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UK billionaire Mike Ashley buys Walgreens property near 1 Hotel South Beach
Building is across the street from 1 Hotel & Homes
Mike Ashley, the British billionaire founder and CEO of Sports Direct, just closed on a Walgreens-leased property on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach.
Ashley, who also owns Newcastle United Football Club, paid $8 million for 50 percent of the fee simple ownership of the land and 100 percent of the leasehold interest in the property at 2300 Collins Avenue, across the street from 1 Hotel & Homes South Beach, according to the agents involved in the deal.
Ashley also closed on the remaining 50 percent of the fee simple ownership for roughly $3 million to $4 million, Danny Anysz, a broker involved in the leasehold sale, estimated.
Ashley, whose net worth is pegged at about $3.6 billion, also owns residential real estate on Miami Beach’s La Gorce Island.
Marcus & Millichap’s Alex D’Alba and Scott Sandelin, along with Anysz and Steve Falus of Optimar International Realty, brokered the deal. The property hit the market in early 2017 for $10.75 million with Marcus & Millichap.
Walgreens has about seven years left on its current lease term with a rent increase every five years. Its final renewal option ends in 2045. The two-story, 16,705-square-foot building was constructed in 1955 on a nearly 11,000-square-foot lot.
Records show James Christopher Bishop, as trustee of the Candice Sara Bishop Reed Gift Trust, sold 50 percent of the property. Lefa Inc., led by Abe Lechter of Pennsylvania, owned the other 50 percent.
Lefa Inc. sold the leasehold interest and half of the property. Walgreens is subleasing the building. Anysz said he expects Ashley to eventually redevelop the site.
The property is also within walking distance of the Chetrit Group and Ari Pearl’s Collins Park Hotel site, which they are redeveloping.
It’s also two parcels away from a parking lot owned by West Collins Land Investors LP, a company tied to Barry Sternlicht’s Starwood Capital Group and Richard LeFrak, who co-developed 1 Hotel & Homes. Sternlicht may redevelop that site into a new headquarters for Starwood.