One of Miami’s most prominent office towers will soon have a new name after its anchor tenant has dramatically shrunk its space in a shift to West Palm Beach.
Wells Fargo Center at 333 SE Second Ave.
Wells Fargo & Co. relinquished the naming and signage rights to the 750K SF, 47-story Wells Fargo Center in Downtown Miami, Bisnow has learned.
The San Francisco-based bank signed a deal with building owner MetLife Investment Management to reduce its square footage in the building to 25K SF, Cushman & Wakefield broker Brian Gale said in an interview Friday.
The tower, one of Miami’s tallest office buildings at 647 feet, was named after the financial giant shortly after it opened in 2010, when Wells Fargo signed a 20-year lease for more than 250K SF across four floors.
Its presence at the Wells Fargo Center has fluctuated since then. Its footprint at its eponymous skyscraper was down to 96K SF by 2016, but then it signed a $32M lease to expand to 151K SF in a consolidation of its Miami offices.
It then started downsizing its presence at the building again, starting four years ago when the company gave back the 46th and 47th floors, Gale said. Those spaces were filled almost immediately, he added.
It isn’t clear if another company will step in to take the naming and signage rights to the building at 333 SE Second Ave. Wells Fargo declined to comment, and MetLife didn’t respond to a request for comment.
An 1800s carriage evoking the company’s logo, which had sat in the lobby of the building, was also removed, Gale said.
Gale said some of the bank’s Miami employees are being relocated to Wells Fargo’s new headquarters for its wealth and investment management business, which signed for the remaining 50K SF at Related Ross’ One Flagler.
The change comes as the bank has been shrinking its workforce, laying off 5,600 employees last year, the New York Post reported.
A Cushman & Wakefield team of Gale, Ryan Holtzman, Edward Quinon and Andrew Trench has already leased some of the vacated space on behalf of MetLife, leaving a floor and a half available, Gale said. The building’s office space is 85% leased.
“We have enough activity to lease up most of this space anyway,” Gale said in a text message.
Developed as Met 2 Financial Center, Wells Fargo Center is connected to the JW Marriott Marquis Miami via a 19-story podium with shared parking and amenities.
The building was completed in 2010 as the second phase of Metropolitan Miami in a joint venture between MDM Development and MetLife. Basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal was also involved in the project during his stint with the Miami Heat, The Associated Press reported in 2006. MetLife gained full ownership of the building in 2011, Miami Today reported.
Greenberg Traurig, Deloitte and McDermott Will & Emery lease office space at the tower, which also has a Whole Foods Market, a 12-screen movie theater, a gym, a 1,300-space parking garage, and an entertainment complex with a basketball court, virtual bowling and a pool.
