Developer plans spec warehouse in midst of Lakeland building boom
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Aug 27, 2014

It's been five years since The Ruthvens pursued the type of deal that's their core business: A speculative warehouse building. But the Lakeland-based family development company has seen a shift in the market this year and will break ground next week on a 50,400-square-foot high end flex building at 3150 County Line Road. Flex buildings are warehouses that usually have a mix of light industrial and office users. The building - a speculative venture with no tenants signed yet - is scheduled to be completed in March 2014.

"Our occupancies have picked up,” said Greg Ruthven, president. "We've had a real good first two quarters, almost three quarters, and we're back in the building business.”

Industrial real estate has been on an upswing for the last several quarters, as all businesses look for maximum efficiency in their supply chains. Retailers are the biggest driving force in the market, looking for the fastest way to get products to consumers in the ecommerce race.

The Ruthvens paid $1.26 million for 22 acres in an all-cash deal, Ruthven said. A team of brokers from NAI Realvest in Orlando - Drew Saphos, George Livingston, Christie Alexander and Paul Vera - represented the seller, O'Reilly Auto Parts, in the transaction.

Wachula State Bank will provide construction financing.

Lakeland - and the County Line Road area in particular - is in the midst of a building boom, with roughly 2 million square feet of industrial space built in the last year, Ruthven said. He ticks off a list of projects: Amazon.com accounts for half of it, with its 1 million square foot fulfillment center, but Publix Supermarkets Inc., O'Reilly Autoparts and Phillips Pet Food & Supplies have all recently expanded their facilities in the area.

"We're in the right spot,” Ruthven said. "There's 9.5 million people within 100 miles of Lakeland. We're fortunate.”

Another factor setting up Polk County as a warehouse hot spot: The recently opened CSX intermodal facility in Winter Haven, which is entitled for up to 8 million square feet of industrial and office space.

Ashley Gurbal Kritzer is a reporter for the Tampa Bay Business Journal.