Starwood Capital proposes office complex – likely HQ – in Miami Beach

Starwood's lease at its current HQ site expires in 2021

Rendering of Starwood Capital Group's project and Barry Sternlicht
Rendering of Starwood Capital Group's project and Barry Sternlicht

Starwood Capital Group is proposing a new office and retail development in Miami Beach, likely the site of its new headquarters.

Records show North Bay Owner LLC plans to go before the Miami Beach Planning Board on Nov. 27 for a 144,430-square-foot building at 2318, 2322 and 2340 Collins Avenue, across the street from 1 Hotel & Homes South Beach, which Starwood co-developed with LeFrak.

Starwood, led by chairman and CEO Barry Sternlicht, told employees earlier this year that it planned to develop a new headquarters in Miami Beach. Starwood’s LNR Partners said it was in the process of finalizing plans with Sternlicht and Starwood to build a combined headquarters set to open by 2021, when the company’s current lease expires at 1601 Washington Avenue.

Rendering of the project

Founded in 1991 by Sternlicht in Greenwich, Connecticut, Starwood currently has 3,800 employees in 10 offices worldwide, according to its website.

A company tied to Starwood transferred ownership for two of the three lots that make up the development site to North Bay Owner LLC for $19.5 million in September. Avis Rent a Car sold the third lot at 2318 Collins Avenue the same month for $2.5 million.

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North Bay Owner is requesting conditional use approval for a building larger than 50,000 square foot and mechanical parking lifts. Gensler is designing the project, which would be 78 feet tall and include a 305-space parking garage. The building would have about 8,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor, breezeways on the upper levels and a roof deck.

Rendering of the project

The developer is seeking a reduction in parking of about 64 spaces, records show.

The project would be built next to The Gates Hotel South Beach, a DoubleTree by Hilton, at 2360 Collins Avenue.

A spokesperson for Sternlicht did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Starwood moved its headquarters to Miami Beach in recent years to the former base of LNR, the largest commercial special servicer in the U.S. Starwood subsidiary Starwood Property Trust acquired LNR in 2013 in a $1.05 billion deal.