Doronin’s 830 Brickell scores Chicago law firms for 53K sf

Winston & Strawn, Baker McKenzie sign leases at 55-story tower under construction

A rendering of the 830 Brickell office tower in Brickell, Miami and Vlad Doronin of OKO Group and Jonathan Goldstein of Cain International (OKO Group, Cain International)
A rendering of the 830 Brickell office tower in Brickell, Miami and Vlad Doronin of OKO Group and Jonathan Goldstein of Cain International (OKO Group, Cain International)

Two Chicago-based law firms leased a combined 53,000 square feet at 830 Brickell, marking continuing tenant demand for the Miami office tower that’s under construction.

Winston & Strawn took 35,000 square feet and Baker McKenzie took 18,000 square feet at the project at 830 Brickell Plaza in Miami, according to a news release from the developers. Vlad Doronin’s OKO Group and Jonathan Goldstein’s Cain International are developing the 55-story, 640,000-square-foot building.

Brian Gale and Ryan Holtzman were part of the Cushman & Wakefield team that represented the owners. Savills’ Tom Capocefalo represented the tenants, working with the brokerage’s Mark O’Donnell on the Winston Strawn lease, and with David Goldstein, also with Savills, on the Baker McKenzie deal.

Winston will open its first permanent Miami office at 830 Brickell. Founded in 1853, the firm entered the market in May with a 15,000-square-foot office at Southeast Financial Center at 200 South Biscayne Boulevard in downtown Miami, according to media reports. It is a temporary space until it opens at 830 Brickell. Enrique Martin is managing partner of the Miami office.

Baker has had a Miami presence since 1984, currently at Sabadell Financial Center at 1111 Brickell Avenue, roughly two blocks south of 830 Brickell. The firm expects to move out of this space and into its new office by the second half of next year, according to a Baker spokesperson.

The leases follow another Chicago-based law firm, Sidley Austin, inking a deal in July for 60,000 square feet on three floors at 830 Brickell.

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Billionaire Ken Griffin’s Citadel also famously bid adieu to the Windy City in favor of the Magic City. The hedge fund and financial services firm Citadel Securities will move their headquarters to Miami from Chicago.

Citadel leased roughly 90,000 square feet at 830 Brickell this month. In addition, it scooped up the bayfront development site at 1201 Brickell Bay Drive and the smaller property across the street at 1250 and 1260 Brickell Bay Drive this summer. It’s unclear if Griffin and Citadel also bought the 1221 Brickell office tower, although the Delaware-registered purchasing entity for this property is led by the same individual who led the entity that bought 1201 Brickell Bay Drive.

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830 Brickell has been a magnet for blue-chip tenants, with full lease-up expected before it is completed in several months, according to the release. The tower will be Brickell’s first new stand-alone office project in more than a decade.

Other tenants include private equity behemoth Thoma Bravo, Canadian asset management firm CI Financial, Marsh Insurance, AerCap and Microsoft.

This summer, WeWork opted out of its plan to open at 830 Brickell. The developers bought out the co-working giant’s lease that was signed in 2019.

830 Brickell is commanding some of South Florida’s highest rents, with asking rates hitting $150 per square foot in the second quarter.