MIAMI—What are the biggest challenges that the office market faces that could have long-lasting repercussions in downtown? Danet Linares, vice chairman of Blanca Commercial Real Estate, has some keen insights.

But, first, let's review the challenges the Greater Downtown Miami areas has overcome. Brickell's vacancy rate is about 15%. That's down from about 24.6 percent since 2011. Overall, the CBD posts a 20% vacancy rate, which is down from over 23% at the height of the recession. All that is according to the Miami Downtown Development Authority (DDA) Office Study.

The bottom line: Vacancy remains relatively high in the Miami DDA Office Area, it is well off its peak and we have experienced strong positive net absorption during several consecutive quarters. As Linares sees it, steady and growing positive net absorption has fueled a rapid recovery of the office market in the last three years. But challenges remain.

“One of the biggest challenges is skyrocketing land values. A residential condo boom is helping drive land values to new heights and is making it economically unfeasible to build any other type of use except for condos,” Linares tells GlobeSt.com.

“Recently a foreign investor paid $125 million per acre for a site on the Miami River and Biscayne Bay. An office developer can't compete with that. A solution may be the development of more mixed-use projects, where office, hotel and residential uses will co-exist.”