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Week of May 5, 2005 |
| Atlanta developer to open real estate office here By Marilyn BowdenHank Bush, who is converting 1000 Brickell Avenue to office condos, is launching a Miami real estate company called Bush Development Group to concentrate on real estate projects throughout Florida. As principal of EquiProperty of Atlanta, Mr. Bush bought the 144,659-square-foot 12-story building at 1000 Brickell, once headquarters of the Allen Morris Co., six months ago and has sold 70% of its space as office condominiums. "We felt that in this market, there was a strong demand for this type of product from Europeans and Latin Americans," Mr. Bush said. "Now that we have been in the market for six months, we have specific knowledge that that is the case. We have buyers from Argentina, Venezuela and Spain as well as a decent amount of domestic businesses." As a result, he said, "we're going to put all our focus on Florida. We are looking at some opportunities in Jacksonville and Tampa. In Miami-Dade and Broward, I think there are opportunities in all areas of development but specifically in the office market. "Part of the reason for reformatting is that we are seeing a number of people jumping on board with office-condo projects who unfortunately are not familiar with conversion work. I feel it's time for accountability. In the 16 years I've been in the conversion business, this is the first time I've used my own name." Mr. Bush, who has done conversions in other markets under the name Southern Investment Associates, said he plans another office-conversion project in the area and is negotiating for sites. Bush Development may do some ground-up construction, he said. One likely site would be the parking lot behind 1000 Brickell, which the company owns. "That would most likely be a lease product," Mr. Bush said. "But right now, we are more focused on the infancy of the office-condo market." |
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