Already the Gap Inc., a specialty retail clothier that now leases about 5,000 sf at the site, is taking another 16,000 sf of new retail space on the first and second levels of the new building, Jay Miller, senior vice president of Steiner & Associates, tells GlobeSt.com. Steiner, a CocoWalk management company that Yaromir Steiner founded, supervised development of CocoWalk in 1989 for Constructa, the French-based developer.

Miller didn't disclose the construction cost, but construction industry estimators familiar with comparable projects tell GlobeSt.com the combined hard cost of the new space will probably come in at $3 million or at least $100 per sf. The Gap is adding the specialty stores Baby Gap, Gap Kids and Gap Body, a specialty-clothing store for men and women.

To give the project a measure of exclusivity, Miller says office tenants will be offered amenities such as valet parking when the building is ready for occupancy sometime in the first quarter next year.

The affiliate of Transwestern Investment Co., a privately owned Chicago-based real estate investment group, is starting on the project almost a year from the month it acquired the entertainment complex for a reported $50 million from City Center Retail Trust, a privately owned Chicago-based real estate investment trust.

"When we got into planning, initially we considered just a two-story retail building," Miller tells GlobeSt.com. "It happens to be the office market in Coconut Grove is very tight. We saw the opportunity to add a small amount of office space that should appeal to small firms and professionals who are not having their needs accommodated in the larger office buildings."

Class A office in Coconut Grove is so tight that Cushman & Wakefield of Florida Inc. estimated the market vacancy rate at about 3% at yearend 2000. Rent for class A office in the market averaged about $30.08 per sf. The limited market, which has an inventory of 841,572 sf in nine buildings, showed a net absorption loss of about 9,498 sf at yearend.

Instant Insights /

Trendy Coconut Grove Getting Boutique Office Space

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