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Israeli firm sells downtown Miami garage redevelopment site for $25M
SageBlan Investments affiliate bought the seven-story structure, whose site was approved in 2019 for a mixed-use redevelopment project
UPDATED, Nov. 3, 10:40 a.m.: A pair of foreign real estate investment firms completed a trade for a downtown Miami parking garage that was previously approved for a twin-tower, mixed-use redevelopment project.
Mishorim Real Estate Investments, a publicly traded Israeli company, and its local partner, Meir Shai Ben-Ami, sold the Bayfront Garage at 255 Northeast First Street for $25 million, according to a press release. The buyer is an entity led by Anil Basegmez, managing partner and senior vice-president of SageBlan Investments, a Montreal-based real estate investment firm.
A Colliers team led by Mika Mattingly represented Mishorim.
The SageBlan entity paid roughly $88 a square foot for the seven-story, 247,000-square-foot structure and 37,500 square feet of developable land.
In 2018, Mishorim paid $18.2 million for the property. A year later, the city of Miami’s Urban Design Review Board approved the firm’s plans for a twin-tower, mixed-use project with 800 residential units, 120 hotel rooms, 7,110 square feet of commercial space and 264 parking spaces.
Built in 1973, the garage is near the First Street Metromover Station, across the street from YotelPad and a block away from the planned Waldorf Astoria Miami luxury condo-hotel project.
Mattingly said via email that the buyer acquired Bayfront Garage “solely based on income and to have a foothold in downtown Miami.”
“They may consider developing down the road, but it is not in the plans yet,” Mattingly said. “By right you can build 860 residential units and up to 900,000 square feet of buildable [space.]”
SageBlan Investments, a recently formed company started by Basegmez and two partners, has acquired four Quebec hotel properties for roughly $160 million since December of last year, according to published reports.
During the three years Mishorim owned Bayfront Garage, the daily occupancy rate rose to over 97 percent and the structure’s income nearly doubled after making improvements and management changes, Mattingly said.
Through the first 10 months of this year, international buyers accounted for 23 percent of land investments in downtown Miami, according to Colliers. Land sales volume hit $200 million, compared to $159 million last year and $63 million in 2019.
Over the summer, two New York-based real estate firms bought downtown Miami development sites for a combined $100 million in separate deals. Witkoff and its partner, Chicago-based Monroe Capital, paid $94 million for a 4.7-acre site at 700 North Miami Avenue where the now canceled Marriott Marquis Miami Worldcenter Hotel was planned. Lions Group NYC, a Long Island-based firm headed by Albert Shirian, bought a development site at 56 Southwest First Street and 65 Southwest 2nd Street for $10 million.