Vornado Realty Trust just closed on a $34 million loan for 1100 Lincoln Road, property records show.
The real estate investment trust is renovating the four-story, 253,000-square-foot retail building with all glass storefronts and new signage as it competes with 1111 Lincoln, which recently sold for $283 million.
French bank Crédit Agricole is the lender. Vornado acquired 1100 Lincoln in 2013 for $132 million. The property, at the western entrance to Lincoln Road, is anchored by Regal Cinemas. It was built in 1999. Other tenants include Banana Republic, Doraku and Baires Grill Argentinean Steakhouse.
Michael Comras and Jonathan Carter of the Comras Company are handling leasing of the roughly 10,700 square feet of ground floor retail space that’s available. It can be divided into up to five spaces or leased to one tenant. Market asking rents average about $300 per square foot, blended, Comras said. That’s a drop from the market’s peak of up about $400 per square foot at the start of 2016. Comras declined to provide specific asking rents for 1100 Lincoln.
Romero Britto is the first new tenant in the building since Vornado began installing new storefronts and signage. Records show Brodson Construction, led by developer Barry Brodsky, is handling the renovations.
Anthropologie left the Lincoln Road landmark last year and is moving into a new building that Terranova Corp. is developing at 801 Lincoln Road.
Vornado’s renovations are a result of the changing face of the popular retail street, Comras said. Development of the mixed-use parking garage at 1111 Lincoln in 2010 closed the block to cars and extended the pedestrian promenade west. While the street has attracted investors like Germany’s Bayerische Versorgungskammer and Zara billionaire Amancio Ortega, Lincoln Road also has a number of vacant storefronts.
The 1100 building is the only property Vornado owns in South Florida, according to its website. Vornado’s Edward Hogan, executive vice president of retail, could not immediately be reached for comment.