Coworking Firm Leases 29K SF At Renovated Boca Raton Office
Coworking provider Venture X will open its first Boca Raton location on the top floor of a two-building complex undergoing a $30M gut renovation.
The franchise-based coworking brand signed for 29K SF at Palmetto Central at 1489 and 1499 W. Palmetto Park Road. Grover Corlew, the property’s locally based owner, is upgrading the building facades, lobby and common areas to attract the quality-focused firms searching for space in the market.
“Venture X sought to leverage the flight-to-quality trend for its coworking customers by focusing on only quality assets and ownership,” Derek Baker, the Colliers broker who represented the tenant, said in a statement.
CBRE’s Joe Freitas, John Criddle and Max Pawk represented the landlord.
The renovations at the four-story Palmetto Central property began in 2022 and included floor-to-ceiling hurricane impact windows. The property was vacated prior to the commencement of the renovations, but Grover Corlew has leased 78% of the buildings in the last 10 months ahead of the project's completion, a Colliers spokesperson said. Space is listed online for up to $45 per SF.
Palmetto Central was built in 1979 and acquired by Grover Corlew for $9.5M in 2016, property records indicate.
The new facades are expected to be completed in September, and Venture X is slated to move in during the third quarter of next year, a spokesperson said.
Venture X's Boca Raton deal is its second significant South Florida lease this year. The company signed in February to take three floors in Downtown Miami that had once hosted WeWork. The 20K SF deal at the historic Security Building at 117 NE First Ave. includes an option to expand and makes Venture X the property’s anchor tenant.
The Venture X brand is part of West Palm Beach-based Vast Coworking Group, which has more than 80 U.S. locations, including its Office Evolution and Intelligent Office brands.
South Florida has become the hottest coworking market in the United States, especially Miami-Dade, which now has 2.9M SF across 142 coworking offices, according to CoworkingCafe. Coworking space accounted for 3.5% of all of Miami's office inventory as far back as January 2023, according to JLL.
The Venture X deal is also the second significant expansion of a coworking firm in Boca Raton in the last year. Quest Workspaces doubled its space at 1200 North Federal Highway last August, leasing an additional 22K SF.
Boca Raton was the most active office market across Palm Beach County in the second quarter, with more than 250K SF of activity, around 38% of all deals in the region, according to Colliers’ market report.
“With the high demand for modern office space in downtown Boca Raton, Palmetto Central stands out in terms of quality and location,” Grover Corlew partner Mark Corlew said in a statement. “We’re excited to welcome Venture X, which will thrive thanks to the distinctive upgrades that have brought this property to its full potential.”
