October Meeting Follow-Up – Sales Tax Update

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Thanks to Adele Stone and Eric Rapkin for another great session and to Sandra Anderson, Elizabeth Jimenez, JLL and Ivy Realty for hosting. Adele wanted to clarify the issue of how the penny surtax in Broward would affect sales tax on commercial rents – here is her response:

SFOBA Members
I want to clarify what was discussed at the SFOBA meeting on Wednesday, October 17th with respect to the 1 penny transportation surtax which is on the upcoming ballot. The fact is that although the 1 penny transportation surtax on the ballot is not tied to the state sales tax (or subject to the same reductions in same), if passed it will be classified as a surtax and surtaxes are paid on commercial rents. The ballot doesn’t indicate any exclusions on the goods and services subject to same.  

This information is being sent for the SFOBA group to know about this if this would be a consideration for them in voting.

 Great event and great turnout!  Good seeing everyone  and thank you for inviting us to participate once again this year.
– Adele Stone

October 15 – SFOBA Hits Delray

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Join us for Lunch At the Arbors with CBRE and G&C Arbors Investors, LLC. Thursday October 15 at noon.
10 Oct 15 Lunch Invite CBRE

 

Cool Drone Shots of 6400 Andrews – And Don’t Miss Our Broker Lunch Thursday July 30

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Hover over picture and click on arrow to advance the slide show

The 6400 Building is a five-story 55,000 square foot Class-A office building in Fort Lauderdale’s Cypress Creek or Uptown submarket. We hope you enjoy these great drone photos taken in June that show the buildings strategic I-95 location that combines uptown convenience with downtown amenities.

The building was developed by the Stiles Corporation in the mid 1980s and served as the company’s headquarters. Many of Broward County’s top office and retail developments were born within our blue glass facade. The property was purchased by Pebb Enterprises in 2004 and served as Pebb’s headquarters until they moved to Boca Raton in 2012.

Pebb Enterprises is one of the nation’s premier Real Estate Investment, Development, and Management Companies. Today Pebb owns, operates and develops a diversified portfolio of commercial properties throughout the nation. They are a family owned business that has operated out of South Florida for over 35 years.

With signature tenant The South Florida Business Journal relocating to Miami, the entire second floor, totaling 10,642 square feet will be available in September. This creates an unique opportunity for building top signage with a daily traffic count of over 190,000 cars on I-95. We also have great spaces at 1,644 or 2,181 square feet.

The building is within walking distance of over a dozen restaurants, a gym, two urgent care centers, an Office Depot and a movie theater. Wells Fargo has a branch on the ground floor. The common areas were beautifully renovated in 2014. It is a building you need to see to appreciate.

That is why we are holding a broker lunch on July 30 at noon. Watch your email for trivia questions to be entered into our cash drawings for $750 in prizes. The event is invitation only for licensed real estate brokers active in the Cypress Creek market. If we somehow missed you and you’d like to attend, please call Brenner Real Estate Group at 954-596-5555 and ask for Bea. We look forward to seeing you and hope we can put your client’s name on our building. Read more

Breaking News – Einhorn Arrested – Please Help!

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For the last 18 years or so in June, I go to “Jail” to raise money for the American Cancer Society so that they may continue the fight against this horrible disease that affects almost everyone. The last couple of years have been tough on a lot of people and this is why it’s even more important to reach deep and do all you can to help.

So many of you come through for me each year and for this I’m very grateful. This year I’m asking if you would serve as a “Jailbird” along with me. It is fun and a great networking opportunity. It will take about an hour to an hour and a half any day between June 23 and June 26. We serve a continental breakfast for the Jailbirds there in the morning and sandwich lunch for those there later.

I need my good friends to come through for me more that ever.

If you are out of town (poor excuse) a nice check made out to The American Cancer Society and mailed to me at % Epic Properties, 6521 Orange Drive, Davie, FL 33314 will suffice.

Thanking you in advance for your generosity.

Sincerely,

Steve Einhorn

jail

SFOBA December Recap and January Preview

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In preparation for the 2015 SFOBA kickoff meeting Thursday January 15 at noon, hosted by Steelbridge Capital and Jones Lang LaSalle at Cypress Financial Center 5900 Andrews Avenue, here is our December recap and January preview. I also tried to include some of my own “borderline insightful” market commentary.

Thursday, December 11 marked the final meeting of the South Florida Office Brokers Association for it for 2014. The meeting was hosted by Donna Korn of Taylor and Mathis, agent for Brookdale Group, owners of a five-building portfolio totaling over 400,000 square feet of Class-A Office space in Sawgass International Corporate Park. The meeting was held at Brookdale’s International Place.

Our first speaker was Eric Messer, Research Manager for Newmark Grubb Knight Frank. Eric gave us a brief synopsis of the overall state of the office market. The news was very bright for the market as 2014 is shaping up to be the best year since 2005.

Approximately 685,000 sq. ft. of office space was absorbed in 2014 in Broward County, reducing vacancy rates from 15.0% to the current 13.4%. An interesting observation was that the Class B market was unusually strong, which according to Eric is the result of tenants being priced out of the Class-A market. This assertion was further supported by our panel discussion.

The December meeting featured a panel discussion featuring three top brokers in the market..The panel consisted of Scott O’Donnell, a CBRE investment broker specializing in private equity investments, Caroline Fleischer, a tenant representation specialist at Cushman and Wakefield and Chris Gallagher, a leasing specialist for Duke Realty. The panel was moderated by Paul Marko, President of Stiles Realty.

According to Scott, we are in the third strong year of a robust investment cycle. We are seeing a new layer of foreign investment as the market’s strong demographics are attracting funds from Latin and Asian sources. It does seem however, that many domestic investors are being priced out of the market due to the demand from these offshore sources.

Caroline discussed the vibrant CBD market in Fort Lauderdale. Properties along Las Olas Boulevard have seen net rent increases of $5-$10 per square foot over the past 12 months. Downtown tenants are urged to jump on leasing opportunities as spaces are disappearing rapidly and rents continue to increase. Chris Gallagher concurred with Caroline’s assertions, saying that he felt bad coming up with higher rates and fewer concessions in his Weston and Plantation properties. He felt like he was taking the first born from brokers with whom he had grown up in the business. But that is where the market is today.

This led to the inevitable question of whether the market is right for new development. According to Gallagher, Duke has recently signed 100,000 sq. ft. of leases in Weston and he could use a new building to lease. Caroline believes that we are 12 months away from needing new space in Fort Lauderdale CBD. But here’s the interesting piece that will have a major impact on the near term future of the office market. Residential developers will pay three times what office developers will pay for sites. With this price difference, as well as the pre-leasing requirements demanded by lenders, new office development may very well lag behind demand. Therefore, we can expect a trend of increasing rental rates and declining vacancies over the foreseeable future.

Other key trends in the market discussed by the panel included the trend toward urbanism. Fort Lauderdale has seen increasing residential development in the downtown core and the upcoming wave streetcar project will soon provide a mass transportation alternative. With millennials expressing a preference to live and work in an urban environment, the CBD should remain red hot. The panel and our host Donna Korn also pointed out the strength of the West Broward market which has been enhanced by the completion of the new express lanes on I-595 that are reducing travel times for commuters. In addition new mixed use projects such as Metropica will continue to draw residents to the western submarkets.

Our kickoff meeting for 2015 will be held at Cypress Financial Center in Fort Lauderdale’s uptown market and will be hosted by Sandra Andersen and Chase Kulp of Jones Lang LaSalle. Our guest speaker will be discussing All Aboard Florida, the proposed high-speed rail system that will be connecting our state’s major markets.

Stay tuned to the SFOBA blog as we continue to keep you updated on trends in The South Florida office market. And special thanks to Joanne Diaz and Ted Harris who do such a great job in creating programs to keep South Florida’s office brokers connected and informed.