Apartment developer buys South Miami Winn-Dixie site from Bacardi JV

Sellers secured approval in June to build 283 apartments, 36K sf grocery store

Avalon Communities CEO Timothy J. Naughton and renderings of the project with AvalonBay head (Corwil Architects)
Avalon Communities CEO Timothy J. Naughton and renderings of the project with AvalonBay head (Corwil Architects)

Apartment developer AvalonBay Communities paid nearly $19 million for the Winn-Dixie property in downtown South Miami.

Property records show 5850 S.W. 73 Street LLC sold the 1.9-acre site at 5850 Southwest 73rd Street to Avalon SoMi LLC, an affiliate of the real estate investment trust.

The seller is tied to the Bacardi family and Henry Pino’s Alta Development, which secured approval this summer to build an apartment project on the site, near the Shops at Sunset Place.

The South Miami City Commission approved ordinances allowing for a nine-story mixed-use project with 36,395 square feet of commercial space for a grocery store, 283 apartments and a roughly 400-space parking garage. Corwil Architects designed the plans. The building would include a pool deck and about 8,000 square feet of indoor amenities.

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The Winn-Dixie building was built in 1962 and now totals about 21,000 square feet of space, plus surface parking. It last sold in 2007 for $14.5 million, records show.

AvalonBay declined to comment on the acquisition. The Hopewell, Virginia-based REIT is also partnering with Mast Capital on a mixed-use apartment project near Coral Gables, at 3811 Shipping Avenue in Miami.

Facundo Bacardi, chairman of Bacardi Limited, completed the nearby office and retail project at 1515 Sunset Drive last year.