Linkpoint Properties pays $5.5M for Miami River sites

Firm is on an acquisition binge backed by nearly $100M in funds, mostly from South American family offices

1400-1404 Northwest 17th Avenue and Alex Sanchez
1400-1404 Northwest 17th Avenue and Alex Sanchez

Linkpoint Properties just paid $5.5 million for two adjoining sites in the Miami River district, The Real Deal has learned.

Miami-based Linkpoint, which is the real estate acquisition arm of joint venture partners Linkvest Capital LLC and Cornerpoint Partners LLC, bought 1400 and 1404 Northwest 17th Avenue, Alex Sanchez, principal of Cornerpoint, told TRD. The deal was financed with a $2.6 million loan from Apollo Bank.

JP Morgan Chase operates an 11,000-square-foot branch and parking lot on the parcels, and has a triple-net lease expiring in mid-2019 with options to renew, said Sanchez, who declined to disclose the rental amount.

Linkpoint’s plan for the site is to “collect JP Morgan Chase rent until it expires then renew or redevelop,” he said.

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Records show the seller is Soliusa Holdings NV, which paid $1.5 million for the property in 1980, including the building built in 1975. The price for the combined 77,550-square-foot parcels is $500 per square foot for the building and $71 per square foot for the land.

The Miami River district is undergoing redevelopment, with new restaurants, condominiums and mixed-use projects in the works. KAR Properties plans to build the condo One River Point, and the Chetrit Group, JDS Development Group and Ari Pearl are planning a $1 billion mixed-use project.

The JP Morgan Chase site marks the first purchase for Linkpoint, which is on an “acquisition binge,” backed by nearly $100 million in funds raised mostly from South American family offices, Sanchez said. The funds will be used for purchases in the Southeast, primarily in Florida and Georgia. So far, two additional properties are under contract  one in Georgia set to close in the next two months, and another in Miami-Dade that will close in early January “for capital gains reasons on the selling side,” he said.

The partnership between Linkvest, a private equity firm, and Cornerpoint, a real estate investment firm, started with Linkvest first lending money to Cornerpoint, then providing equity in deals, before the two firms decided to create a partnership to buy assets. Cornerpoint was formed three-and-a-half years ago as a combination of Indigo Properties, led by Sanchez and Gunthert Co., led by Gerard Gunthert.