Miami-Dade To Vote On Buying Fontainebleau Office Building For $205M

Miami-Dade County could spend $269M to purchase and upgrade an office building in the Fontainebleau neighborhood south of Doral. 

County commissioners will vote on a resolution on Dec. 12 that would authorize the purchase of a large office building at 9250 W. Flagler St., where it is planning to consolidate several government offices under one roof. 

The county would purchase the property from Hoffman Flagler LLC, managed by Jacob Hoffman, for $205M and spend $63M on capital improvements, including the construction of a parking garage. The resolution also allocates $1M for due diligence and closing costs. 

The property, which has 467K SF of rentable space, would become the West Dade Government Center. It would host the Department of Regulatory and Economic Resources, property appraiser’s office, clerk of courts, Water and Sewer Department, Solid Waste Management, Department of Health and Miami-Dade Fire Rescue. 

The commission agenda shows the building is 625K SF, while a Cushman & Wakefield listing says it spans 635K SF. Hoffman's Bushburg Properties rebranded the property, previously known as Flagler Corporate Center, into The Current Miami. 

Excess land on the 26-acre site could eventually be used to develop affordable housing under the Live Local Act, according to a memo from the office of Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.

Authorization of the sale will require a two-thirds vote from the 13-member county commission because the proposed sale price is more than the property was valued at by two appraisers. 

As a multitenant building, the appraisers valued the property at $104M and $116M, while they gave it a $188M and $194M valuation as a single-tenant office.

The building, which has a rooftop helipad, large central atrium and fitness center, was originally developed as a corporate headquarters for Florida Power & Light but was repositioned after the utility vacated the majority of its space. It has a lower value as a multitenant property because of vacancies in the marketplace due to the pandemic, according to the memo.

The memo says the higher purchase price is supportable because it is near public transit, has the potential to host a multifamily development, and the acquisition will allow the county to reduce maintenance, insurance, utility and security costs by colocating the government departments. 

The county would vacate around 309K SF at other locations if the departments relocate, which would ultimately save $140M, the memo says. 

“These benefits, while challenging to quantify, promise immediate and future opportunities for the entire County thus making up the gap in the appraisal and ultimately making the purchase price supportable,” the memo says. 

Construction of a new facility would cost the county $323M, including land acquisition costs, according to the memo. 

Six tenants occupy the building, and Cushman & Wakefield's listing advertises 215K SF for lease. Under the terms of the sale, the current tenants have agreed to vacate the property at the end of their terms.

Simply Healthcare Plans occupies 108K SF at the property in a lease that expires in May. First Quality Home Care and FPL occupy 8K SF each, and CareATC has 4K SF on the second floor. T-Mobile and Verizon both have leases for space on the roof, with T-Mobile’s lease the last to expire in July 2027.

The county would finance the purchase through a bond issuance that would be authorized by a budget amendment, which the commission is also scheduled to consider Tuesday.