New York-based Thor Equities has bought two more properties in Miami’s Design District, as it expands its sizable retail portfolio in the neighborhood, The Real Deal has learned.
Thor on Thursday paid a total of $16 million for 56 Northeast 40th Street and 55 Northeast 39th Street. The properties, which abut each other, total 9,700 square feet of land, with 50 feet of frontage on 40th Street and an additional 50 feet of frontage on 39th Street. The properties are mostly empty with one remaining tenant, Designers Tile. The seller of the sites is the estate of James H. Michael, according to Miami-Dade property records.
Chariff Realty Group represented the buyer and was the only broker in the transaction.
“It’s a deal that we worked on for over two-and-a-half years,” Lyle Chariff, president of Chariff Realty Group, told TRD. “We were dealing with the gentleman who owned it, and in the middle of the negotiations, he passed away. After he passed away, his estate started to handle the property… and had to understand the market, and thank God we were able to come to terms.” Attorney Alex Perkins of Perkins Law Offices represented the seller.
The new properties add to Thor’s large roster of properties, which includes 2-54 Northeast 40th Street, 43 Northeast 39th Street, 53 Northeast 39th Street, 75-81 Northeast 39th Street, 120 Northeast 39th Street and 3925 North Miami Avenue. The company has spent about $100 million on its portfolio, Chariff said.
“It was the missing link, and now they have assembled their contiguous space,” he said.
The company’s holdings now approach nearly a quarter of the district, Chariff said. “Thor is working on a redevelopment plan, and is looking for high street retail tenants,” he said.
A Thor spokesperson declined to comment.
Miami’s Design District is undergoing a transformation to a luxury shopping destination, spearheaded by Craig Robins, president and CEO of Dacra. By 2016, the 10-square-block district is expected to have more than 120 luxury-brand stores, a boutique hotel, 15 to 20 restaurants, luxury residential condos and lofts, galleries, furniture showrooms, as well as large-scale public art, design and graphic art installations.
Other buyers in the district include Brooklyn-based RedSky Capital and London-based JZ Capital Management, which last week purchased 35 Northeast 40th Street, the home of Oak Tavern, for $28 million; and a week earlier, 1 Northeast 40th Street, for $29.25 million.
Thor, led by Joseph Sitt, has honed in on the Design District, as well as Lincoln Road and Collins Avenue in Miami Beach in recent years.
In New York, Thor’s portfolio includes such retail sites as 597 Fifth Avenue, 693 Fifth Avenue, 685 Fifth Avenue and 680 Madison Avenue, according to the company’s website. Earlier this month, Thor announced that it has leased a property at 155 Mercer Street in SoHo to Dolce & Gabbana for the brand’s flagship retail store.