GlobeSt.com UPDATE: CNL Opens First New Office Tower Downtown in Six Years

ORLANDO-CNL Center II, Downtown’s first major office building in six years, has opened next to CNL Center I and the City Hall structure on South Street.

The 12-story, 291,000-sf class A property was completed on schedule by Atlanta-based Hardin Construction Co. and sits adjacent to CNL Center I, a14-story, 350,000-sf building next to the domed 300,000-sf City Hall structure on South Street. The six-year-old building is 100% leased. The estimated hard construction cost of CNL II is $55 million and that of CNL I is $53 million, as GlobeSt.com reported June 24, 2004 when CNL II broke ground.

James M. Seneff Jr, founder, chairman and CEO of CNL Financial Group, tells GlobeSt.com CNL Center II is in “a great location, in the heart of the central business district. The opening of this second tower provides new, class A office space to the Downtown area, which is quickly becoming a vibrant marketplace for our community.” Seneff projects CNL Center II will be “almost fully leased in the first quarter of next year.”

CNL Center II is currently near the 80% leased level as it formally welcomes three big-name corporate tenants in PricewaterhouseCoopers, Charles Schwab Co. and the 400-lawyer Akerman Senterfitt law firm, which plans to relocate from the 18-story, 258,321-sf Citrus Center during the first quarter of 2006. Average asking rent in CNL Center II will be about $30 per sf, Downtown office brokers familiar with the properties tell GlobeSt.com.

PricewaterhouseCoopers and Schwab already occupy space in CNL II. Citrus Center, owned by Jackson, MI-based Parkway Properties Inc., is 98% leased and was Downtown’s first major office building in 1971, according to GlobeSt.com research. About 300 employees at CNL Hospitality Corp and CNL Retirement Corp. are expected to relocate to CNL II in first quarter 2006, according to company officials.

Groundbreaking for a third planned tower, CNL III, depends on the city’s progress in finding financing for a performing arts center near the three office buildings, as GlobeSt.com previously reported. The third tower would replace an existing 10-story, 90,000-sf circular structure that once housed the Coral Gables Federal Savings & Loan business on the east side of Orange Avenue, directly across from City Hall. CNL owns the building; the city owns the land.