Aventura office tower sells for nearly $40M

The offices at 2999 Northeast 191st Street
The offices at 2999 Northeast 191st Street

In Aventura’s priciest office sale of the year, Aventura View traded Monday for nearly $40 million.

The 10-story, 107,304-square-foot office building at 2999 Northeast 191st Street sold for nearly double the $20.5 million purchase price that partners Steelbridge Capital and Apollo Global Real Estate had paid for in 2012, the firms said.

The buyer is COFE Properties. Corporate records show the company’s managing member is Mario Fernandez, and other managing members include Eugenio Cosculluela and chief financing officer Mike Verdeja, all based on Kendall Drive in Miami.

COFE Properties has been active in Miami-Dade this year. In May, an affiliate of the investment firm purchased the Pinecrest Town Center for $32 million. The 96,075-square-foot shopping plaza houses mostly single-story stores and restaurants, plus a four-story office building. In January, COFE sold a waterfront office building in North Bay Village to Sunbeam Properties for $13.8 million.

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In its latest deal, the Class A Aventura View office tower was built in 1988, and sits on a four-acre site, property records show.

For the past three years, the sellers said they have renovated, repositioned and rebranded the building, including reconfiguring and renovating the lobby, restrooms, common areas and many of the building’s core systems, as well as acquiring adjacent vacant land to enhance parking.

The investment resulted in a 40 percent increase in rental rates and an uptick in occupancy from 75 percent to 91 percent through the leasing of more than 90,000 square feet, led by Doug Okun, senior vice president, and Stephen Hurwitz, principal, both with CREC, along with the increase in sale price, the sellers said.

The Miami-based CBRE team representing the sellers included Christian Lee, vice chairman; José Lobón, vice president; and Amy Julien, vice president with CBRE Capital Markets, Institutional Properties; and Charles Foschini, vice chairman, and Chris Apone, first vice president, with CBRE Debt & Structured Finance. — Ina Cordle