138,000 SF Of Office Condos Sell

Closings on 138,000 square feet of office condo space in the Chase Bank Building will start this week.
A number of all-cash investors purchased full 10,000-square-foot floors in the building, according to AG Real Estate Advisors principals Rodrigo Gomez and Marcello Agostini.
The real estate fetched an average of $270 per square foot, the duo said, and each floor was sold as multiple folios. Selling entire floors as mul­tiple folios, they said, will allow the new owners to sell smaller spaces easily.
Once the property has closed, AG Real Estate Advisors will stay on to lease the offices or sell them, depending on the re­quest of the owner.
Mr. Gomez said the building, at 150 SE Second Ave., is about 50% occupied, with the subdivided spaces anticipated to fetch about $350,000 to $400,000 each. This, he said, is roughly the same price as a one-bedroom pre-construction condo.
The Chase Bank Building deals mark the fourth office condo conversion for the team.  They have also sold condos at 1110 Brickell, 1200 Brickell and Infinity at Brickell. Mr. Agostini said investing in office condos is very attractive to European and Latin American investors. “It’s something that’s growing,” he said of the office condo conversion trend.  Office condos represent about 15% of the Miami market, according to Agostini.
Mr. Agostini said foreign in­vestors are seeing office con­dos as a good way to diversify their portfolios. Also, he said, people from these cultures are used to owning their own office space rather than renting.
Mr. Gomez said, while it de­pends on the building, about 15% to 20% of sales are to end users.
The Chase Bank Building is undergoing about $7 million in renovations, he said, adding that impact glass is being installed. The 14-story building designed by Morris Lapidus was pur­chased out of foreclosure.
Brickell/Downtown office rentals are shifting from a tenants’ to a landlords’ market, Mr. Gomez added, with fewer concessions. ­
 
Source:  Miami Today