Brickell City Centre buys land for future expansion

With the opening date for Brickell City Centre’s retail portion drawing closer, Swire Properties has already set its sights toward the future.

The developer has purchased a spit of land a block away from the development for $2.35 million with plans of integrating it into Brickell City Centre.

County records show a limited liability company controlled by Swire Presidential Stephen Owens purchased the parcel at 158 Southwest Seventh Street, which is about a block away from the Brickell City Centre construction site.

The 7,500-square-foot lot is occupied by a single-story warehouse that was built in 1979. It was offered for sale in January by the heirs of Walter R. Ferguson, the property’s late owner who passed away in 2014.

Aerial of the parcel and Brickell City Centre’s construction site

According to his obituary in Southwest Florida Online, Ferguson was one of the largest private landowners in Henry and Glades counties, which are located in central Florida just west of Lake Okeechobee. He came to own the Miami warehouse through a quit-claim deed from the Rudolph Investment Corp. filed in 1969.

Though no monetary amount was attached to that sale, 47 years of holding the property brought Ferguson’s heirs $313 per square foot of land.

Requests for comment to Swire were not immediately returned. The developer had previously announced Brickell City Centre would eventually flesh out through future phases, though it’s not yet clear exactly what the firm’s plans are for this parcel.

Brickell City Centre is set to open its long-awaited 500,000-square-foot retail phase in November this year. The project’s first condo tower Reach has already opened, as has its EAST hotel.

The development’s good news was mired last week when Americabe-Moriarty, the general contractor overseeing Brickell City Centre’s vertical construction, filed a $2.5 million lawsuit against a subcontractor alleging it performed shoddy work when installing drywall for the project.