Blackstone Group signed a long-term lease in downtown Miami, cementing its planned expansion to South Florida.
Blackstone announced in October that it would be opening an office in downtown Miami with more than 200 tech employees. The New York-based private equity giant will lease 41,000 square feet at 2MiamiCentral, according to a press release. Blackstone has a temporary office at the Southeast Financial Center, executives said during a webinar in November.
Shorenstein Properties owns 2MiamiCentral and 3MiamiCentral, the office buildings at the mixed-use MiamiCentral development that was developed by Brightline parent Florida East Coast Industries.
Blackstone signed a multi-year lease for contiguous space on two entire floors at 2MiamiCentral, said Blanca Commercial Real Estate Vice Chairman Danet Linares. Linares declined to provide more information about the lease. The company plans to open this summer.
Alan Klebar and Ryan Nunes of JLL represented Blackstone. Linares, along with Andres del Corral and Blanca CEO Tere Blanca, represented the landlord, Shorenstein.
Blackstone is reportedly the unnamed company behind “Confidential Project Sunshine,” which provides up to $650,000 in incentives over a 10-year period to the firm. Miami-Dade approved the resolution in October.
Linares said the mass transit element appealed to Blackstone. MiamiCentral includes Brightline’s Miami station, which connects to Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, though service was suspended in March, at the start of the pandemic. It will eventually include a TriRail station. It’s also near the Metromover and Metrorail.
Asking rates at 2MiamiCentral are about $40 per square foot and triple net.
Shorenstein paid more than $159 million for the office buildings and ground-floor retail space at MiamiCentral in 2019.
Blackstone is just one of many finance and tech firms opening up shop in South Florida. Billionaires Carl Icahn and Barry Sternlicht relocated their companies’ headquarters to the region, and more are joining them. Paul Singer is also moving Elliott Management’s headquarters to West Palm Beach from Manhattan.
Virtu Financial plans to sign a 10-year lease in Palm Beach Gardens to relocate about 30 people from New York, Bloomberg reported Monday.
Many tech investors have also moved, including Shutterstock founder Jon Oringer and PayPal investor Keith Rabois.