One Bayfront Plaza Plans Under Way

(Crystal Proenza is associate editor of Real Estate Florida.)

MIAMI-Plans for One Bayfront Plaza, Florida East Coast Realty’s $1.8-billion mixed-use project, are advancing full steam ahead with the company naming Alan Krause as construction manager. Krause has had experience working with such landmark buildings, as he comes to FECR from Africa Israel Florida Holdings LLC, where he led construction on Marquis, the city’s second-tallest building.

The project is set to include two 70-story towers with two million sf of class A office space, 112,000 sf of upscale retail space and an 850-room, four-star convention hotel with 120,000 sf of exhibition and banquet facility space. City leaders approved permits last year, and now a team of 24 consultants are working on a set of 8,300 drawings to be submitted to the Miami Buildings Department no later than the first quarter of 2010, Tibor Hollo, founder, chairman and president of FECR, tells GlobeSt.com. The project at 100 South Biscayne Blvd. is expected to break ground in the first half of 2012 for completion near the end of 2014.

“Leasing processes will begin in the second half of this year,” says Hollo of the buildings, which promise to be the tallest south of New York City at 1,049 feet high. One Bayfront Plaza will have an advantage over other new office buildings nearing completion in the CBD, says Hollo, because of the reputation it will hold as the signature building in Miami and opportunities for leasing large floor plans just under 40,000-sf.

FECR is currently negotiating with four different flagships for the hotel tower, which will be the first built north of the Miami River in 25 years, says Hollo. One Bayfront Plaza, which is expected to achieve LEED silver certification, is being designed by the Coral Gables office of Terra Architecture.

“It will really bring our city to the middle of the 21st century,” says Hollo. “When somebody talks about the Empire State Building, you know it’s New York. Sears Tower is the global identification of Chicago. One Bayfront Plaza will be a global identification for our city.”