Black Lion’s South Florida retail shopping spree continues with $19M South Beach deal

Los Angeles firm acquired commercial condo units at Marea in South of Fifth neighborhood

Robert Rivani, principal, Black Lion Investment Group, in front of the Marea at 801 South Pointe Drive (Facebook/RobertRivani, Black Lion Investment Group/Illustration by Steven Dilakian for The Real Deal)
Robert Rivani, principal, Black Lion Investment Group, in front of the Marea at 801 South Pointe Drive (Facebook/RobertRivani, Black Lion Investment Group/Illustration by Steven Dilakian for The Real Deal)

In a $19 million deal, Black Lion Investment Group purchased its fourth Miami-Dade retail site in a six-month span.

The Los Angeles-based commercial real estate investment firm picked up the ground-floor commercial condos in Marea, a six-story boutique condominium at 801 South Pointe Drive in Miami Beach’s South of Fifth neighborhood, according to a press release. Black Lion, led by Robert Rivani, paid roughly $995 a square foot for 19,100 square feet of retail.

(Courtesy of Black Lion Investment Group)

The seller is Marea Retails, an entity managed by Domenico Albano and Americo D’Agostini, principals of Miami-based A&D Group Realty. Marea Retails sold the two commercial units for the same price the company paid in 2015, when developer the Related Group completed the building. The project’s 30 condos atop the commercial space were sold to individual owners.

D’Agostini called the off-market trade with Black Lion “a good deal.” Fabio Faerman and Sebastian Faerman of FA Commercial brokered the sale.

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Existing commercial tenants include RED Steakhouse and KoSushi. In a statement, Rivani said Black Lion plans to lease about 9,400 of available space to other fine dining restaurants. Marea is about a five minute walk from the Yukon building where celebrity chef Gordan Ramsey is opening a Lucky Cat restaurant.

Since June, Black Lion has dropped a total of $57.9 million to acquire retail spaces in Miami and Miami Beach, including the two Marea commercial units. The company first acquired Wynwood Arcade, a nearly 23,000-square-foot retail and restaurant building in Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood for $13.3 million. The revamped warehouse is home to Salty Donut craft doughnut and coffee shop, and No. 3 Social rooftop lounge.

Also in June, Black Lion paid $12.1 million for Amara, a 12,300-square-foot restaurant operated by Michael Schwartz in Paraiso, another condo project by the Related Group in Miami’s Edgewater neighborhood.

In July, Black Lion bought a retail condo at the SLS Lux Brickell in Miami for $13.5 million. The space formerly housed Katsuya sushi restaurant and SBar.