Wynwood drums up more business, with Sony Music coming to the neighborhood
Wynwood hit the right note for Sony Music.
The entertainment company has signed the largest office lease in the trendy Miami neighborhood so far this year, proving creatives want to partake in the renaissance there. Sony will join creative companies in Wynwood, including TikTok, Spotify and Live Nation.
Sony Music, known formally as Sony Music Entertainment, is going to take 45,000 square feet over two floors in the 10-story office building 545 Wyn at 545 NW 26 St., according to multiple sources familiar with the deal. The company is expected to move in by summer 2024.
Sony intends to consolidate a few offices around South Florida into that one building in Wynwood.
It is among the largest new office leases in Miami-Dade County so far this year, according to the Colliers’ third quarter office real estate report for the county. Greenberg Traurig law firm signed the biggest office lease renewal, with its 128,450 square feet at the Wells Fargo Center in downtown Miami.
The Japanese corporation Sony has several offices across the United States, including its American headquarters in New York. Sony Music is considered to be one of the Big Three record companies, after Universal Music Group and ahead of Warner Music Group.
“Wynwood is centrally located,” said Stephen Rutchik, executive managing director for office services at Colliers. “It allows for the accessibility and walkability. It also provides companies with an identity that is different from downtown and Coral Gables. Wynwood has a cool factor. It has an appeal to a workforce.”
Corporate expansions in and relocations to South Florida slowed this year after the pandemic frenzy, but firms already in the market or from out of state continue to ink large office leases, real estate sources said.
“Overall in South Florida we are continuing to find a migration of new-to-market tenants continuing, although at a more measured pace than in 2021 and 2022,” Rutchik said. “The tenants that are coming are Fortune 100 companies. They are taking substantial space compared to our traditional tenants.”
Blanca Commercial Real Estate handles commercial leasing activity at the 545 Wyn office building, and Newmark executive managing directors Lance Benson and Maury Gentile represented Sony Music in its lease deal. Both teams declined to comment about Sony’s lease agreement.
Typically, companies pay a premium for office space in Miami’s hot areas. Wynwood and the adjacent Design District area have an average direct asking lease rate of $79.69 per square foot, roughly 35% higher than the average of $52.06 per square foot for Miami-Dade, according to the latest Colliers office market report. Those two areas have 2.1 million square feet of office space and another 640,330 square feet with projects like the Wynwood Plaza in the pipeline. The county has 5.4 million square feet of total office lease inventory.
