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James Batmasian doubles down on downtown Delray Beach with $7M purchase
He also paid $19M for nearby property in January
James Batmasian paid $6.5 million for a retail and office building in downtown Delray Beach, his second purchase along Atlantic Avenue this month.
New York-based Thor Equities sold the property at 630 Atlantic Avenue to an affiliate of Batmasian’s Investments Limited, records show.
The 10,000-square-foot building is fully leased, according to a Thor Equities spokesperson.
Retailers include J&J Seafood Bar & Grill, Carolina Cigar and Boru Poke & Boba, with office users on the second story.
Thor Equities bought the building for $4.1 million in 2015, property records show. It was constructed in 1950 on 0.1 acres.
Thor Equities, founded by Chairman and CEO Joseph Sitt, focuses on development, leasing and management of commercial and residential real estate, according to its release announcing the property sale. It has a $20 billion portfolio and more than 50 million square feet of development in the pipeline.
Thor developed the Wynwood Walk retail and restaurant property spanning between Northwest 28th and 29th streets on the west side of Northwest Second Avenue.
In November, Thor put a Miami Design District building leased by Italian luxury clothing retailer Stefano Ricci on the market, with an asking price of at least $32 million.
Investments Limited appears to be betting on downtown Delray Beach, as it also paid $18.5 million in January for the building at 411 East Atlantic Avenue, which also has retail on the first floor and offices on the second.
James and Marta Batmasian, who are married, started scooping up property in Boca Raton shortly after moving to the city in 1983, according to their Investments Limited’s website. The firm, with offices in Boca Raton and Cambridge, Massachusetts, has since expanded to buy properties in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, as well as throughout South Florida.
In 2021, Investments Limited bought a Deerfield Beach multifamily community for $46 million.
Still, James Batmasian has some blemishes on his career history, as he served about eight months in federal prison in 2008 for not paying the IRS payroll taxes tied to Investments Limited. Former President Donald Trump pardoned Batmasian in 2020, with the White House saying in a statement that he fully repaid the money he owed.