The 432,477-sf project, located between 22nd and 23rd streets, will include office and retail condominiums, a health club, restaurants and a parking garage. The building was designed by architect Gail Baldwin and will offer floorplates of more than 25,000 sf. Unlike other office projects, the building will have four parking spaces per 1,000 sf, rather than two parking spaces. Space in the building will be leased for $38 per sf.
Grouper plans to break ground on the project in fall 2007 with completion scheduled for fall 2009. The land is part of a four-acre parcel purchased by Grouper earlier in the year for $22.75 million.
Grouper Financial president Scott Silver tells GlobeSt.com that the office project will capitalize on growth in the emerging neighborhood. Grouper estimates that there are proposals to build approximately 80,000 condominiums from the downtown area to 36th Street. Grouper estimates, however, that only 25,000 of those units will actually be constructed.
"There's definitely been some overzealousness with respect to the development of condominiums, but the reality is some of those units will be built," Silver says. "Some of the people who move to that area are going to want to work closer to where they live."
Silver adds that the rise in rental rates makes the project more viable than it has been in the past. "Rents were stuck in the mid-$20s per sf for a long time," Silver says. "Now space in high-quality buildings is renting for high-$30s to low-$40s."
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