Downtown Miami Commercial Real Estate Property Lands A $262.5 Million Deal

One of the most popular Miami commercial real estate office addresses has recently
been bought by an investor from Florida who paid $262.5 million for the purchase, a
record office deal within the region ever since 2008.

The commercial real estate property is a 34-story Miami Center that is clad in marble
and designed by the Italian-born architect, Pietro Belluschi. The company that bought
the property is Crocker Partners.

As early as June, numerous buyers started raiding the property market for options in a
market that everyone knows will reach recovery from the recession sooner or later. It
certainly helps to boost buyer confidence as people who know that property values on
the Miami commercial real estate market have yet to increase take definitive action on
their available opportunities.

As of today, almost one-fifth of all office properties within the Downtown Miami area
remain vacant. According to research, the first-quarter vacancy rate for offices within
the United States was 17.2 percent.

There are speculations regarding a possible delay in market recovery as analysts claim
that the situation in Miami could get worse before things proceed to improve as newer
office properties fill up.

The value per square foot at the Miami Center comes down to $334 which is around
the same price for the building in 2008. Crocker Partners had paid more than last
year’s $169 average price per square foot but it is lower than the $400 price range
offered for a number of major office buildings on the Miami commercial real estate
market.

According to the founder of the investment company, the price that he paid for is low
enough considering the fact that the building offers water views. Although there are
other new and extravagant office buildings on today’s Miami commercial real estate
market, the competition is not that tight, especially since many of the other options in
the area tend to have higher asking prices for tenants.

Nevertheless, Crocker Partners will be required to exert effort in finding new tenants
to stabilize the property since 16 percent of the building remains unoccupied. But the
task is not going to be too difficult as many companies and firms are looking forward
to being located within the area since the population is growing due to the availability
of bargain rents and condo deals in Downtown Miami.

Out of the 23,000 condos built in Downtown Miami, about 94 percent are now being
occupied which marks an increase of 60 percent from 2009.

It seems that the Miami Center purchase made by the Crocker Partners company is
merely one five office property purchases that the company has set out to make. As
soon as all five transactions are completed, the company will be in control of around
3.5 million square feet of office property which the company intends to lease out.

By Selda KIRKAN