Coconut Creek-based Butters Construction & Development weathered the recession well and now is coordinating a string of industrial projects.
Susan R. Miller
2013-09-20 12:00:00 AM
While many in the real estate business slowed down in the past few years, developer Malcolm Butters was keeping busy buying land at a good price where he could do what he has done best for the last quarter century – build and manage industrial projects.
With four projects in the development stage and two others completed this year, the head of Coconut Creek-based Butters Construction & Development is claiming the title of the most active industrial developer in Miami-Dade County.
“We were never able to get into the Miami market because the land was so expensive, but as the recession hit we were able to jump in,” Butters said.
Like anyone in the real estate market, “we lost some value,” he said, but added, “I would say if we had to categorize it, it was a mild ding.”
He attributes part of his company’s success to timing.
“Different periods yield opportunities,” Butters said. “Because we are developers and land is the most liquid and least desirable because there is no income, we can take advantage of it.”
Among his latest “opportunities” is the planned redevelopment of the 74-acre Deerfield Country Club into Broward’s first new business park in a decade.
For that he’s teamed with San Francisco-based Bristol Group Inc. to build a 750,000 to 900,000-square-foot mixed-use project that will include retail, office and light industrial. It also will include green space and lakes in a park-like setting.
The Broward County Commission approved it 9-0. It now goes to the state for administrative review. Butters hopes to have final approval by the end of the year.
Earlier this year, Butters received approval from the Tamarac City Commission to develop two of the last industrial parcels in the Tamarac Commerce Center near the Sawgrass Expressway and Commercial Boulevard.
In a joint venture with Industrial Income Trust Inc., a private real estate investment trust, Butters will develop 12 acres that can accommodate up to 140,000 square feet of light industrial. He has site plan approval and is going through the entitlement process with wetland remediation.
To the south, Butters has teamed with Liberty Property Trust, a publicly traded REIT, to develop 125 acres along Florida’s Turnpike just south of Okeechobee Road. Butters is repositioning the former limestone pit into a 1.8 million-square-foot business park.
“Going forward a lot opportunities for us will be repositioning a brownfield site or limestone site or knocking down buildings because virgin land is becoming a scarce commodity in South Florida,” he said.
Construction of the first building with 180,000 square feet is under way with the infrastructure expected to be completed by the first quarter. Liberty Property Trust owns the site; Butters is developer and general contractor.
Also under construction is the first 235,000-square-foot building in what will be a 918,000-square-foot, Class A bulk distribution and industrial park on at Northwest 87th Avenue and 80th Street in Medley. Butters closed on the purchase of the 45-acre site in conjunction with the state agency that administers Florida’s retirement fund. The fund paid $23 million for the land. Delivery is anticipated to begin next year with construction finalized in 2015.
In the last year, Butters completed two other projects. The first was a joint venture with KTR Capital Partners, a private equity firm, for 330,000 square feet in Pan American South Business Park in Miami-Dade’s Airport West district.
“It’s easily the premier industrial building in the market. It’s got every bell and whistle,” he said.
All that’s needed is a tenant.
“They have had some interest, but it’s a big building, and it has a little higher rent than the rest of the market because it’s the Cadillac of buildings,” Butters said.
In June, he finished another building in a joint venture with IIT in Pan American North Business Park. The entire 186,000 square feet of warehouse space was leased to Ozburn-Hessey Logistics LLC, which provides logistics solutions for large companies including energy drink maker Red Bull.
“That was finished in June and was leased right away. It’s in the Medley submarket just down the street from the Liberty deal,” Butters said.
What’s next?
“I am pretty confident that in 2014 we will break ground on some new office project. It could be Miami, but we are looking at opportunities in Broward as well,” Butters said.
“It would be in one of the stronger submarkets, whether it’s a downtown Miami-Brickell deal or Plantation I-595 type of market where there is pretty good demand.”