BellSouth sells 1M square feet of land for $25M

UPDATED, Jan. 10, 4:27 p.m.: Qualcon Real Estate Fund purchased commercial properties with over 1 million square feet of land in South Florida from defunct BellSouth Telecommunications for $25 million.

The firm, led by developers Thomas Conway and Kevin Levine, along with Andy Stone and Petra Capital Management, purchased eight commercial buildings with 115,000 square feet, and 1.006 million square feet of land, scattered across Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.

Two of the properties are in Opportunity Zones, in Palmetto Bay and Little River.

Qualcon acquired the properties with a $16 million acquisition loan from Hollywood, Florida-based FM Capital.

The properties include:

• 2901 North Dixie Highway, Wilton Manors. The land totals 131,116 square feet; the building totals 6,748 square feet.
• 9500 Southwest 180th Street, Palmetto Bay. The land totals 130,680 square feet; the building totals 32,489 square feet.
• 8038 Northeast Second Avenue, Little River. The land totals 94,525 square feet; the building totals 21,848 square feet.
• 8610 Southwest 107th Avenue, Kendall. The land totals 59,242 square feet; the building totals 16,660 square feet.
• 1120 South Rogers Circle, Boca Raton. The land totals 174,676 square feet; the building totals 8,847 square feet.
• 3200 Broadway, Riviera Beach. The land totals 129,809 square feet; the building totals 5,435 square feet.
• 4401 Davie Boulevard, Fort Lauderdale. The land totals 91,476 square feet; the building totals 5,712 square feet.
• 1201 Barnett Drive, Lake Worth. The land totals 194,278 square feet; the building totals 17,421 square feet.

Thomas Conway said the group has plans to renovate some of the properties, and has already received interest to sell two of them. Conway was an investor in The Citadel, a food hall in Little Haiti and Little River that opened last year, until about two years ago. He was also a broker for the project. Conway is no longer involved in that development, a spokesperson said.

Conway also owns properties in Little Haiti and has come under scrutiny as a landlord for seeking to evict long-term tenants in the historically distressed area, according to the Miami Herald.

One of Qualcon Real Estate Fund’s main investors is New York-based Tall Pines Capital, led by Emanuel Stern and Bradley Settleman.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated Conway’s involvement in the Citadel.