Santander To Demolish Brickell Office To Make Way For 41-Story Tower

At least four office towers are planned in Miami’s financial district of Brickell, with some developers searching for anchor tenants for their properties before beginning construction.

Meanwhile, Santander Bank is plowing ahead.

The Madrid-based bank will begin demolition of its Brickell office building in the next few weeks to make way for a new 41-story tower, it announced Wednesday. The new tower will replace a 14-story building at 1401 Brickell Ave. that Santander owns. It was first floated for redevelopment in February.

The planned 1.6 MSF tower will have roughly 800 KSF of offices, with the remaining space split between retail, common areas and a 1,496-space garage.

Plans submitted to the Miami Urban Development Review Board in February included seven food and beverage spaces totaling 108 KSF, including a ground-floor café and terraced restaurants running along one side of the 13-story parking garage that would be topped with a multilevel club.

A Santander-controlled entity paid $114M in 2008 for the existing office tower and 2-acre parcel, according to property records. The 237 KSF office hosts more than 650 Santander staff, primarily in its private banking department, who will move to temporary offices on Brickell Avenue and in Coconut Grove during construction.

A spokesperson for Santander declined to comment on the announcement, but the company said demolition will begin “in the next few weeks” and that the project will be “completed over the next several years.”

“The Miami market remains a key connection point between North America, Latin America and Europe, and Santander remains committed to having a presence in this international technology and financial hub,” the company said in the release. 

Santander will only occupy a portion of the office space at the completed 765-foot-tall tower designed by New York-based Handel Architects. Brickell-based Rilea Group will coordinate construction.