Tag Archive for: Duke Realty

Cushman & Wakefield Negotiates 60,000 SF In Office Leases In Pembroke Pines

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Cushman & Wakefield announced that it has negotiated seven new office leases at Pembroke Pointe 880 totaling 59,130 square feet.

The office leasing team of Executive Director Deanna Lobinsky, Executive Director Travis Herring, Director Katherine Ridgway and Associate Chase Kulp executed the leases on behalf of building owner and developer Duke Realty.

Pembroke Pointe 880 is a 143,355-square-foot Class A office building developed in 2015. Lobinsky, Herring, Ridgway and Kulp were selected to lease the building by Duke Realty in October 2016. The team has secured leases with DeVry Education Group; Evolution Lighting, LLC; CoreStaff; Boxy Charm; Costa Cruise Lines; Kronos; and QEO Group, LLC.

“We have been very pleased with the leasing velocity at Pembroke Pointe 880 this year. The property is uniquely positioned in the tight Broward County office market to capitalize on the pent-up demand for new, accessible Class A space in a state-of-the-art building,” said Lobinsky. “We’ve also been extremely fortunate to work with a very proactive owner in Duke Realty. They’ve put an incredible team in place and allotted the resources needed to assist in lease-up.”

DeVry Education Group

DeVry Education Group leased 13,980 square feet at Pembroke Pointe 880, expanding its presence in the Southwest Broward submarket.

DeVry Education Group is a leading global education provider and the parent organization of American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine, Becker Professional Education, Carrington College, Chamberlain College of Nursing, DeVry Education of Brazil, DeVry University and its Keller Graduate School of Management, Ross University School of Medicine and Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine.

Rashid Siahpoosh of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank represented DeVry Education Group in the lease negotiations.

Evolution Lighting, LLC

Evolution Lighting LLC leased 9,684 at Pembroke Pointe 880, relocating its headquarters from Miami. The lighting manufacturer and distributor provides high-end light fixtures throughout North and South America from its offices and warehouses in Connecticut, North Carolina, Mississippi and Ontario, Canada. Evolution Lighting LLC employs 45 people at Pembroke Pointe 880.

Senior Vice President Doug Okun of Continental Real Estate Companies negotiated the lease on behalf of Evolution Lighting, LLC.

CoreStaff

CoreStaff, a Houston-based staffing company, leased 8,072 square feet at Pembroke Pointe 880 to serve as a regional office for 36 employees. CoreStaff specializes in staffing positions in accounting and finance; administrative and clerical; call center and customer care; human resources, information, records management and library services; as well as light industrial and assembly.

Associate Director Clay Sidner of Newmark Knight Frank represented CoreStaff in the lease negotiations.

Boxy Charm

Boxy Charm leased 11,032 square feet for its headquarters at Pembroke Pointe 880. The Miami-based beauty product distributer employs 65 people in this space.

Irving Diaz, Managing Director of Office Equities, negotiated the lease on behalf of Boxy Charm.

Costa Cruise Lines

Genoa, Italy-based cruise line Costa Cruises leased 4,256 square feet at Pembroke Pointe 880. The Carnival Corporation subsidiary, which currently operates a fleet of 15 ships, relocated its U.S. headquarters and 30 employees from Hollywood, FL.

Doug Campbell, President of the Campbell Group, represented Costa Cruise Lines in the lease negotiations.

Kronos

Kronos leased 7,175 square feet at Pembroke Pointe 880. The Lowell, MA-based company, which employs 5,300 people worldwide, provides cloud applications for workforce management as well as consulting, education and support services. Kronos employs 40 people at Pembroke Pointe 880.

Director Ryan Levy of Cushman & Wakefield represented Kronos.

QEO Group, LLC

Irving, TX-based QEO Group, LLC leased 4,931 square feet at Pembroke Pointe 880 where it employs 20 people in a second corporate office. QEO Group, LLC provides commercial transportation insurance, specializing in the energy, local delivery and construction industries.

Executive Director Jeff Holding and Senior Director A.J. Belt of Cushman & Wakefield negotiated the lease on behalf of QEO Group, LLC.

Pembroke Pointe 880 features 36,111-square-foot floor plates designed for maximum efficiency and space utilization; upscale lobby and common areas; ample parking for tenants (5.5 parking spaces per 1,000 rentable square feet); and Interstate 75 frontage with high-visibility signage opportunities. The building is currently 86 percent leased.

 

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.