Lease roundup: Charles Cohen’s DCOTA scores 11 new tenants for 100K sf combined

UPDATED, April 25, 1:03 p.m.: Medtronic, PropertyForce, Bitty Advance and more I DCOTA | Dania Beach

Charles Cohen’s Design Center of the Americas office and showroom complex in Dania Beach scored 11 new office tenants for a combined 100,057 square feet.

Cohen owns DCOTA through his New York-based Cohen Brothers Realty Corporation of Florida.

Five tenants took a combined 57,000 square feet at the building at 1855 Griffin Road, according to a Cohen Brothers news release. They are: health care tech firm Medtronic; residential real estate investor PropertyForce; small business lender Bitty Advance; medical device company Radiaction; and luggage firm IT Luggage.

Bob Orban of Cresa represented Medtronic. Keith Darby of Rise Realty represented PropertyForce. Lance Benson of Newmark represented Bitty Advance, and Lauren Gallart of JLL represented IT Luggage. Radiaction represented itself.

Separately, six tenants took a combined 43,057 square feet at 1815 Griffin Road. They are: consultancy New Trend; hemp oil agribusiness Veritas Farms; general merchandise and mail order firm US Speed Wheel; seafood and meals supplier Slade Gorton; parking compliance service provider Etico Parking Solutions; and multifamily developer BLD Group.

Tatiana Hladkaya of London Foster Realty represented New Trend. Lorena Johnson, also of London Foster, represented Veritas Farms. Michael Ramunno of Coldwell Banker represented US Speed. Eric Gaunt of JLL represented Slade. Attorney Amy McGrotty represented Etico Parking; and Jake Weiss of Easton Group represented BLD Group.

Marc Horowitz, national leasing director at Cohen Brothers, worked with John Criddle of CBRE.

DCOTA is an 800,000 square-foot office and design showroom complex, according to the Cohen Brothers’ website. Other tenants include Chiquita, JetBlue, First Service Residential, Avis, Nearpod, Intelepeer and The Stars Group, the release says.

Swatch Group I Waterford Business District | Miami-Dade County

Swatch Group is expanding its offices at the Waterford Business District south of Miami International Airport.

The Swiss manufacturer of watches and jewelry will open in a 26,000-square-foot space at the penthouse at 800 Waterford Way, according to a news release from Blanca Commercial Real Estate, the landlord’s broker.

Swatch will move in later this year, consolidating into one office. It currently has an office at 703 Waterford Way.

Juan Ruiz and Andres del Corral of Blanca Commercial represented the landlords.

A joint venture of Chicago-based Nuveen Real Estate and Allianz Real Estate own the majority of the 3 million-square-foot Waterford campus.

Nuveen is a subsidiary of New York-based Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America, and Allianz Real Estate is the captive investment and asset manager for real estate within Germany’s Allianz Group.

In 2021, Subway leased 64,256 square feet at Nuveen and Allianz’s 1000 Waterford building at the complex.

Other minority landlords at the complex include Wakefield, Massachusetts-based Franklin Street Properties, which scored Unique Vacations, an affiliate of Sandals Resorts, as a tenant in a 53,119-square-foot space at the 5505 Waterford building.

Aon I 701 Brickell | Miami

British-American insurance and pension administration firm Aon is opening an office in Miami’s Brickell, marking continued influx of financial service companies to the area.

Aon, based in London and publicly traded, leased 18,634 square feet on the 32nd floor at 701 Brickell Avenue, according to the broker’s news release. Aon is building out its space and will open the office in the first quarter of 2023.

Scott Goldstein and Keith Edelman of CBRE represented the tenant. Brian Gale and Andrew Trench of Cushman & Wakefield represented the landlord.

TIAA’s Nuveen owns the 33-story tower, which includes a gym, beauty salon, dry cleaner, florist, café and a newly renovated lobby.

Brickell has proved to be a magnet for financial firms either expanding or relocating to South Florida over the past two years.

New York City-based Apollo Capital Management leased 24,000 square feet at 701 Brickell in December.

The 830 Brickell tower that is under construction has been one of the prime choices, with CI Financial leasing 20,000 square feet in September and then opting to double its footprint there in January.

Keralty Hospital Miami I MedSquare Place | Miami-Dade County

The developers of MedSquare Space in Miami-Dade County’s Westchester neighborhood have fully leased the office property, after scoring a local hospital as a tenant.

Keralty Hospital Miami leased 13,800 square feet at the development on the northeast corner of Coral Way and Southwest 92nd Avenue, according to a news release from the landlord’s broker. The hospital will open medical offices for cardiology and gastroenterology, as well as an imaging center, in early 2023.

Justin Berryman of RIPCO represented the tenant, and Gordon Messinger of CBRE represented the owner.

Alberto Pérez’s Coral Gables-based AJP Ventures, and Juan Carlos Mas’ Mas Group, along with equity partner OCTA, are developing MedSquare, which is under construction.

Mas’ brother, Jorge Mas, is part of the venture backed by David Beckham seeking to develop Miami Freedom Park, a professional soccer stadium and mixed-use real estate complex on the city of Miami-owned Melreese golf course.

The 37,000-square-foot MedSquare medical office building is part of a larger campus that includes The Contemporary independent senior living community, according to the release.

Others that have leased offices there are Optum Care, which will be opening in an 18,000-square-foot center in April, and First Choice Dental Implant Centers, which leased 2,850 square feet, according to the release.

Keralty Hospital, which was renamed from Westchester General Hospital, has been in South Florida since 1967. Sanitas USA, a subsidiary of Bogotá, Colombia-based health care group Keralty, bought Westchester General Hospital in 2020, according to the release.

Shutts & Bowen I The Main Las Olas | Fort Lauderdale

Law firm Shutts & Bowen will move its Fort Lauderdale office to Stiles’s The Main Las Olas in 2023.

Shutts & Bowen leased 10,950 square feet on the 22nd floor of the 25-story office tower at 201 East Las Olas Boulevard, which is part of the 1.4 million-square-foot mixed-use development, according to the broker’s news release.

Zach Wendelin and Kevin Probel of CBRE represented the tenant.

Shutts & Bowen will relocate 30 employees to the new office. The law firm’s office now is at 200 East Broward Boulevard.

Stiles, which is based at The Main, completed development of the complex in partnership with San Francisco-based Shorenstein in 2021.