The Miami Association of Realtors announced their new office building back in January, 2022. Today, you can see the structure as it nears completion nearly two years after its announcement.
The new Miami Association of Realtors office building is being constructed at 1800 Oakwood Drive. That’s just a block east from their current location at the former Eastern Credit Union Building which is now home to Miami Regional University.
According to Miami-Dade County property records, the lot at 1800 Oakwood Drive was purchased on May 19, 2021 by the Miami Association of Realtors for $3.5 Million. Public records describe the lot to have 32,522 square feet of land or approximately three quarters of an acre.
Sharpe Project Developments had the following description of the proposed 119,000 square foot building:
Sharpe Project Developments is proud to announce that the MIAMI Association of REALTORS® has selected us as the owner representative to manage the development of its new global headquarters in Miami Springs, FL. Designed by RSP Architects and to be constructed by Link Construction Group, the new headquarters consists of three floors of structured parking and two floors of office and conferencing space, totaling 119,000 SF.
The Miami Association of Realtor’s building committee engaged our team shortly after site acquisition to manage the selection of the architect and contractor. Once complete, the new facility will include approximately 50,000 SF of Class A office and conferencing space with numerous features such as a fifty-person computer lab, an eighty-person classroom, a two hundred-person conference center equipped with a stage, and a recording studio.
The interior design includes high-end finishes such as wood wall paneling, glass walls, operable partitions, polished concrete floors, a custom feature stair, a thirty-person executive board room, an employee lounge, and café. The building’s exterior façade is covered in full-height glass, architectural concrete, metal wall paneling, and wood ceilings. The garage is fully screened and includes EV charging stations. Furthermore, the project is projected for LEED and WELL Health and Safety certifications.
According to Sharpe Project Developments, the project was originally slated to be completed by 2023. Instead it looks like it’ll be finalized in 2024.
So let’s stop a second and think about this. We have a massive office building at the former Eastern Credit Union Building now home to Miami Regional University on the eastern side of Miami Springs. Miami Realtors has added yet another office building to the eastern section of Miami Springs. So we continue to add office buildings and jobs to the eastern section of Miami Springs, but instead of adding office buildings and jobs to downtown Miami Springs (where its needed most) we added over 50 apartments.
Let me make it clear, the folks working at these buildings can hop on a car and drive a mile west to downtown Miami Springs to enjoy lunch (if they can find parking). But nobody’s walking from here to downtown Miami Springs. If they’re walking, they’re walking to Pollo Tropical or to the restaurant inside the EB Hotel. If they’re banking, they can walk to the Wells Fargo bank on NW 36th Street. In other words, we blew the opportunity to add quality office buildings and jobs to downtown Miami Springs in favor of apartments.
MIAMI Association of Realtors is proud to announce that we have selected Sharpe Project Developments as the owner representative to manage the development of our new global headquarters in Miami Springs.https://t.co/Z8y61B8pa6
#MiamiRealtors pic.twitter.com/53xFYLC9Ad— MIAMI Realtors (@MiamiRealtors) January 20, 2022
