Pablo Cejas adds to downtown Coral Gables assemblage

Cejas now controls more than 27K sf of land on the block

Pablo Cejas, Bill Kerdyk, and 147 Alhambra Circle
Pablo Cejas, Bill Kerdyk, and 147 Alhambra Circle

Coral Gables property owner and broker Bill Kerdyk Jr. sold a downtown office building on Alhambra Circle for $5.3 million.

Kerdyk’s Alhambra Circle Investments LLC sold the 12,000-square-foot office building at 147 Alhambra Circle in Coral Gables to Pablo Cejas of Aquarius Capital, property records show.

Companies tied to Cejas, who is the son of former U.S. ambassador Paul Cejas, also own the adjacent buildings at 127 Alcazar Avenue and 2199 Ponce de Leon Boulevard.

Pablo Cejas, chairman and CEO of Ascendant Commercial Insurance and chairman and managing partner of Aquarius Capital Partners, could not be reached for comment. Aquarius manages his family’s investments.

Kerdyk, president and CEO of Kerdyk Real Estate, said he sold the building for a “good price” and before property taxes were due in November. Records show the building previously traded for $1.2 million in 2002.

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Kerdyk, who said he typically does not sell properties, plans to use the proceeds to take advantage of opportunities for discounted deals created by the pandemic’s impact on tenants’ ability to pay rent, coupled with uncertainty surrounding the election. Plus, the six-month forbearance agreements some property owners arranged with their lenders are now expiring, he added.

“There’s going to be some good opportunities to purchase tenant-leased properties,” Kerdyk said. He’s looking at potential purchases in Coral Gables and throughout Miami-Dade County.

The building he sold is about 90 percent leased to 21 office tenants with an average of 500 square feet each, he added. It was built in 1955 and sits on a 7,500-square-foot lot.

Together with the surrounding buildings, Cejas now controls more than 27,000 square feet of land on that block, which is north of Miracle Mile.

This summer, investor Jonatan Sredni paid $11.1 million for an under-construction apartment building at 1091 Galiano Street in Coral Gables.