Florida Crystals and IDI Form Strategic Alliance for South Florida Intermodal Logistics Center

By Georgiana Mihaila, Associate Editor

Florida Crystals Corporation and IDI—one of the largest privately held logistics real estate companies in North America—have entered into a strategic alliance for the planning and marketing of the South Florida Intermodal Logistics Center in western Palm Beach County.

“This exclusive alliance capitalizes on Florida Crystals’ resources as one of Palm Beach County’s largest private landowners and IDI’s proven success acquiring and developing 143 million square feet of industrial space in more than 566 industrial facilities across the U.S., Canada and Mexico,” said Gaston Cantens, vice president of Florida Crystals.  “It’s an important indicator that our SFILC project is on track and moving forward.”

Approval has already been granted for Florida Crystals’ 850-acre SFILC site, which can accommodate up to 10 million square feet of distribution and warehouse space, as well as a rail yard.  Located between Belle Glade and South Bay, the site can tap a readily available workforce and is close to key infrastructure, including U.S. Highway 27, enterprise zones and rural areas of critical economic concern.  The SFILC project has so far received the enthusiastic endorsement of local communities that will benefit from the jobs it will create.

IDI has expressed its confidence in the continuous improvement of the South Florida industrial market; given the increasing demand in Miami-Dade County, which led to a vacancy of 6.1 percent, coupled with scarcity and high-pricing of industrial land in both Broward and Miami-Dade counties, SFILC will rise as an attractive option for large distribution users.

IDI—whose reach extends to more than five million square feet of development in Central and South Florida—is also working on a 264,000-square-foot office warehouse building in Miramar that is to be completed this August.

The owner of the land, Florida Crystals Corporation, is a fully integrated agro industrial company that owns 155,000 acres in Palm Beach County and farms 192,000 acres in South Florida, where the company produces sugar and rice products. It owns and operates the largest renewable power plant in North America that delivers clean power to its sugar operations and tens of thousands of homes.

Image: West Palm Beach Skyline