Office Investment Sweet Spot

Integra sees opportunity in Class A-minus boutique office buildings, in the gap between the scarce and expensive trophy Class-A assets and outdated Class B-minus product, he says. In other words, the Goldilocks approach to commercial real estate investment: not too hot, not too cold. Recently Integra found such a Downtown property, according to Edurado: the 140k SF 200 Southeast First St, which the investor acquired for $21M.

Integra Investments plans to upgrade the building to solidify its status as not-quite A, but good enough to attract tenants. (That's what we used to say about our biology class, not quite A, but good enough to dissect the frog.) Current tenants include Ocean Bank, which occupies the ground-floor space, the Parkinson's Foundation, Brand Institute, Digiport, and Incubate Miami. Eduardo adds that the Miami's rising status is also helping buildings such as this one. “Miami's emergence as a global city has attracted a sophisticated tenant base,” he says. Collier International repped both the buyer and seller in the transaction. Also on the deal was Larry Stockton, who sold the building in 1997, repping Integra, while Michael Fay, John Crotty, Xavier Cossard, and Biscayne Atlantic's Ben Small repped the seller.

If the likes of Seattle or Boston can attract tech companies, Miami can, too. Blanca Commercial Real Estate EVP Alison Pages says that greater Miami has enough of the right space in the right locations to do so. “One of the things we've heard is that Millennials—and this is the age group usually working in tech companies—want to be in walkable locations.” That is, techies prefer an urban mixed-use environment for that elusive work-live-play mix (no jokes please about what counts as play among techies).

Recently Shriver Entertainment, a video game development firm, inked a 16k SF at the Offices at Sunset Plaza, the office component of the largely retail Sunset Plaza in South Miami. Alison and colleagues Tere Blanca and Alexander Cahlin repped the landlords, Simon Property Group and Institutional Mall Investors, in the deal, while Huttoe Group's Jacque Huttoe repped Shiver. Alison says Shriver is one of the largest new-to-market tech firms to enter greater Miami in recent years, in part attracted by South Miami's thriving downtown district, and the location near the University of Miami and the South Miami Metrorail station.