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Aetna Realty buys former Barneys building in Miami Beach
It sold for less than half the $13M asking price
UPDATED October, 31st. 1:45 p.m.: Companies tied to New York-based Aetna Realty just purchased the former site of a Barneys New York Co-Op in Miami Beach for $5.75 million, property records show.
The 9,377-square-foot retail space at 832 Collins Avenue sold for about $610 per square foot. Aetna’s U.S. Realty Financial Corp. now owns 49.09 percent, U.S. Realty & Investment Co. owns 48.52 percent, and Olympic Gardens HB owns 4.39 percent of the property.
Jademire Properties, led by Bill Murray, was the seller. Records show Murray paid $2.5 million for the property in 1999. The two-story building, built in 1923, was renovated in 2000. The retail building could also be developed or converted to short-term rentals or office space.
The property hit the market with Marcus & Millichap’s Scott Sandelin in 2015 for $12.75 million, which means it just sold for less than half the original asking price. Marcus & Millichap’s Alejandro D’Alba and Jonathan De La Rosa also worked on the deal.
While on the market the firm received 21 offers for the retail space.
Sandelin said he secured a buyer who was willing to pay above the asking price in 2015, but the deal fell through. “The market just deteriorated after that in terms of availability of tenants,” he added.
South Florida isn’t immune to the changing retail landscape across the country. In Miami-Dade, vacancy rates increased year-over-year in the third quarter, up to 3.6 percent from 2.9 percent last year.
In 2013, Aetna bought the 1.7-acre Macy’s flagship department store in downtown Miami. Four years later, the real estate investment firm is looking to fill several floors of the building with new retailers, according to Bisnow.