A 74-year-old pipe and plumbing wholesaler based in Miami is opening a second location in South Florida, choosing to expand into Broward County's largest industrial market.
Lehman Pipe & Plumbing Supply expects to move into 60,325 square feet at 1731 W. Copans Road in Pompano Beach in May or June, according to Cushman & Wakefield, the brokerage that represented the tenant in the lease.
Lehman, founded in 1946 by Julian and Betty Lehman, is the first tenant in the 100,661-square-foot building, which is expected to be a distribution center. It was completed last year on a speculative basis, meaning without any tenants signed on, and is part of Copans Business Park, a 384,711-square-foot industrial site. The landlord is Duke Realty Corp.
“This Pompano Beach location is a perfect complement to Lehman’s existing Miami facility that will allow it to expand its business and serve the entire South Florida market,” Cushman’s Rick Etner said in a statement.
Asking rents in the 32.3 million-square-foot Pompano Beach market are more than $12 per square foot, among the lowest in the region, but still 40% above the national average, according to the latest report from CoStar Market Analytics.
Rent growth of 5.9% in Pompano Beach is about half of what it was at the peak of the real estate cycle but remains close to the county's average, the report notes. CoStar’s forecast is for rent growth to keep leveling off.
“Rent growth deceleration has been a national trend and comes on the back of marginally lower economic growth, following more than 120 months of economic expansion,” the report says.
For the Record
Cushman & Wakefield’s Etner, Chris Metzger, Christopher Thomson and Matthew G. McAllister represented Lehman in the deal. Duke Realty's Stephanie Rodriguez handled the lease in house.
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