ADLER, HOLLY SIME FORM JOINT VENTURE

Adler Holly Management will feature Adler as property manager and Holly Sime as leasing broker. Additionally, each of the partners will continue operating their respective companies.

Matthew L. Adler, an Adler Holly Management principal, said the partnership comes as institutional investors and landlords increasingly look to small, local firms for help in a challenging commercial market.

“There is definitely a need for high-quality professionals to manage buildings,” he said. “The days that you are an order taker and have more prospects than you know what to do with are gone.”

Adler is president of Adler Realty Services, the leasing and property management division of Adler Group.

Adler Holly Management falls under the umbrella of Adler Realty Services. Matthew Adler is also chief investment officer and executive VP of Adler Group. His father, Michael Adler, is chairman and CEO of Adler Group.

William Holly, chairman and CEO of Holly Sime Realty, echoed Adler’s comment about the market’s growing demand for local expertise. He said the Brickell Avenue/downtown Miami office submarkets is going to be particularly competitive because of the arrival of nearly 2 million square feet of new office space next year.

The introduction of such a high volume of new space will add more pressure to a South Florida office sector experiencing growing availability and lower rents. The same variables have taken hold in South Florida’s industrial sector.

Holly said his new partnership will look to take advantage of a quickly changing landscape over the next 12 months.

Miami-Dade County’s industrial sector is seeing its highest vacancies and availability rates in five years. New tenant demand has waned and current tenants are looking to downsize, according to a CB Richard Ellis report.

“Deals in the 10,000- to 20,000-square-foot size range continue to be the cornerstone of the local market, while no deals in excess of 100,000 square feet were completed in the second quarter,” according to a recent CBRE report.

Data released by Cushman & Wakefield paints a similar picture.

Miami-Dade’s industrial year-to-date net space absorption was down 3.1 million square feet, compared to Broward County’s 2 million negative absorption and Palm Beach County’s 647,000 drop, according to Cushman & Wakefield.

The overall vacancy rate in Miami-Dade was 8.9 percent, while Broward saw 9.7 percent vacancy and Palm Beach recorded 7.9 percent.

The overall office market is down, but Miami-Dade is faring better than its neighboring counties.

Overall net absorption through the second quarter is negative 570,000 square feet in Miami-Dade, negative 860,000 square feet in Broward and negative 1 million square feet in Palm Beach, according to Cushman & Wakefield data.

The overall office vacancy rate in Miami-Dade is 16.1 percent, with average asking rents of $30.55 a square foot. Broward offices had an overall vacancy rate of 17.5 percent, with average asking rents of $27.54 a square foot, while Palm Beach’s overall vacancy rate was 23.1 percent, with average asking rents of $28.51 square foot.

Albert Bolter, a real estate market analyst with Colliers Abood Wood-Fay, said Adler Holly’s joint venture makes sense, but success will depend on whether the cultures of each firm mesh well.

Adler said corporate culture was a key factor in the partnership. Holly and Randy Olen, a Holly Sime principal, did deals with Adler while Holly and Olen were at Insignia/ESG.

Adler Holly Management will look to leverage and market that bond between the partners. Access to the principals will be another key to the management group’s success.

“Ultimately, you are going to be able to get Michael Adler on the phone, Matthew Adler on the phone and Bill Holly on the phone,” Matthew Adler said