Miami Market Update: Transaction Volume Increases

In 2021, Miami’s office market saw $1.7 billion in office transactions, according to CommercialEdge. The metro’s sales volume has expanded significantly compared to 2020 levels, when it reached $345 million.

The average price per square foot has also increased, from $184 year-to-date through December 2020 to $295 by the end of 2021, mirroring a steep recovery path for the market. Miami outperformed the 2021 national average of $293 per square foot and had the second lowest average price among gateway cities, after Chicago ($184). Nationally, urban submarkets—in the city center but on in the CBD—have continued to grow at pre-pandemic rates, while prices within the CBD have fallen.

In the last month of 2021, seven properties amounting to a total of 600,000 square feet changed hands in Miami, at an average of $371 per square foot. The largest deal of the month was Amerant Bank’s disposition of its corporate headquarters in Coral Gables, Fla. Fortress Investment Group picked up the property in a $135 million sale-leaseback deal. Situated at 220 Alhambra Circle, the building offers 177,000 square feet of office space and 134,000 square feet of parking.

Biggest deals of 2021

Through 2021, several large office properties changed hands, some of them achieving record-breaking prices. In March, Blackstone bet big on the Magic City with the purchase of 2 and 3 MiamiCentral, two recently constructed Class A office buildings. Shorenstein Properties pocketed $230 million, or $689.8 per square foot for the asset, at a price more than double the metro’s average at that point.

In June, CP Group sold its 90 percent stake in Citigroup Center, one of the largest office buildings within in the CBD. Monarch Alternative Capital acquired the 34-story, 809,594-square-foot asset at a total estimated value of $333.3 million. Recently, the property underwent a $20 million upgrade.

The same month, CP Group, in a partnership with funds managed by Rialto Capital Management and Sabal Capital Partners, picked up One Biscayne Bay, a 1 million square-foot tower also in downtown. Dow Chemical sold the 38-story asset for $225 million.

CommercialEdge covers 8M+ property records in the United States. View the latest CommercialEdge national monthly office report here.