Despite a strong start to the year and a steady march of corporate relocations to South Florida, the biggest office sales dramatically dropped in price in 2022, compared to last year.
The rules tend to be different for South Florida, where the residential market has stayed strong despite rising interest rates and a broader slowdown nationally. While the office market in other cities has flailed, South Florida developers bet big on new office projects this year, and office rents hit new highs.
Miami in particular won out this year with four of the biggest office deals, led by the $287 million sale of 1221 Brickell.
Yet, by the third quarter, the rules stopped bending for the tri-county region’s office market. The double blow of high borrowing costs and the slow return to in-person work finally landed, and deal volume dropped 66 percent in September, year-over-year.
The threshold to crack the top five office sales of 2022 was just $81 million, compared to last year’s $175 million.
Here are South Florida’s 10 biggest office sales of the year, according to data by Colliers, CoStar, and Real Capital Analytics:
$287M | 1221 Brickell | Miami
From left: Rockpoint Group’s co-founders Bill Walton and Keith Gelb in front of 1221 Brickell Avenue (Rockpoint Group, Google Maps, LoopNet)
The biggest office sale of the year was Randall Davis’s $286.5 million purchase in June of 1221 Brickell, a 408,423-square-foot Class A building at 1221 Brickell Avenue in Miami.
Boston-based Rockpoint, led by co-founders Bill Walton and Keith Gelb, sold the 28-story tower it had bought for $155 million in 2017. This year’s price per square foot worked out to $702, the second highest of 2022’s top-ranked office sales.
$172M | Boca Center | Boca Raton
1800 North Military Trail (LoopNet)
Macquarie Capital and Vanderbilt Office Properties’ $171.5 million acquisition of Class A office spaces in Boca Raton’s Boca Center nabbed second place in this year’s office sale rankings. The office sales were part of the $261.5 million total sale of the entire mixed-use Boca Center development in April, which included shopping and restaurant portions.
Charlotte-based Barings sold the office buildings at 5100 and 5200 Town Center Circle, and 1800 North Military Trail, a combined 817,000 square feet of office space, for $210 per square foot. The entire Boca Center development last sold for $193.8 million in 2014.
$163M | Miami Tower | Miami
CP Group Managing Partner Angelo Bianco, DRA Advisors President and CEO David Luski and Miami Tower at 100 Southeast Second Street (CPGCRE, DRA Advisors, Google Maps)
CP Group and DRA Advisors bought Miami Tower for $163 million in July, with seller Sumitomo Corporation of Americas taking a $60 million loss from the $220 million it paid for the tower in 2016.
The 47-story Class A tower at 100 Southeast Second Street in Miami spans 627,000 square feet, and sold for $259 per square foot. Completed in 1987, the building was designed by Pritzker-winning I.M. Pei. Its occupancy plummeted to 65 percent last year when law firm Carlton Fields moved out.
$145M | Las Olas Square | Fort Lauderdale
Las Olas Square (CBRE)
CP Group teamed up again for one of South Florida’s largest office purchases of the year, this time partnering with Related Fund Management, an affiliate of Stephen Ross’s Related Companies.
The joint venture dropped $144.5 million in March on Las Olas Square, which includes a 17-story Class A office building at 515 East Las Olas Boulevard and a three-story office and retail building at 501 East Las Olas Boulevard. The sale price equated to $519 per square foot.
Sellers Steelbridge Capital and its partners, Square2 Capital and Apollo Global RE, had bought the Fort Lauderdale property for $90 million in 2016.
$81M | Fairway Office Center | Palm Beach Gardens
Fairway Office Center at 7108, 7121 and 7111 Fairway Drive (NAI/Merin Hunter Codman)
Parmenter Realty Partners bought Fairway Office Center, a Class A office building at 7108, 7121 and 7111 Fairway Drive in Palm Beach Gardens in January.
The firm dropped $81.2 million on the 225,000-square-foot space, which equates to $361 per square foot.
Sellers C-III Capital Partners and its partners, Dung Lam, Neil Merin and Jordan Paul, had purchased the building for $52.5 million in 2016.
$81M | New World Tower | Miami
RFR Holding’s Aby Rosen (Getty), East End Capital’s Jonathon Yormak (East End Capital) and 100 Biscayne Boulevard
Aby Rosen’s RFR Holdings, headquartered in New York, bought New World Tower at 100 Biscayne Boulevard in Miami for $81.1 million. It was originally reported that the building, a 30-story, 295,000-square-foot Class B office tower, sold for $90 million in January.
The tower had been wrapped up in litigation between the partners that sold it, East End Capital and an Australian investor. The joint venture paid $84 million for the tower in 2016, and sold it for $275 per square foot.
$58M | Nineteen Hundred Building & Keiser University campus | Fort Lauderdale
Keiser University CEO Arthur Keiser in front of 1900 West Commercial Boulevard and 1500 Northwest 49th Street in Fort Lauderdale (Keiser University, Keenan Development Group, Getty Images)
Keiser University sold two Fort Lauderdale office buildings to its owner, non-profit Everglades College, for a combined $57.6 million in August.
The Class B properties include the Nineteen Hundred Building at 1900 West Commercial Boulevard, and Keiser University’s main campus at 1500 Northwest 49th Street. Together they span 203,000 square feet and sold for $284 per square foot.
Keiser University was a for-profit school founded by the mother-son duo Evelyn and Arthur Keiser in 1977. They sold the school to Everglades College in 2011.
$57M | 200 Building & Courthouse Tower | Miami
Triple Double’s Andrew Greenbaum with 200 Southeast First Street and 44 West Flagler Street in Miami (Triple Double, Blanca, Google Maps)
Brickman Associates sold the 12-story 200 Building at 200 Southeast First Street and the 26-story Courthouse Tower at 44 West Flagler Street in Miami for a total $56.7 million in May.
The buyer, a joint venture between Triple Double Real Estate and Stonerock Capital Partners, paid $185 per square foot for the buildings, which have a combined 307,000 square feet of Class B office space.
Brickman bought the buildings for $61.3 million in 2016, selling at a $4.6 million loss.
$52M | 555 Washington Avenue | Miami Beach
From left: BentallGreenOak’s co-CEOs John Carrafiell and Sonny Kalsi (sellers); East End Capital’s managing principals Jonathan Yormak and David Peretz (sellers); and The Davis Companies’ founder and CEO Jonathan Davis in front of 555 Washington Avenue in Miami Beach (East End Capital, BentallGreenOak, The Davis Companies, LoopNet, iStock)
East End Capital exited another building this year. Along with its partner BentallGreenOak, the firm sold the office building at 555 Washington Avenue in Miami Beach for $52.3 million in April.
The four-story building includes 46,000 square feet of Class A office space, a 243-spot underground garage, and 22,000 square feet of retail.
Boston-based Davis Companies and Greenmont Group bought the Arquitectonica-designed building for $795 per square foot, the highest per-square-foot price of this year’s ranked office sales. The building last sold for $38 million in 2018.
$51M | South City Plaza | Boca Raton
Renaissance Properties’ Bradley Fishel and Kenneth Fishel with Penn-Florida Companies’ Mark Gensheimer and 1515 South Federal Highway (Renaissance Properties, Penn-Florida Companies, Google Maps, Getty)
Renaissance Properties New York, led by Kenneth and Bradley Fischel, bought the 190,000-square-foot South City Plaza building and parking garage for $51 million in October.
Penn-Florida Realty Companies sold the 180,000-square-foot Class A office building at 1515 South Federal Highway in Boca Raton for $284 per square foot. It last sold for $26.5 million in 2006.
Renaissance Properties has plans to rebrand the building as 1515Boca.