CLASS A OFFICE SPACE COMING TO WEST PALM BEACH?

CLASS A OFFICE SPACE COMING TO WEST PALM BEACH?

Jeff Greene is a pretty ambitious guy, and has a track record to back up those ambitions in Florida. He thinks that more class A office space would be absorbed by the market if it was built, and is going to test those waters again. Again, since the Related Cos. tried to do the same thing recently and were forced to postpone the project due to lack of interest by potential tenants. Right now Greene is doing his due diligence, and has hired an architect to craft some plans for the project. The site is at 550 Quadrille Blvd, a 3.3 acre site that he paid $15 million dollars for in March. The site was previously slated for residential use but lack of interest and financing led the site to linger on the market for years. Greene envisions two 30 story towers, that will feature water views, a 5 story hotel, residential condos, a health club, a restaurant and indoor and outdoor tennis courts. There is clearly some contradiction in the article, as Greene thinks the site would lure the right kind of tenant (s) to the area if the space was already built, as in built on speculation without tenants lined up. But he also acknowledges that he will have to obtain both financing and get to certain levels of office preleasing in order to get a construction loan to begin the project. He is heavily invested in the success of the area, having invested $240 million in various projects in Palm Beach County since 2009. He is currently developing apartments in the West Palm area. I don’t think this area is ready for a project like this, I just don’t see the demand. Unless they have that demand they won’t be able to get the project done. And there is plenty of class A office space available in other markets so it isn’t like companies looking for class A office space have no other options. I will be keeping a close eye on this one and will report on it again when there is another update. As always thanks for reading and have a great day.