Largest U.S. law firm opening Miami office at 830 Brickell, city’s priciest office tower

The nation’s biggest law firm by revenue has signed a landmark office lease at the highly coveted 830 Brickell tower, another sign Miami’s commercial real estate market continues to heat up as the professional-services sector follows technology and finance firms to South Florida.

Kirkland & Ellis confirmed Monday it agreed to occupy 115,000 square feet over six of the building’s 55 floors, giving the law firm with large offices in New York and Chicago the biggest presence in Miami’s premier office tower that commands rents up to $150 a square foot.

That is nearly twice the space what another legal giant, Chicago-based Sidley Austin, committed to in the same building earlier this year. It exceeds what other tenants Microsoft, Citadel and private equity firm Thoma Bravo have leased there, too. Citadel, which is moving hedge fund and securities operations to Miami from Chicago, already does business with the Kirkland and Sidley law firms.

“They [Kirkland] will be the largest tenant by square footage in 830 Brickell,” said Andrew Trench, executive director of Cushman & Wakefield, in an interview. Cushman & Wakefield represents 830 Brickell’s ownership.

Kirkland is the third global law firm from The American Lawyer’s top 10 in 2022 based on gross revenue to have signed a lease in 830 Brickell. In addition to Sidley Austin, Baker McKenzie became tenants earlier this year.

Kirkland & Ellis is also its final tenant even as the tower is not yet open.

“The building at 830 Brickell is 100% leased,” Trench said. He thinks “that’s the first time that’s ever happened in Miami with a Class A tower.”

The first new office high-rise to go up in Miami’s downtown in a decade was developed in partnership by OKO Group and Cain International.

Chicago’s Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture designed the building giving it a futuristic, high-tech feel, and the interiors were done by Italian architecture and design company Iosa Ghini Associati. Besides the “museum-quality” architecture, amenities and digital infrastructure will set a new bar for office towers in Miami. Plans include a rooftop restaurant by a Michelin-rated chef and a two-story bar on the 56th and 57th floors, a 30th-story sky lobby with a health and wellness and conference centers, plus cafes and retail.

Trench said that 830 Brickell is scheduled to be completed by the end of March, when he expects the tentative certificate of occupancy to be issued. Then tenants will come in and start customizing their offices. That process will take six to nine months, he said.

Financial terms of the Kirkland & Ellis lease were not disclosed, but according to the third-quarter report by commercial real estate firm JLL, the last few leases at 830 Brickell in the Brickell Financial District were signed at between $120 to $150 per square foot.

That makes Miami “one of the hottest commercial real estate markets in the Southeast,” according to the report.

The city’s Central Business District saw its lowest office vacancy rate — roughly 16% — in the July-to-September quarter since 2021. Downtown Miami asking office rents reached an all-time high averaging over $54 a square foot, according to the JLL report.

Meanwhile, office rents in Miami Beach averaged about $70 a square foot, the third-highest after Wynwood, at $71.67, and Brickell, at $78.02.

Prior to the pandemic that began in March 2020, the commercial real estate market was much more locally based. Larger multinational companies were present, but had smaller footprints.

“So, when there was a new building that was to be built, the way that building would get filled up would be to approach existing tenants who are already in Miami and convince them to move into the new shiny building,” Trench said.

“It was sort of a version of musical chairs,” he noted, then the dynamic completely shifted once the pandemic started.

With the pending arrival of Kirkland & Ellis, along with the building’s other blue-chip tenants, 830 Brickell’s developers said in a statement the skyscraper has solidified itself as “one of the most desirable office towers in the United States and underscores the strength of the Miami market,” said Vlad Doronin, chairman and CEO of OKO Group, and Jonathan Goldstein, CEO of Cain International.