Thor unloads Design District properties: $128.3M

Less than three years after it began assembling a war chest of properties in Miami’s Design District, Thor Equities has just sold eight sites to Redsky Capital and JZ Capital Partners for $128.285 million.

The nearly two-block purchase adds to Brooklyn-based Redsky Capital and London-based JZ Capital Partners’ growing portfolio in the district, where the joint venture partners have invested more than $233 million in recent months.

New York-based Thor, led by Joseph Sitt, had paid a total of $46.8 million for the properties it just sold, all of which the firm purchased in 2013 and 2014, Miami-Dade property records show.

The properties include:

• 3995 North Miami Avenue, purchased for $5.4 million in May 2014;
• 10 Northeast 40th Street;
• 28 Northeast 40th Street;
• 40 Northeast 40th Street;
• 50 Northeast 40th Street (all four part of a $20 million bulk purchase in May 2014);
• 53 Northeast 39th Street, purchased for $5.65 million in March 2013;
• 3925 North Miami Avenue;
• 15 Northeast 39th Street, together with 3925 North Miami Avenue, purchased for $15.75 million in April 2014

In January, Thor doubled its investment when it sold four other properties to Redsky and JZ for $60 million: 55 Northeast 39th Street, 56 Northeast 40th Street, and 75-81 Northeast 39th Street in Miami. 

In the past year, Redsky and JZ have been on a buying spree in Miami’s Design District, also paying $23.95 million for 45 Northeast 39th Street in September, and $24 million for the retail property at 21 Northeast 39th Street, in July.

In March, Redsky and JZ paid $28 million for the site of the former Oak Tavern, at 35 Northeast 40th Street, and the same month, the firms paid $29.25 million for the property at 1 Northeast 40th Street.

Thor still owns property in the Design District, after having bought the site of a United States Post Office at 70 Northeast 39th Street, in November for $43 million.

By the end of next year, the Design 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. In 2015, blockbuster transactions in the Design District included the $65 million sale of Atlas Plaza, home to Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink, Rolex and Longchamp, among other tenants. Russell Atlas sold those properties, on 39th and 40th streets, to David Edelstein’s TriStar Capital in September.

Correction: A previous version of this story had an incorrect address and seller for Thor’s post office site.