New York-based China Grill has closed its South Beach location after 17 years on Fifth Street, Eater reported. The restaurant, which had been located at Fifth and Washington, is set to launch a new location in Brickell this year. That space will be located at 801 Brickell Avenue. The new location will house 15,000 square feet in the heart of the Brickell Avenue corridor. [Eater]

Florida International University has signed a lease for three additional floors at 1101 Brickell Avenue. The new deal will double the school’s space at the downtown Miami office tower, which is owned and managed by Florida East Coast Realty. FIU will occupy a total of 60,373 square feet between 1101 Brickell’s north and south towers. The new space will house two classrooms and new reception space. [more]

One Sotheby’s International Realty has added a new office in Brickell, teaming up with Lorusso Realty. The new office is the seventh for the firm since its inception in 2008. The office, which is located at 999 Brickell Avenue, Suite 900, will house 20 new agents and focus on European buyers. Stefano Lorusso, who has been operating in South Florida since 2004, has a team of six brokers. — Alexander Britell

South Beach’s China Grill eatery will be moving to Brickell, the Miami Herald reported. The restaurant, which has been in Miami Beach since 1995, will shutter on April 28 in advance of the departure. The new 15,000-square-foot space will be located at 801 Brickell Avenue and is slated to open later in 2012, either the fall or early winter. [more]

Axis in Brickell

Fortune International has been appointed to lead sales and marking at the Axis condominium tower in Miami’s Brickell neighborhood. The 718-unit project, which was designed by architecture firm Arquitectonica, has 290 units remaining. Units at the twin-tower complex begin around $200,000. [more]

1399 SW 1st Avenue

The Consulate General of Mexico has signed a 23,000-square-foot lease at 1399 SW 1st Avenue in Brickell, relocating from its previous site in South Miami. Blanca Commercial Real Estate’s Danet Linares and David Valdez represented landlord Chestnut Capital in the deal, while the consulate was represented by Holly Sime Realty’s Andrew Trench (who is now working at Taylor and Mathis). The consulate will officially move in the beginning of 2012, a move motivated by Brickell’s growing business and cultural community. Terms of the 10-year lease were not disclosed. — Alexander Britell
[more]

Hope that renters will fill Brickell’s unsold new condos has prompted a
surge in leasing activity and bolstered the neighborhood’s commercial
real estate prospects. Touted as the next hot area of Miami’s condo boom, many towers stood
unfilled until developers began renting units, and the response has
given retail a push as well. New stores continue to open, cutting the
vacancy rate by more than 50 percent. In the first quarter of this
year, there was 63,000 vacant square feet of retail space in the
Brickell corridor, whereas in the first quarter of 2008, there was
142,000 vacant square feet. That’s welcome news for area realtors and developers caught in the
market implosion of the past 18 months. But not all commercial real
estate in the Brickell area is thriving. Retail leasing has improved,
but office vacancies are rising. [more]

Miami-Dade’s far southern suburbs, hit hard by foreclosure, are now
home to low prices and low occupancy. Property costs in Homestead,
Florida City and neighboring incorporated areas are down 53 percent
over the past 12 months, worse than the 30 percent drop seen in central
Miami and the Brickell district. There’s more inventory, too. At the
end of March, there were 65 percent more houses on the market in the
southern fringes than in the city core, said real estate analyst Craig
Werley. [more]