Agave Holdings, LLC develops thriving community beacon for South Florida

Agave Holdings, LLC is a private investor and innovative developer of office and mixed-use projects in the United States and Mexico. Agave purchased and developed at least five million square feet of properties across three U.S. states worth more than $1 billion.

Agave had visionary ambitions for a community-focused, transformational development in Miami’s Coral Gables submarket. Plaza Coral Gables was quickly proving to be Agave’s most complex and ambitious project to date. The developer started the mixed-use project with a $1 billion capital commitment despite no pre-leasing or contractual revenue in place, thereby assuming 100% of the risk. Agave first purchased the seven-acre site out of foreclosure in 2011 and kicked off a nearly 15-year journey to bring Plaza Coral Gables to life.

Today, Plaza Coral Gables consists of a 174-unit luxury multifamily property, two large high-rise office towers totaling 455,000 square feet, a Loews hotel, 161,000 square feet of retail, dining and entertainment space across multiple levels and extensive common areas including open green space, paseos, interactive amenities and public art installations.

As an established developer but one that was new to the unique challenges of creating a cohesive, mixed-use ecosystem, Agave needed resources and support to strategically manage the various parts of this ground-up development. The size and scale of the project is the largest in Coral Gables history, and the entitlement process alone took four years and six individual city permits.

“When you start with something of this size, and you begin to think about how it will work as a business, the focus is on what structures will fit on the site and be physically built,” said Greg Schwartz, Asset Management, Agave Holdings, LLC. “Then, you must think about allocation methodology, staffing plans, vertical subdivisions and the way that a shared expense flows through different profit and loss centers, and then back up to one that’s consolidated. It’s incredibly complex.” Enter JLL.

JLL’s involvement with Plaza Coral Gables began in the early phases of the project delivery with elements of development and planning still unfinished.

“We advised Agave on management considerations and how to properly establish operations during the development process in advance of each elemental delivery” said Hans Okerstrom, senior general manager of Plaza Coral Gables, JLL Property Management. From that point forward, Agave found value in the ability to add JLL services as they were needed throughout the many development stages and project stabilization.

One of the biggest challenges with onboarding and executing the property management phase of the project was getting alignment between the individual asset classes and embedding a “one team, one goal” culture. The launch of JLL’s mixed-use advisory platform, led by Sean McNamara, coincided perfectly with Agave’s needs at Plaza Coral Gables and was instrumental in achieving this alignment.

“It is always challenging when these assets classes are commingled on a single site, sharing resources and common grounds,” said McNamara. “Our mixed-use platform coalesces all our business line services in a very cohesive and altruistic way for multiple asset types, uses and stakeholders. At Plaza Coral Gables, we brought the teams of all the assets together, worked toward common goals and ultimately changed an outdated service paradigm.”

Both Agave and JLL acknowledge the value and trust that resulted from their physical proximity onsite, and how it also played a starring role in building a unified culture.

“With Agave moving its headquarters to Plaza Coral Gables, close to JLL’s onsite management office, there’s an opportunity to interface in person, every day. We quickly built a level of mutual comfort and trust, allowing us to make critical planning, operating and capital improvement decisions side by side,” said Okerstrom.

While the project was operationally humming, Agave understood that there was no point to placing buildings on a site without a plan to activate the amenities and spaces in and around them, delivering a consistent experience at every turn. JLL’s experience management and marketing services were folded into the property management offering, providing a one-stop-shop for placemaking and tenant engagement, including: events and entertainment, concierge services, food and beverage solutions, tenant experience technology, wellness, amenity management and much more.

JLL leveraged its relationship with the Loews Hotel as an important part of the experience-building process. The team worked closely with the hotel to ensure that their guest experience isn’t lost when a patron leaves the hotel. In return, Plaza Coral Gables benefits from the elevated hospitality presence that the hotel’s presence affords.

Another critical element underpinning the entire property experience has been the team’s approach to retail leasing. The project’s appeal to a wide array of restauranteurs and retailers was without question. However, rather than signing a lease with any interested and able retail tenant, Agave insisted that the property's mix of retailers and restaurants be cohesive and relevant to residents and visitors. It’s this carefully curated vision that amplifies the experience of the entire development and makes it more profitable. JLL’s 10Twelve retail leasing team was entrusted to deliver that boutique approach. Retailers including CVI.CHE 105, Fogo de Chão, Sweet Paris Creperie & Café and more are setting the tone for the development, and JLL’s local, national and global reach has played an important access point to reach others.

Agave has transformed an underutilized infill location into a daily destination for thousands of people all around South Florida. Agave had the foresight to understand that single-service delivery in a mixed-use project breeds efficiencies, higher revenues and intrinsic value. The response to this community-oriented project has been overwhelmingly positive. Key achievements include:

• 99.5% office occupancy post construction
  
  
• 96.2% multifamily occupancy with waiting list in place
• 70% resident retention rate
  
  
• 5.6% average residential rent growth
  
  
• 15,000 SF of retail space under letter of intent in just four months
  
  
• 14 restaurant leases
  
  
• 3,000 daily visitors
  
  

“Agave is a very talented and brilliant group of real estate investors and developers,” said Okerstrom. “It works well when we have an investor client that has so much working knowledge of the project, of the investment plan, the day-to-day operations and long-term strategy. And the importance of Agave’s commitment to developing a partnership with the City of Coral Gables can’t be understated.”

The Plaza Coral Gables will officially wrap construction in early 2025 and the last of the commercial tenants will take occupancy. This generational project will provide a dynamic live-work-play destination for decades to come. As a result of the success of this project, JLL is now providing exclusive property management services to Agave Holdings across its U.S. and Mexico portfolio with future projects to include leasing and marketing services.

“JLL had the staged development of three city blocks to contend with, on multiple construction schedules, while tenants, residents and retailers were moving in. There aren’t a lot of firms that could handle so much going on at once.”

Jose Antonio Perez Helguera, Managing Director, Agave Holdings LLC