A Fortune 500 logistics company is putting down roots in Fort Lauderdale.
GXO Logistics, the world’s largest pure-play contract logistics provider, signed one the first office leases at Hines and Urban Street Development’s T3 FAT Village at 501 North Andrews Avenue, within Fort Lauderdale’s Flagler Village. CBI Workplace Solutions, a workplace design and furniture company, also signed a lease.
Connecticut-based GXO leased 35,000 square feet for a regional office that will support its Americas & Asia Pacific division and serve as an additional location to its Texas and North Carolina offices, according to a news release. CBI Workplace Solutions is relocating its office from Las Olas Boulevard with a 6,000-square-foot lease.
GXO was represented by Christina Jolley, Chris Harak and Kevin Carrasco of Blanca Commercial Real Estate, which leads office leasing at T3 FAT Village. David Hillegas and A.J. Belt of Cushman & Wakefield represented CBI Workplace Solutions.
T3 FAT Village is a six-story, 180,000-square-foot mass timber office building, the first of its kind in the state, according to the release. It anchors the 5.6-acre FAT Village mixed-use development, a joint venture between Texas-based Hines and Fort Lauderdale-based Urban Street Development. In addition to the office building, the $500 million project will include residential units, entertainment venues, retail space and public gathering areas.
Alan Kennedy, managing director at Hines, said in the release that the companies’ leases reflect the strength of Fort Lauderdale as a corporate destination.
The first office tenants are slated to move in next year.
Fort Lauderdale’s office market remained stable through the second quarter, though demand remains selective. The market recorded 22,000 square feet of positive net absorption, and the average asking rent increased 8.1 percent year-over-year to about $29 per square foot, according to CBRE. The vacancy rate was 18.7 percent, slightly up from the previous quarter.
Despite a South Florida-wide decline in leasing activity, Fort Lauderdale has attracted sizable office tenants. The largest leases during the second quarter were in Fort Lauderdale’s Cypress Creek submarket, where Broward County signed 51,000 square feet and Global Graphs and Innovative Memorabilia Partners each leased 31,000 square feet, according to CBRE. Last year, MSC Cruises USA signed a 33,800-square-foot long-term lease at BayView Corporate Tower.
In May, the South Florida Business Journal reported that an unnamed company identified as “Project Orange Blossom” could move its headquarters to Fort Lauderdale and receive up to $700,000 from the city and county in exchange for creating high-paying jobs and making $7 million worth of improvements in the area.
The outlet identified GXO and XPO, Inc. as the two logistics companies in Greenwich, Connecticut, where Project Orange Blossom is based. It has not been confirmed whether Project Orange Blossom is GXO.
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