MRR Development, a new firm led by Rotem Rosen, Jerry Rotonda and billionaire Anand Mahindra, is in contract to pay $30 million for a development site in Miami’s Arts & Entertainment District.
The firm is buying the majority of the city block between 18th and 19th streets and Northeast Second Avenue and Northeast Second Court. With bonuses, the 1.42-acre site allows for a mixed-use project of up to 1.9 million square feet, according to a press release. The buyers are in talks with Silicon Valley groups on plans for the property.
The assemblage, which includes a 17,000-square-foot shopping center and a 7,100-square-foot office building leased to a Learning Nest preschool, will be sold vacant, Rosen said.
Records show Biscayner South LLC, Cerpel Properties and JTC 19th Street LLC spent $5.6 million assembling the land between 2011 and 2014. Javier Cervera, founder and president of Cervera Real Estate Ventures, controls the LLCs. Cervera could not immediately be reached for comment.
Rosen teamed up with Rotonda, a former executive at Deutsche Bank Wealth Management, and Mahindra, head of Indian conglomerate Mahindra Group, last year to launch MRR Development. Earlier in June, The Real Deal reported that the firm was in contract to buy a Hotel Indigo in Manhattan for $162 million.
Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP is representing MRR in the Miami deal.
The property is one block north of the Sapir Corporation’s development site, Miami 18, where initial plans called for two towers with up to 1,200 rental units, 20,000 square feet of retail space, and 350,000 square feet of office space.
Development is ramping up in the A&E District, where new projects include the Melo Group’s Art Plaza apartments and the Okan Group’s hotel-condominium tower.
Brokers Estrella Perez of EP Realty Group represented MRR and Joel Rodriguez of Global Investments Realty represented the seller.