Miami saw the addition of more new office space last year than any other
city in the United States other than the nation’s capital, according to Jones Lang LaSalle. But the vacancy
rate in Miami’s central business district is 22 percent, nearly twice
that of Washington, D.C. One tower, 600 Brickell, is on the way
after a strategic slowdown. “The last generation of buildings are being
left with big open spaces,” said Robert Kaplan, principal of Asentus
Real Estate. “The question is how do these get backfilled?” Loretta
Cockrum, CEO of Foram, the developer of 600 Brickell, said she hoped to
bring new industries to Miami. “It doesn’t help the city to move a
tenant from building A to building B,” she said. “We believe we are
going to attract a lot of out-of-market businesses and tenants.” [NYT]

Regional commercial landlords want bodies in their office buildings and are willing to go to greater and greater lengths to keep them there. With more than 1.2 million square feet of space are on the way, landlords must scramble. The Rilea Group’s 576,379-square-foot 1450 Brickell project is to be completed in the first quarter of 2010, while MDM Development plans an April 2010 completion for the 750,000-square-foot Met 2 Financial Center project. Owners of the Wachovia Financial Center, Bank of America Tower at International Place and 800 Brickell are pumping millions of dollars into improving their buildings. They hope the improvements and their established quality of their properties will keep current tenants and lure new ones. [GlobeSt]

When Tere Blanca resigned as senior managing director and branch manager of Cushman & Wakefield of Florida to start her own firm earlier this year, some questioned the wisdom of her timing.

Then others saw the writing on the wall. Within weeks, Cushman & Wakefield began eliminating executive positions from its ranks.

Less than eight months after Blanca left Cushman & Wakefield, the commercial real estate entrepreneur has picked up two of Miami’s premier listings — 1450 Brickell in Downtown Miami and One Park Square at Doral. Both listings were previously with Cushman & Wakefield.

Indeed, while many larger brokerages are struggling — CB Richard Ellis lost $6.6 million in the second quarter of 2009 — Blanca Commercial Real Estate appears better able to adapt to changing market conditions. Boutique firms like Blanca don’t have the debt that larger institutional players may have. [more]

After signing law firm Greenberg Traurig as a marquee tenant, leasing
broker Flagler Real Estate Services in Coral Gables is still finding it
hard to fill the remaining 70 percent of unleased space. The $306
million, 47-story tower is a week away from completion, leading a brief
surge of new office space coming online in the next several months.
Foram Group’s Brickell Financial Centre hasn’t signed tenants, and
expects to open next year. Rilea Group’s 1450 Brickell tower is almost
finished, but no tenants have signed on to make the curtain
wall-designed, 35-story tower home yet. Tere Blanca, president and CEO
of Blanca Commercial Real Estate, said there are opportunities, but
would not discuss prospective tenants. [more]

As hurricane season approaches, companies doing business in Downtown
Miami easily recall Wilma’s glass-shattering wrath. The 2005 storm blew
out tens of thousands of windows and interrupted businesses in the
Central Business District for months, causing $29 billion worth of
damage. The developers of 1450 Brickell, the 586,000-square-foot tower slated
for delivery in January 2010, want to prevent a repeat scenario with a
glass curtain wall system fashioned entirely out of large
missile-impact resistant glass that withstood wind loads of up to 327
mph during lab testing (see jump for a video of impact testing at 1450
Brickell). Designers said 1450 Brickell is the only office building on
the market to meet this standard for wind resistance. It’s a big bet. [more]