As Oak Lane curves toward Commerce Parkway in Miami Lakes Business Park West, drivers are met with the BankUnited campus and its five buildings that comprise the bank’s national headquarters.
The area stretching from Northwest 79th Court to Northwest 148th Street also includes Miami Lakes KinderCare; Alorica, a call center for business solutions and a Miami-Dade County Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation warehouse.
KinderCare has operated since 1988. Its director of 30 years is Dawn Chapman, a born and raised Miami Laker. Parents of the children she teaches and cares for are mostly local and work in the area.
“A lot of the time people will go on an interview and say they’re going to be working across the street [at Governors Square or Parkside Corporate Center],” Chapman said.
The proximity of both the center and business park to the Palmetto Expressway and Interstate 75 are a bonus for parents who commute to work.
The Graham Companies developed the office park in the 1980s.
The Miami Lakes Architecture and Control Committee for Commercial properties enforces protective covenants for the design and height of new buildings.
It also oversees signage, paint colors and landscaping at existing structures. There is a substantial tree canopy in the neighborhood.
BankUnited has been based in Miami Lakes since 1999, when it opened its operations center.
The rest of the bank moved to town 10 years later.
The buildings and the land are owned by The Graham Companies, except for the bank’s glass walled, stand-alone “bridge building,” which resembles the bank logo.
It offers services to companies on the west side of Miami Lakes and saves business owners a trip to the branch on Northwest 67th Avenue near Main Street.
“That was the vision of our senior executives,” said Clara Diaz-Leal, executive vice president and Miami-Dade market executive. “We can focus on the business side, we’re a business bank and our business clients tend to be in that area,” Diaz-Leal said.
The bank has a good relationship with the Town of Miami Lakes and its executive Steven Brimo is a member of the town’s Economic Development Committee.
Also, “We partake in every event that comes up, we’re sponsors, we’re Chamber [of Commerce] members,” Diaz-Leal said.
Diaz-Leal said BankUnited hopes for a continued partnership with Miami Lakes as the town grows and the bank grows.
This article is the third in a series about this unique neighborhood, which The Miami Laker will continue to explore in future reports.