TRX Group, a São Paulo-based real estate development and management firm with interests in self-storage, has built an asset portfolio in Florida worth $150 million since expanding to the United States in 2014 through its Miami-based subsidiary TRX Investments LLC. Approximately $90 million of its Florida portfolio is related to commercial and industrial warehouse space, including projects under development, with the remainder in multi-family housing, according to the source. TRX intends to expand outside of Florida and expects its U.S. asset portfolio to be worth more than $200 million by the end of the year.

“All our assets currently are in Florida,” Scott F. Pryce, founder and CEO of TRX Investments, told the source. “This is stage one of our strategy for the U.S. market. In the next stage, we are expanding into an area shaped like a triangle, bounded by Texas, the District of Columbia and Miami.”

The company is currently developing a “modular warehouse” on 440,000 square feet of land in Doral, Fla., that will offer 200,000 square feet of gross leasable space, according to the source. Although Pryce indicated TRX will remain focused on multi-family and warehouse development, the company also has self-storage interests in Brazil through a joint-venture partnership with Illinois-based Metro Storage LLC. The partners’ MetroFit brand currently operates three self-storage locations, with a fourth under development.

Thus far, TRX has found working in the U.S. to be much easier than Brazil, where obtaining reliable and accurate information can be a challenge, according to the source. “It’s like a Disney World of information for us here,” Pryce said. “In the U.S., we can do a market study in four hours. In Brazil, it would take four months. We have abundant, transparent market data and information here.”

TRX warehouse projects range from large structures to small bay and modular units. “We look for market segments where there is demand and good prospects for revenue growth,” Pryce said.

Through its TRX Residential arm, TRX Investments has housing projects underway in Boynton Beach and Plantation, Fla.

Founded in 2007, TRX Group has developed more than 15 million square feet of commercial and industrial properties in Brazil and manages $1.8 billion in real estate assets. It has eight employees in Miami and another 80 worldwide. TRX Investments is an investment fund launched to develop and manage development projects in the United States.

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