Danet Linares

Danet Linares quickly took to leasing buildings. The New York native began her career at Wachovia Financial Center in Miami and found herself an administrative assistant for property management and leasing. She had no real estate experience at all.

“I was working with the leasing person, and we were really busy with 600,000sf to lease in a building after a bank had vacated. We worked late every night. The director of leasing was so busy, he wanted to have someone work for him completely, and I got transferred to him. I liked the work, got my real estate license and took care of the walk-ins,” she said.

“I was given a 135,000sf building to lease. A major single tenant had left the building. It was our responsibility to lease it out and do renovations to make it a multi-tenant space. We had to retrofit all the corridors.

“My boss put me in charge of everything. I exceeded his expectations and got the job done ahead of deadline. So I got more buildings of my own. Leasing is a lot of work and hours. You have to give it your all,” said Linares.

Now vice president of commercial leasing and marketing for Blue Capital Management, owner of The Bank of America Tower at International Place in downtown Miami, Linares transformed the 600,000sf office tower into a success story.

After purchasing the landmark tower in June 2003, in early 2004 Blue Capital Management brought Linares in to lease the property. She increased the building’s occupancy rate from a low of 77% in mid-2004 to more than 94% leased by the end of 2005.

Highlights included her completing 25 lease deals totaling 135,455sf and valued at more than $31.7 million. She spearheaded the $1.7 millon renovation of the ground-floor retail area, which attracted new tenants. During the eight-month renovation, Linares attracted nearly a half-dozen retail tenants including the anchor, U.S. Century Bank.

Upgrades and new items including elevator cabs and new landscaping have highlighted the project.

She turned to marketing to regain the tower’s position as a Class A office facility. Linares re-introduced the building to the community by hosting strategic events aimed at re-energizing the brokerage community and key influentials in both political and civic circles.

Linares was named to the CB Richard Ellis’ Global 100 in 2003, an honor presented to the top 100 leasing agents at CB Richard Ellis. She is active with CREW Miami, The Women’s Fund and the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce.

Why does she stay in the field?

“I love it,” she exclaims. “Every day is different, and it is not boring. Every deal is different, and even though it is the same process, you are always learning something new and working with sophisticated tenants and learning from intelligent people."

“(In the future) Hopefully I’ll be in charge of more properties. I want to be someone people can look up to as a real estate expert,” she said.