MIAMI-Jones Lang LaSalle’s Miami office has been appointed to market 30 acres of land with a two-story 160,000-square-foot office building currently serving as the US Southern Command Headquarters in the city of Doral west of Miami International Airport. The property has the vested rights for up to 450,000 square feet of office space.
Richard Schuchts, senior vice president at Jones Lang LaSalle, who is working on the assignment, says that the property should appeal to anyone dealing with the US government within the southern hemisphere. “You have a bunker with a secure building,” says Schuchts, which should be attractive to prospective buyers or tenants for whom security is of paramount importance. Plus, he says, there is a lot of parking, which is in short supply in many locations in Miami-Dade County, especially in downtown.
Because of the US Southern Command being at this location, it is fed by two separate Florida Power & Light grids, says Schuchts. This means that the facility would be first to get electricity restored after an emergency. With two separate grids, either one can serve the building, he says.
“Doral continues to be a hot destination for companies,” says Schuchts. The asking rate for a tenant taking the existing building is $17 triple net, he says. No asking price has been assigned to the building or land. “We could sell the land with development rights, do a build- to-suit and sell the building, or do a build-to-suit and draw up a lease. We could also sell the land outright,” says Schuchts.
The US Southern Command Headquarters property is in a convenient location near Miami International Airport, which means it is also easy for people coming from Broward County to the north or the Kendall area to the south to get to.
The existing building isn’t just suitable as an office building, says Schuchts. “ You could have a medical use, a school or a university,” he says. “Plus, there are so few opportunities to find developable land this size in South Florida,” says Schuchts.
The US Southern Command will vacate its building by the end of this year, says Schuchts. Meanwhile, the military is building a new building next door, which will be more like a military base, he says. Southcom has office space all over Doral and they want to consolidate their facilities, says Schuchts.
John Marshall, senior director at Cushman & Wakefield in Miami, says that the trouble with the US Southern Command site is that there are not many large users in South Florida. Plus, there are not that many developers who can land bank the property, he says. “This is probably an institutional grade asset,” says Marshall. That would probably be the market for this property, he says.
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