Vacant land in Arts & Entertainment District sells for $16M

A rendering of what the property could be developed into and an overheard view of the two lots.
A rendering of what the property could be developed into and an overheard view of the two lots.

A development site in Miami’s Arts & Entertainment District was just sold for $16 million to a California-based company.

The sale includes two side-by-side parcels that take up an entire city block at 1950 Northwest First Avenue, totaling roughly 2.5 acres, according to Miami-Dade County records.

A listing for the property from commercial brokerage Colliers International said the previous ownership has already obtained a major use special permit (MUSP) for the site. That permit covers the development of 311 residential units, 11,788 square feet of retail space and a parking garage with 578 spaces. The property could also be developed as a shopping center or office building, according to the listing.

Its previous owner is a company named A-1 Management Corp, which lists Luis and Virginia Dominguez as its registered agents. The company paid only $1.65 million for the land in 2004, according to Miami-Dade County property records. The couple has listed their Venetian Islands home, which reportedly belonged to alleged mobster Chuck Delmonico.

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Now, through a deed filed last week, the land has been sold to a company named MSP 1031 2015. Corporate records show that the company’s address leads back to Asset Preservation Inc., based out of California.

Asset Preservation is an intermediary for investors looking to engage in a 1031 Exchange. The exchange is a part of the U.S. Government’s Internal Revenue Code that allows an investor to sell a property and avoid taxes on capital gains, as long as they purchase another property to replace it.

The company is also listed as the buyers of the former Bank of America building in the Little River neighborhood of Miami. It paid $6.2 million for the building in April, though at the time a source told The Real Deal that the company had no solid plans for redevelopment.