The 47-story Miami Tower, designed by I.M. Pei and known for exterior lighting that changes color based on the occasion, is not shining so brightly on the inside.
The building’s largest tenant, law firm Carlton Fields Jorden Burt, met with the city’s chief garage inspector this week to discuss the tower’s malfunctioning elevators.
The Daily Business Review reports the problem is causing employees to wait 20 minutes or more to go from street level to the 11th floor, and 10 days ago, only one elevator was running.
General manager of the Miami Tower, Tom Matese, told the DBR that the building is aware of the issue and trying to fix it. But recently angry tenants have considered withholding their rent or breaking the lease.
Tim Prunka, of commercial brokerage Savills Studley representing the tenants, said tenants would have trouble terminating leases.
“You just can’t walk out of a lease for something like this,” he told the Daily Business Review, also explaining that the city should have budgeted for new elevators some time ago. “…If you skip all 15 oil changes over the years, don’t be surprised if the car breaks down. What may need to happen is the building may need to front the money to replace the elevators and have the city pay them back.” [Daily Business Review] — Kristina Puga