A massive warehouse that was built on an abandoned golf course in Lakeland has signed a tenant for the entirety of the space.
Real estate sources say HCA Healthcare has leased the 713,000-square-foot warehouse in University Park at Bridgewater, an industrial park that will total more than 1 million square feet at completion. Nashville-based HCA, a national for-profit operator of hospitals and health care facilities, did not respond to a request for comment Monday.
The global coronavirus pandemic is expected to drive warehouse demand for medical supply storage, though sources say HCA was in negotiations for the property before the pandemic. The deal was signed in late May; the warehouse wrapped up construction about two months ago, sources say.
The developer of Bridgewater Park, a partnership of Transwestern Development Co. and Crow Holdings Capital Real Estate, bought the 183-acre site at 6200 State Road 33 in late 2018 and broke ground without a tenant lined up. A team of brokers form Cushman & Wakefield Inc. markets the space for the developer. A spokeswoman for Cushman declined comment Monday.
The warehouse is believed to be among the largest — if not the largest — speculative warehouses ever built in Florida. There are many warehouses larger than 713,000 square feet, but those are built with specific tenants in mind, like the million-plus square foot warehouses that Amazon and Walmart occupy.
It is the second very large speculative warehouse to successfully land a tenant in recent years. The 605,412-square-foot CenterState Logistics Center wrapped up construction in 2017 and signed a deal with a Gatorade distributor in early 2018.