If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em?
Amid a surge of redevelopment in North Beach, J.P. Morgan bought its Chase bank branch to ensure its ongoing presence, The Real Deal has learned.
J.P. Morgan paid $8.45 million in an off-market deal for the branch building at 6916 Collins Avenue, said Roberto Susi, principal of Axiom Capital Advisors, who represented the seller, along with Axiom’s Jose Sasson.
The seller is Bayrock Investment Co., based in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The 5,756-square-foot branch and parking are on a 37,500-square-foot lot. The building, built in 2013, sold for $1,468 per square foot and the land for $225 per square foot.
Susi said J.P. Morgan wanted to buy the leased branch to keep it for its own use so the property would not end up in the hands of a developer. The branch, on the west side of Collins Avenue, is near a new Publix and across from oceanfront condo developments L’Atelier Residences and the Carillon Hotel and Residences.
“It’s an up-and-coming market that is experiencing tremendous growth from a development standpoint,” Susi said.
North Beach is seeing increased interest from developers, amid voters’ and the city of Miami Beach’s approval of upzoning. Property owners are now able to build twice as much as they were previously allowed in the North Beach Town Center District, which mainly consists of retail plazas, vacant lots and apartment buildings between Indian Creek Drive, Dickens Avenue, 72nd Street, Collins Avenue and 69th Street.
Among the developments planned is Silvia Coltrane and her partners’ mixed-use hotel and condo project at 72nd Street and Collins Avenue.
Earlier this week, the Miami Beach City Commission gave the green light to a land deal that will allow developers Alex Blavatnik and Sandor Scher to build 110 hotel rooms on Ocean Terrace in North Beach, in exchange for a $15 million park near the oceanfront.