TIAA lands $184M loan for Brickell office tower

701 Brickell Avenue
701 Brickell Avenue

Talk about leverage.

TIAA, the New York financial giant that manages pension funds for academics, just closed on a mammoth $184 million loan for its trophy office tower in Brickell.

County records show the loan, issued by the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co., covers the 33-story office tower at 701 Brickell Avenue, formerly known as the Lincoln Center. The firm’s head of real estate finance, Bill Daniel, confirmed the loan amount and the property in an email to The Real Deal on Monday.

Measuring a little over 1.1 million square feet, the building has 677,667 square feet of rentable space and was 89 percent leased as of February, according to a recently released report from TIAA. Average base rents are $47 to $52 per square foot annually.

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Daniel said in a statement that the office tower has performed strongly since TIAA’s real estate arm bought it in 2002. County records show the financial firm bought 701 Brickell from the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. for $172 million, or about $254 per square foot of rentable space.

Now, the fixed-rate financing will help TIAA pick up other properties, Daniel said. “The loan will help manage the maturity profile of the TIAA Real Estate Account’s debt portfolio and provide capital for additional real estate investments,” he said. The loan has a 10-year term, which means it has to be paid off in a decade.

Outside of Miami’s flashy financial district, TIAA is also in the midst of developing new office space in the Waterford at Blue Lagoon office park near the Miami International Airport. The financial firm sold a 49 percent stake in the park to Allianz Real Estate of America late last year for $375 million.

Correction: A previous version of this article identified the landlord as TIAA-CREF. A company spokesperson told TRD that the firm has since shortened its name to TIAA only, and rents range from $47 to $52 per square foot annually.