Fla History: 2nd Largest Skyscraper Sale

In Miami, A 33-story skyscraper in Miami’s Brickell financial district was purchased for $443 million, a huge deal that runs contrary to the national trend of declining office tower values.

The transaction was the second largest office building sale in the history of Florida, JLL Capital Markets said.

The building, 701 Brickell, is a trophy Class AA office building containing 685,279 SF that is 92 percent occupied.

JLL said Brickell is currently the top performing office submarket in the United States in terms of occupancy and rent growth and a number of firms have moved into the Brickell area recently.

JLL represented the seller, Nuveen Real Estate, and procured the buyer, Morning Calm Management and an undisclosed partner. Morning Calm is a Boca Raton, Fla.-based firm led by Mukang Cho.

The sales price for 701 Brickell translates to $646 per SF.

This sale was structured as an all-cash transaction for the seller. 701 Brickell represents the second largest office transaction in Florida history, just behind the $540 million sale of the 1.2 million SF Southeast Financial Center arranged by JLL in 2016.

Nuveen Real Estate, formerly TIAA Real Estate, purchased 701 Brickell in 2002. Throughout the entire period of Nuveen’s ownership, 701 Brickell has been the top performing Class AA office building in Miami in terms of maintaining high occupancy, consistent rent growth and long-term retention of tenants, including Bank of America and Holland & Knight.

701 Brickell has stood out in the national market as a direct beneficiary of the flight-to-quality following the pandemic shifts of financial and law firms establishing offices in Miami in the highest quality office buildings and locations.

The sale effort for Nuveen was led by Charles Russo, Senior Director and Asset Management Lead for East Region Workplace, who led a recent $30 million capital renovation plan for 701 Brickell.

The Brickell building, built in 1986, sits on 4 bayfront acres amid Miami high-rise towers..

The JLL Capital Markets team representing the seller was led by Manny de Zarraga, Matt McCormack, Ike Ojala, and Hermen Rodriguez, all based in Miami. The team was supported at a national level by Mike McDonald.

The building attracted interest from top-tier institutional and ultra-high net worth investors, JLL said.