Tere Blanca: Why Miami Office Continues to Flourish

MIAMI—Tere Blanca, founder, chairman and CEO of Miami’s Blanca Commercial Real Estate, is feeling pretty confident that 2020 will continue to be a big year for commercial real estate in the city, especially in terms of the office market.

“I don’t see a slow down,” she tells GlobeSt.com. “The first of the year began with a lot of action and activity in the office leasing world and it continues to feel vibrant and positive.”

Last year marked the 10th anniversary of the firm which she describes as a full-service company that focuses on office, industrial and mixed-use and provides office leasing advisory services. Blanca says she was driven to form her own company by a desire to help clients solve the challenges they were facing from the Great Recession.

“It was a time when the world was coming to an end, in terms of how it was perceived,” she recalls. “I just felt like I wanted to get back to implementing strategies that would make an impact. I felt like I could do that in a boutique platform, being very hands-on, building a team with the type of professional who felt the same way.”

The new firm’s first assignment was 1450 Brickell, a 35-story office tower that was under construction at the time.

Blanca Commercial Real Estate currently leases 7 million square feet of office space on behalf of owners in key South Florida markets. Since launching in 2009, the company has completed more than 8 million square feet of office transactions. Blanca says over the past three years, the firm has handled 30 percent of all leased transactions completed in Miami/Dade County.

“We are excited and very appreciative of the relationships we have been able to develop with our clients over the years,” Blanca says.

Blanca says Miami has the full gamut of economic drivers spurring commercial real estate. Chief among them is a strong financial services market. She describes Miami as the “Wall Street of the South. Growth has been robust in banking, insurances, private equity and hedge fund firms. She says Miami has also been attractive to law firms seeking to access the global market.

“The growth of law firms has been especially evident during the last five years as the city has become a very active urban community,” Blanca says. “Law firms want to have Miami on their business cards. We also have an emerging technology center.”

Blanca also notes the continued growth in the region’s hospitality sector, including the major cruise lines. Also helping fuel demand for space is the continued dramatic growth at both Miami International Airport and the Port of Miami. Another important piece of infrastructure that has been transformative for the region, has been the Brightline passenger train system that stretches along south Florida and will be extended to Orlando.

“If you look historically at Miami, we have had periods of robust development, especially in the residential sector in the urban areas,” Blanca says. “As a result, we have seen a concentration of population in the urban core.”

Other emerging and dynamic urban markets include Coral Gables, Coconut Grove and Doral. The cities are attractive to companies looking for proximity to Miami, she says.

Blanco says Miami’s diverse culture with a multilingual workforce that has a heavy Hispanic influence, helps drive the region’s international trade engine. She notes that the region also has had a steady influx of immigrants from Spain, France and Italy.

“We have a very diverse population base, which makes it a unique market with the full spectrum of languages and cultures all in one location. We have some really great bones as a community and it continues to be a place where young professionals are locating to.”