Hines Teams Up With Local Developer for Industrial Project on Florida’s Space Coast

Author: Joshua S. Andino, CoStar News

Hines and Key Group plan to develop Space Coast Innovation Park on 450 acres about 10 miles from the Kennedy Space Center.

The 3 million-square-foot industrial project will be built in three phases in Brevard County along Grissom Parkway and Perimeter Road, and within the boundaries of the Space Coast Regional Airport’s federally licensed Spaceport in Titusville, Florida.

The park is being built to accommodate aerospace companies requiring more direct access to Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral amid the ongoing rapid commercialization and privatization of the aerospace industry, according to a statement from the developers.

The space economy is expected to generate more than $1 trillion in annual sales by 2040, Hines said in the statement. Florida’s Space Coast, about 35 miles east of Orlando, comprises the 72-mile strip surrounding the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and most of Brevard County. The aptly named region receives its name from both the federal facilities located at Cape Canaveral and the numerous private manufacturing, aerospace and aviation firms that do business in the area. According to the Space Coast Economic Development Commission, the 115 aerospace firms located in the region generate a $1.5 billion economic impact and include companies such as SpaceX, OneWeb Satellites, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, which is expanding its operations, prompting the billionaire’s move to South Florida.

While rent growth peaked in 2022, high-quality industrial space continues to perform well in Florida. Brevard County’s industrial market, while smaller than Orlando’s, continues to see low availability, with vacancy remaining a tight 2.7%, heightening demand due to lack of available inventory, according to CoStar data.

Kathleen Yonce, CEO of Titusville-based Key Group, said in the statement that Space Coast Innovation Park was designed with input from the Titusville Cocoa Beach Airport Authority, and will provide “institutional” quality facilities that will allow tenants to tap into the resources provided by the Spaceport and incentives from Space Florida, the North Brevard Economic Development Zone and the Space Coast Economic Development Commission. The project is also located within Port Canaveral’s Foreign Trade Zone, which “allow domestic activity involving foreign items to take place prior to formal customs entry,” according to the U.S. government’s International Trade Administration.

Space Coast Innovation Park’s first phase will comprise three rear-load industrial buildings totaling over 639,000 square feet across a 50-acre site and is projected to break ground in early 2024. Phase two includes two industrial buildings totaling 466,000 square feet across another 50 acres, and the third phase will include a mixed-use component over the remaining 350 acres.

The construction timeline of phases two and three were not disclosed. No tenants for the project have been announced.

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