When the pandemic-era influx of new-to-market tenants began, news spread that office rents reached and surpassed $100 per square foot in Miami-Dade County, a record at the time.
What was a record is now more the norm for prime buildings –– and new benchmarks are being set: Landlords are signing deals at well over $150 a foot and some are surpassing $200 a foot, brokers told The Real Deal.
Covid-times in-migration of the likes of billionaire hedge funder Ken Griffin, who brought his Citadel and Citadel Securities’ headquarters to Brickell and now plans a headquarters tower for the firms on a bayfront site, has had a trickle-down effect.
“Perception becomes reality,” said Berkadia’s Charles Foschini. “That reverberates through the market. Any of the ancillary firms that provide services to those individuals or Citadel will also want to come to South Florida.”
The rise of the blue-to-red state migration is playing a bigger role more recently, with multi-millionaires and billionaires purchasing Miami-Dade homes. Many also want their own small offices near their mansions. Developers have responded accordingly: Most of the pipeline commanding the highest rents is exactly that –– bespoke jewel boxes.
While this won’t move the needle on occupancies or even lease rates for the office market as a whole, it’s still good news for landlords.
That kind of tenant doesn’t need to ask their company’s shareholders or boards of directors for permission to pay more in rent or for tenant improvements.
“They just look in the mirror and decide if they want to do it,” Foschini said.
Developers of boutique buildings are offering turnkey spaces, as well as providing tenant allowances of roughly $80 per square foot to $100 per square foot for the unfinished floors, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s Ryan Holtzman.
Overall, Miami-Dade still is more affordable than other top office markets. Soloviev Group signed a lease this year at a Manhattan tower for $327.50 a foot, a record for that market, and San Francisco’s storied Transamerica Pyramid also broke the city’s record this year, inking a lease at over $300 a foot.
The Real Deal set out to find out which buildings are commanding the top rents and what those rates are, narrowing the scope of the analysis to nearly executed or signed leases, meaning those that are already a done deal or in advanced negotiations.
Many of the rates our analysis determined are based on letters of intent, or non-binding agreements between landlords and prospective tenants to negotiate a lease and not start talks with other parties. Usually, letters of intent (LOIs) are one of the final stages before a deal is signed. One broker said a signed LOI will lead to a deal 90 percent of the time.
To keep it uniform, the gross lease rates are reported below.
Here are the findings:
Buildings with rents surpassing $200 psf:
1. The standout: 830 Brickell
830 Brickell, the 57-story, 650,000-square-foot corporate tower completed in 2024, was the first in Miami to ink leases of $100 per square foot or more.
Now, it’s leading the pack again. Brokers are “finalizing” a lease with an out-of-state firm to take a full floor of about 18,000 square feet at $250 per square foot, according to Cushman’s Andrew Trench.
Vlad Doronin’s Miami-based OKO Group and London-based Cain, led by Jonathan Goldstein, started developing 830 Brickell, at 830 Brickell Plaza, in 2019. Their timing was fortuitous: At first, it was leasing in the $70s and $80s per foot, but then leasing and rates were supercharged by the influx of out-of-state firms to South Florida during the pandemic.
2. “A piece of art”: The Fifth Miami Beach
The Fifth Miami Beach, a recently completed five-story, roughly 60,000-square-foot building in the South of Fifth neighborhood, is poised to score the second highest rent in Miami-Dade.
An LOI is out to a tenant for a full-floor lease at $230 per square foot, according to Holtzman. He declined to identify the tenant.
The building also has a letter of intent “in the early stages” with a financial services firm for $190 per square foot for about half a floor, Holtzman said. Triple net deals have already been signed in the $160 per-square-foot range, which is roughly $190 as a gross lease rate.
The building “is a piece of art,” Holtzman said.
The Fifth’s pitch is its aesthetic. The glass and marble building, designed by Spanish master architect Alberto Campo Baeza, has 35-foot ceilings in the lobby. Bougainvilleas and Asian snow jasmine on trellises crown the rooftop.
Italian restaurant Sant Ambroeus, which originally opened in Milan in 1936 and has outposts in Palm Beach and New York, will open a location at the Fifth.
Sumaida + Khurana, led by Saif Sumaida and Amit Khurana, and Bizzi + Bilgili, a joint venture between Turkish investor Serdar Bilgili’s BLG Capital and Bizzi & Partners, developed The Fifth, at 944 Fifth Street and 411 Michigan Avenue.
3. All about wellness: The Well
Bay Harbor Islands is emerging as a jewel box office enclave, directly targeting the uber wealthy who have purchased homes –– many in the exclusive Indian Creek Village nearby, or surrounding areas –– and want a small high-end family office close by.
Former quarterback-turned-businessman Tom Brady is a prime example. His family office, TEB Capital Management, leased space for its headquarters at The Well in Bay Harbor Islands.
David Martin’s Coconut Grove-based Terra is the developer of The Well, which is nearing completion at 1177 Kane Concourse. The five-story, 113,000-square-foot building will have a heightened focus on health and wellness. GoldenGood Market + Eatery leased a space in the building.
Recognizing the appeal to well-heeled residents of offices near their homes, The Well project includes an eight-story, 66-unit condo building with more than 22,000 square feet of amenities.
Blanca Commercial Real Estate, which is leasing the building, declined to disclose lease rates or additional deals signed at The Well.
But a source familiar with the property said asking rates are roughly $175 per square foot, triple net, with deals “striking very close to that.” This pencils out to a gross rate of about $207 per square foot.
4. Sunset Harbour newcomer: Eighteen Sunset
Miami Beach-based Deco Capital Group and RWN Real Estate Partners, part of the New York-based family office of billionaire Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan, were among the first developers to wager on high-end Miami Beach offices.
Their five-story Eighteen Sunset building in Sunset Harbour, at 1759 Purdy Avenue, was completed in 2024.
It’s fully leased, with leasing wrapped up that same year, according to Colliers’ Stephen Rutchik. Some of the deals signed for up to $205 per square foot, he said.
Hitting $200 psf
1. The building where execs get to work by boat: One Kane
The six-story One Kane with roughly 75,000 square feet of offices in Bay Harbor Islands is supplying the demands of the luxe live-work demographic, and will include boat slips so tenants can cruise to work.
Discussions are ongoing for leases between $175 and $200 per square foot, triple net, or roughly $205 to $230 per square foot, gross, according to the developers, with an LOI out for the penthouse for $200 per square foot, triple net.
Taubco, led by Laura and Irwin Tauber, had started planning the project in 2016, years before the influx of new-to-market tenants in 2020 or more recently. Jonathan Landau’s family firm Landau Properties partnered.
The prospective tenants fall squarely in the demographic of wealthy individuals who lead or own companies in various industries, and want their own family office, Laura Tauber said. Aside from using the family office to run their own investments, many also will manage their philanthropic endeavors at the spaces, she said.
The project offers private car access, allowing tenants to keep their privacy when driving in and out of the building.
New York’s BondSt, a Japanese restaurant, will open a waterfront restaurant as well as rooftop dining.
One Kane is under construction at 9551 East Bay Harbor Drive.
2. Class X and attracting the locals: The Rivani
Robert Rivani didn’t want to use the industry-accepted lingo of Class A or even Class AAA for his building, so to connote the caliber of his six-story, 163,000-square-foot mixed-use property at 1691 Michigan Avenue in Miami Beach, he called it Class X.
He named the building The Rivani. LOIs are being exchanged between the landlord and potential tenants, all in the financial industry or hedge funds, for deals for 3,000 square feet to 6,000 square feet, for up to $200 per square foot, gross, according to Patrick Khoury, of Rivani’s eponymously named firm.
Leases signed over the past six months were at $175 per square foot, gross, Khoury said.
About half of the prospective tenants and those under LOI are moving from elsewhere in Miami-Dade, a quarter are from out of state and the balance are either moving from elsewhere in Miami Beach or are existing tenants signing new leases at the higher rents. The existing tenants who signed new leases for the same square footage previously were paying about $80 per square foot, gross, according to Khoury.
Rivani bought the building and the ground lease for $62.5 million in 2024, starting an over $100 million renovation of the property on land owned by the city of Miami Beach.
This year, Rivani filed a proposal to the city for a $50 million expansion of the office space at the building by adding about 36,000 square feet of offices atop the adjacent parking garage, as well as padel courts and a rooftop restaurant. The expansion, which would eliminate about 250 parking spaces primarily on the seven-story garage’s rooftop, needs approval from Miami Beach voters in a referendum because the project also calls for a lease extension with the city.
Tenants that have leased at The Rivani over the past year include “Shark Tank” investor and co-host Daymond John, residential brokerage powerhouse Jills Zeder Group, hedge fund Divisadero Capital and Playboy, which is moving its headquarters to the building from Los Angeles.
3. Drawing from ancient designs: Ziggurat
Allen Morris Company, a Coral Gables-based family-run firm, is developing the five-story
Ziggurat Coconut Grove with 100,000 square feet of offices, also with adjacent residences. Next to the building, at 3101 Grand Avenue in Miami, will be 19 condos.
Brokers have about six LOIs out to potential tenants at rents ranging from $130 to $160 per square foot, triple net, which translates to between $160 and $190 per square foot gross –– with some getting close to $200 per square foot, according to Holtzman. The majority of tenants with LOIs are new-to-market firms.
Designed by Oppenheim Architecture, with interiors by Collarte Interiors, the Ziggurat’s form draws from ancient stepped, pyramidal structures and its aesthetic is described as “biophilic,” with renderings showing lush vegetation spilling from balconies.
Coconut Grove, known for its canopy, bohemian vibe and top schools, has long been a preferred neighborhood for longtime Miamians. Now, its reputation is extending to new arrivals moving here to live or work, or both.
“Tenants are committing to space before they can even walk the floor. That’s a level of conviction we haven’t seen before in Miami. We are not a pre-leasing market,” Holtzman said. “But we are seeing that in Coconut Grove.”
Completion of the Ziggurat is expected in the summer of 2028.
More than $100 psf
1. A room of their own: Related Group HQ
In 2021, the Pérez family’s Related Group completed development of its new headquarters at 2850 Tigertail Avenue in Coconut Grove. The eight-story building includes space leased to tenants.
This year, a new-to-market hedge fund signed a lease for $165 per square foot, triple net, or roughly $190 gross, for a roughly 7,000-square-foot floor, according to Cushman’s Trench. The deal was signed “almost immediately” after the previous tenant vacated the space, he said.
2. Old is not out: 1695 Alton, 701 Brickell, 801 Brickell and 3480 Main Highway
Not all top deals are signed at the newest buildings.
The boutique one-story 1695 Alton building, which has roughly 6,400 square feet of leasable space, was completed in 1929 and renovated in 2024. Completed leases have reached $185 per square foot, gross, according to Rutchik of Colliers.
The building is on the for-sale market, expected to fetch about $18.5 million, Rutchik said.
Records show it’s owned by an entity led by members of the Potamkin car dealership family.
It’s not the only legacy building in Miami to score top deals.
The 33-story 701 Brickell tower, completed in 1985, is among the Brickell high-rises that are second in line after 830 Brickell in terms of top lease rates. This year, a deal was signed for $155 per square foot, gross, or more than double where the top of that submarket was five years ago, Trench, of Cushman, said.
Paul Singer’s Elliott Investment Management bought 701 Brickell in 2024 for $443 million.
Another legacy Brickell tower, the 28-story 801 Brickell that was completed in 1984, has notched deals in the $150 per square foot, gross, range, Rutchik said. Monarch Alternative Capital and Tourmaline Capital Partners bought the tower in 2023 for $250 million.
In Coconut Grove, the formerly distressed five-story building at 3480 Main Highway has signed leases at $150 per square foot, gross, according to Rutchik.
Azora Private, led by Juan José Zaragoza, Arturo Vinueza Eastman and Ignacio Gil-Casares, bought the building for $61 million in February from a group that had purchased the asset through a UCC foreclosure.
3. Fast leasing in Coconut Grove: Vizcaya Capital Building
In another nod to Coconut Grove’s appeal, the five-story Vizcaya Capital Building that’s under construction is in line to sign leases for well over $100 per square foot.
Cushman is negotiating six “strong” prospective tenants for leases at about $160 to $170 per square foot, gross, Holtzman said. The prospective tenants are in various industries, including financial, family offices and some tech firms from California.
Vizcaya Capital, a firm with offices in Miami, as well as Santiago, Chile, and Mexico City, Mexico, is developing the roughly 40,000-square-foot project, at 2871 Oak Avenue.
4. A Wynwood record: Wynwood Plaza
This year, Wynwood Plaza, a 12-story, 266,000-square-foot building, signed two leases with financial groups, one for about $105 per square foot and the other for about $115 per square foot, gross, according to Cushman’s Trench. That’s a record for Wynwood, where rates hadn’t surpassed $100 per square foot before.
The recent deals were with a new-to-market private equity firm and a financial adviser that already has a Miami presence.
“Wynwood is not a market that every building has six LOIs like in the Grove and [Coral] Gables, but it just shows the priority these higher-end groups are putting on new product,” Trench said, adding that the neighborhood’s appeal also is due to the easy access to I-95.
Oak Row Equities, L&L Holding Holding, Shorenstein and Claure Group completed the 1 million-square-foot Wynwood Plaza complex, at 55-95 Northwest 29th Street, last year. Aside from the office building, it has a 12-story, 509-unit apartment building and 26,000 square feet of retail and dining space.
5. The one that’s almost affordable: UNO South Pointe
The seven-story UNO South Pointe mixed-use building, completed in 2002 at 119 Washington Avenue and recently renovated, has signed deals generally at roughly $130 per square foot, triple net. That’s about $160 gross.
While the building is “significantly more affordable” than some of its competitors, it offers “one of the strongest locations in the market,” said broker Cyril Bijaoui.
Its penthouse is being marketed for $200 per square foot, triple net, according to Bijaoui, of Longstead at the Corcoran Group. In gross terms that would be close to $230 per square foot.
Not quite $100 psf, but almost
As a setting for offices, Coral Gables grabs an honorable mention. The city is expected to experience growth in rents in the coming year. While some of the leases signed recently or under LOIs didn’t break the $100 per-square-foot threshold, leases in Coral Gables are expected to surpass this price point in the coming years, Cushman’s Holtzman said.
In March, Constellation Group and The Boschetti Group completed the eight-story, 84,000-square-foot 4225 Ponce. The only known office lease at the building so far is Swiss bank UBS, which leased 33,200 square feet, moving from elsewhere in the city.
A source familiar with the deal said that the deal was in the mid-$90s per square foot, gross.
The developers declined to comment.
The typical rates in Coral Gables in recent years were in the $50-to-$60 per square foot range, though they’re inching up and are expected to skip the $70 per square foot deals and jump straight to the $80s, Holtzman said. Cushman is in talks for several leases for $80 per square foot at Ryder Colonnade and some of the other buildings it leases in Coral Gables, he added. Demand for the city is outpacing availability, he said.
“There is just no new supply coming to the market.”
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