Corporate Park in Miami Lakes, two in Doral and one in Hollywood, Florida.  “What we were happy about is that we [made] the introduction a number of years ago. We knew they’d be a good match,” an attorney of the firm stated. “This is just one of those opportunities that they were able to pursue together.” Easton said in a statement that both companies plan to extend their partnership beyond this deal.

The industrial market continues to remain healthy. A lot of interest has been happening within South Florida and also the overall market. Investing in industrial real estate may involve assets that require significant demolition. It’s important to be able to identify opportunities where cash flow can be immediately generated to offset cost of acquisition. This in return minimizes the requirement to be dependent on back-end real estate value for ROI.

The properties are located at 2600 SW 39th Street in Hollywood; 2200 NW 84th Avenue and 2330 NW 82nd Avenue in Doral; and 16200 NW 59th Avenue; 16250 NW 59th Avenue; 5890 NW 163rd Street; and 5800 NW 163rd Street in Miami Lakes. The transaction amounted to 675,387 square feet of space. Easton’s industrial portfolio comprises over 4.3 million square feet of warehouse, light industrial, distribution, office, retail and multifamily investments. Invesco presently has $792 billion of assets under management worldwide.