Burger King Plans $68M, 250,000-SF HQ

According to published reports, Codina has already acquired the property from City National and submitted plans for a building of up to 300,000 sf. Calls to Codina were not returned by deadline.

Burger King has committed $68 million for construction of the building, according to Beacon Council, the county's economic development partnership. A BKC spokeswoman would neither confirm nor deny that figure, referring GlobeSt.com to the Beacon Council statement. "The building is being built for us," she says.

BKC will lease the property for 15 years and has an option to renew for up to 15 additional years. It will consolidate BKC employees who are currently in two separate locations in the county at the new facility. "We are delighted to have found a long-term solution that will allow us to bring all our Miami-area employees together under one roof," says Greg Brenneman, BKC chairman and CEO, in a statement. Rick Giusto, co-chair of Greenberg Traurig's real estate department in Miami, represented Burger King in negotiating the lease.

The new facility will house the company's global marketing, product development, operations, finance, information technology and other departments. It will also include a product test kitchen, employee cafeteria, dining room, parking garage and other amenities.

Burger King was founded in Miami in 1954, and Miami-Dade Country competed vigorously to keep the fast food chain headquartered here in the face of aggressive competition, particularly from Houston. "A very attractive relocation incentive package was offered by Houston and the State of Texas," says Frank Nero, president and CEO of Beacon Council. "It was evident that there were substantial location cost differentials, such as labor and real estate, between the other possible relocation areas, particularly Houston, and Miami-Dade." The differential "was a major compelling factor for putting together an aggressive and comprehensive incentive package that would narrow the gap to compete with the lower business costs in these other areas," he adds.

The total value of the incentive package is almost $8.7 million. It includes $3 million from the state along with a variety of tax refunds and performance-based incentives, which will only be disbursed if Burger King meets specific criteria over the next 15 years, according to Nero. Among the criteria are the retention of 600 jobs and the creation of 60 more over the next three years. Brenneman credits the state, Mayor Carlos Alvarez, Miami-Dade County Commission and Beacon Council "for their tremendous support in helping us make this possible."