P
anattoni Development has recently made a move into the Doral office submarket, acquiring a two-story building that was previously home to the Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald headquarters. The property, spanning nine acres at 3511 Northwest 91st Avenue, was purchased by an affiliate of Irvine, California-based Panattoni, led by Carl Panattoni. The acquisition cost was approximately $189 per square foot for the 158,268-square-foot building, completed in 1997.

    The deal was facilitated by a Cushman & Wakefield team led by Wayne Ramonski and Mark Gilbert, who represented the seller, an affiliate of Miami-based Parmenter Realty Partners. Parmenter paid $27.2 million for the building in 2021, according to records.

    The site was originally built as the headquarters for the U.S. Southern Command. In 2013, the Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald moved into the building, but vacated it during the pandemic when the company shifted to remote work. The building is currently occupied by Learning World Academy.

    Panattoni has plans to redevelop the building into a spec industrial project, as stated in a press release. Doral is one of the most sought-after industrial submarkets in South Florida, where demand consistently outpaces supply.

    Founded in 1986, Panattoni focuses on industrial and office development. The firm has built more than 610 million square feet of commercial space across the U.S., according to Panattoni's website.

    Another California firm, San Francisco-based Prologis, is also looking to redevelop a Doral office property for industrial use. This month, the real estate investment trust paid $54.5 million for the headquarters of TracFone, a subsidiary of Verizon, located at 9700 Northwest 112th Avenue. Prologis plans to redevelop the 144,000-square-foot office building on the 18.5-acre site into a logistics facility. Last month, Prologis also paid $50.9 million for Pan American North Business Park in Medley as part of a $3.1 billion nationwide industrial portfolio purchase from Blackstone.