Ira Giller wants to enter the booming office market in his hometown.
Gateway Group, the family business led by the Miami Beach architect and real estate investor, is planning a new $21.6 million mixed-use building with three floors of office space in the city’s neighborhood. Mid-beach neighborhood.
The Miami Beach Design Review Board on Thursday approved Giller Tower, a seven-story project at 976 Arthur Godfrey Road and 3915-3925 Alton Road that will also include ground-floor retail and restaurants and a three-story garage levels. The offices would be located atop the garage and offer a view of the water, according to plans submitted to the city.
In addressing the board, Geller said he will market the office component to leaders from other states who have recently migrated to exclusive enclaves such as North Bay Road and Allison Island.
“If it’s fully occupied, we might have one or two tenants that will take up an entire floor,” Geller said. “My market focuses on some of the new people who have moved to Miami Beach and are tired of going to Brickell and downtown (Miami) and fighting traffic.”
The development site currently consists of three single-story buildings completed between 1938 and 1954 that Giller intends to demolish, his plans show. Gateway Group assembled the properties between 1980 and 1983 for a total of $730,000, records show. Tenants include kosher restaurant Grill House, Super Y-Preschool and Bagel Time Cafe.
All three parcels are adjacent to the Giller Building, a five-story building also owned and developed by Gateway Group. The property is also the headquarters of the Giller architectural firm.
Miami Beach is experiencing a glut of new office projects from developers hoping to attract hedge funds, financial firms and other Fortune 500-type tenants moving or expanding into South Florida.
Last month, the Miami Beach Design Review Board approved a new 101,400 square foot office building in 1100 Fifth Street by New York development firm Sumaida + Khurana and current owners: Roslyn and Norton Nesis, and Robert and Miriam Weiss of Weiss Properties. Eduardo Souto de Moura, winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, in collaboration with Zyscovich and Gabellini Sheppard, is designing the project.
Next door, Sumaida + Khurana, New York-based Bizzi+Bilgili and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt are developing the Fifth Miami Beach, which is under construction. Designed by Alberto Campo Baeza, the project is a five-story, 60,200-square-foot office building with ground-floor retail and restaurant space.
In April, Miami-based Black Lion Investment Group purchased the ground lease for The Lincoln, a six-story office building located off Lincoln Road in Miami Beach. After paying $62.5 millionBlack Lion plans to spend $50 million to renovate the building’s interiors and exteriors.
New York developer Michael Shvo is also developing three mixed-use and office projects in Miami Beach, including A soundscape parka planned 62,500 square foot office building near the Black Lion’s The Lincoln.
