Tag Archive for: commercial florida realty services

Fort Lauderdale Office Building Nearly Fully Leased

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A renovated 1980s-era Fort Lauderdale building is almost entirely occupied following the closure of five recent lease deals.

Cypress Financial Center at 5900 N. Andrews Ave. is now 92% leased, according to a release from the brokerage Cushman & Wakefield. Travis Herring and Katherine Ridgway of Cushman & Wakefield represented the landlord, Tampa-based Vision Properties, in the negotiations.

  • Signature Consultants, an IT consulting firm, will be moving from its current office at 200 West Cypress Creek Road into a 7,038-square-foot space in the Cypress Financial Center in March 2023. Peter Reed of Commercial Florida Realty Services represented Signature Consultants in the lease negotiations.
  • Alpine, a division of Illinois Tool Works, will be relocating from another building in Broward County into a 6,065-square-foot space within Cypress in April 2023. A designer and manufacturer of roof, floor, and wall components, Alpine was also represented by Cushman & Wakefield.

The other three lease deals are with existing building tenants.

  • Prime Education, a research and education company, signed a new lease for the 5,817-square-feet of space it now occupies. The company had previously subleased the space from another tenant but the new lease is through landlord Vision Properties. Prime Education was represented by Mitchell Millowitz of Newmark.
  • Perfume manufacturer and distributor Parlux negotiated directly with Herring and Ridgway to renew the lease of its 2,062-square-foot office.
  • Scott Friedman, vice president of project management for The Morgan Companies, a full service commercial real estate firm, negotiated on behalf of his company to renew its 1,394-square-foot office lease.

South Florida office rents have been trending upward since the height of the pandemic as new-to-market and local companies seek out quality office space. In the third quarter of 2023, Broward County, office rents for Class A and Class B buildings averaged $37.84 a square foot, an increase of 2.9% from last year, a recent from Cushman & Wakefield stated. Within the Cypress Creek/Commercial Corridor rents averaged $34.09 a square foot.

Built in 1988, the 11-story Cypress Financial Center was purchased by a subsidiary of Vision Properties for $44.2 million in January 2021 after a previous deal to acquire the building by another real estate company fell through. The building has since been renovated and includes a cafe, a parking garage, on-site security, and “exclusive on-ramp access to Interstate 95 Southbound,” Cushman & Wakefield stated.

The limited office space available in the Cypress Financial Center is advertised at $24 a square foot on LoopNet.com. That rental rate does not include utilities, property expenses or building services.

 

Source:  SFBJ

Downtown Fort Lauderdale Broward’s Best Performing Market

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Commercial Florida Realty Services’ George Sacks has recently completed year-end office market studies for Broward and Palm Beach office market studies.

Among the studies’ highlights:

  • Downtown Fort Lauderdale showed Broward’s best performance, gaining 175,520 square feet through year-end 2013 – a rapid change from the submarket’s slight negative absorption at mid-2013. Although Cypress Creek’s approximately 7.2 million square feet of office submarket ended the year with an overall 20.32% vacancy rate, its Class A component lost just 4115 SF and had a relatively healthy 15.34% vacancy rate.  The Cypress Creek Class B market was harder hit.

 

CLICK HERE FOR THE COMPLETE BROWARD OFFICE MARKET STUDY

  • Boca Raton was Palm Beach County’s top leasing market for the year, with a gain of 272,132 SF for the year and asking direct lease rates of $18.72 per SF by year-end 2013, compared with $17.47 at the end of 2012.  Re investment sales, per the study, “The investment sales activity in Boca Raton and Palm Beach County in general, is representative of a national trend for investors’ and owner/users’ increasing interest in seeking properties outside of the traditional major metro markets such as Miami.  This trend is likely to continue throughout 2014.”

 

CLICK HERE FOR THE COMPLETE PALM BEACH OFFICE MARKET STUDY

 

 

George Sacks, S&K Worldwide Team Up On Broward Project

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Commercial Florida Realty Services and real estate investment group S&K Worldwide Realty see demand for Broward corporate relocation and expansion office space turning upward faster than expected.

“The re-energized economy has more companies looking to relocate or expand in Broward, but their need for ample office space is colliding with market realities, especially along the I-95 corridor,” said George Sacks, Commercial Florida Realty managing partner.

Southlake PlazaTo offer users seeking signage and space along I-95 expanded options, S&K Worldwide Realty has partnered with Sacks’ firm to bring to market several contiguous spaces of 10,000 to 20,000 square feet at Southlake Plaza in Newport Center business park, Deerfield Beach.  Prospective tenants can choose to lease just the space they need, or buy either of two multi-tenant buildings, occupy a portion and gain built-in cash flow from existing credit tenants such as JPMorgan Chase and AT&T.

At one of Southlake Plaza’s two-story buildings, 1400 Newport Center Drive, for example, the partnership is marketing a 20,000-square-foot full floor in the same building where JPMorgan Chase signed a 12-year lease in 2013.  “Broward’s suburban office rents along I-95 have stabilized and begun rising,” Sacks explained.  “Companies see higher space costs ahead, whether they lease or buy.  A business that occupies its own building with credit tenants carrying some of the load, can substantially limit risk, lock in costs and locate in higher profile space,” he said.

“Growing companies need to look at the balance sheet impact of leasing, buying or constructing a single-user building,” Sacks added.  “Broward’s office inventory is not yet low enough to trigger new construction, and developable land along I-95 is rare and costly.”  More relocating and expanding firms, he said, are considering buying a multi-tenant building.

Southlake Plaza weathered the recession with strong tenancy, thanks in part to its location within the 119-acre Newport Center business park, Sacks said.  Most of the park’s buildings are owned, not leased, and corporate neighbors in the park include the University of Miami Sylvester at Deerfield Beach cancer center, MAPEI Americas, Staples’ back office operations, as well as two hotels.

According to S&K Worldwide Realty President Dirk Kuczurba, “We purchased Southlake Plaza many years ago, recognizing the opportunity to build long-term value in a property with an ideal location.”  S&K and its related companies and partnerships own, develop and manage commercial and industrial real estate throughout Europe and the U.S., and have invested more than $650 million in Florida land, office, industrial and retail facilities.

 

 

George Sacks Seals 15,500 SF In Exchange Deals

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The Exchange six-building office complex in Fort Lauderdale has closed multiple recent transactions

At the office park located at 3303-3363 West Commercial Boulevard, call center and contact management services provider Talk2Rep has leased 9,228 square feet for its corporate offices, and the law firm of PeytonBolin, PL purchased a 6,240-square-foot office condo suite.  Asset manager and broker George Sacks, managing principal of Commercial Florida Realty Services, represented owner The Exchange of Fort Lauderdale LLC in the transactions.

“As Broward’s office market slowly strengthens, we’re seeing higher demand for small blocks of space in suburban locations,” Sacks said.  “We have activity from professional firms and marketing-related companies that need 10,000 square feet of corporate space or less and are anxious to lock in costs before economic conditions shift,” Sacks said. “They’re keenly aware of the market’s signals, with Broward property values recovering and lease rates starting to increase in some of the county’s Class A complexes.  They know interest rates will inevitably rise.”

The deals at The Exchange, which totals 174,473 square feet, bring the complex to 83 percent occupied.

Companies are running the numbers for lease vs. buy, based on their business models, Sacks said.  Tenants are securing today’s favorable leasing rates, and owner-buyers who anticipate stable space needs are moving quickly on low interest rates and the availability of up to 90 percent Small Business Administration (SBA) financing.

 

George Sacks Finds Renewed Interest In Condo Office Space

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Finding a “sweet spot” in South Florida’s shifting market, Sanctuary Centre’s  recent sales have brought the 180,442-square-foot business center’s available condo office space close to sell-out.

“As local market inventory steadily shrinks, we’ve found renewed interest in condo office space from professional firms and regional companies that want an east Boca Raton presence, without top-tier pricing,” said Commercial Florida Realty Services Managing Principal George Sacks.  Closing five sales since December, with two additional sales under contract, has reduced available Sanctuary Centre condo office space to under 10,000 square feet.

Sanctuary CentreSanctuary Centre, located at North Federal Highway and Yamato Road, was built in the mid-1980s, and its previous owner later converted the complex to condominium.  GS Sanctuary Financial Investors Principal George Sacks purchased the 80,000 square feet that remained unsold in 2007, shortly before the weak economy and zoning changes dramatically impacted Boca Raton’s office absorption trends.

“It’s been a wild ride,” Sacks said. “We knew we had a great asset in a prime location, and by staying agile, we’ve kept Sanctuary Centre successful. When the economy turned in 2008 – and as relaxed zoning shifted momentum away from Federal Highway to Boca’s northwest section — we converted the remaining space to a lease program,” he added.  “Now, with resurgence of Federal Highway’s business corridor well underway, we’ve reverted back to a sales focused campaign.

“We’re seeing demand from buyers with stable office space needs, who recognize that timing is everything,” Sacks said. “They compare buying vs. leasing, and look to lock in space costs at today’s low interest rates, before area rents start climbing.”  Availability of 90 percent SBA financing limits the up-front investment companies need to make.  The Sanctuary Centre office suites range from 850 to 8,500 square feet.

Recent sales at Sanctuary Centre have included:

  • ProTech, a Florida and New York IT staffing and professional services firm, which expanded its existing space at Sanctuary Centre by 2,000 square feet.
  • Florida PIP Law Firm, purchasing a 3,852 square-foot office suite.
  • Oxford Investments, a financial services company, purchased a 1500-square-foot office suite.
  • US Mortgage of Florida bought a 5,839 square-foot office suite.

As office property values gradually recover, Sanctuary Centre is drawing condo sales based on its unique position, Sacks said.  “Our space’s property values are up 25 to 30 percent from the lows of the economic downturn.  Companies see the advantages of investing on the upswing, while controlling future costs.  Office condo space is rare in the Boca market, though,” he added.

“New buildings’ construction costs were too high to be practical for condo development, and there were very few condo conversions of existing buildings.  As an older but beautifully maintained complex, we’ve found ourselves in a sweet spot for small space users who want East Boca’s business environment, plus proximity to I-95, the waterfront neighborhoods and western country club communities.”

For US Mortgage of Florida, a licensed lender with offices along the nation’s East Coast, Sanctuary Centre was a timely opportunity.  “Purchasing our suite gave me more strategic control over my space than would be possible with leasing,” said Tony Acquaviva, US Mortgage of Florida owner.  “It’s just minutes from my home to our office, and that’s a major advantage.”

Commercial Florida Realty Brings Hillsboro Center To 95% Occupied

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Boca Raton based Commercial Florida Realty Services has leased 73,146 square feet of office space at the 116,000 square foot Hillsboro Center, located at 600 West Hillsboro Boulevard in Deerfield Beach.

The leases include a new lease with Pylon Manufacturing Corp (10,229 SF), expansion of The Ticktin Law Group (13,712 SF), expansion of Old Republic Tile Insurance Co. (9,441 SF) and the expansion of Dart Container Company (39,764 SF)

“What’s most encouraging is the majority of the Hillsboro Center leasing has come organically, which is a good indicator that the overall economy may well be on the upturn,” stated Peter D. Reed, Managing Principal at Commercial Florida Realty Services, Hillsboro Center’s exclusive leasing firm.

Hillsboro Center is owned by Parkway Properties, Inc., a publically-traded real estate investment trust (NYSE symbol: PKY).