Groupe Pacific Sells Miami Office Park in Coveted Area

By Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor

Aventura Corporate Center I, Aventura, Fla.

Miami—Aventura Corporate Center, a Class A, 252,200-square-foot office park in Aventura, Fla., has changed hands. With the assistance of commercial real estate and capital markets services provider HFF, Groupe Pacific sold the three-building suburban Miami asset to Renaissance Properties in an approximately $105.3 million transaction.

Renaissance got a premier property and Groupe Pacific walked away with far more than it paid for Aventura Corporate Center in 2002, when it picked up the office campus—then consisting of only two structures—for just $20.5 million, according to Miami-Dade County real estate records.

Carrying the addresses of 20801 and 20803 Biscayne Blvd., Aventura Corporate Center I & II first opened their doors in 1987 and 1988, respectively. Aventura III, located at 20807 Biscayne Blvd., sprouted up in 2007. The collection of three low-rise towers had more than enough positive attributes to allure investors, including development rights; the site is entitled for an additional 245,700 square feet of office or hotel development.

“Aventura Corporate Center represents the largest concentration of office product in Aventura, and was a truly generational opportunity for the new owner to acquire a core office park with significant additional development upside in one of Miami’s most coveted areas,” Manny de Zárraga, executive managing director with HFF, said in a prepared statement.

Coveted, indeed. Aventura, which became a city with its 1995 incorporation, is one of metropolitan Miami’s most affluent areas. Its desirability as an office destination is evident in the numbers; the total vacancy rate for Class A properties in Aventura is just 5 percent, according to a first quarter 2016 report by CBRE.

Development opportunity and a prime location weren’t Aventura Corporate Center’s only strong draws for investors. The office park also boasts a 95 percent occupancy level. Morgan Stanley, with roughly 36,300 square feet, leads a tenant roster that also includes upscale co-working space provider Serendipity Labs, which signed on for 11,700 square feet in the first quarter. While the campus is nearly full, leases do have expiration dates, and renegotiated or new commitments would provide the opportunity to capitalize on higher rents, as those currently in place at Aventura Corporate Center are 5 to 20 percent below rents at similar office buildings in the submarket, according to HFF’s offering memorandum on the property.  Still, it’s the development option that provides the most notable upside potential. HFF has an idea.

“The office condo market in Miami-Dade County has become reinvigorated due to the large influx of Latin American investors looking for a secure place to invest their money. As a result, there is opportunity for a new owner to convert suites or floors at Aventura Corporate Center or build office condos,” HFF noted in the memo.