Recycling plant near Wynwood wants $25.2M

One company’s trash is another’s treasure.

The long-time Southern Waste Systems site near Wynwood has hit the market with an asking price of $25.2 million.

The 1.44-acre lot is located at 2000 North Miami Avenue near the southern border of Miami’s booming Wynwood neighborhood.

The owner is Southern Waste Systems, which bought the land in 2003 and 2007 for a total of $3.35 million, or about $53 per square foot, according to Miami-Dade County property records. Southern Waste sold a portion of its assets to Waste Management in January, though it retained ownership of the Wynwood site. The company is now asking more than $400 per square foot.

It’s currently used as a waste processing plant — what some would call a far cry from its “highest and best use.”

Scott Sandelin and Johnathan De La Rosa of Marcus & Millichap

Jonathan De La Rosa of Marcus & Millichap, who’s co-listing the property with his colleague Scott Sandelin, told The Real Deal that the owners tried to sell the property on their own with an asking price of $30 million without much success.

“They wanted to hire a national firm that had the reach to sell the property,” he said.

With its recent upzoning to T6-8-0, the property has huge potential for a mixed-use development, de la Rosa said. A developer could build up to 196 residences, 40,000 square feet of retail and 380 parking spaces on the site.

The site also has 460 feet of linear frontage on Northwest 20th Street and North Miami Avenue, which means it could take advantage of the high traffic on both roadways, de la Rosa said.

“The buyer pools for these areas have a different set of goggles on,” he said. “They’re seeing the opportunity; they’re seeing millennials are moving toward these urban core markets.”

Wynwood’s popularity as an art destination caused a developer buying frenzy over the past year, which saw New York real estate giants like Thor Equities and RedSky Capital snap up large chunks of the neighborhood.