Busekrus Leaves CBRE For HFF

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Marty Busekrus has joined HFF, one of the largest commercial real estate capital intermediaries in the country, as Director, where he will be focusing on institutional industrial investment sales throughout the Southeastern United States.

Since March, 2011, Marty served as Senior Associate of CBRE’s Private Client Group (PCG) team for South East Florida, encompassing Miami Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Treasure Coast Counties, along with J. Scott O’Donnell, Dominic F. Montazemi and Miguel Alcivar.

“With my experience coming from the Private Client Group of CBRE’s office and industrial team, it’s a perfect fit,” said Busekrus.

HFF has a history of performance spanning more than 30 years, offering the services of more than 500 experienced industry professionals who operate from offices in major and secondary markets throughout the country.

Prior to joining the Private Client Group, Marty held the position of Senior Sales Associate with NAI Rauch Weaver Norfleet Kurtz for six years beginning in July, 2005.

Equinix Opens Boca Raton Data Center

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Equinix has announced the opening of a 31,000-square-foot data center in Boca Raton.

The Redwood City, Calif.-based global interconnection and data center company (NASDAQ: EQIX) opened the new data center to serve South Florida and provide overseas connectivity to the commercial centers of Latin America.

Boca Raton was selected for the data center because the cable landing stations, which is where submarine telecommunications cables make landfall, are within a two-mile radius from the new location, said lAlex Vaxmonsky, director of Global networks and content. In addition, the Boca Raton location is outside of the evacuation zone for a Category 5 hurricane, he added.

The facility, which officially opened on Nov. 1, is located at Boca Corporate Center and Campus, the old IBM park off Yamato Road and has about 10 employees. Equinix is also remotely managing and selling into the facility from areas around the globe. The company also has a data center in Miami.

Equinix also has 66,000-square-feet of space reserved for future use. A data center typically can take seven to nine months to fill up, then the company would start on phase two and tap into the reserved space, Vaxmonsky said.

Miami-based Neutrona Networks International has signed on as a client of the new Equinix data center in Boca Raton, which the company calls MI3.

“Neutrona chose to colocate in the MI3 location because it offers a low-latency gateway to the managed and colocations services in Equinix’s Brazil-based IBX data centers. We can interconnect our Latin American and U.S.-based traffic, helping further enhance our networking advantage,” VP Luciano Salata said.

 

Source:  SFBJ

Ft. Lauderdale Office Campus Receives 3rd LEED Certification

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1451 Crown Center was recently awarded LEED Silver Certification.

The 91,756-square-foot building is located at 1451 Cypress Creek Road in uptown Ft. Lauderdale.

Crown Center is the only office campus in the State of Florida to boast three LEED Certified Buildings.  1401 Crown Center is LEED Silver New Construction; 1475 is LEED EBOM and 1451 is now LEED EBOM Silver.  Midgard successfully completed the gut renovation of 1401 Crown Center to a LEED registered silver building. Additionally, 1475 Crown Center was recognized in 2011 as a LEED EBOM (Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance) building, making it one of Florida’s first buildings to achieve this designation.

The property consists of six low-rise office buildings and is a mix of two and three story buildings, strategically located on 24 acres fronting Cypress Creek Road and is home to numerous large corporate tenants.

The only other campuses to have multiple LEED Certified buildings are government-owned or educational campuses.

Pointe Group Advisors Awarded 280,000 SF Assignment

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Miami-based Pointe Group Advisors has been selected to exclusively manage Doral Costa Office Park, a premier ‘Class A’ office park centrally located in Miami.  The new assignment adds 280,000 square feet to the firm’s third-party management portfolio of 3 million square feet.

Comprised of three, multi-story buildings, Doral Costa Office Park — 100 percent leased — is located at 9800 and 9850 Doral Blvd. and 4090 NW 97th Avenue, adjacent to Doral Resort & Spa.  World Fuel, a leader in global fuel logistics, is among the office park’s top-tier tenants.

“We are thrilled to be overseeing the property management needs of  Doral Costa Office Park, not only ensuring that goals are met, but that expectations are exceeded,” said William Holly, President of Pointe Group Advisors. “This park is an outstanding addition to our firm’s growing portfolio of property management assignments and is an excellent location for businesses desiring the convenience of a central location in the City of Doral.”

Pointe Group Advisors Senior Property Manager Duanne Jordan will oversee operations at the office park, which will include integrating and streamlining management, engineering and accounting in an effort to maximize asset values and sustain the park’s long-term growth.

Brenner Names Executive Vice President

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Scott Brenner, Esq., CCIM, SIOR,  RPA, CAM President/CEO of Brenner Real Estate Group, has announced that Thomas M. Altman has joined the firm as Executive Vice President.

In this capacity, Altman will focus on transactions, sourcing listings, and seeking equity and other strategic relationships for the firm.

Says Scott Brenner, “Tom has a long list of successful accomplishments in the financial world. His fund management experience and negotiating skills are tools that can support the Brenner Real Estate Group business plan. I’ve known Tom for over 30 years and am extremely pleased to have him actively involved in our growth.”

Most recently, Thomas Altman has served as principal of Altman Financial, LLC, a financial business consulting firm active in tax preparation, business brokerage and mergers and acquisitions consulting. Previously he was founder of The Altman Group, an independent consulting, investment and merchant banking advisory firm. Prior to forming his own companies, Altman served as Executive Vice President of National Bancard Corporation (NaBanco) where he was directly involved in growing the 30 person firm into a billion dollar electronic clearinghouse for merchant credit card transactions. Altman also worked in Fort Lauderdale as an audit partner, managing partner and ultimately, Southeastern Regional Managing Partner of Grant Thornton, a large national CPA firm. Altman spent 15 years in public accounting practice in Florida where he was actively involved in securities underwriting, corporate mergers, acquisitions and restructurings.

Altman is a graduate of The University of Florida in Gainesville and holds a BSBA degree in accounting. A native of Bartow, Florida, he is currently a resident of The Villages, Florida.

Industry Veterans Launch New CRE Firm

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Commercial real estate veterans Michael W. Rauch, Tom Robertson, and Jack Lupo have joined forces to launch CRE Florida Partners, LLC, a commercial real estate company providing Brokerage Services, Investment Services, Private Equity & Trust Services, Corporate Representation, Property & Asset Management, and Valuation & Advisory Services throughout the State of Florida.

Rauch, formerly with NAI Global and currently Managing Partner with Rauch, Hartman, Sherer & Co., PA, Robertson, most recently Senior Vice President with Jones Lang LaSalle (“JLL”) in Boca Raton and earlier, a principal with Coldwell Banker Commercial NRT, and Lupo, formally of Jack Lupo Realty Co., bring over 70 years of family history and relationships in Florida commercial real estate to the table.

“I am excited to be working with such exceptionally talented, honest, and hard-working professionals,” said Rauch.

Lupo noted that all of the partners have worked together for many years on a variety of developments and projects and enjoyed the success those partnerships brought.

“What really makes this venture unique is the synergy of different abilities and strengths,” Lupo continued. “It was time we formalized our successful business relationships.”

Today, clients are seeking rooted and innovative partners who understand their needs and objectives, and who share their passion for and commitment to ensuring the success of their business.

“We provide clients with a seasoned team of professionals, connecting local market knowledge with business insight, forming long-term business relationships with property owners, investors and users that go far beyond a single project or transaction,” commented Robertson.

The firm is off to an aggressive start, with offices in 6 counties, including Broward, Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River and Brevard Counties.

The move was announced to peers late Friday.

“The long-term business relationships and market expertise that Mike, Tom and Jack have developed during their careers in the corporate and brokerage communities will be great assets to their clients and the firm’s success,” said Steven Aberman, Director of Real Estate with WBS Properties.

WBS is a 3.5 million SF privately owned portfolio consisting of 42 retail, office and industrial properties in six states.

CRE Florida Partners’ goal is to complement its already expanding business presence throughout the state of Florida by establishing additional brokerage and management offices in all major Florida MSA’s, including but not limited to Orlando, Tampa, Ft. Myers and Jacksonville.

“The idea is to have small offices in the backyards of our clients, in order to be more efficient, nimble and responsive,” said Rauch.

The firm is currently seeking additional brokers and/or operations through acquisition, merger or partnership in the Miami, Orlando, Tampa, Fort Myers, and Jacksonville MSA’s and currently has openings for experienced commercial brokers in its Boca Raton and Pompano Beach offices.