Local Restaurants Fight for Their Place

"Successful local operators often see the tapestry of the marketplace with a far keener eye than the nationals," Greg says. (We think that's a fancy way of saying they can make a place where everybody knows your name.) For national brands, "It often takes them multiple attempts to execute because they underestimate both the capacity of the Miami customer to spend and the tightness of the supply-constrained market," he explains. Opportunities need to be seized given the lack of available product.

Recently, Greg repped the landlord and the tenant in the 1,500 SF lease by Spris, a locally based Italian restaurant, at Southeast Financial Center in the Miami CBD. "We sought out the the owners, Graspa Group, because they offer a high-quality product at favorable prices," he says, adding that the company has operated several successful concepts in Miami for over 20 years.

In the past two months, State Street Realty closed 489k SF of mostly industrial sale and lease deals valued at $28M. Based on those, prez George Pino tells us interest among foreign investors hasn't slacked off. The most active international investors in South Florida industrial at the moment include Columbians and Venezuelans--no surprise there--but there's also been an uptick in interest by Canadians, Australians, and Mexicans, he says. Industrial is a favorite, George says, but institutuonal investors also are snapping up resorts, hotels, commercial, and shopping malls, while individual investors continue to search for their second or third homes.

On industrial's leasing side, renewals and new leases are brisk in anticipation of better infrastructure (think Panama Canal and Port of Miami), George says. (With Breaking Bad off the air, it's the only thing we have to look forward to.) In August, RCS Logistics renewed its lease for 32k Sf of warehouse space at Prologis Beacon Centre, with George and colleague Ed Lyden repping landlord, Prologis. The duo also repped Prologis in American Crane and Tractor Parts' 33k SF at Prologis Beacon Lakes Industrial Park. Digiacomo Group's Steve Digiacomo, repped the tenant in that deal.