Morning Calm Management and its partner has acquired a trophy Class AA office building in the heart of Miami’s financial district for $443 million. The sale of the 685,279 square foot building, owned by Nuveen Real Estate, was structured as an all-cash transaction and represents the second largest office transaction in Florida history, just behind the $540 million sale of the 1.2 million square foot Southeast Financial Center in 2016.
JLL arranged both transactions.
The building, located at 701 Brickell, is in a market that is currently the top performing in the US in terms of occupancy and growth, according to JLL.
JLL represented the seller and procured the buyer. The sale effort for Nuveen was led by Charles Russo, Senior Director and Asset Management Lead for East Region Workplace, who led a recent $30 million capital renovation plan, repositioning 701 Brickell.
Nuveen Real Estate, formerly TIAA Real Estate, acquired 701 Brickell in 2002. Throughout the entire period of Nuveen’s ownership, 701 Brickell has been the top performing Class AA office building in Miami in terms of maintaining high occupancy, consistent rent growth and long-term retention of prestigious tenants, including Bank of America and Holland & Knight. 701 Brickell was a beneficiary of the flight-to-quality following the pandemic shifts of financial and law firms establishing offices in Miami.
The JLL Capital Markets team representing the seller was led by Manny de Zarraga, Matt McCormack, Ike Ojala, and Hermen Rodriguez, all based in Miami. The team was supported at a national level by Mike McDonald.