Tony Puente of Fairchild Partners and Miami Tower

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]

After losing its anchor tenant, the Bank of America Tower at International Place Miami has a new name, which its owners hope won’t be in place very long.
Fairchild Partners, the management team for newly christened Miami Tower, is actively negotiating to find a new tenant that could assume the lucrative naming rights, after Bank of America’s departure, but the current climate may yield few results.
Management for Miami Tower — acclaimed for its changing palette of exterior lighting schemes — will give the first tenant to sign a lease for at least 80,000 square feet the naming rights at no additional cost. Miami Tower can offer up to 76,000 square feet of contiguous space per floor. [more]

UBS Financial Services has renewed its $7.5 million, five-year lease for 34,536 square feet at Miami’s Bank of America Tower. The renewal is the tower’s sixth so far in 2009 and the largest of the year. Tony Puente, senior vice president of Fairchild Partners, represented the landlord, Wealth Capital Management. Colleen B. Newcomer, president of CBN Commercial Real Estate Services, represented UBS Financial Services. Bank of America Tower is now 92 percent occupied. TRD [more]