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The number of companies looking to participate in the Miami business boom is growing again, as two more service firms announced new offices in the Magic City this week.
Omni Bridgeway, an Australian litigation financing firm, said on Tuesday that it is expanding into the Miami market, hiring Lauren Alexander from Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP as an investment manager and head of the new office, according to a press release.
Alexander and Enrique Molina are the firm's first two local hires. It is "actively looking for office space" that will help the firm grow organically, a spokesperson said. Omni Bridgeway provides financing and risk management services for litigation and is publicly traded on the Australian Securities Exchange. It is also opening a Chicago office.
The Consello Group, a New York-based financial services company that launched last year, also announced its plans for a Miami outpost Tuesday. The company issued a press release that said it would be establishing offices in Miami and London, and "several senior executives and additional employees" would relocate to the cities.
Consello invests on behalf of clients and offers business development services and advises on digital asset strategy, the press release says. A Consello spokesman didn't respond to an inquiry about the new office's size or location.
"As we continue our global expansion, it is essential that we have a strong presence in the locations most important to our clients," Consello Chairman and CEO Declan Kelly said in a statement. "Our office in Miami will tap into the burgeoning financial and business activity in South Florida that has seen such rapid growth in recent years."
Miami-Dade County expects to welcome 150 new companies to the market this year, according to the Miami-Dade Beacon Council’s annual report published in November. That would be an enormous jump from the 57 companies that either relocated or expanded to the county in 2022. Combined, those companies committed to occupying more than 1M SF of commercial space.
The local office market has benefited from the unprecedented run-up in demand. Asking rents were up 14% year-over-year in Class-A space across the entire city in the fourth quarter, according to CBRE. In Brickell, which is capturing more of the migration than any other submarket, Class-A asking rents hit $88.83 per SF in the fourth quarter, a 33% increase, according to Blanca Commercial Real Estate data provided to Bisnow.
Miami saw 1M SF of leasing activity in the quarter and a record 4.3M SF of leases signed in 2022, 811K SF of which are to be occupied by new-to-market tenants.
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