JLL Tapped To Lease New 51-Story Office Tower Set To Rise In Miami’s Brickell Financial District

JLL has been tapped to spearhead the leasing of Miami’s newest office development set to rise in Brickell.

Located at 848 Brickell Ave., the 750,000-square-foot office project that will overlook the city’s waterfront will be built in a co-development partnership between Key International and Sterling Bay, two established development firms with complementary experience and expertise building market-leading real estate properties from premier office towers to luxurious residential condominiums and hotels.

The JLL office brokerage team of Managing Directors Steven Hurwitz and Doug Okun, Kevin Probel, Senior Managing Director, Clark Finney, Executive Managing Director, and Madeline Fine, Associate, will lead leasing efforts for the new 51-story office development 848 Brickell on behalf of the partnership of Key International and Sterling Bay.

With Miami-Dade ranked as the top county in the US for net international migration in 2022 and the continued domestic business migration the area has experienced post-pandemic, fueled by the low tax environment, the lifestyle offerings and sunny weather, Brickell has risen as one of the premier business and residential districts in the country.

“The modern architecture of Miami’s 848 Brickell development will redefine the class A office experience in all of Florida with an innovative design, wellness-focused amenities and hospitality-centric services,” said JLL’s Steven Hurwitz. “The tower will deliver an elevated yet flexible and efficient office product to the Brickell area with layouts designed for anchor tenants that will meet the pent-up demand from corporate tenants seeking to move or expand their presence to the Southeast’s most sought-after office market.”

The design of the new 848 Brickell is led by global architecture and steel engineering firm Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill (SOM), recognized for their work behind landmark buildings such as Lever House, One World Trade Center, and Manhattan West in New York City, and Burj Khalifa in Dubai, amongst others. Known to cater to the evolving needs of modern businesses and professionals, SOM has designed the Brickell office tower to feature two full floors of hospitality-inspired workplace amenities exclusively available to the tower’s tenants including 34,000 square feet of indoor amenity space and 63,000 square feet of outdoor amenity and tenant terrace space perfect for meetings, brainstorming sessions, networking events and social gatherings.

The impressive 750,000-plus square feet of Class A office space will be accompanied by a unique arrival experience for tenants and visitors, an expansive reception and lobby area, a curated ground-floor retail space spanning 7,500 square feet, and on-site, covered 10-floor parking facility accommodating over 1,000 vehicles. Focused on fostering productivity, collaboration, and employee well-being, the amenity floors will also incorporate workspace lounges, tech-enabled divisible conference spaces and meeting rooms, expansive balconies, scenic courtyards, a luxury fitness center, a signature rooftop garden, and panoramic outdoor terraces mixed with lifestyle amenities like padel tennis courts and private open-air lounges. The office floorplates are specifically designed for smaller anchor tenants with floors ranging from 19,090 to 28,650 square feet. The anchor spaces located on the 21 and 48 floors are envisioned as landing floors that will feature an innovative layout newer to the Brickell district, which will provide tenants with interconnected outdoor and indoor work, meeting and social spaces to create and collaborate.

The office project will bring together two development firms with a combined 67 years of real estate development experience building high-profile assets worldwide. Miami-based Key International, led by Diego and Inigo Ardid, is an investment and development firm that has built upscale hotels, resorts, condominiums and multifamily projects spanning markets such as Miami, Miami Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Boca Raton in South Florida as well as Spain and Portugal. Key International’s current portfolio totals over 10 million square feet comprising more than 6,000 residential units and 3,300 hotel keys.

“Having owned the subject site for nearly 35 years, we’ve witnessed first-hand Brickell’s rise into a leading business and residential district and we feel this is the right time to redevelop this prime site in partnership with a proven commercial development firm like Sterling Bay and with the support of a best-in-class firm like JLL leading our office leasing program,” said Diego Ardid, Co-President at Key International. “Our extensive experience creating luxurious and iconic hotels and condominiums will be reflected in the design, amenities and tenant services the 848 Brickell office tower will offer as we aim to deliver a superior class of office space in the Brickell area.”

Founded in 1986, Chicago-based Sterling Bay has built a reputation as the developer of choice for trophy office towers that have redefined the skylines of major cities such as Chicago, Atlanta, Washington, DC, and Dallas and are considered destinations for the headquarters and corporate offices of high-profile companies such as McDonalds, Google and West Monroe Partners. The company has excelled at building some of the most innovative and tenant-centric office spaces nationwide with an impressive portfolio that includes a pipeline of $20 billion in transformative urban campuses that have reimagined communities.

“Through this partnership with Key International, we are poised to deliver a top-tier office product with a modern design that will further define the Brickell skyline and continue to attract blue-chip companies to the region,” said Chang Lee, Managing Principal and Chief Investment Officer at Sterling Bay. “Given the JLL team’s experience and expertise leasing trophy towers in South Florida, we selected the global firm to spearhead the marketing and leasing of the highly sophisticated class A office product we will bring to the Brickell Financial District at a crucial inflection point for the area.”

The tower’s prominent location will provide access to Miami International Airport, major roadways, and Miami’s most popular neighborhoods including Wynwood, Design District, Miami Beach, and downtown Miami. It also offers quick access to numerous public transit options such as the Metromover, Metrorail, Brightline’s high-speed train, and the city’s free trolley service. The tower will be centrally located within Miami’s urban core, which is home to an impressive array of world-class shopping and dining, major hotel brands, an interconnected baywalk and several urban and waterfront parks.

848 Brickell’s smart design will focus on tenant wellness and maximize environmental performance following the principles of both LEED and WELL rating systems. The state-of-the-art building will integrate carbon-footprint reducing features including a high-performance insulating glass combined with an air-tight façade design to reduce heat transfer and enhance tenants’ thermal comfort. All office floors will offer views with ample natural light and diffuse daylight to promote a productive and healthy work setting. Also, anchor spaces will feature customized floor plans complete with outdoor terraces accessible within the office spaces maximizing the use of space, activating the outdoors and incorporating spectacular views of the waterfront and city skyline.