Yoram Izhak more than doubles money with $12.5M sale of Kendall retail strip

A company led by Yoram Izhak, an Israeli-born real estate investor and once-convicted tax evader, just more than doubled its money on the $12.5 million sale of a West Kendall retail strip.

The deal was announced Friday by brokerage Marcus & Millichap, which Izhak’s company IMC Equity Group hired to list the property for sale.

The sale was for Sabina Plaza, a 51,044-square-foot shopping strip that was built in 2007 at 4001 Southwest 152nd Avenue.

IMC Equity swooped in and bought the property out of foreclosure in 2012 for $5.2 million, or about $105 per square foot. The company then brought it out of distress by leasing it back up to full occupancy, with tenants now including anchor Dollar Tree, CrossFit gym, two restaurants, a dental office, a martial arts studio and a handful of others.

Now, it looks like IMC’s hard work has paid off. The company has traded its shopping plaza to an undisclosed private investor from Miami for nearly $245 per square foot. That’s a price appreciation of 133 percent in only four years.

Kirk Olson and Drew Kristol were the Marcus & Millichap agents on this deal.

Izhak is an Israeli-born entrepreneur who moved to Miami at a young age, according to published reports. He operated a successful clothing business for years before selling it and moving into real estate investing, leading to his current occupation as the co-founder and CEO of the IMC Equity Group.

His past criminal convictions, however, have followed him through the years. Izhak was given probation for taking a gun through Fort Lauderdale airport security in 2002, and then was given probation again in 2004 when he was convicted of tax evasion.

That has caused him trouble in recent years, leading him to drop out of a nomination for a position in the board of directors at North Miami’s Museum of Contemporary Art in 2014. He also drew scrutiny for donating to current Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel.

Just last week, his company paid $8.9 million for an office complex directly next to the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.