Coral Gables Office Market White Hot

MIAMI—Coral Gables has seen plenty of traction 2014 and the Miami submarket is maintaining its momentum in the fourth quarter. Two new tenants recently inked leases at The Alhambra, 14-story, class A office tower interconnected with the Hyatt Hotel in the heart of Coral Gables.

Private trust and investment firm Fiduciary Trust International of the South, a division of Franklin Templeton Investments, has signed a lease for 12,500 square feet at 2 Alhambra Plaza. The firm is relocating from its current office space at 200 Biscayne Boulevard in Downtown Miami to accommodate growth.

“We have seen a lot of tenants relocating from the Central Business District to Coral Gables because they like the ample parking, convenient access to Miami International Airport and the rich cultural, entertainment, dining options offered in Coral Gables,” CBRE's Maggie Kurtz tells GlobeSt.com. CBRE represented the landlord, an affiliate of USAA Real Estate Company, the largest owners of class A office space in Coral Gables, in the lease transactions. Blanca Commercial Real Estate agents Alison Pages, Hank Klein, and Alexander Cahlin represented Fiduciary Trust.

Pipeline Workspaces, a shared office space provider, signed a lease for 14,000 square feet at 95 Merrick Way, which is also part of the complex. The leases bring The Alhambra to 85% occupancy, which is up from 52% just 18 months ago.

The Coral Gables office submarket continues to lead the way in terms of office market absorption, according to CBRE statistics. Tenants took down about 195,000 square feet of office space in Coral Gables during the first three quarters of 2014, more than any other submarket by a wide margin. Beacon Health Strategies, a new-to-submarket multinational behavioral health organization, signed the largest new lease so far this year in Coral Gables, occupying 17,217 square feet at The Alhambra.

“Leasing professionals attribute Coral Gables' strong performance this year to a number of factors, including a tightening of quality class A space in urban submarkets as well as desirable amenities, such as quality restaurants, upscale shopping and higher covered parking ratios,” says Diana Parker, senior vice president  of CBRE. Parker and Kurtz handle the leasing for over 1 million square feet of class A office space owned by USAA affiliates in Miami-Dade County.