Amazon expanded its planned office in Miami’s Wynwood, The Real Deal has learned, re-invigorating a push to turn the neighborhood into a tech mecca.
Jeff Bezos’ Seattle-based e-commerce giant now plans a 75,500-square-foot office at the recently completed 12-story office building at 95 Northwest 29th Street within the mixed-use Wynwood Plaza, according to a source. The deal adds 25,200 square feet to the 50,300 square feet Amazon had leased in January.
Oak Row Equities, L&L Holding Company, Shorenstein and Claure Group developed the 1 million-square-foot Wynwood Plaza that consists of the 266,000-square-foot office building and a recently completed 12-story, 509-unit apartment building with 45,000 square feet of amenities. Wynwood Plaza also has a 26,000-square-foot public plaza and 25,000 square feet of retail.
L&L Holding, led by David Levinson and Robert Lapidus, is based in New York, and San Francisco-based Shorenstein is led by Brandon Shorenstein. Oak Row, with offices in Miami and New York, is led by Erik Rutter and David Weitz.
Claure Group –– led by Marcelo Claure, the former CEO of Sprint and SoftBank Group International –– plans to open a 25,400-square-foot headquarters at Wynwood Plaza. Claure’s South Florida investments include a minority stake in the Standard Spa, Miami Beach at 40 Island Avenue.
Law firm Weitz & Luxenberg –– led by co-founding members Arthur Luxenberg and Perry Weitz, who is David Weitz’s father –– leased an 18,000-square-foot office at Wynwood Plaza.
Oak Row has ramped up its Miami investments and development pipeline. The firm signed 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.
Its planned project includes the 45-story, 526-unit First & Fifth apartment tower at 49 Northwest Fifth Street in downtown Miami.
Wynwood earned a reputation as a magnet for techies due to hefty leasing during the influx of out-of-state firms from late 2020 through 2022. Real Estate players were giddy with the neighborhood’s new reputation as a tech hub, with some even christening the area “Silicon Valley of the South.” Miami Mayor Francis Suarez was one of the biggest boosters of the city’s tech scene growth.
The hype has since quieted, and data shows that the influx of techies didn’t lead to significant office leasing across South Florida.
