Work Begins On Met 2 Offices

By Marilyn Bowden
Groundwork is under way at Met 2, the office component of the Metropolitan Miami project downtown, with the start of vertical construction probable in six months.

"We have the site permit, which allows us to do foundation work up to the level of the top of the piles," said leasing representative Jack Lowell, vice chairman of Flagler Development Corp., formerly Codina Realty Group.

Site and foundation work, which requires another permit and would cover development of the ground floor, will be finished in about six months, he said, when developer MDM Group USA expects to have the full building permit in place.

"We are building regardless of whether we have a tenant signed or not," Mr. Lowell said. He said he expects the Met to field one of several large financial tenants looking for space.

The 47-story tower at 200 SE Third St. will house about 750,000 rentable square feet of office space, Mr. Lowell said, as well as a garage and a 376-room Marriott Marquis Hotel.

Completion is expected in early 2009.

The Met’s major competitors are proposed office buildings at 1450 and 600 Brickell Ave., just across the Brickell Bridge. The 35-story, 585,055-square-foot 1450 Brickell, a project of Rilea Group, could make it to the market first, said leasing representative John Marshall, because it is a smaller building. Construction is expected to start there when a major tenant is signed.

A major use special permit has been granted to the Foram Group for a mixed-use project at 600 Brickell Ave., the first phase of which would be a 36-story tower containing 490,126 square feet of office space. The permit requires a construction start within two years. The second phase, slated for a 2011 start, would add another 463,483 square feet of offices. Advertisement