550 Ninth Street (Credit: Google Maps)
Hotelier Simon Nemni just paid $17.6 million for a shuttered assisted living facility in Miami Beach.
The seller, A.D.M.E. Real Estate, is owned by Morris and Philip Esformes, who are father and son, and business partners.
Philip Esformes is the main defendant in a $1 billion Medicare fraud and money laundering case that has gained national attention. He was arrested July 2016, according to the Miami Herald. The facility later ceased all operations. Morris Esformes has not been charged.
The 52-year-old building at 550 Ninth Street spans about 52,000 square feet. Nemni paid about $340 per square foot for the six-story property. Records show it was at risk of forfeiture, but a recent ruling by a U.S. District Court judge allowed the sale of the property. Nemni co-owns the Clinton Hotel in Miami Beach as well as the Red South Beach Hotel.
Philip Esformes owns a number of properties, including those in Miami Beach and Miami, according to the Herald.
Nemni isn’t the only hotelier acquiring assets in Miami Beach. Toward the end of last year, hotelier Jeffrey Dagowitz and Lionheart Capital bought the remaining interest of the ground lease of the Seagull Hotel Miami Beach for $20.7 million.
Nearby, a 67-year-old MiMo-era condominium won approval by the Miami Beach Historic Preservation Board to be restored and renovated into a hotel.