Miami River site asking $5.6M under contract

A Miami River investor who listed his property for $5.6 million in late April is under contract to sell the site for close to the asking price, listing broker Andrey Laranjeira of Engel & Völkers told The Real Deal. 

Investor Jerry Yoham is looking to sell the 18-parcel assemblage at 2974 Northwest North River Drive. It hit the market April 21st and went under contract less than a week later. Laranjeira declined to name the buyer, but said a developer and two investors made offers within three days for close to the asking price.

The property is currently leased to Sea Coast Shipping in an industrial part of the river, north of the burst of residential and retail development underway closer to the bay. It totals 123,000 square feet of land, 10,500 square feet of warehouse space, two docks and 770 linear feet of river frontage. The cap rate, which measures an investor’s return on investment, is 8.5 percent, Laranjeira said.

Sea Coast Shipping generates about $540,000 a year in gross income, marketing materials show. Yorhan has been part of the ownership on and off for nearly 20 years. He bought it again in 2009, property records show.

While the Sea Coast site is northwest of the core of new development on the river, Laranjeira expects developers and investors to continue heading in that direction. Fashion magnate Naeem Khan is planning to move his headquarters from New York City to a site at 1175 Northwest South River Drive. Khan’s project will include two buildings, a manufacturing facility and a fashion school on the waterfront land, which he’s leasing from Miami-Dade County.

Also in the works: KAR Properties’ One River Point, a 60-story luxury condominium project designed by architect Rafael Viñoly, and the Chetrit Group, Ari Pearl and JDS Development Group’s plans for a mixed-used development with four towers, a hotel, shops, restaurants and a public river walk with boat slips.

Developer Andrew Hellinger also planned to build River Landing, which would have 475 apartments and a five-story retail complex with 426,000 square feet of space. Hellinger was dealing with a foreclosure lawsuit on the property as of last year, and in February, a Toronto-based real estate investment trust purchased the mortgage on the project, the South Florida Business Journal reported.