Healthcare Firm Takes Down 107,000 SF

MIAMI—With the healthcare industry booming in South Florida, Cross Country Healthcare has decided to renew and expand its lease. The company inked a 107,325-square-foot worth of office space deals in Boca Raton.

Cushman & Wakefield director Caroline Fleischer and senior director Addison Meriwether represented the Boca Raton-based healthcare staffing provider in its efforts to recast its current lease. The firm called it a complex deal.

"This was an extremely complex deal structure with compound consulting strategies," Fleischer tells GlobeSt.com. "We helped Cross Country negotiate a recast of its current lease three years in advance, most notably with an above-market tenant improvement allowance. Ultimately, this will allow Cross Country to further nurture its current employee base and aid in future recruiting efforts."

Cross expanded its lease at 5201 Congress Avenue and plans to renovate its existing space to better align with its corporate needs. Cross also renewed 70,406 square feet at 6551 Park of Commerce Boulevard, where it will back-fill an entire floor for administrative needs, added 36,919 square feet at Congress Avenue, and will occupy 15,000 square feet at 901 Yamato Road on a short-term basis as swing space.

The overall restructuring allows for future expansion. Next summer, Cross expects to move into the expanded space at 5201 Congress Avenue, where it will also occupy swing space through 2016 in an effort to accommodate several phases of tenant improvements in both buildings. Cross has 300 corporate employees in Boca Raton and 1,600 corporate employees nation-wide.

"The expansion space located at 5201 Congress Avenue was negotiated with a completely different ownership group, which added another challenge," Meriwether tells GlobeSt.com. "We were able to get all three parties on the same page, though, and mirror similar terms with two separate lease agreements."

6551 Park of Commerce Boulevard is a two-story, 70,406-square-foot office building built in 1998. Cross occupies the entire building. 5201 Congress Avenue is two-story, 201,028-square-foot office building built in 1995 and recently renovated to include updated common areas and collaborative workspaces. The two buildings are less than two miles apart and offer easy access to Interstate 95, major airports and Florida Atlantic University.

BlackRock's Christopher Aiken and Phuong Truong represented the landlord at 6551 Park of Commerce Boulevard. Mainstreet Real Estate Services' Paul Kilgallon and Tamar Jacobs represented the landlord at 5201 Congress Avenue.