JLL out, CREC in at 800 Brickell and the Alhambra office buildings

800 Brickell, Two Alhambra Plaza (Inset: CREC President Carol Brooks)
800 Brickell, Two Alhambra Plaza (Inset: CREC President Carol Brooks)

Updated, 1:45 p.m., Oct. 13: JLL is out at 800 Brickell, the Alhambra and Two Alhambra office buildings in Miami.

Continental Real Estate Companies, or CREC, was hired to take over leasing at the three buildings, president Carol Brooks told The Real Deal.

Steven Hurwitz, partner, Doug Okun, senior vice president, and Katie Fernandez-Espinosa, senior leasing associate, will lead office leasing at the properties, according to a press release.

Deutsche Bank funds own the properties. RREEF Property Trust paid $112 million to acquire 800 Brickell last year, and a Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management fund bought the Alhambra complex for $119 million in December.

Hurwitz said CREC took over leasing in the past month, and that the owners “wanted to find a good fit with someone who had boots on the ground.”

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It’s not the first leasing assignment JLL has lost to competing brokerages in recent months. Sumitomo Corporation of Americas terminated JLL in October and brought on Cushman & Wakefield, Transwestern and CBRE to handle leasing at the Miami Tower in downtown Miami.

JLL declined to comment to TRD, but a spokesperson said the firm was hired as a property manager for 800 Brickell.

Here’s a breakdown of the properties:

  • 800 Brickell Avenue: a 15-story, 212,000-square-foot office tower occupied by lead tenants TotalBank, StateTrust, Prudential Insurance and Anheuser-Busch Companies. It’s about 85 percent leased.
  • The Alhambra: a 221,000-square-foot office building with tenants that include Disney, Crystal Lagoons and Campbell Sales and Gresham. It’s up to 85 percent occupied, Hurwitz told TRD. The full-floor penthouse is on the market, and CREC is talking to “creative-type” tenants, like an architecture of engineering firm, to fill the space.
  • The Alhambra West: a 91,000-square-foot office building home to Northwestern University, Starbucks, the U.S. Department of State and Pipeline Workspaces. The building is more than 90 percent occupied with a deal pending for the majority of the top floor.