Developer scores construction loan for office building in downtown Fort Lauderdale

7-story building will have 95,500 sf of office space, 14,000 sf of retail

Rendering of 550 Building (Credit: Berger Commercial Realty)
Rendering of 550 Building (Credit: Berger Commercial Realty)

Blackhawk Properties & Investments just scored a $32.5 million construction loan to build a new office development in downtown Fort Lauderdale.

Blackhawk, led by Kate Murphy of Collins Capital Partners and William Murphy of Douglas Management, is planning a seven-story, 95,500-square-foot office building with ground floor retail and an attached eight-story, 600-space parking garage at 550 South Andrews Avenue. Fifth Third Bank is the lender, according to property records.

Rendering of 550 Building (Credit: Berger Commercial Realty)

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The 550 Building will have 14,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space. Falkanger Snyder Martineau & Yates designed the project. Asking rents range from $28 per square foot to $55 per square foot, according to online marketing materials. Berger Commercial Realty is leasing the property.

The developer assembled the nearly 1.5-acre site in two deals totaling about $8.4 million in 2013 and 2016.

The 550 Building will be the first new office building in Fort Lauderdale’s South of Las Olas (SOLO) District since 1989, according to Joseph Byrnes, a senior vice president of Berger Commercial Realty. It sits across from a Publix and is adjacent to the Broward County Courthouse.

The development joins a number of multifamily and condo projects being built in downtown Fort Lauderdale, including the Kolter Group’s 46-story 100 Las Olas mixed-use building and Related Group’s 45-story rental tower, Icon Las Olas.