Amazon will open an office in Miami’s Wynwood, giving a boost to the neighborhood’s push to attract tech firms and become “Silicon Valley of the South.”
The Seattle-based company, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, leased 50,300 square feet at the Wynwood Plaza mixed-use project under development by Oak Row Equities, L&L Holding, Shorenstein and Marcelo Claure’s Claure Group, according to an L&L news release. Wynwood Plaza, at 95 Northwest 29th Street, is expected to be completed early this year.
It marks the biggest office lease in Wynwood, L&L said in the release.
Bryan Lapidus of L&L, as well as a Cushman & Wakefield team led by Andrew Trench and Edward Quinon, represented the landlord. Tom Capocefalo and Mike Catalano of Savills represented the tenant.
The 1 million-square-foot Wynwood Plaza will consist of a 12-story building with 266,000 square feet of offices; a 12-story, 509-unit luxury apartment building with 45,000 square feet of amenities; a 26,000-square-foot public plaza and 25,000 square feet of retail, the release says.
Other tenants opening a Wynwood Plaza office include Claure Group, which leased 25,400 square feet for its headquarters on the sixth floor. Law firm Weitz & Luxenberg leased 18,000 square feet on the second floor for its first Miami office. Weitz & Luxenberg is led by co-founding members Arthur Luxenberg and Perry Weitz. The firm has offices in New York, Los Angeles, Detroit and Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Perry Weitz is the father of Oak Row co-founder David Weitz, who runs the firm with Erik Rutter.
Oak Row, which has offices in Miami and New York, has been ramping up its Miami development pipeline. The firm is under a record $520 million contract to purchase the 4.25-acre Aimco site in Miami, consisting of the 32-story Brickell Bay Office Tower at 1001 Brickell Bay Drive and the adjacent 31-story, 357-unit Yacht Club Apartments at 1111 Brickell Bay Drive. The property can be redeveloped with multiple supertalls with a combined 3.1 million square feet.
This month, Oak Row scored approval for the 45-story, 526-unit First & Fifth apartment tower at 49 Northwest Fifth Street in downtown Miami. In Edgewater, the firm plans a 41-story, 399-unit luxury apartment tower with 187,000 square feet of commercial space at 2600 Biscayne Boulevard; and is partnering with Alex Karakhanian’s Lndmrk Development on a multifamily tower on the northeast corner of Northeast 29th Street and Northeast Fourth Avenue.
New York-based L&L, led by founders David Levinson and Robert Lapidus, has a portfolio of more than 10 million square feet of residential and commercial real estate, the release says.
San Francisco-based Shorenstein, led by CEO Brandon Shorenstein, had $19 billion worth of assets as of late 2023, according to the release.
Claure, the former CEO of Sprint and SoftBank Group International, has various South Florida investments, including a minority stake in the Standard Spa, Miami Beach at 40 Island Avenue.
