Atlas Capital Group just sold an approved development site in Miami’s Arts & Entertainment District for $18.4 million, listing broker Jeff Cohen told The Real Deal.
The New York-based investment, development and management firm sold the 1-acre site at 1900 Biscayne Boulevard to Biscayne and 19th Street LLC, a company controlled by Uruguayan developer and investor Enrique Manhard.
Cohen of Brown Harris Stevens Avatar represented Atlas, while Estrella Perez of EP Realty Group represented the buyer in the off-market deal.
The sale sets a per-square-foot record for land on the boulevard in the A&E District, Cohen said. The district, formerly called the Omni, runs from 10th Street to 19th Street. The property traded for $435 per square foot.
The development site is approved for a 36-story building with 429 residential units, 13,000 square feet of retail space and a 620-space parking garage. Atlas secured approvals for the site more than two years ago. Kobi Karp designed the plans.
The firm paid $13.55 million for the nine-parcel assemblage in 2014, which includes a vacant 10,600-square-foot building.
Manhard’s family owns a chain of 50 Chic Parisien stores in Uruguay and Paraguay, according to the company’s website.
Perez said the Manhard-led group of investors has been active in South Florida for many years and plan on holding onto the property until the next cycle. Condo developers have held off on new project launches amid the market slowdown.
“The timing right now to launch a new project we all would probably agree is not a good idea,” Brown Harris Steven’s Phil Gutman said. “Now is the time for land banking.”
Records show Manhard’s 17th & Second Avenue Properties Corp. sold an eight-parcel assemblage nearby to ASRR Capital in June for $33 million. Plans for that property include two towers, one rising 60 stories and a second rising 40 stories, with up to 1,200 rental units, plus retail and office components.
Atlas Capital could not immediately be reached for comment.