The robust Miami-Dade County industrial market, perhaps the strongest real estate category, just reached a whole new level with the state's biggest sale of the year at $178 million.

Investment management firm PGIM, a subsidiary of Prudential Financial Inc., sold the three-building, 74-acre Centergate at Gratigny in Hialeah on Thursday to RREEF America, a subsidiary of DWS Investment Management Americas Inc.

The South Florida Business Journal first reported the price and buyer.

Centergate is south of the Gratigny Expressway at 5801 and 6301 E. 10th Ave., giving tenants easy access to the highway, which is a major east-west connector in northwest Miami-Dade.

Hialeah is a growing real estate market across asset classes in large part because of its access to nearby major roads, including the Palmetto Expressway, Interstate 75 and Interstate 95.

Centergate is next to a Gratigny ramp, which is a six-mile drive from I-75 and the Palmetto.

The industrial complex is a mix of new construction and an older Class A building. The building at 6301 E. 10th Ave. is a 978,164-square-foot distribution and light assembly warehouse built on 47 acres in 1999, according to county property records.

Immediately to the south at 5801 E. 10th Ave. are two buildings with a combined 602,657 square feet built in 2016.

The ceiling heights at the bigger building are 32, 17 and 13 feet. The building has 1.7 parking spots for every 1,000 square feet, which is more than usual for industrial properties. There are 140 trailer parking spots and 7% office finish. The two newer buildings have 32-foot clearing heights.

The total 1.6 million square feet means the sale breaks down to $111.25 per square foot.

While the total sale value is a record for the industrial market, the sale price per square foot isn't.

Earlier this month, a five-building Miramar portfolio closed at $192 per square foot, and the 14-acre Airport Trade Center west of Miami International Airport traded for $152 per square foot.

Centergate's anchor tenant is Polyconcept North America Inc. subsidiary Bullet Line LLC, a supplier of low-cost promotional products such as pens and bags. Other tenants include Carnival Cruise Line and Veritiv Corp., a logistics and supply chain management company.

Miami-Dade industrial demand is strong and driven by the growth of e-commerce, while land available for new construction is limited.

A net of nearly 38 million square feet was absorbed over the last five years, much more than the 23 million square feet of newly completed space, according to CBRE Group Inc., which closed the Centergate deal.

The low 3.5% industrial vacancy rate in the county has allowed landlords to raise rents by 5% on average annually.

CBRE vice chairman Chris Riley in Atlanta as well as vice chairman Christian Lee and executive vice president Jose Lobon, both in Miami, closed the deal on behalf of the seller.

"Centergate is one of the largest industrial offerings to come for sale in South Florida in recent years," Lobon said in a news release. "Given the challenges to aggregate square footage in our market, Centergate presented a unique opportunity to acquire critical mass in one of the most desirable logistics markets in the nation."

Buyer RREEF didn't return a request for comment by deadline.

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