Opa Locka Hialeah Flea Market site under contract

Opa Locka Hialeah Flea Market
Opa Locka Hialeah Flea Market

The Opa Locka Hialeah Flea Market is under contract to a partnership between Michael Fay, developer Jackson Ward, Rodney Barreto, Chris Kallivokas and Brian May, sources told The Real Deal

The deal for the 72-acre assemblage, off of LeJeune Road and the Gratigny Expressway, is expected to close during the fourth quarter of this year, Ward told TRD. He declined to provide a sale price.

Fay is a principal at Avison Young, which acquired his firm Abood Wood-Fay in 2014. Kallivokas is the founder and head of RER Ventures based in Coral Gables. Barreto, a former lobbyist and banker, is also chair of the Fish & Wildlife Foundation of Florida. May is a partner at Floridian Partners and lobbyist.

Eventually, the buyers have plans to develop the property into a mixed-use residential and commercial project, Ward said. He said they plan to continue to operate the flea market and the neighboring Insurance Auto Auctions.

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The sellers are Bodwin Ltd. and Seabase Florida Corp. Both are entities managed by North Miami Beach attorney Sheldon Zipkin. S L Huang is also a director of Seabase Florida, state records show.

More than 100,000 attend the flea sprawling market on a weekly basis, according to its website.

The deal includes the three parcels at 12705 and 12691 Northwest 42nd Avenue, as well as 12700 Northwest Le Jeune Road in Opa-Locka. Altogether, they last sold for a combined $11.3 million between 1984 and 1991.

Although the buyers declined to disclose a sales price, a property of this size is likely to sell for tens of millions. Last month, Stuart Miller’s Lennar Corp. and Armando Codina and Jim Carr’s CC Homes paid $96 million for the former White Course in Doral, a 130-acre property they will redevelop. That deal marks one of the most expensive land deals in Miami-Dade history.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.