Cushman & Wakefield executive director Wayne Ramoski and director Gian Rodriguez in Miami/courtesy photos

A Cushman & Wakefield team closed the $22.96 million sale of a distribution complex east of Hialeah in a deal that speaks to the strength of the industrial market.

The Airport East Distribution Center at 7000 NW 32nd Ave. has three buildings on 18 acres. The property wasn't on the market but caught the eye of CenterPoint Properties, which has been scooping up other logistics centers since at least 2017.

The Oak Brook, Illinois-based industrial developer, buyer and manager bought the property from Equitable Real Estate Partners, a Miami real estate investor and developer.

Cushman & Wakefield executive director Wayne Ramoski and director Gian Rodriguez in Miami worked on the transaction along with vice chairman Mike Davis and executive director Rick Brugge in Tampa and executive director Michael Lerner in Orlando.

They represented Equitable Real Estate and closed the deal in early August. The sale price breaks down to $58 per square foot.

“One of the buzzwords now is last-mile distribution, and basically we deem this to be a last-mile site,” Ramoski said, referring to the last stretch goods travel before reaching their final destination. “It's very close to population centers and downtown, and there's been a lot of interest in this submarket.”

The complex was 76 percent occupied with four tenants at the time of sale. Econocaribe Consolidators Inc., a nonvessel freight company, occupies 110,000 square feet; Miatex Corp., which sells textiles and fabrics, occupies 60,000 square feet; Display Depot Inc., a seller of store supplies such as mannequins and hangers, occupies 34,000 square feet; and Olympia Building Supplies LLC, a Gypsum Management & Supply Inc. company, occupies 30,000 square feet.

Three tenants use some of their space for showrooms, Ramoski said.

That left a 96,000-square-foot vacancy CenterPoint is looking to fill.

CenterPoint has been aggressive in buying industrial properties. It paid $17.5 million last December for a warehouse at 3355 NW 114th St. east of Hialeah and $59 million in August for another industrial property at 3300 NW 123rd St. between Hialeah and Opa-locka, according to the Miami-Dade County property appraiser's office.

“They are targeting port and intermodal markets, and Miami is one of them. That's how they came about to identify this building,” Ramoski said.

The Airport East Distribution Center is about six miles from Miami International Airport and about eight miles from PortMiami with easy access to the Airport Expressway, U.S. 27 and Interstate 95.

The Miami-Dade industrial market has been thriving on increasing demand fueled by an economic upswing and e-commerce growth with a limited supply constrained in part by rising land costs.

The county's industrial vacancy rate for the second quarter was 4.3 percent, less than a year ago and approaching pre-recession levels, according to a Cushman & Wakefield report.