Updated, March 21, 9:15 a.m.
The Ward Law Group paid $21 million for a Miami Lakes office complex, with plans to move the personal injury firm’s headquarters.
The Kislak Organization, the Kislak family’s real estate investment and brokerage firm, sold the nearly 77,000-square-foot, two-building property at 7900 Northwest 154th Street, according to records. The Ward Law Group provided the purchase price.
The deal breaks down to roughly $273 per square foot.
The complex, which sits on 5 acres, is called Kislak Office Plaza. It consists of a three-story office building, which was completed in 1986; and an adjacent building with a garage, which was completed between 2021 and this year, according to records and real estate database PropertyShark. In 2019, The Kislak Organization filed a notice of commencement for the development of the second building.
The Ward Law Group, which specializes in representing clients who have been in car accidents, currently has its headquarters a mile and a half away at the Hundredfold Business Center at 6625 Miami Lakes Drive in Miami Lakes. Purchasing and moving to the Kislak Office Plaza will allow the firm to hire additional attorneys, according to a news release.
Founded in 2012 by Greg Ward and Jany Martínez-Ward, The Ward Law Group has more than 125 employees in Miami Lakes, as well as in Ecuador, India, Nicaragua and the Philippines, according to the release. It also offers services in Spanish.
The Kislak Organization was founded in 1906 by the late Julius I. Kislak in Hoboken, New Jersey, as a brokerage, according to its website. Since then, it has grown to also invest in real estate, as well as offer insurance, mortgage, banking and property management services. Thomas Bartelmo is CEO.
Kislak is based at the Miami Lakes office complex the company sold. The firm didn’t immediately return a request for comment on whether it will keep its headquarters there.
Among its other real estate deals, Kislak sold the six-building Plantation Professional Park at 6710–6834 West Sunrise Boulevard in Plantation for $11.3 million in 2019.
The Ward Law Group is the latest legal firm to purchase real estate. Last year, Miami attorney Alex Hanna and his wife, Lizet Hanna, paid $15 million for the offices at 4231 West Flagler Street in Miami.
Although Miami Gardens is a suburban office market, it has experienced some investment sales activity in recent months. In May, Bal Harbour-based Lionstone Development paid $16.8 million for a newly renovated, three-story office building at 5901 Miami Gardens Drive.
While South Florida office leasing has been strong over the past two and a half years, higher interest rates have made financing more expensive, leading to a reduction in commercial real estate sales in recent months, including for offices.
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