Tall, waterview office tower in WPB will get some love

July 25, 2017

One Clearlake Centre just sold to Velocis, a private equity real estate manager, in partnerhip with CREC, a Miami-based real estate company.

The 18-story, 218,461-square-foot tower is at 250 S. Australian Ave., just east of Interstate 95. A sales price could not immediately be obtained.

At a time when business and city leaders say they need more high-quality downtown office space to lure employers, One Clearlake Centre provides an opportunity to provide more choices, said Andrew Remick, CREC vice president.

Millions of dollars in improvements will be made to the building, including upgrades to the lobby, corridors, bathrooms plus a new conference center. The upgrades should be completed within the next 12 to 18 months.

“We’re trying to meet the market demand for Class A space, but at more competitive leasing rates,” Remick said.

There’s plenty of vacant space to work with at Clearlake. The property is only 47 percent occupied, meaning about 100,000 square feet is available for lease. This includes entire floors.

Some of that vacancy is being created by Shoes for Crews, which has 37,657 square feet of space in the building on three floors but is moving to Boca Raton early next year.

CREC plans to break up some of the Clearlake’s floors into small, ready-to-occupy offices. This will allow it to meet demand from what Remick says is the main business tenant in West Palm Beach: Small users needing between 2,500 to 5,000 square feet of space.

Gross rents, which include rent plus all maintenance expenses, now are at about $34, far less than buildings along the Intracoastal Waterway. The rents are expected to inch up after the redo, but still will be far less than other office towers, Remick said.

One Clearlake offers water views, both of Clear Lake to the east and also, at higher levels, of the Intracoastal to the east.

Even better, Remick said, is that the property is away from the traffic crowding downtown streets.

From I-95, it’s a quick turn onto Australian Avenue to arrive at the office tower.

“And there’s no traffic lights, either” he added

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