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Week of June 29, 2000 |
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High-tech Airport West industrial park due by December By Marilyn BowdenThe first phase of a high-tech complex in Airport West built to the specifications of telecommunications and information technology tenants could be ready for occupancy as early as December, developers say. LightSpeed Center at Beacon TradePort is among the first of a series of such facilities under development across South Florida by LightSpeed Infrastructure, whose principal partner is The Swerdlow Group, owner of Beacon TradePort. Bob Banks, senior vice president of marketing and leasing, says the 140,000-square-foot, phase-one building is in permitting. Swerdlow plans a total build-out of up to 2 million square feet, he says, depending on demand. Phase one of Lightspeed Broward, a similar center in Ft. Lauderdale's Cypress Creek market, is due to be finished about the same time, he says. LightSpeed Miami Center, 3301 Coral Way, is slated for early next year. "We're not building a warehouse and marketing it as a telecommunications building," says Project Director Jeff Williamson, vice president of Codina Development Corp., "but suiting is specifically for this type of tenants." Codina builds, manages and leases the 374-acre park. Among amenities for tenants will be multiple fiber-optic providers, dual power feeds, automatic throw-overs for power reliability and dedicated sub-stations. "The tower at Beacon TradePort is one of the best power sources in Miami-Dade," Mr. Williamson says. "You couldn't find a site with more power." The buildings will be built to withstand a Category 5 hurricane, he says. Category 2 is the standard for industrial facilities. Sprinkler systems that require more than one cue to activate will be installed, he says — necessary because "water and electric don't mix." Heightened security will also be offered, Mr. Williamson says. So far no leases have been signed, Mr. Banks says, "but we are in discussions with quite a number of tenants as regards this building and also future ones. We anticipate them going up pretty quickly one behind the other." He says LightSpeed Infrastructure is looking to build in all the major cities of Florida. The Dolphin Mall, Swerdlow's retail project going up in tandem with Beacon TradePort, adds value to the site for telecommunications users, Mr. Banks says. "Access is improved by the new interchange to the Florida Turnpike," he says. "A lot of the communications companies have therefore brought in more service than they might have otherwise. "There are advantages also because these companies have multi-city needs in Florida. We'll be able to network our centers as well as multiple locations within each park so that they are virtually the same place." Though the industry is notorious for wanting space immediately, Mr. Williamson says he thinks speedy construction and the ability to have custom-built space will be attractive. "There's simply more big tenants out there," he says, "than there is space to put them in."
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