Prime Brickell Office Site Being Sold For Residential Use

By Marilyn Bowden
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A parking lot on Brickell’s 800 block that was long slated for office development may end up supporting housing instead.

The 3-acre tract at 845-999 Brickell, adjacent to One Brickell Square, is under contract, said Jack Lowell, vice chairman of Codina Realty Services Oncor International, which is marketing it.

Market analysts have long seen the site as the next likely spot for office development.

Instead, Mr. Lowell said, the prospective buyers are looking at residential development.

"Residential use is already approved by the City of Miami," he said. Closing, he said, could come as early as mid-July.

The parcel was originally intended as the site of two sisters to One Brickell Square dubbed Two Brickell Square and Three Brickell Square.

A site-development order obtained by Equitable Life Insurance, for whom Tishman Speyer Properties developed One Brickell Square in 1984, allowed for up to 920,000 square feet of office space on the 3-acre parcel next door. The Miami City Commission extended the development order to 2005 last year.

Meanwhile One Brickell Square, 801 Brickell Ave., officially goes on the market June 24, said Kenneth Zakin, a broker with Insignia ESG’s New York-based Capital Advisors Group, which is representing the owner, AFA Asset Services.

"We’re already fielding very significant interest in the property from institutional clients, foreign investors and some local real estate investors," Mr. Zakin said.

The 415,150-square-foot, 26-story office tower is assessed at slightly more than $47 million. The attached 9-story garage is separately assessed at $10.8 million.

AFA bought the property from Equitable for $70.75 million in 1994.

According to CoStar Group, which tracks commercial real estate space, 73,961 square feet, or 18% of total rentable space, is vacant at One Brickell Square, including blocks of more than 10,000 square feet on the 10th, 12th and 20th floors.

In its first quarter market review, RealData Information Services quoted a mean rental rate of $33 a square foot, a 33.13% increase over the same period the year before.

Real Data also reported a sub-lease of 7,111 square feet with an expiration date of January 2011 on the 15th floor. Top Front Page About Miami Today Put Your Message in Miami Today Contact Miami Today © Copyright 2002 Miami Today designed and produced by Green Dot Advertising and Marketing