The closure of Yoss LLP, one of South Florida’s largest law firms, stands to dump nearly 80,000 square feet of high-end office space back onto the market. Unfortunately, this comes at a time when any recovery in the office sector is fragile, at the very least. Vacancy rates in Coral Gables and downtown Fort Lauderdale, where Yoss has offices, are both at an uncomfortable 19 percent. What will officially become of the space in the trio of buildings is not officially known, but landlords are already bracing to get it back.
The largest slice of Yoss’ real estate – 45,118 square feet – is in the upscale 2525 Ponce de Leon building in Coral Gables. Further north, in the heart of downtown Fort Lauderdale, Yoss leases 23,144 square feet on the 17th floor of the swanky 350 Las Olas Centre.
The Yoss closure comes on the heels of other law firm closings. Most notably, David Stern’s foreclosure law firm imploded over allegations of robo-signing and document fraud, dumping 188,000 square feet of office space in Plantation. Then, Epstein Becker & Green announced it was leaving Miami.
“South Florida's primary downtown office space users are law firms and financial firms,” said Richard Schuchts, senior VP with Jones Lang LaSalle. “When national firm Epstein Becker announced they were leaving Miami, that helped support the office market. Epstein Becker keeps paying the rent and those attorneys move to new firms, who then expand and take more office space. The net result is a decrease in vacancy. The announcement that Yoss is closing does not have that silver lining. Those landlords now have new direct lease space and the vacancy rate increases. We will have to hope for a lot of expansion to make up for those losses.”
