Office Space Advice
Q&A: Jose Juncadella Speaks to Serviced Office Trend in Miami
Published April 10th, 2009 by Jennifer LeClaire
Type in the four words “Miami executive office suites” into your favorite search engine and you’ll come up with nearly 2.5 million results. Although there aren’t nearly that many actual serviced office facilities in the Magic City, there are nonetheless a growing number from which to choose.
Looking for office space in South Florida?
From Intelligent Office to Smart Space Business Center and from Regus Business Centers to Office Suites Plus, the major executive office suites companies abound in South Florida. But there are also some lesser known companies offering serviced offices in the southern city, like Gables Executive Offices, Excellent Executive Offices and One Biz Center Executive Offices.
Without question, there are plenty of alternative office spaces to choose from in Miami, and all across South Florida. But is this concept taking off in a market that’s seeing vacancy rates rise and a sublease market that’s growing larger?
aBetterOffice.com set out to take a pulse on the Miami executive office suites market. We turned to Jose Juncadella, principal of Miami-based Fairchild Partners Commercial Real Estate Services, a boutique commercial brokerage firm and president of the Realtors Commercial Alliance of the Realtor Association of Greater Miami and the Beaches (RAMB).
aBetterOffice.com caught up with Juncadella, who has worked in Miami’s commercial real estate market for nearly three decades, to discuss how the executive office suites industry is impacting Miami, what’s driving that impact, and how his company is responding to the trends.
Is the executive office suites industry making an impact in Miami?
Yes. For years, we used to call executive office suites a solution to an empty building. There is a demand for executive office suites in Miami today. People are using them in South Florida.
What is driving the executive office suites trend in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and other areas of South Florida?
One factor is that there are so many lay offs in the region. You can imagine the number of attorneys, engineers, real estate agents, mortgage brokers and others who have been laid off in South Florida because of the real estate downturn. Many of those people are starting their own companies, but they do not want or need a big office. And they don’t know how much expansion they are going to need. So executive office suites are an ideal solution for them.
Serviced offices seem perfect for consultants of all kinds. Is that ringing true in Miami?
Yes. We’re seeing so many consultants out here in this market. Many companies do not want to hire employees, but they would consider hiring a consultant for their needs, whether that be accounting needs, or legal or financial. With consultants, they can just pay by the drink, so to speak. With a new wave of consultants coming into the market, executive office suites are ideal.
What makes executive office suites ideal in that sense?
It doesn’t make any sense to sign a five-year lease if you are only working solo as a start-up. But serviced offices make a lot of sense. If you have a shared type of situation where you go into one-year deal and you can have a small office where all the services you need are available to you – you have a conference room, copy machines, phone systems – it makes a lot of sense.
Is Fairchild Partners getting involved in this area of the commercial real estate business?
We are considering turning a building we purchased at Airport Commerce Park in Dania Beach into an executive office suite project because of the growing demand we are seeing for this type of office solution.
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About the Author
Bill Brookshire April 13th, 2009 at 5:14 am
Fairchild Partners is a respected boutique commercial real estate firm in Miami, and Juncadella’s insights are right on. This guy has been in the local industry about as long as anyone, working with some of the biggest names in Miami real estate. To see that his firm is considering getting into executive office suites really says a lot.
Elizabeth Sanchez April 13th, 2009 at 5:50 am
This is an interesting study on the local serviced office industry market perspective from a seasoned real estate executive. Any chance you guys might do this in other markets? I think it would be valuable.
Jennifer LeClaire April 13th, 2009 at 5:53 am
Hi Elizabeth – Yes, this is possible. We’ll reach out to other markets and see what kind of participation we can get on that front. I’m in Miami and know a lot of folks here, so this one was easy. Thanks for the suggestion.
Marcus Hester April 13th, 2009 at 9:58 am
I love the Q&As you have been doing with leaders in the executive office suites industry. I also saw the one with Karen Condi about serviced offices, the growth, etc. Keep them up. It’s a great way for readers to get a quick pulse on office space trends, supply and demand, etc.
Rob Zeus April 13th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
I like the line about executive office suites being deemed the “solution to an empty building.” Today, it seems that phrase has broadened to be the solution for a troubled market. Executive office suites are no longer merely a filler for buildings without much occupancy. Serviced offices are becoming a force in this economy.
Melanie Jones April 14th, 2009 at 5:11 am
What’s the most interesting is how executive office suites will impact Miami’s downtown area in the years ahead. There’s three our for mega office buildings coming online in Miami in 2010, I believe. Will certain floors be relegated to serviced offices because there’s no big tenants to fill them? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Jennifer LeClaire April 14th, 2009 at 10:39 am
Jucandella scratched the tip of the iceberg here on the executive office suite front in Miami. I don’t think markets like Florida, Arizona, Nevada and California have seen the worst of it yet. The housing markets in those regions are going to see more foreclosures and may lead to rising unemployment and more new business start-ups. It will be interesting to see how the executive office suites industry performs in these key markets over the next year.