CP Group, DRA Advisors Acquire 47-Story Office Tower in Downtown Miami
Miami Tower was 67 percent occupied at the time of sale, according to Cushman & Wakefield.
MIAMI — A joint venture between CP Group and DRA Advisors has purchased Miami Tower, a 47-story office tower located at 100 SE Second St. in downtown Miami.
The seller is USPO Miami LLC, an entity established by Sumitomo Corp. of America, which purchased Miami Tower in 2016. The sales price was not disclosed, but South Florida Business Journal reports the tower traded for $163.5 million, a significant decrease from the $220 million price tag Sumitomo paid six years ago.
Built in 1987 as offices for CenTrust Bank, Miami Tower spans 636,000 square feet and features a tiered glass façade and an exterior LED lighting system. The property features 37 floors of offices, 10 levels of parking, street-level retail space, an onsite Miami Metromover station, sky terrace and a 13,100-square-foot event lobby on the 11th floor.
The new ownership plans to make significant capital improvements at Miami Tower, which was 67 percent leased at the time of sale. Transwestern, which handled leasing at Miami Tower under the previous owner, recently executed leases with firms including AST & Science, World Wide Express, LKLSG, ABKD Group, Best Buddies, AWE Medical Group and Pardo Jackson Gainsburg PL totaling more than 40,000 square feet.
“This trophy asset has been the centerpiece of the Miami skyline for over 30 years,” says Brett Reese, who oversees acquisitions and investments for CP Group in South Florida, Texas and Colorado. “Our repositioning campaign will generate new value at this storied project, appealing to the major companies relocating their operations to Florida and the rest of the Southeast.”
Mike Davis, Dominic Montazemi, Mike McDonald, Miguel Alcivar, Rick Brugge, Rick Colon and Adam Spies of Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller in the transaction. Jason Hochman and Ron Granite of Cushman & Wakefield also arranged an undisclosed amount of acquisition financing through PGIM on behalf of CP Group and DRA Advisors.
The transaction grows CP Group’s Miami office holdings to more than 4 million square feet, including 3 million square feet in the downtown area.
Founded in 1986 as Crocker Partners, CP Group is currently Florida’s largest office landlord and Atlanta’s second-largest office landlord, following its acquisition of Bank of America Plaza earlier this year. Headquartered in Boca Raton, Fla., the firm has a corporate office in Atlanta and regional offices in Denver, Miami, Jacksonville, Dallas and Washington, D.C.
DRA Advisors is an investment advisor specializing in real estate investment management services for institutional and private investors, including pension funds, university endowments, sovereign wealth funds, foundations, and insurance companies. The New York-based firm has regional offices in Miami and San Francisco. As of Dec. 31, 2021, DRA Advisors had $12 billion in gross assets under management.
— John Nelson
