Citibank branch on South Beach hits the market, could fetch $20M

Citibank wants to sell its branch building on Washington Avenue and 17th Street in South Beach, a property that could fetch more than $20 million, a source told The Real Deal.

CBRE’s Paul Weimer, Zach Winkler, Christian Charre and Natalie Castillo

Citibank hired CBRE to market the building, and is looking for proposals from developers to either sell or lease back retail space to the bank in a future redevelopment of the site, Paul Weimer, vice president of CBRE Hotels, told TRD.

The 7,384-square-foot building sits on a 30,000-square-foot corner lot that’s across the street from the New World Center and the Fillmore Miami Beach. Weimer is listing the property at 1685 Washington Avenue along with Christian Charre, Natalie Castillo and Zachary Winkler. It’s zoned CD-3 for high-density commercial development, which means 75,000 square feet to 82,000 square feet can be built on the site depending on the use, Weimer said.

Records show Citibank bought the property in 1995 for $2.03 million. The bank wants to either purchase or lease back 4,000 square feet on the ground floor of whatever would be built on the land. CBRE has the property on the market without an asking price, but sources told TRD it could sell “in the area of $20 million.”

“We think a hotel is the highest and best use, but it could be mixed-use,” Weimer told TRD, adding that it could serve the Miami Beach Convention Center, which is in the midst of a renovation and expansion.

“The fact that the convention center doesn’t have a hotel, the timing could be very good. It would be one of the newest and closest hotels to the convention center,” he said. Voters rejected a ballot measure in March of last year that would have allowed for a convention center hotel. 

CBRE will target developers with local experience, Weimer said. He declined to comment on which developers, but Russell Galbut, Ronny Finvarb and Scott Robins are all active in Miami Beach.

Here’s a proposed rendering of what could be built on the site:

Rendering of 1685 Washington Avenue