Universal Technical Institute Picks Metro Miami for Latest Campus

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Phoenix-based University Technical Institute Inc. has leased an approximately 100,000-square-foot facility in Miramar, Fla., in southern Broward County, for its newest campus.

The new space will be UTI’s 14th campus nationwide and second in Florida and is expected to open in late 2022, subject in part to completing the campus buildout.

The provider of transportation technician training has operated a campus in Orlando, initially through the Motorcycle Mechanics Institute, since 1986, later expanding its programs to include marine, automotive and diesel technologies.

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“The Miami metropolitan area is a market where our proven evaluation criteria show strong prospective student interest in our programs and employer demand for skilled technicians,” UTI CEO Jerome Grant said in a prepared statement.

UTI’s growth and diversification strategy involves the development of commuter-friendly campuses in high-demand markets, as well as a wider range of skilled trade education offerings. As part of the latter, UTI recently agreed to acquire the MIAT College of Technology.

MIAT (formerly the Michigan Institute of Aviation and Technology) has locations in Houston and in metro Detroit, and offers programs in aviation maintenance, energy technology, wind power,  and robotics and automation.

Sunny Conditions

Barely a month ago, UTI announced that it had leased about 100,000 square feet of multi-use space in northeastern Austin for its 13th campus nationally and its third in Texas, the other two being in Houston and Dallas–Fort Worth.

Fueled by demand from e-commerce and food service users, the Miami industrial space market ended 2020 with positive net absorption, according to a fourth-quarter report from Avison Young. Despite the delivery of 1.8 million square feet of space (on an inventory of 190.5 million square feet), overall vacancy rose only 16 basis points, to 4.2 percent.

The Northwest Dade submarket had an overall occupancy at year-end of 96.8 percent and a substantial 2.4 million square feet of space under construction, against an inventory of 15.5 million square feet.