Ivy Realty sells Miami-Dade freezer facilities to New York firms for $74M

In two separate deals totaling $74 million, a New York-based joint venture acquired a pair of cold storage warehouses near Miami Gardens and Aventura.

Banner Property Group, headed by Managing Partner Jason Eisenberg, and Apollo Global Management bought a 235,000-square-foot building at 18770 Northeast Sixth Avenue and a 80,000-square-foot building at 650 Northeast 185th Street, according to brokers involved in the deals.

Florida corporate records show Eisenberg is the authorized representative for the buying entities, Banner Apollo 650 Freezer and Banner Apollo Miami Freezer. Both corporations have the same New York address as Apollo Global, an investment management firm founded in 1990 that has assets in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia.

Apollo Global, headed by co-founder and CEO Marc Rowan, recently inked a long-term lease for a 24,000-square-foot office space at 701 Brickell in Miami.

Greenwich, Connecticut-based Ivy Realty sold the larger facility. A joint venture between Ivy Realty and institutional investors advised by J.P. Morgan Global Alternatives sold the smaller warehouse, according to a press release.

A Cushman & Wakefield team led by Mike Davis and Dominic Montazemi represented the sellers. The brokerage’s Jason Hochman and Ron Granite led another team that arranged a $55.7 million acquisition loan from AEW Capital Management on behalf of the buyer, the release states.

Banner primarily focuses on acquiring commercial real estate across multiple asset classes in Florida, according to its website. Prior to forming Banner, Eisenberg spent nearly 12 years as a partner in Apollo Global’s real estate private equity group. In a statement, he said acquiring the two freezer warehouses is “highly consistent” with Banner’s investment strategy.

Davis said the two properties drew significant interest due to their location, the strength of South Florida’s industrial market and the fundamentals and growth within the cold storage sector. The warehouses were listed in March without an asking price, he added.

Ivy Realty held onto the properties for a little over a year. The firm picked up the larger facility in March of last year for $30.5 million, according to records. The building, built in 1968, has a new roof, new freezer equipment, new roll-up doors and resurfaced floors, among other upgrades, according to a 2020 LoopNet listing.

In July of last year, the J.P. Morgan partnership paid $13.2 million for the smaller building, which was completed in 1974.

The latest deals come on the heels of two other large industrial sales in the past week. Cofe Properties dropped $43.2 million for a fully leased industrial portfolio in the Sunrise Commerce Park, financing the deal with a $35.9 million Ocean Bank loan. Also in Broward County, Seagis Property Group closed on a warehouse development site near Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport for $29.5 million.