Los Angeles-based investment bank Houlihan Lokey is the latest financial firm to move into downtown West Palm Beach.
The company subleased 4,500 square feet in the Coco Group-owned office building at 205 Datura Street. The sublease is for three years, said Max Pawk of CBRE, a broker for the building.
The move furthers the investment bank’s reach in South Florida, which includes a Coconut Grove office space at 3390 Mary Street.
Houlihan Lokey, led by CEO Scott Adelson, joins a slew of financial companies — including investment bank Solomon Partners, analytics firm MSCI and venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz — in moving to the city proponents dubbed “Wall Street South.” Adelson called the city a “major nexus for finance and investment” in a statement about the move.
The century-old Datura Street building traded hands last year when Canada-based Coco Group bought it for $46 million, or $637 per square foot. The 71,700-square-foot, four-story building sits on a 0.8-acre lot, according to public records. It’s about a block from Clematis Street and the waterfront.
Boston-based Suffolk Construction moved into a 19,000-square-foot office space in the building earlier this year.
The property is 98 percent leased, Pawk said, with only one space available. He expects that spot will be filled by the end of the year.
Founded in 1972, Houlihan Lokey has about 2,600 employees and reported about $3.7 billion in assets in its latest filings.
West Palm Beach’s downtown is undergoing major redevelopment, driven in part by one of its biggest landlords in Stephen Ross and his company Related Ross.
Construction began on Related’s 10 and 15 CityPlace project, two office towers for which the developer secured a $772 million construction financing package. Tenants there include Cleveland Clinic, which plans an outpatient center in 15 CityPlace, and law firm Fox Rothschild.
West Palm is also amid a luxury residential boom as business execs look for South Florida bases. Luxury home sales in the city grew at the fastest pace in the country this summer, up 43.9 percent compared to the same period last year.
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