This Week's South Florida Deal Sheet
A 57-story mixed-use tower at 56 Southwest First St. in Downtown Miami was officially approved by Miami's Urban Development Review Board last week in a 4-0 vote.
M Tower, a 507K SF development from New York developer Lions Group, is planned to be developed atop an eight-story, city-owned parking garage with air rights leased from the Miami Parking Authority, the South Florida Business Journal reports. It was designed with more than 10K SF of retail on the ground floor, a 10th-floor coworking space, two pools and 675 residential units.
Jesse Kehoe, senior development manager at Fortis Design + Build, posted photo renderings of the project with the caption, "Officially have UDRB approval!" Fortis is a partner on the project.
SALES
The site where the Champlain Towers in Surfside once stood is now under the ownership of Dubai developer Damac Properties.
Damac closed on its acquisition of 8777 Collins Ave. for $120M last week. The money from the sale will go toward paying the $1.02B settlement Miami-Dade County Judge Michael Hanzman awarded to the families of the deceased and survivors of the June 24, 2021, collapse of Champlain Towers South, per The Real Deal.
Hussain Sajwani’s firm was the only bidder in the public auction for the site. Avison Young managed the sale process on behalf of the court receiver, while Damac was represented by Jeff Cohen and Vivian Dimond of Brown Harris Stevens.
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Condo owners at Bay Harbor Towers agreed to sell all of the units to local developer Ari Pearl and investor Jonathan Leifer for $32M.
Pearl and Leifer acquired 10141 and 10143 East Bay Harbor Drive after the owners decided to sell the property following the aftermath of the Champlain Tower South building collapse, The Real Deal reports.
Pearl’s firm financed the deal using a $70M loan from an affiliate of MSD Partners, the family office of billionaire Michael Dell. Blanca Commercial Real Estate’s Cary Cohen and MSP Group’s Deme Mekras represented the condo owners in the deal, which clears the way for a redevelopment.
The chancellor and CEO of Keiser University has sold two office buildings the school uses to its parent entity, Everglades College.
Arthur Keiser, along with his business partner William Keenan, sold the two buildings in Fort Lauderdale for a combined $57.6M, the South Florida Business Journal reports. Everglades bought the 112K SF 1900 Northwest Commercial Blvd. for $30.4M and the 114K SF building at 1500 Northwest 49th St. and the adjacent parking lot for $27.2M.
Everglades College assumed Keiser’s $14M mortgage from TD Bank and secured a $40.7M acquisition loan for the purchase from the same lender.
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Denver-based firm Aimco bought 1.7 acres from an affiliate of Raanan Katz’s RK Centers for $20M as part of its Flagler Village development.
The Fort Lauderdale property, on the southeast corner of Northeast Ninth Street and Fifth Avenue, is planned to be a 3M SF mixed-use complex, including 1,500 apartment units, The Real Deal reports.
Aimco recently purchased the adjacent 5.6-acre property for $64M in June. RK is also managing this property and under contract to sell the remaining land.
LEASES
Codina Partners’ Beacon Logistics Park in Hialeah has a new tenant. All Florida Paper leased Building D, a 226K SF space at 14401 Northwest 107th Ave., Codina Partners confirmed. Construction will start in Q4, according to The Real Deal. All Florida Paper employees could use the space by next summer. The landlord was represented by Fairchild Partners and the tenant by Cushman & Wakefield.
