Updated, 9:05 a.m., Jan. 4: A Miami investor paid $8 million for a corner gas station across the street from the Chetrit Group’s $1 billion Miami River project, adding to his holdings in the Brickell area.
Records show broker and investor Simon Karam’s City Block Properties LLC spent $378 per square foot for the 21,158-square-foot corner lot at 720 Southwest Second Avenue near Brickell City Centre. The seller is Five Group Corp., a company controlled by Eduardo Atienza, Manuel Alegria, Antonio Moreno and Basilo J. Folgueira.
The deal is another indication of developers acquiring land amid the slowdown in Miami’s luxury market, with most holding off on launching new projects until sales pick up again.
It also adds to Karam’s holdings in the area. He owns the CVS-anchored shopping strip behind the gas station through the company South Florida Centers LLC, bringing his total on that block to 2.23 acres.
The nearly half-acre property is currently a Chevron gas station. It’s two blocks north of the Miami River, across Southwest Seventh Street from Chetrit’s five-phase, mixed-use development. The project, also being developed by Ari Pearl and JDS Development Group, will have 1,678 residential units, 330 hotel rooms, 266,000 square feet of retail and office space, and more than 2,000 parking spaces. The first phase will have a 56-story building with a 207-room hotel, 334 condos, 42,100 square feet of retail and a parking garage. In September, they closed on a $49 million pre-development loan for the site at 401 Southwest Third Avenue. It’s currently the River Yacht Club.
The Chevron property is also about two blocks west of Brickell City Centre, among other new projects. (Across from Brickell City Centre, records show Karam also owns the Burger King property on the corner of Southwest Eighth Street and South Miami Avenue.)
The nearly 7,600-square-foot gas station, which includes a car wash and liquor store, last sold for $1.49 million in 1999. It’s one of three gas stations in the Brickell area.
Karam, who also owns the Sears-anchored shopping center on U.S. 1 and 67th Avenue in Miami, financed his purchase with a $5.2 million loan from Banco Popular.