Owner of co-working firm pays $54.4M for Coral Gables office landmark

CGI Merchant Group paid $336 per square foot for the pyramid-shaped, 16-story building, which was 89% leased at closing

550 Biltmore in Coral Gables
550 Biltmore in Coral Gables

Miami-based private equity firm CGI Merchant Group paid $54.4 million for 550 Biltmore, a 16-story office building in Coral Gables.

CGI, which owns co-working space operator Nexus Workspaces, paid $336 per square foot for 550 Biltmore.

CGI recently opened two new Nexus Workspaces locations at commercial properties in Boca Raton and Boynton Beach that the firm acquired for a total of $9.4 million.

Built in 1986 at 550 Biltmore Way, the 16-story, pyramid-shaped 550 Biltmore  building was 89 percent leased at the time of sale.

Office tenants of the 162,293-square-foot building include UBS, Heinemann Americas Inc. and Compagnie Financiére Richemont, owner of the Cartier brand.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

The Coral Gables building has an Art Deco architectural design. Its interior features include Italian travertine walls with marble and granite accents, burled walnut elevator cabs, and polished-stone and brushed-metal finishes in the lobby.

The office building “has been institutionally owned and maintained throughout most of its history and was renovated in 2013,” according to a press release issued by Cushman & Wakefield.

With assistance from office-leasing team Brian Gale and Ryan Holtzman, the Cushman & Wakefield Capital Markets team of Mike Davis, Miguel Alcivar, Dominic Montazemi, Scott O’Donnell and Rick Brugge negotiated the sale of 550 Biltmore on behalf of “a global real estate investment manager,” according to the press release. The exclusive leasing-advisory team for the property includes Gale, Holtzman, Andrew Trench and Jeannette Mendoza.

The South Florida Business Journal reported in 2014 that an affiliate of Prudential Real Estate Investors acquired the 550 Biltmore building for $50.2 million. – Mike Seemuth