Town Center One
Blanca Commercial Real Estate has been named the exclusive leasing agent for Dayco Group’s Town Center One, a 24-story, Class A office tower in Miami-Dade County’s Dadeland market. Tenants at the 210,992-square-foot property include Commerce Evolution, Inca Investments and BMI Companies. [more]
From left: Tere Blanca (top), Diana Parker, 1450 Brickell, 999 Brickell and 1221 Brickell
Brickell office towers are attracting many first-time users of Miami space, according to Miami Today.
“We are continuing to see interest from multinational and domestic companies that want to concentrate offices in Miami to access the whole region,” said Tere Blanca, principal of Blanca Commercial Real Estate, which has recently signed five new leases — with companies like H.J. Heinz Co, Longchamp USA, and private equity firm MDR American — totaling 19,500 square feet at 1450 Brickell. [more]
Westpointe Business Park in Doral
The Miami Herald will be moving to the former site of the US Southern Command Headquarters in Doral. The Herald will occupy the 158,265-square-foot building and an adjacent six-acre site, which will house a production facility. The Herald was represented by Blanca Commercial Real Estate in the transaction. “After surveying the market and determining the factors of greatest importance to the Miami Herald Media Company, it soon became clear that Westpointe Business Park offered the perfect mix of functionality, flexibility and access,” said Tere Blanca, CEO of Blanca Commercial Real Estate. Westpointe Business Park is located at 3511 NW 91st Avenue in Doral. The company will remain at its current location on Biscayne Bay, which was purchased for $236 million by Genting in May 2011, until 2013. — Alexander Britell
A subsidiary of London-based insurance broker Willis Group Holdings is relocating its Latin American headquarters to 1450 Brickell office tower in Miami, the South Florida Business Journal reported.
Willis of Florida will occupy 18,875 square feet of office space in the 582,817-square-foot building.
Tere Blanca and Danet Linares of Blanca Commercial Real Estate represented the landlord in the transaction. Josh Kuriloff and William Holly of Cushman & Wakefield represented Willis of Florida. Terms of the lease were not immediately available. [SFBJ]
Miami-based Blanca Commercial Real Estate has added two members to its team, hiring Andres del Corral as an associate and Alexander Cahlin as a junior associate. Del Corral was previously a development associate at the Rilea Group, where he worked with CEO Alan Ojeda, and will work in leasing and disposition. Cahlin will work in the firm’s tenant representation practice performing market research and financial analysis. Blanca Commercial Real Estate was founded by Tere Blanca three years ago, and its leasing portfolio is headlined by Ojeda’s 1450 Brickell office tower in downtown Miami. — Alexander Britell [more]
Blanca Commercial Real Estate has been tapped to lease Coral Gables’ 396 Alhambra, the new two-tower office and retail complex that’s under construction in the city’s business district. The Class A project’s smaller, seven-story South Tower will open first, with occupancy slated for April. The l5-story North Tower is scheduled for completion in the fourth quarter of 2011. Overall, 396 Alhambra will encompass 273,000 square feet, plus an eight-story parking garage. Blanca, which launched in April 2009, is trumpeting the project as the only new Class A office development slated to come online this year. It’s the third trophy assignment the firm is taking on, in addition to 1450 Brickell in Miami and One Park Square in Doral. TRD
He talks about advising nonprofits on real estate strategy
David Valdez
Blanca Commercial Real Estate’s David Valdez began his professional real estate advisory services career in Miami as a real estate analyst and director of leasing of the Miami Center office building in 1986. Eventually, he joined Codina Bush Klein Realty for seven years as a broker, until he went to New York City for 14 years. Valdez spent 10 years with the Edward S. Gordon Company and four years with Goldman Sachs as a vice president, helping to co-manage the firm’s acquisition and disposition of the office space the firm uses to run its businesses in the Americas, from Argentina to Canada. Valdez has developed a practice spanning New York and Miami advising corporations, individuals and non-profit organizations in their search for real estate, and on the broader goal of how non-profits can function most efficiently by managing their total occupancy costs. Valdez spoke to The Real Deal about the special role brokers can play for non-profits, advising them in the kind of space these firms are looking for and the [more]
1450 Brickell
Rilea Group, developer of 1450 Brickell, has closed leases with four
new tenants at the new downtown Miami office tower, with BNY Mellon,
Korn/Ferry Int’l, BroadSpan Capital and Internati [more]
Tony Puente landed at Miami Tower at the worst of times. When he took the assignment as leasing manager for the iconic downtown skyscraper two years ago, Bank of America had already decided to consolidate its space and leave the tower. Puente faced 50,000 square feet of empty office space.
The Miami office market has only worsened since then.
The vacancy rate in January hit 15 percent in Miami-Dade County, the highest level since 2004. And the worst may not be over yet. Two mega office towers — 1450 Brickell and Met 2 Financial Center — come online this year and Brickell Financial Center could open in 2011.
“With rental rates being what they are, a lot of tenants that go into a new building can occupy less space and there are associated cost-savings with that,” said Danet Linares, executive vice president at Miami-based Blanca Commercial Real Estate and leasing agent for 1450 Brickell. Puente, senior vice president at Fairchild Partners in Coral Gables, has his work cut out for him. [more]
