Tag Archive for: taylor & mathis

Cushman & Wakefield Acquires Taylor & Mathis

/in /by

On the heels of its merger with international real estate powerhouse DTZ,Cushman & Wakefield of Florida Inc. has snapped up a Florida firm with a presence in each of the Sunshine State’s biggest markets.

Cushman this week closed on its acquisition of Tampa-based Taylor & Mathis of Florida, adding about 120 employees to its Florida footprint. Of those, about 100 are in property management, with the remainder in brokerage and leadership positions.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

With the acquisition, Cushman becomes the second largest property management firm in Florida. The combined company will have a management portfolio of 41 million square feet, employing 270 property managers.

Hank Brenner, president of Taylor & Mathis of Florida, said Wednesday that he and Larry Richey, Florida market leader for Cushman, have had conversations about a potential acquisition dating back years.

“The days of the small guys seem to be limited,” Brenner said, “and we felt like we wanted to get the right fit, and again, this felt like absolutely the right fit.”

Cushman & Wakefield, like its peers in commercial real estate, has an international network through which to market properties and potentially draw new clients. Under Richey’s leadership, Cushman’s Florida network combines the resources of a major corporation with an entrepreneurial vibe in its local offices.

“In my view, this is the single largest acquisition opportunity that’s surfaced in Florida in the last 10 years, maybe 20 years,” Richey said.

Taylor & Mathis has property management and brokerage employees in Tampa, Orlando and Miami. In Jacksonville, the company has a small presence, handling the management of a half-million-square-foot building.

No employees will be cut, Richey said. Taylor & Mathis employees in each market will move into Cushman offices.

One of the biggest changes for the Taylor & Mathis employees will be the available resources, like Cushman’s data and marketing said Damien Madsen, principal in Taylor & Mathis’ Orlando office.

“We try to do so much stuff on our own,” he said. “Having access to resources is going to be a huge, huge benefit to us.”

 

Source:  TBBJ

SFOBA December Recap and January Preview

/in , /by

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.

Taylor & Mathis Reports Strong Activity At Sawgrass Corporate Park

/in /by

Taylor & Mathis has inked 30,000 square feet of renewals and expansions as well as a 5,100-square-foot new deal at Sawgrass Corporate Park in Sunrise.

Donna Korn and Jennifer Gemma of Taylor & Mathis negotiated the leases on behalf of the buildings’ owner, The Brookdale Group.

Regus Business Centers, the world’s largest provider of flexible workplaces, signed a 24,500 square foot renewal at the park’s International Place I office building. Co-brokers Keith Edelman & Scott Goldstein of Jones Lang LaSalle represented Regus.

American Recovery Service Incorporated (ARSI), a commercial collection agency, nearly doubled their office space signing a renewal and expansion of 5,500 square feet at the park’s Corporate Center I office building. Co-brokers Carlo Brignardello and Alex Brown of Cresa Partners represented the tenant.

ETI Financial Corp, one of the country’s leading providers of insurance premium financing, signed a new lease for 5,100 square foot lease at Corporate Center I with co-broker Peyton Moore of Avison Young representing the tenant.

“Renewals are the best testament to the quality of an office building as well as its ownership and management,” stated Korn.  “Tenants today have boundless office space choices. We’re especially pleased Regus and ARSI decided to remain at Sawgrass Corporate Park and to welcome ETI Financial Corp.”

Taylor & Mathis, the exclusive leasing agent for the properties, leases and manages a 436,853 square foot office portfolio at the park comprised of Corporate Centre I, II & III, International Place I and Sawgrass Plaza.

 

Taylor & Mathis Inks 65,000 SF At Phillips Point

/in , /by

Phillips Point continues to enjoy a historically high occupancy rate with $46.5 million in recent leasing transactions.

Taylor & Mathis Principal Brian Gale has secured four leases totaling 65,600 square feet, with additional deals in the works.

In a new to market deal, Connecticut based Wexford Capital signed a 7,400 lease.  The $4.5 million deal was co-brokered by Neil Merin and Shelbi Quinn of NAI/Merin Hunter Codman. The towers have received strong interest from Northeast based hedge fund and wealth management firms like Wexford. “These types of firms are choosing South Florida because of lower taxes and beautiful weather,” said Taylor & Mathis Principal Brian Gale.

ESPN radio West Palm office of Good Karma Brands will be relocating to Phillips Point Tower, having signed a one million dollar lease for 4,635 square feet. “Phillips Point continues to attract the highest quality tenants in the market, with its unparalleled views and quality of ownership,” said Gale.

The key testament to Phillips Point’s iconic stature in the market is the tenants choosing to stay at the property. In the last couple of years, Taylor & Mathis has reported nearly 150,000 square feet in renewals and expansions, with heavy weight tenants, such as Gunster and Morgan Stanley.  This year has seen two notable renewals.  International law firm, Greenberg Traurig, LLP signed an early renewal for an additional 13 years at the property, signing a 30,254 square foot lease for their West Palm Beach office.  Co-broker Jon Bourbeau of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank represented the law firm in the deal valued at $23 million.

AMG Properties has more than doubled the size of their offices signing a 12,805 square foot expansion along with a 10,518 square foot renewal.  Co-broker Darren Goldstein of Virtual Global Realty represented the real estate management firm in the 23,323 square foot, $18 million deal. “We anticipate seeing additional growth from them yet this year,” stated Gale.

“These tenants conducted extensive due diligence during their search for office space before signing leases at Phillips Point,” stated Gale.

The building is home to internationally recognized tenants including, Gunster, Squire Sanders, Goldman Sachs and Akerman.