CI Financial recently signed a lease for its new headquarters for more than 10 years in Miami’s Brickell Financial District. The Canadian wealth management company will occupy roughly 20,000 square feet of prime Miami office space on the 48th floor of 830 Brickell, with a 45,000-square-foot expansion option in the future. Currently owned by Cain International and OKO Group, the 55-story tower is scheduled for completion by 2022.
The lessee was represented by Avison Young’s Donna Abood and Mark Robbins, while Brian Gale, Ryan Holtzman and Andrew Trench of Cushman & Wakefield conducted negotiations on behalf of the landlords.
The tenant plans to move in by the end of next year, and is relocating its national operations and employees to handle its platform in the U.S., which is known as CI Private Wealth. Meanwhile, management will be dividing its time between the firm’s Miami and Toronto offices.
Brickell City Center, Miami
With construction still underway, 830 Brickell is already 40% pre-leased, having previously signed private equity firm Thoma Bravo for 36,500 square feet and Microsoft for 50,000 square feet.
Both New York and Dallas were on CI Financial’s shortlist for its new base of operations in the U.S., but Miami ended up being the Toronto-based company’s preferred choice.
“Miami is an incredible place to establish our U.S. headquarters and support our fast-growing U.S. business,” said Kurt MacAlpine, chief executive officer of CI Financial. “It serves as the next logical step for our expansion plans as we work to build the leading high-net-worth wealth management platform in the country. In addition, Miami is a vibrant, multicultural city that offers a deep talent pool, an attractive location for recruiting and a very business-friendly environment.”
Miami’s mayor, Francis Suarez, added, “CI Financial is the largest financial institution to ever place a headquarters in South Florida. The significance of this cannot be overstated and moves us further towards our goal to become the ’capital of capital.’ We thank Kurt MacAlpine, the board of directors, their executive team, and our own Venture Miami team for supporting their move to the City of Miami.”
But, CI Financial isn’t the only big name in finance and investing growing its presence in the South Florida market. Since the onset of the pandemic, the likes of Blackstone, Citadel, Apollo Global Management, Millennium Management and Goldman Sachs have also made moves to expand there.
