Gone are the toy Corvettes and Camaros, and in their places will be the grownup versions when Chevy dealer Arnaldo Bomnin closes on the former Toys “R” Us building on U.S. 1 near Dadeland Mall.
Bomnin submitted the winning bid of $25 million for the property at 8325 South Dixie Highway, The Real Deal has learned. Bomnin, president and CEO of Bomnin Auto Group, beat out bidders like Baptist Health South Florida, which offered up to $22 million, and 13th Floor Investments, which stopped bidding at $23 million, sources said.
The deal will give Bomnin more than 4 acres and a nearly 48,000-square-foot building next to his existing 6.3-acre Bomnin Chevrolet Dadeland dealership at 8455 South Dixie Highway. Bomnin also owns Grand Prize Chevrolet and Bomnin Chevrolet West Kendall.
The Dadeland deal is expected to close the week of Sept. 10. Bomnin said he’ll use the Toys “R” Us building to hold about 300 cars and to expand the dealership’s service department.
In July, Toys “R” Us announced it brought on New York-based Raider Hill Advisors to help sell off 284 stores, distribution centers and other properties around the country. The toy retailer announced earlier this year that it would shutter all of its stores after it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy about a year ago. At the time it had $5 billion in long-term debt and $400 million due in 2018.
Toys “R” Us owned about a third of its 735 locations. The rest are leases that are being handled on an individual basis.
In Broward County, the company recently sold its store at 8101 West Broward Boulevard in Plantation for $7.6 million to Roswell, Georgia-based Golf & Tennis Pro Shop Inc., known as PGA TOUR Superstore.
According to a bankruptcy court filing from late July, the Plantation property was one of 13 that Toys “R” Us had executed purchase agreements. Others include the Brooklyn, New York, store at 2875 Flatbush Avenue to MMC Brooklyn LLC; and two in the Chicago suburbs of Highland Park and Melrose Park, at 1610 Deerfield Road and 9200 West North Avenue, to Balboa.
Toys “R” Us purchased the Dadeland location in Miami in 1984 from the late auto dealer Gerald Bean, according to property records. Bean Automotive Group owns Kendall Toyota, Lexus of Kendall, West Kendall Toyota, Lexus of West Kendall and Kendall Collision Center.