Thor Equities to pay $43M for Design District post office

Thor Equities is under contract to purchase the site of a United States Post Office in Miami’s Design District, The Real Deal has learned.

Thor will pay $43 million, or $1,402 per square foot, for the 30,660-square-foot property at 70 Northeast 39th Street, a source close to the deal told TRD. The property will be redeveloped into a mixed-use project with luxury retail.

Tropical Letter Carriers Holding Corp., a postal workers’ union, owns the two-story office building, according to Miami-Dade County property records. The 12,972-square-foot building was constructed in 1947.

Manny Vadillo represented the seller. It was purchased in the 1960s for $300,000, he said.

Thor Equities declined to comment on the sale, which is an off-market deal. The New York-based company, led by Joseph Sitt, also has holdings in Wynwood. In September, it paid $41.5 million for more than an entire block in Wynwood, a missing piece that gave it one square block and marked the largest deal in the neighborhood.

Thor’s roster of properties in the Design District includes 56 Northeast 40th Street and 55 Northeast 39th Street;  2-54 Northeast 40th Street, 43 Northeast 39th Street, 53 Northeast 39th Street, 75-81 Northeast 39th Street, 120 Northeast 39th Street and 3925 North Miami Avenue.

The firm has spent nearly $150 million in the Design District, which has become a luxury retail destination. By 2016, the 10-square-block district is expected to have more than 120 luxury-brand stores, a boutique hotel, 15 to 20 restaurants, luxury residential condos and lofts, galleries, furniture showrooms, as well as large-scale public art, design and graphic art installations. Dacra President and CEO Craig Robins has led the area’s transformation.

So far this year, blockbuster transactions in the Design District include the $65 million sale of Atlas Plaza, home to Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink, Rolex and Longchamp, among other tenants. Russell Atlas sold the properties, on 39th and 40th streets, to David Edelstein’s TriStar Capital in September.