Brickell World Plaza Signs Credit Agricole As Inaugural Tenant

May 10, 2011 - PRLog -- MIAMI -- 600 Brickell at Brickell World Plaza has finalized a lease agreement with Crédit Agricole Private Banking Miami as its first tenant.  The affiliate of the Paris-based international banking organization Crédit Agricole Group will occupy 20,137 square feet of space over a 12-year term commencing in November 2011; financial terms were not disclosed. The 600,000-square-foot, 40-story Tower is scheduled for completion in August 2011.

"We are excited about our move to 600 Brickell at Brickell World Plaza,” said Mathieu Ferragut, General Manager, Crédit Agricole Private Banking Miami.  “This lease reaffirms Crédit Agricole’s long-term commitment to the wealth management business in the Americas and emphasizes the strategic location of Miami. Crédit Agricole’s overall emphasis on sustainability fits perfectly with Foram Group’s commitment to develop the first high-rise commercial building to receive LEED-Platinum certification in Florida, the highest ‘green’ building rating for environmental performance. A green building provides a better work environment, and a more pleasant place to work makes for more productive and happier employees,” Mr. Ferragut said.

David Marongiu, Chief Operating Officer, Crédit Agricole Private Bank Miami, lauded 600 Brickell at Brickell World Plaza as "an office building truly designed for the electronic age ... an impressive amount of technology tucked inside a refined but conventional office tower."

   Noël Steinfeld and Chris Dekker of the Miami office of CB Richard Ellis Inc. (CBRE) represented the landlord and developer, Foram Group (Foram), in the transaction. CBRE will handle on-site property management; Foram is handling retail leasing.

“Businesses that depend on fast, secure global connectivity and high data transfer are very attracted to 600 Brickell,” said Ms. Steinfeld.  “There is a tremendous interest in this property from high-quality tenants like Crédit Agricole because 600 Brickell is unlike anything the US market has to offer.  The combination of LEED Platinum and this level of forward-thinking technology is entirely unique to 600 Brickell.”
   
   Glenn H. Gregory Senior Vice President of the Miami office of Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), represented Crédit Agricole Private Banking Miami.  The private bank is currently located at Courvoisier Center at 601 Brickell Key Drive.

Mr. Gregory stated: "Although Crédit Agricole had several great choices to consider for its Miami operations, 600 Brickell was well positioned to provide the 21st-century office space that was essential for its business. Foram is taking the helm to change the city landscape, and this building is going to lease up faster than most people realize."
About 600 Brickell at Brickell World Plaza

   In the heart of Miami’s downtown/financial district, 600 Brickell was designed by the global architecture firm RTKL and will feature a 30,000-square-foot ground-level plaza and public gathering place, ground-floor retail and 600,000 square feet of rentable office space.

   The $300-million project is designed to eliminate tenants’ business interruptions and technology worries in a 24/7 world. The building will offer both public and secured WiFi and direct access to the world’s Internet backbone through underground, redundant fiber-optic connections linking directly to the NAP (Network Access Point) of the Americas less than one mile away. 600 Brickell will be the first “Class A” office building of this magnitude in the world to be ISO 27001 Certified, the internationally accepted benchmark for information security. As a Cisco Connected Commercial Office Building in partnership with Cisco Systems, Inc., 600 Brickell will offer a growing suite of data, voice, video and security solutions for tenants over one IP network, and an on-site Information and Communications Technology (ICT) team.

   In addition, 600 Brickell will be one of a handful of Class-A office buildings in the world, and the first in Florida, to be certified LEED Platinum, the highest level available from the U.S. Green Building Council. 600 Brickell is designed to minimize its carbon footprint. Please visit its website at www.brickellworldplaza.com

About Foram Group

   Foram Group is a real estate management and sustainable development company. Loretta H. Cockrum founded the company in Atlanta in 1978 to manage and acquire real estate for high- net-worth individuals and families for wealth preservation for future generations. Foram Group also managed and leased more than one million square feet of office buildings in Florida, and in 2005 began to focus on vertical development. Foram is the proud recipient of five Building of the Year awards in Miami and Jacksonville from the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA), including the former 600 Brickell building, which was named BOMA’s U.S. Southern Region Building of the Year. Visit Foram’s Web site at www.foramgroup.com.

About Crédit Agricole Group

The Crédit Agricole Group is market leader in full-service retail banking in France and one of the largest banks in Europe.

With operations in 70 countries, the Crédit Agricole Group is a leading partner in supporting clients with their projects in all areas of retail banking and associated specialized business lines: day-to-day banking, savings, home and consumer loans, insurance, private banking, asset management, leasing and factoring, and corporate and investment banking.

On the strength of its cooperative and mutualist foundations, the Crédit Agricole Group's expansion is underpinned by balanced growth serving the real economy and respecting the interests of its 54 million customers, 1.2 million shareholders, 6.1 million cooperative shareholders and of its 160,000 employees.

Crédit Agricole is included in the three main sustainable development indices: Aspi Eurozone since 2004, FTSE4Good since 2005 and the DJSI since 2008 (Europe and worldwide).
It is ranked the eighth most sustainable corporation in the world and No. 1 in France in the 2011 Global 100 List. Visit its website at www.credit-agricole.com.