👩‍💻 Office Sours?

In partnership with

Happy Saturday Highest & Best! Today we’re talking cubicles, colleges and condos.
Here’s the rundown:

🐌 Miami office leasing is the slowest since 2020. Rents are jumping?

🎓 Vanderbilt commits to West Palm Beach

👨‍🍳 Chef-inspired condos

🎹 Billy Joel (finally) sells his mansion

Let’s get to it!

Miami Office Market: Less Leasing, Higher Rents?

⌛ Is Miami’s office market a glass half-full or half-empty?

The area faces its slowest year for office leasing since 2020, with the average size of new deals dropping by 20%, as companies are seeking much less space, according to brokerage Avison Young.

But here’s the upside: office rents keep climbing, and vacancy rates are actually lower than last year. So while leasing lags, Miami’s “bad news” might just be the kind of problem other markets wish they had.

Here’s a few details from recently released reports on Miami’s office market:

😎 Asking rents in the third quarter of 2024 climbed by an “impressive” 15% from the same time a year ago, to an average of $66.33 per square foot, brokerage JLL said. (See for yourself: “impressive” is JLL’s word).

😲 For the best, or “trophy,” office spaces — those with cool views and perks like meditation rooms and cappuccino bars — rents jumped by a “staggering” 13.8% from a year ago to $73.46 per square foot, JLL said.

🙂 Miami’s office vacancy rate fell to 15.5% at the end of the third quarter, JLL said. Compare that to the national office vacancy rate — which climbed to 22.2%.

💼 Ever more people in Miami are getting off their couch and coming back into the office: attendance inside corporate workspaces increased 39% on Fridays and 14% on Mondays compared to last year, Avison Young said.

👩‍💻 Miami ranked number 1 in “U.S. Office Busy-ness,” with 79.3% of its pre-pandemic workforce back in the office, Avison Young reported.

⏪ Catch up on recent Highest & Best issues:

• Leaping Listings!, Oct. 18, 2024

• Milton and Milestones, Oct. 11, 2024

• Go With the Flow?, Oct. 6, 2024

• Hangar Games, Sept 28, 2024

Whiskey Investing: Consistent Returns with Vinovest

It’s no secret that investors love strong returns.

That’s why 250,000 people use Vinovest to invest in fine whiskey.

Whiskey has consistently matured and delivered noteworthy exits. With the most recent exit at 30.7%, Vinovest’s track record supports whiskey’s value growth across categories such as Bourbon, Scotch, and Irish whiskey.

With Vinovest’s strategic approach to sourcing and market analysis, you get access to optimal acquisition costs and profitable exits.

Schedule a call with a Vinovest advisor to learn more.

It’s A Good Week to be West Palm Beach

OK, so it’s happening.

Nashville’s Vanderbilt University will open a campus in West Palm Beach.

🎓 Palm Beach County commissioners gave final approval for a contract with the school on Tuesday, committing Vanderbilt to invest at least $2.4 billion over 25 years to support the graduate school campus and its operations.

🏗 The county will contribute a five-acre parcel valued at $46 million, while the city of West Palm Beach has committed to donating an additional two acres towards the campus, the Palm Beach Post reported. This brings the total to seven downtown acres, valued at nearly $60 million, that will be owned by the entity known “Vanderbilt FL.”

👩‍🎓 While Vanderbilt has until 2029 to sink its first shovel into the ground, the mere idea of a university in town is showing benefits, Kelly Smallridge, president of Palm Beach County’s Business Development Board, told the Post. A major employer — bringing a potential 2,000 jobs — is considering relocating to the county, she said, but is seeking assurances that a nearby school, such as Vanderbilt, would offer degrees in artificial intelligence.

💰 These are the terms of the county’s contract with Vanderbilt, the so-called “Harvard of the South”: the first phase of the campus’ construction must include a $300 million facility, that could enroll at least 900 students annually, and employ a minimum of 200 staff members.

Chef-Crafted Condos and a Bridge in the Sky

Two new condo plans were unveiled for the Miami skyline this week. One named after a celebrity chef, and the other, a two-tower complex that appears like a giant “M” in the sky.

👨‍🍳 First up, there’s Jean-Georges Miami Tropic Residences, named after the Michelin-starred chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. The plan calls for a 48-story tower in Miami’s Design District with 329 condos, starting at $1.6 million, the New York Post reported.

Vongerichten will personally select kitchen appliances and cookware for each condo unit. And three of his ABC restaurants —Kitchen, Cocina and V — will be located in the retail space at the building’s ground floor. The project, at 3501 NE 1st Ave., will break ground next year and could be complete by 2027. (Terra and Lion Development are the developers).

🏗️ If you’re going to create a whole new cultural district, might as well start with two massive condo towers.

Fortune International Group and KAR Properties are partnering with the Argentine hotel developer Alan Faena to build twin luxury condo buildings along the Miami River— the opening act for a planned 3-block development that would include a new marina, and other cultural offerings within a 14-acre park.

But about that condo project: Faena Residences Miami will be two 60-story towers connected by a 45,000 square foot, double-decker skybridge near the top, according to a press release. The project, at 90 SW 3rd St., will include 440 condos, for which prices start at $1 million. Sales will begin before the end of this year.

Piano Man Billy Joel Finally Sells His Palm Beach-Area Mansion

It’s less than he wanted, but more than he paid.

Singer Billy Joel’s Palm Beach County mansion finally sold this week after nearly two years on the market — for $42.6 million.

Pretty respectable sale price, considering the Piano Man bought the Manalapan property for $22.1 million in 2015, the Palm Beach Post reported. (←so yeah, it nearly doubled).

But Joel had hoped to get more for the home. He first listed the property —with over 13,000 square feet, 9 bedrooms, and nestled between two waterways — for sale in November 2022, at $64.9 million.

He shaved $10 million off the asking price when he re-listed it in January of this year. The price dropped again in March to $49.9 million.

So the buyer, unnamed in public records, can still boast to have gotten a deal off the list price.

The estate, designed to mimic an Italian palazzo, sits on 1.6 acres and includes a two-bedroom guest house and a 10-car garage, according to the listing.

And Joel is staying in Florida. Public records suggest he bought a home in Boca Raton for $29.5 million earlier this year.

That’s it for today!

Like what you’re reading? Send it to a friend.

Or send Highest & Best directly to your inbox by subscribing here: https://highest-and-best.beehiiv.com/subscribe