Itaú Leases Two São Paulo Towers from EZTEC in Record Deal
Brazil · Business
Key Facts
- —What happened Itaú Unibanco leased 100% of EZTEC’s Esther Towers in São Paulo, two AAA-class buildings totalling 91,400 square metres.
- —What it costs About R$1.17 billion (about US$228 million) projected over ten years, with an option to extend by five more.
- —The catch The record label comes from CBRE and Binswanger Brasil, the brokers who intermediated the deal; Binswanger acted for Itaú.
- —Why it matters The towers will hold about 9,600 to 10,000 work positions as Itaú pushes staff back into offices from 2027.
- —What the rent is About R$107 per square metre a month (about US$20.80), slightly below the asking rent on Avenida Chucri Zaidan.
- —Who EZTEC is A São Paulo developer of homes and offices, listed as EZTC3, which signed through a subsidiary of commercial arm EZ Inc.
Brazil’s biggest office market has spent years with empty floors. One bank has now taken two whole towers in São Paulo for a decade.
The Itaú EZTEC office lease hands one Brazilian bank two entire towers in São Paulo. Itaú Unibanco has taken 100% of the Esther Towers project from the developer EZTEC.
The two buildings hold 91,400 square metres of leasable space between them. Each is an AAA-class corporate tower of roughly 45,000 square metres, according to the financial site Seu Dinheiro.
EZTEC filed a material fact notice with the securities regulator CVM on 17 September 2026. Brazilian outlets carried the news the following day.
What the contract is worth
The lease runs for ten years, with an option to extend it by a further five. EZTEC projects about R$1.17 billion (about US$228 million) in rent over that decade.
That works out at roughly R$117 million (about US$22.8 million) a year, the site Finance News calculated. The implied rent is about R$107 per square metre a month, or about US$20.80.
Conversions here use the commercial dollar rate of R$5.14 to US$1 on 18 September 2026, reported by InfoMoney.
The rent is adjusted annually by the IPCA, Brazil’s main consumer price index. Exame, Gazeta Mercantil and Times Brasil all report that term.
The contract was signed through Mairiporã Incorporadora Ltda, a subsidiary of EZ Inc, EZTEC’s commercial arm.
The developer behind the towers
EZTEC is a Brazilian property company that develops both homes and offices. Its shares trade on the B3 exchange in São Paulo under the ticker EZTC3.
The company said the deal fits its strategy to “generate value from its assets”. It also called the project “a relevant source of recurring revenue”.
That phrase carries the logic of the deal. A developer that sells a building books the money once; a developer that rents it collects every month.
BTG Pactual welcomed the shift, calling the project “a relevant asset within the company’s portfolio, expanding recurring result generation”. Banco Safra was cooler.
Full occupancy improves the outlook for turning the project into cash, the Safra note said. But “much of this was already priced into the market”.
Why a bank takes two towers
The towers will hold about 9,600 work positions, on figures carried by Gazeta Mercantil, Seu Dinheiro and Times Brasil. Exame put the number at nearly 10,000.
The Itaú EZTEC office lease adds to the bank’s estate rather than replacing it. The bank keeps its 1980s headquarters complex in Jabaquara and offices on Avenida Faria Lima, Seu Dinheiro reported.
The move is also about bringing staff back in. Itaú employees currently work on site eight days a month, according to Seu Dinheiro.
From January 2027 superintendents move to four days a week. From 2028 the general target rises to three days a week.
Itaú said the complex “will be occupied exclusively by the bank, with staggered entry per tower delivery”. It said the site supports “collaboration, knowledge exchange, and team integration”.
The claim that it is the largest in Brazil
CBRE and Binswanger Brasil classified the deal as the largest corporate lease ever recorded in Brazil. Both firms brokered the transaction.
They took part in the intermediation, and Binswanger represented Itaú in the negotiation, Gazeta Mercantil reported. No full historical ranking or methodology has been published.
Binswanger did publish benchmarks. It put the 91,400 square metres at more than four times the average of recent large individual deals.
The largest comparables it named were Nubank’s 50,000 square metres and Amazon’s 39,200, Seu Dinheiro reported. Casas Bahia, Uber and Wise each took under 17,000.
Coverage differs on scope. Times Brasil, the CNBC affiliate, called it the largest in Brazil; Metro Quadrado called it the largest in São Paulo’s history.
Metro Quadrado first reported the talks on 2 September 2026, citing people party to the matter. Exame declined to rank the deal at all.
What it says about the São Paulo market
The towers sit on Avenida Chucri Zaidan, in the Chácara Santo Antônio area of the south zone. That avenue sets the rent benchmark.
In the second quarter of 2026, Class A space on Chucri Zaidan asked R$111.28 a month (about US$21.60). Those figures come from the property research firm Buildings, published on 7 July 2026.
So the bank is not paying a premium. At about R$107 (about US$20.80) it sits just below the Chucri Zaidan asking rent.
What Itaú secured was size rather than address. Metro Quadrado said the avenue draws companies needing contiguous floors of 5,000 to 10,000 square metres.
Space of that size is scarce on the costlier Faria Lima, the same report said. Nova Faria Lima asked R$322.36 a square metre in the second quarter (about US$62.70).
Empty space is shrinking across the city. Six of the seven main submarkets cut vacancy between the first and second quarters of 2026.
Chucri Zaidan’s own vacancy fell to 13.1% from 14.4%, Buildings found. High-standard vacancy across São Paulo also reached 13.1% in that quarter.
JLL calls that a 17-year low, Forbes Brasil reported. On Colliers’ broader corporate measure, vacancy was 16% in the first quarter of 2026, a six-year low, InfoMoney said.
Landlords on Chucri Zaidan are winning renewal increases of 30% to 40%. Metro Quadrado reported that on 2 September 2026.
What happens next
The first tower is due at the end of 2026 and the second in the first half of 2027. Itaú will move in tower by tower, Exame reported.
Parts of the Itaú EZTEC office lease remain unpublished. No signing date separate from the CVM filing has been given.
The R$1.17 billion (about US$228 million) is the revenue EZTEC projects before the annual IPCA adjustments. Neither company has published the full contract.
More: Brazil coverage, every day from The Rio Times.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is EZTEC?
EZTEC is a Brazilian property developer that builds both residential and commercial projects. Its shares trade on the B3 exchange in São Paulo under the ticker EZTC3. Corporate work runs through its commercial arm, EZ Inc, and this contract was signed by a subsidiary called Mairiporã Incorporadora Ltda. The company describes the Esther Towers deal as a relevant source of recurring revenue, meaning rent collected monthly instead of a one-off sale.
How much is Itaú paying?
About R$1.17 billion (about US$228 million) over the initial ten years, with an option for a further five. That is roughly R$117 million (about US$22.8 million) a year, and an implied rent of about R$107 per square metre a month (about US$20.80). Conversions use the commercial dollar rate of R$5.14 to US$1 on 18 September 2026, as reported by InfoMoney. The rent is adjusted annually by the IPCA, so the R$1.17 billion (about US$228 million) is the revenue EZTEC projects before those adjustments.
Is it really the largest office lease in Brazil?
CBRE and Binswanger Brasil classified it as the largest corporate lease ever recorded in the Brazilian market. Both brokered the transaction and Binswanger represented Itaú in the negotiation, so the record claim comes from parties to the deal. No full historical ranking or methodology has been published, although Binswanger named comparable leases: Nubank at 50,000 square metres, Amazon at 39,200, Casas Bahia at 16,500, Uber at 15,900 and Wise at 14,100. Coverage also differs on scope, with Times Brasil, the CNBC affiliate, calling it the largest in Brazil and Metro Quadrado the largest in São Paulo’s history. Exame declined to rank it at all.
Why would a bank need two new towers?
The two buildings will hold about 9,600 work positions, a figure carried by Gazeta Mercantil, Seu Dinheiro and Times Brasil, while Exame put it at nearly 10,000. Itaú staff currently work on site eight days a month. From January 2027 superintendents move to four days a week, and from 2028 the general target rises to three days a week. The bank says the towers will be occupied exclusively by its own staff, entered in stages as each tower is delivered.
Sources: Exame on the contract value, the leasable area and the IPCA adjustment, Gazeta Mercantil on the CVM filing and the brokers’ record claim, Seu Dinheiro on the two towers and the return-to-office plan, Seu Dinheiro on Binswanger’s comparable leases, Money Times on the intermediation and the benchmark deals, Finance News on the annual rent and the analyst reaction, Metro Quadrado on the first report of the talks and Chucri Zaidan renewals, Buildings on São Paulo asking rents and vacancy, Forbes Brasil on the JLL 17-year low, InfoMoney on the Colliers six-year low, InfoMoney on the commercial dollar rate
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