An Afternoon in Crocker Raton

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The South Florida Office Brokers Association meeting for June 2015 was held at One Town Center, the former Tyco building located within the complex now known as Boca Center. Our guest speaker Angelo Bianco of Crocker Partners told us that most locals still know Boca Center by its former name.

The iconic mixed-use complex located along Military Trail south of Glades Road in Central Boca Raton contains office space, a Marriott hotel, and upscale shops and restaurants. It has been used as a case study by the Urban Land Institute for excellence in a mixed-use project. The property was originally developed by Crocker and Company back in the mid-1980s and is still widely known by its original name, Crocker Center.

Over the years, the buildings were sold to Teachers Insurance and Annuity and Met Life. But over the last 12 months, Crocker Partners has invested more than $340 million in Boca Raton, reacquiring the shops and towers at Boca Center, The Plaza and One Town Center. Just north of Boca Center, Crocker also acquired the 277,000 sf One Boca Place, the longest and largest office building in the market. So even if Boca Center is not renamed back to Crocker Center, the running joke is that maybe the city should be renamed Crocker Raton.

What is not a joke is that Crocker Partners now controls 94% of the vacant Class-A space in the Boca Raton office market. According to Mike Erickson of CBRE, who leases the Boca Center properties for Crocker, “office rental rates north of $30 per sf triple net (which is over $40 including operating expenses) are the new normal in Boca Raton. Vacancies are down and construction is flat so we are going to continue to push rental rates.”

In order to justify the higher rental rates,  Crocker Partners will be upgrading the properties to compete in today’s market. One Town Center will be positioned to continue to appeal to private equity firms. The Plaza, the black office tower anchored by Wells Fargo, will be modernized and positioned as an ultra high-end concierge building targeted toward upscale local tenants. It will be priced at a monthly dollar amount rather than per square foot.”A contemporary building with timeless appeal” said Bianco. All of the buildings will also offer valet parking.

The biggest changes will involve the retail space,which will be re-oriented for street visibility. “Don’t turn your back on the street” said Bianco. The restaurant space at Boca Center will surround an open courtyard to create more of a synergy, and a gym and a spa will be added to the hotel’s lower 2 floors.

Plans also include the addition of multifamily units to the project to capitalize on the current urbanization trend. The idea according to Bianco, is to combine the upscale shopping experience of Miami’s Bal Harbor shops or Palm Beach’s Worth Avenue with the trendy local appeal of Delray Beach’s Atlantic Avenue.

Will Crocker be able to raise the bar on rental rates in Central Boca? Can they repeat their earlier success with an updated Boca Center? And will the City Council consider renaming the city Crocker Raton? We’d like your opinion.

bianco crocker

Horse Sense – Triple Crown Winners

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Thank You to Atrium West and Berger Commercial as I will be splitting the $1,000 prize pool with my fellow winners Steve Einhorn, Brad Dinneen and Sal Bonsignore. I also encourage everyone to give a little back to Steve to spring him from jail to benefit the American Cancer Society.

Thanks for a nice event, a creative promotion and the cash is always appreciated. Also some interesting use of photoshop. I now know what my bobblehead would look like. And I think I’m the same height as the jockey.

See you at the July meeting with Mike Jackson, CEO of AutoNation one of our favorite guest speakers.

atrium winners

 

 

… and the Horse You Rode in on

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Smart idea by the guys at Berger Commercial Realty to have the editor of the SFOBA blog as one of the finalists in their Triple Crown challenge.

Actually it just worked out that way as my prognostication skills and horse sense allowed me to pick the favorite, American Pharaoh, to win both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness stakes.

It is all part of the second annual Triple Crown challenge presented by Berger on behalf of the Atrium West office building. In addition to the cash drawing at the April 23 event  won by  Clint Casey, Elias Porras and Steve Einhorn (pictured below),  brokers who attended the event at Atrium West were eligible for a contest to pick the winners of the Triple Crown races. A $1,000 prize pool is still up for grabs. The contest also serves to keep the building fresh in the minds of the brokerage community for the duration of the Triple Crown season.

I’m one of six brokers who picked the winner of the first 2 races. Can American Pharaoh be the first Triple Crown winner since 1978?

And will any of the six remaining contestants have the guts to pick against him? We’ll know this Saturday June 6. Stay tuned for the answer.

And don’t miss our next SFOBA meeting Thursday June 11 at One Town Center in Boca.

Casey, Porras, Einhorn

 

Envision Uptown Looks to Future of Cypress Creek

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The SFOBA meeting for March was hosted by Mainstreet Partners, owners of Trade Center South  at 200 W. Cypress Creek Road, one of the premier buildings in Fort Lauderdale’s Cypress Creek or uptown submarket. Mainstreet is represented by Greg Martin and Peyton Moore of Avison Young. The partial relocation of law firm Greenspoon Marder has left Trade Center South with approximately 60,000 SF to backfill. The latest market info on Cypress Creek shows vacancies at 16.9 percent, down 140 basis points over the past 12 months. However, the Cypress Creek Class-A market has had -35,000 SF of absorption so far in 2015.

Our guest speaker for March was Cary Goldberg, President of Diversified Realty Investments. Carycary goldberg sfoba was responsible for the development of Uptown Centre, a 19,000 sf retail center on the former Steak and Ale site at 6300 N. Andrews Avenue. Cary is also President of Envision Uptown, a newly formed group working to transform the area around Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport into a progressive urban village, where people can work, play and rely less on their cars and more on alternative forms of transportation. Envision Uptown is a non-profit public-private partnership. It was created out of Cary’s concern that the City was focused on the Downtown and the Beaches but nothing was being done to improve the uptown market that provided homes for such companies as Citrix and Microsoft. One of the early successes of Envision Uptown in the Uptown Link, a free shuttle service connecting Tri-rail to the area’s office parks and restaurants, and allowing workers to grab a bite without having to get in their cars.

The uptown market as defined by Envision Uptown includes the area from Commercial Boulevard to McNab Road from I-95 to NW. 31st Ave. and also includes the Radice Corporate Center just east of I-95 at Cypress. The market contains two I-95 exits, a tri-rail station, and the second busiest general aviation airport in the US. As part of the future I-95 expansion, Cypress Creek will be one of the limited exits for the expanded toll lanes. Large parcels of land in the area are still available for development and plans for 600 new residential units in the works. Both the MPO (Metropolitan Planning Organization) and DOT (Department of Transportation) have offices in the Cypress Creek area, and are therefore aware of the need to update the transportation infrastructure in the uptown market. It is a key factor that the MPO on the Federal level and DOT on the State level are willing to fund road improvements to create a sustainable community for the future.

Following a public forum on the subject, the Urban Land Institute (ULI) devised a plan (you can download it here) with a 20 to 30 year vision to create a sustainable walkable community. They envision a four- lane central boulevard with enough capacity to handle the current traffic along Cypress Creek Road, with shaded single lane roads on either side to access the businesses along the street. Additional parking structures would also be constructed.

Plans are also in the works to create a soccer academy near Lockhart Stadium which is the current home of the Fort Lauderdale Strikers. The fate of the proposed Schlitterbahn Waterpark on the Fort Lauderdale Baseball Stadium site stadium site remains uncertain.

While the western submarkets of Broward County exploded in the late 90s and early 2000’s, and we have seen a more recent residential boom in downtown Fort Lauderdale. The uptown market has remained relatively quiet as it pertains to new development. Those of us who are stakeholders in the uptown market are excited about the prospect of creating a sustainable urban village in the emergence of envision uptown is a major step in that direction.

Thank You Ted – for 7 Years of Extreme Harris-ment

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The following is from Co-Director Joanne Diaz. For 7 years, Ted has brought the members of our organization his own form of Harris-ment.  He has left us much stronger and we are very extremely grateful for his leadership.  We wish Ted all the best in his retirement and I’m sure we’ll continue to see him at future events.

From Joanne:Pic Ted Jo Gus Full length2

I have had the pleasure of working with Ted Harris for 7 years, organizing and leading the monthly SFOBA meetings.

What started out in 2008 as a typical “meet and greet” has grown into the vibrant, valuable market forum for the South Florida brokerage community that it is today.

There is no payment involved in what we do except for the “sunshine dollars” from your sunny smiles when we see you at the meetings, and hopefully making a difference for our contributions.

So although Ted has said he is retiring, we hope that he will occasionally visit from time to time so we can enjoy his smiling face!!

I received a “quote of the day” yesterday that read:

“Truly great friends are hard to find, difficult to leave, and impossible to forget”.

Ted – you will be greatly missed, but never forgotten!!

So that YOU won’t forget US, I got you this crystal paperweight that reads:

Presented to Ted Harris
In appreciation for all your hard work and dedication throughout the years.
You will be missed!
South Florida Office Brokers Association

 

New Leadership For SFOBA

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Effective with the February 2015 meeting, Ted Harris has stepped down as co-director of SFOBA. His large shoes will be filled by Gus Martinez of KW Commercial. Joanne Diaz will remain in her role of co-director.

Who is Gus Martinez? 

Glad you asked !

GUS MARTINEZ KW Commercial Managing Director

Gus Martinez is a four year veteran member of KW Commercial based out of Pembroke Pines and Plantation Florida. He continues to be one of KW Commercials top-producing agents. This year alone The Martinez Team has closed more than 20 commercial transactions, totaling more than $6 million in commercial volume, and with more transactions in the pipeline. The Martinez Team has worked with several high-profile clients such as Gold’s Gym, Verizon Wireless and Velocity Commercial Capital, just to name a few. Gus’s team has completed more than 500 requirements in excess of 2 million square feet.

Read the interview with Gus to learn what the Martinez Team is doing to stay ahead of the competition

How long have you been in the CRE brokerage business?

Since 2002, when I sold my three health clubs in South Florida.

What asset types are you working with?

I concentrate on office and industrial. My team members handle most types of assets on either listings or leases.

What do you use for market data?
I use CoStar mainly, but refer to IMAPP and LoopNet too.

Anything unique about your presentation or proposal process?

I always present my listing prospects in a two-step process. I never go to my first appointment with a listing agreement in hand . This way I can see and understand what positives and negatives affect the prope rty. I believe it can’t be described over the phone.

What team, if any, are you working with?Pic Ted Jo Gus Full length2

I have worked with res-com agents here at KW before and it usually doesn’t work out. Now that new agents on my team are required to do only commercial, they are better engaged and focused on producing and won’t get the urge to “fall back” into residential. I have two tenant representatives that are constantly prospecting new or existing tenants. All my team members secure a tenant representation agreement before they begin to show any properties.

How do you interact with Keller Williams residential agents?

I am the managing director for the Pembroke Pines and Plantation market centers. I invest my time in training residential agents on how to refer potential clients to the commercial department and keep their focus on what they do best, rather than trying to learn a new part of real estate just because they think they may be able to close a deal.

How do you leverage your business? 

I work closely with my team and try to concentrate on listings, so I can then send the tenant leads to my agents and keep one or both sides of the transaction within the Martinez Team.

What is your ONE Thing?

My ONE Thing is the “belly-to-belly” sales technique. If I get in front of a prospect , I have an 80 percent chance of closing them. So I concentrate my efforts on the live appointment.

Do you do any email marketing?

Yes, we do different types of email marketing as well as online networking on numerous social networking sites. One of my team members is a graphic designer and was hired specifically for that reason. We design custom listing brochures and marketing material that we email to other agents, prior clients and new business contacts on a regular basis, as well as continually building our contact lists in the professional field day by day. Our social networking takes place on the major networking sites such as Linkedln, Twitter, ActiveRain and Facebook. It’s a great way to meet future business contacts while continuing relationships with past clients.