European hedge fund Brevan Howard leases Miami office amid flock of newcomers

Hedge fund Brevan Howard leased at Related Group’s Coconut Grove office building, while a Swiss packaging firm and a U.S. consultancy inked deals elsewhere in Miami in the latest new-to-market deals.

Brevan Howard leased the nearly 7,000-square-foot third floor at the 2850 Tigertail Avenue building, according to the landlord’s broker.The Pérez family’s Related Group completed development of the 10-story building in 2021, with Related moving its headquarters there.

Andrew Trench, who was part of the Cushman & Wakefield team that in April represented Related in the deal, confirmed the lease. He declined to provide financial terms of the lease.

JLL’s Daniel Posy and Ryan Levy represented Brevan Howard.

The hedge fund, led by CEO Aron Landy, is a global investment manager on behalf of sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, foundations, endowments and other institutional clients, according to its website. It is based in the island of Jersey, an autonomous dependency of the British Crown.

The Coconut Grove lease was signed in April, or about the time news circulated that Brevan Howard was planning to plant flags in Miami, as well as Tokyo. It also lists outposts in Jersey, London, Geneva, Hong Kong, Abu Dhabi, Bengaluru and Singapore, with its other U.S. offices in Austin and New York.

Brevan Howard wasn’t the only European firm to establish its Miami presence for the first time.

Zurich-based packaging firm Amcor leased 33,800 square feet for its U.S. headquarters at the Southeast Financial Center at 200 South Biscayne Boulevard in downtown Miami, according to Blanca Commercial Real Estate’s second quarter report for Miami-Dade County.

The firm is a manufacturer of packaging for food, beverages and pharmaceuticals, its website shows.

Spanish billionaire Amancio Ortega, founder of Zara and other other fashion companies such as Bershka, owns the 55-story Southeast Financial Center. Ortega’s investment firm Ponte Gadea paid $516.6 million for the tower in 2016.

In another new-to-market deal, Washington, D.C.-based public and affordable housing consultancy Quadel leased 13,500 square feet at downtown Miami’s Security Building, Blanca Commercial’s report says. Quadel still hasn’t listed the outpost on its website.

Fort Lauderdale-based Fuse Group, led by Eyal Peretz, owns the Security Building at 117 Northeast First Avenue, buying it out of foreclosure in 2021.

Another Miami newcomer is Postr, a marketing platform for social media creators, which moved its headquarters to 301-311 Northwest 28th Street in Wynwood, Blanca Commercial’s report shows.

The building is owned by an entity tied to Lerner Family Properties, records show.

South Florida remains the source of much giddyness over continuing to attract new-to-market firms, fueling office leasing. Excitement reached a fever pitch in the years after the pandemic’s onset. After quieting for a few years, it picked up again this year amid the blue-to-red state migration.

Much of this year’s buzz is rooted in Palantir Technologies’ headquarters relocation to South Florida from Denver. The AI firm moved to a co-working space in Aventura.

Still, the uptick in inbound companies doesn’t necessarily spell an office leasing boom. Brevan Howard took over the Coconut Grove space vacated by another tenant. And generally, new-to-market tenants start out by dipping a toe in Miami by taking out small spaces, and those that decide to stay long term essentially expand their leases.

Miami-Dade’s Class A office vacancy hit 15.7 percent in the second quarter, a drop of 10 basis points quarter over quarter and of 130 basis points year over year, according to Blanca Commercial’s report. Class B vacancy was 14 percent, a decrease of 90 basis quarter-over-quarter and 250 basis points year-over-year.

This year, Miami claimed the top spot nationwide for the highest office asking rent, an analysis of LoopNet listings showed. The average asking rate in the Magic City was $59.66 per square foot, besting New York’s $50.56 a foot.