The nation's largest ride hailing company is doubling down on downtown Miami.
Uber (NYSE: UBER) signed a lease for a 13,000-square-foot office at 3 MiamiCentral, a new Class A office tower located in a mixed-use development that includes the neighborhood's Brightline passenger rail station.
That proximity to public transit was a selling point for Uber because it aligns with the company's mission to improve mobility options for customers, said Senior Manager of Public Affairs Javier Correoso.
"With access to multimodal transit, including the new Brightline inter-city express train that connects Southeast Florida ... and the way our app integrates multiple mobility options into the user experience, the location is a natural fit," he said.
In addition to Brightline, the South Florida Regional Public Transportation Authority is in the process of extending the Tri-Rail commuter rail service to MiamiCentral to provide a direct route to downtown Miami for commuters across the tri-county region. That was another draw for Uber when it was searching for office spaces, said Alan Kleber and Adam Bernstein of brokerage firm JLL, who represented Uber in the transaction.
Uber, which currently has an office in Brickell, will relocate to 3 MiamiCentral in early 2022.
Uber is the latest big-name company in the tech or finance world to make a move to downtown Miami.
At least a dozen companies, including Boston Private; Blackstone Group; and Plug and Play, one of the world's largest startup accelerator and innovation platforms, have either signed leases or announced moves to the city's urban core over the past 18 months. The Blackstone Group, a New York-based private equity firm (NYSE: BX), plans to hire 200 people for its in-house technology team after purchasing 2 MiamiCentral and 3 MiamiCentral in March.
"When Uber thought about its future, it thought about Miami," Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said in a statement. "Their office will allow them to be closer to major investors, house senior leadership, and create dozens of high-paying local jobs for a robust talent pool."
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