COCONUT GROVE, FL-Weinberg Wheeler Hudgins Gunn & Dial have inked the second-largest lease in Coconut Grove this year. The Atlanta-based trial law firm is leasing 14,434 square feet at the SBS Tower, a 22-story class A office building at 2601 South Bayshore Dr.
Transwestern Senior Vice President Rashid Siahpoosh brokered the lease on behalf of the law firm. Weinberg Wheeler is relocating within the building from its current 6,667-square-foot office space to occupy the entire 15th floor of the tower. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“This lease is an example of a tenant and landlord coming together to find a mutually beneficial transaction that addresses the needs of both parties,” Siahpoosh tells GlobeSt.com. “We shopped the market, but the firm preferred this building and the landlord offered a deal that took into account the state of the market.”
Like a chameleon, SBS Tower has shifted with the market. In 2006, the tower jumped on the office condo conversion bandwagon. At the time, Coconut Grove office space was at a premium and the conversion was the largest on record. But just months later, SBS put some of that space back out to lease. Today, the tower is a hybrid building.
“Coconut Grove was off the radar screen for a while because both Grand Bay and SBS Tower had been condo converted,” Tony Puente, senior vice president at Fairchild Partners, tells Globest.com. “Now that those buildings are available on a for-lease basis they’ve been able to attract some good tenants.”
SBS Tower has performed well with lease renewals. Weinberg Wheeler is taking up the entire 15th floor of the tower on a 10-year lease. The largest lease in the Coconut Grove submarket this year was also in the tower. Bermello Ajamil & Partners, an architecture firm, renewed 25,000 square feet there in the second quarter. Trax USA and Wells Fargo have also absorbed significant blocks of space at SBS Tower in 2010.
“The landlord is flexible where it needs to be,” Siahpoosh says. “SBS addressed all the needs our client had and we were able to achieve a transaction that was beneficial to the tenant yet addressed some of the landlord’s needs as far as securitizing that cash flow for an extended period of time.”
The Coconut Grove submarket is faring far better than other Miami-area office markets. According to Cushman & Wakefield’s second quarter 2010 report, the vacancy rate there is 10.7% among 13 buildings. That compares to about 20% in both Downtown Miami, Brickell and Coral Gable and 25% on Biscayne.
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