Prominent Retailer To Replace Gordon Biersch At 1201 Brickell

Carol Ellis-Cutler, Senior Vice President – Partner with Colliers International South Florida, represented a prominent retailer in executing a 20-year lease at 1201 Brickell Avenue in Miami. Gordon Biersch, a division of Big River Restaurants, agreed to execute an early termination of its lease on the ground floor space it has occupied there since 2000.
CVS Caremark will fill 10,000-plus square feet  in this landmark office tower, which will add convenience for businesses and neighborhood residents.
Jerome Hollo of Florida East Coast Realty (FECR) was the owner’s representative and the landlord’s attorney. Although the deal’s rates were not disclosed, Alyce Robertson of Miami’s Downtown Development Authority indicated that retail rents in the Brickell submarket are now in the high $70s per square foot and have begun escalating to $80 per square foot, triple net.
“A key factor in the deal’s success was the flexibility of the landlord, new tenant, and existing tenant who had options to renew,” said Ellis-Cutler of Colliers. “The process was a long one, and the market changed significantly between the time that the tenant’s initial letter of intent was drawn up in April and the lease signing in October 2013. New projects including Brickell CityCentre entered the market, and other parties interested in subleasing the premises directly from Gordon Biersch also materialized during the course of our negotiations.”
Ellis-Cutler acknowledged FECR’s leasing director Judy Cable for initially sparking the idea of this location that was not officially on the market. Ellis-Cutler said that Alex Lucas of Boos Development Group contributed important support by working the tenant’s plans through the City of Miami, thus helping to keep the deal alive. “The tenant took a significant financial risk in pursuing this transaction despite all of its moving parts, contingencies and uncontrollable circumstances. They firmly believed that the retailer was meant to be at 1201 Brickell Avenue.”
Although Ellis-Cutler represented the tenant in this transaction, she has a long-standing relationship representing FECR as the leasing agent for 2020 Ponce, a Class A building in Coral Gables. “The trust that has developed over the years among the various parties helped to bring this deal to fruition,” she said. “It will stand out in my 20-plus-year career, not just because of the 30 months of negotiations required, and not just because it ‘died’ several times, but because of the relationships, tenacity and cooperation among the parties involved. The willingness and flexibility of the property’s owner and developer, Tibor Hollo, the transactional knowledge and creativity of his son Jerome Hollo, and the cooperation from Gordon Biersch were all factors in adding this amenity to the prominent 1201 Brickell office tower.”
 

 

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