A three-way investor team led by Intalex Capital, Itero Investments and Greenwall Capital has taken a hefty swing at the Coral Gables office market, paying $97.8 million for The Ponce, a two-building office campus in downtown Gables. The group is not just buying, it is doubling down, with roughly $30 million earmarked to overhaul the lobbies, upgrade building systems, refresh courtyards and add tenant amenities, with work expected to run through 2027. The acquisition is backed by about $105 million in debt that bundles both the purchase price and the planned capital improvements.
Deal And Financing
CBRE represented the seller and also arranged the financing, according to Commercial Property Executive. The sales team featured Chris Lee, Sean Kelly, Tom Rappa and Matthew Lee, while Amy Julian and Andrew Chilgren of CBRE structured the ACORE Capital loan that underpins the deal.
Buyers’ Plan And Leasing Momentum
The new ownership says it will reposition the campus to appeal to professional services and creative tenants, and reports that early pre-leasing talks are already active. "What attracted us to The Ponce was the combination of scale, location and scarcity," said Bryson Ridgway, principal at Intalex. Jack Henry Kapp of Greenwall added that "Premier assets in high-growth, supply-constrained markets continue to outperform," comments that were reported by Miami Today. The subtext: this is a bet that well-located office, polished up, can still pull its weight.
What Is In The Campus
The Ponce consists of a 12-story Class A tower at 2525 Ponce de Leon and a six-story Class B building at 2555 Ponce de Leon, tied together by a covered parking garage. Marketing materials peg 2525 at about 257,000 rentable square feet, with 2555 at roughly 93,000 square feet, and buyers and local reports describe the combined campus at around 365,000 square feet. At closing, the property was about 65 percent leased, with a tenant mix that includes law firms and financial services outfits, according to The Real Deal.
Why Coral Gables
Investors point to Coral Gables’ tight pipeline of new office construction and steady demand from both local and out-of-market users as the rationale behind the buy. The sale ranks among the largest office trades in South Florida this year, and Bisnow notes that it highlights ongoing investor appetite for well-situated Miami-area office assets, even while lenders remain choosy about what they will back.
Hines Management will stay on as property manager, while Cushman & Wakefield brokers Ryan Holtzman and Lena Weeks are leading the leasing effort. The ownership group says pre-leasing has already nudged the business plan ahead of schedule. Renovation work, leasing and tenant build-outs are expected to roll forward through 2027 as the partnership aims to boost occupancy and sharpen the amenity package, according to Commercial Property Executive.
