Wynwood Office Tower Welcomes First Tenant

MIAMI—Sometime late this year, the first tenant in the new 545wyn office tower in Maimi’s Wynwood section will be open for business. The building is the city’s first Class A office tower in nearly a decade and the first for Wynwood. The tower’s first tenant, architecture, design and planning firm, Gensler, recently signed a 10-year lease for 13,456 square feet in the 325,000-square-foot building.

Michael Lirtzman, director of leasing at developer Sterling Bay, tells GlobeSt.com that young workers in the creative, tech and knowledge fields are attracted to the Wynwood area because they want their office space to be in a neighborhood and a building that attracts young people and gives them the feel of a live-work-play vibrant type of environment.

“There was no office product to speak of when we bought the site,” Lirtzman says. “We thought that based on our investment criteria and experience in multiple markets across the country, this one fit like a glove.”

Lirtzman says Sterling Bay expects to receive a temporary certificate of occupancy at the end of July. He says he expects a second tenant to sign a lease soon.

“When we first went to Miami, a lot of people told us that the Miami market typically doesn’t do a lot of pre-leasing, but once the building gets up and closed and you can start taking people into the building, it will pick up. Since we have the building topped out and 95 percent of the glass is up, during the last couple of weeks, we have done a lot more tours and activity has picked up.”

Lirtzman says the building was designed with large floor plates to accommodate large, anchor-type tenants. Sterling Bay has a couple of “highly interested” prospects it is engaged in negotiations with that fit the anchor bill. He describes them as brand names that are recognized in the creative, knowledge and media sectors. The lower floors of the 10-story building are about 18,000 square feet and the upper floors around 38,000 square feet.