Extended Florida market
Sarasota
and Bradenton.
A wealthy, fast-growing coastal population, and a service economy with almost nowhere to put itself.
Gulf coast / a service economy short of service space
Manatee and Sarasota are not a distribution market and they do not pretend to be. What they are is one of the wealthiest and fastest-growing coastal stretches in Florida, and that produces a very particular kind of industrial demand: contractors, marine trades, boutique manufacturers, medical suppliers and the businesses that keep an affluent population running.
Those tenants need units of a few thousand square feet, and they need somewhere to park a truck. Almost nothing is built at that size, which is why small bay here behaves the way it does.
Where the industrial actually is
- Palmetto and EllentonPort Manatee and the US-41 north corridor. The region’s deepest industrial land.
- Bradenton and SR 70The county’s core service industrial belt, running east from the city.
- Lakewood RanchOne of the fastest-growing master planned communities in the country, pulling flex behind it.
- Sarasota and Clark RoadOlder infill industrial and small bay, with no dirt left.
- Fruitville and CattlemenThe I-75 interchange industrial pocket east of the city.
- Venice and LaurelService industrial and marine trades on the southern Sarasota coast.
- North PortThe largest residential growth in the county and very little industrial zoning to match.
- Myakka and the east countyWhere the yard-capable acreage still is, inland of the growth.
- Parrish and the northThe Manatee River corridor, and the overflow toward Hillsborough.
The infrastructure
What sets value here
Industrial value is access. Every figure on this page is downstream of these six things.
- I-75The spine. Tampa to the north, Fort Myers and Naples to the south.
- Port ManateeA deepwater port at Palmetto, which describes itself as the closest US deepwater port to the expanded Panama Canal.
- US-41 / US-301The old coastal and inland spines, and where most older industrial sits.
- SR 70 / SR 64The east-west routes inland toward Arcadia and the interior.
- SRQSarasota Bradenton International, with light industrial and service product around it.
- RailCSX serves Manatee County, with spur access around Palmetto and the port.
What we sell here
Six asset classes, one national buyer list
- Small bay and flex. The market’s defining product. Roughly 1,200 to 15,000 SF, tight everywhere, and barely replaced.
- Industrial outdoor storage. Contractor and equipment yards, pushed inland toward Myakka and the east county.
- RV and boat storage. A dense boating population on both counties’ coasts, and constrained supply.
- Warehouse. Port Manatee and the Palmetto corridor carry most of the larger product.
- Industrial land. Scarce west of I-75, available east of it.
- Truck parking and terminals. I-75 staging and port-driven demand around Palmetto.
How we work outside the tri-county
Phil is straight about this, because a broker who claims every market is telling you something about himself. Inside Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach he is a local market expert and he walks the sites. Outside the tri-county, what you are hiring is the asset class and the buyer list.
On IOS, truck parking, RV and boat storage and small bay, the buyer pool is national and it does not care which county you are in. That pool, and the way this product is actually priced, is what we bring to Sarasota and Bradenton.
What he will never do is describe asset-class depth as though it were a closing on your street. See what the firm has actually closed.
Cities we work in this market
Straight answers
Questions owners actually ask
Because nobody builds it. Small bay costs more per square foot to build than a big box, it needs more doors, more parking and more management, and lenders prefer single-tenant credit. Meanwhile an affluent, fast-growing coastal population keeps generating exactly the tenants who need 2,000 to 8,000 square feet. Demand grew and supply did not follow, and that gap is what an owner of small bay product is holding.
We work the asset class and we bring the buyer list. Inside Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach, Phil is the local market expert and walks the sites himself. Outside the tri-county, what you are hiring is the product knowledge and the national capital relationships behind it, and he will say plainly which of the two applies to your property.
It comes down to the rent roll, the unit mix, the rollover schedule and how far in-place rents sit below what the market will pay today. On small bay, the gap between contract rent and market rent is often the largest single item in the valuation. Phil concludes every number himself and the broker opinion of value costs nothing.
Before you list in Sarasota
Read these before you sign a listing agreement.
How to sell a warehouse in Fort Lauderdale
The seven steps in the order they happen, what sets the price, and the three mistakes that cost owners the most.
What is my industrial property worth?
Why no website can price a warehouse or a truck yard, and what a real broker opinion of value contains.
How to choose an industrial broker
Nine questions to ask before you sign, and what a weak answer sounds like.
Next step
Find out what your property is worth.
A confidential broker opinion of value, at no cost and with no obligation to list. Phil sets the number himself.