BREAKING DOWN THE CENTRAL FLORIDA IOS MARKETS WITH JIMMY ULLRICH AT COLLIERS

The Interstate 4 corridor in Florida has seen a population explosion since COVID. The strip of road with Tom Brady on one end and Tiger Woods on the other is a hotbed of in-migration and the IOS needs that follow. We caught up with Jimmy Ullrich, EVP at Colliers (and Florida State grad) for his take on the latest local trends in IOS.

Hi, I’m Jimmy Ullrich and I cover industrial capital markets for Colliers across the southeast with my partners, Ryan Vaught, Michael Macchia, and Riley Vaught. I sit in NYC, Macchia sits in Charlotte, and the Vaught's sit in Tampa. For purposes of this article, I'll pay homage to the Vaught's office and cover Central Florida (Tampa to Orlando across the I4 corridor) with the help of our top shelf leasing brokers, Robyn Hurrell in Tampa and Lee Morris in Orlando.

Who are the largest IOS owners/buyers targeting your market?

Most of the "top 25" IOS groups want to crack into Central Florida. Many of them have been successful in South Florida and want to head north for more yield and much more runway in rent growth. Most of the Central Florida IOS supply is still owned by mom and pops. The challenge for the IOS buyers has been to find data to justify the massive mark to market opportunity that is instinctively apparent. At this points comps are starting to avail themselves that rationalize the thesis.

What are the metro(s) attitudes towards IOS uses, and how will those feeling impact future IOS supply?

Central Florida municipalities have certainly moved in the direction of the anti development side of the spectrum, but I wouldn't call them anti development. This will keep a lid on too much new supply.

What recommendations would you made to the local economic development staff to better attract logistics users?

Continue to champion the use and new development. Encourage infrastructure improvement to roads, highways, seaports and airports. Think regionally and communicate with your neighboring ED partners.

What IOS type is most lacking (truck terminals, contractor yards, cross-dock, etc)?

When developers have built new paved truck parking facilities, they have leased quickly. Contractor yards are also lacking in the market, particularly if they have a little bit of office and warehouse on site.

Map of Florida’s logistics network (planes, trains, autos, boat):

What is the tenant mix between national users versus local SMBs?

I'd guess it's 60/40 national to local. And the percentage of nationals is growing. National tenants are displacing local tenants on in town sites due to their ability to pay very large rents for well located sites. So your seeing huge rental rate increases in town, and development becoming possible on out of town sites to accommodate local tenants who are moving out of the core to find more affordable rents.

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