Blackstone Affiliate Closes on $291M Deal for Former Race Track
By Jeff Ostrowski June 23, 2022 4:07 pm
reprints
Blackstone (BX)’s plans for a $700 million distribution project in Miami Gardens are moving forward. Race-track operator Churchill Downs said this week that it recently sold 115.7 acres to the investment giant for $291 million.
The deal for the site of the former Calder Race Course was announced in November 2021. New York-based Link Logistics, a unit of Blackstone, has proposed to redevelop the site at 21119 Northwest 27th Avenue into a logistics center. Its plans call for 12 buildings totaling 2.3 million square feet of industrial space.
The site fronts Florida’s Turnpike and is about midway between Interstate 95 and Interstate 75. Churchill Downs of Louisville, Ky., said it kept about 55 acres at the property, where it operates Calder Casino.
Thoroughbreds ran at Calder from 1971 through 2020, when the track closed. Interest in horse racing might be on the wane, but the industrial market is on fire. Commercial real estate brokerage JLL says 2021 was the best year ever for Miami’s distribution market. Vacancy rates fell to new lows, rental rates rose to new highs, and absorption shattered the old record.
Link Logistics has been investing in warehouses throughout the country.
Churchill Downs, meanwhile, isn’t done making deals in Miami Gardens. The company told investors this week that it “may sell or develop” 17 acres of land along Northwest 27th Avenue.
Jeff Ostrowski can be reached at jostrowski@commercialobserver.com.
