Commercial real estate Profile: Jay Caplin | investor, Miami

Cushman shifts in Tampa
Cushman & Wakefield in Tampa has become the latest commercial real estate brokerage firm in the region to embrace “open design” to encourage more collaboration among staffers.
Cushman has moved its offices three floors — from the 36th floor to the 33rd — in One Tampa City Center, where it has been located since 1981. The move follows similar shifts in Tampa by CBRE and Colliers International, among others.

Cushman's new office space features glass-walled offices as well as a series of open-air cubicles and desks. Company leaders hope the new look will net more conversation, productivity and greater teamwork.

The new floor, orchestrated by Associated Space Design, will be the professional home for 75 workers and be LEED certified.

“We had a typical high-end office layout, but things have changed a lot and a new generation expects different office space,” says Cushman market leader Larry Richey. “Our new space is very appropriate for the future. No more corner offices.”

Under a new lease in the 38-story, 750,000-square-foot skyscraper — Tampa's largest — Cushman will occupy the 33rd floor through 2025, Richey says.

Taubman gives shout out to UTC
Mall owner Taubman Centers Inc.'s chairman and CEO singled out the Mall at University Town Center in touting the company's second quarter earnings.

“Our performance was driven by increased rents and net recoveries, as well as the excellent performance of the Mall at University Town Center in Sarasota, Florida,” Robert S. Taubman stated in the earnings report.

Taubman earned $42.33 million in the quarter ended June 30, an 8.3% gain from the same period a year ago. Revenue jumped 50%, to $132 million.

Perhaps more revealing, the company's inline store mall tenant sales of less than 10,000 square feet rose by $61.4 million in the quarter. And while Taubman's Mall of San Juan, in Puerto Rico, and its Prestige Outlets Chesterfield, in Missouri, were included in that figure, it only opened in March — meaning the bulk of the increase likely came from UTC, a $315 million project that debuted last October in partnership with Benderson Development Co.