Coco Group is stepping into the downtown West Palm Beach commercial market with a $45.7 million purchase.
An entity managed by Wesley Diong, CFO for Toronto-based family office Coco Group, acquired Echo, a 100-year-old mixed-use building at 205 Datura Street, records show. The buyer, led by CEO Jenny Coco, paid $637 a square foot for the 71,694-square-foot four-story building.
A JLL team led by Ika Ojala and Herman Rodriguez represented the seller, an affiliate of Boca Raton-based Morning Calm Management led by Mukang Cho.
In 2021, Morning Calm paid $14.2 million for the 0.8-acre site, records show. The building, which also has a 257-space garage, was completed in 1925.
Morning Calm renovated Echo in 2021 with a new lobby, conference center, lounge, a courtyard and EV charging stations, a press release states. The building features 10,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space and offices on the upper floors. Echo is currently 80 percent occupied, and office tenants include Stone Point Capital, AltaRock Partners and Sound Point Capital, the release states.
Downtown West Palm Beach is among the hottest office submarkets in South Florida. Developers and brokers have recently dubbed it Wall Street South due to the influx of financial services firms that have relocated to the city. In the first quarter, the average asking rent in downtown West Palm Beach hit $105 a square foot, compared to $63.50 a square foot for Palm Beach County overall, according to a recent JLL report.
Billionaire Steve Ross’ Related Ross is the largest office landlord in downtown West Pam Beach. Since 2021, Ross has acquired two office towers and bought a half ownership stake in a third building. The developer has also completed the 20-story 360 Rosemary and 25-story One Flagler, a project that is fetching rents between $120 per square foot and $140 a square foot. Related Ross also has three other office projects in the pipeline.
Meanwhile, Brand Atlantic Real Estate Partners and Wheelock Street Capital recently opened Banyan & Olive, a mixed-use project that includes 300 Banyan, a six-story building with 120,000 square feet of office space.