Former Kushner exec buys Miami development site in Wynwood

New York developer Jenny Bernell picked up a site in Miami, The Real Deal has learned.

Bernell, former executive vice president of development at Kushner Companies, paid $19.1 million for the assemblage at 2000 North Miami Avenue and 2021 Northwest Miami Court in Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood. She acquired the 1.4-acre development site via her new company, Clearline Real Estate, according to the listing brokerage.

A firm linked to LGL Realty, led by waste management and recycling principals Charles Gusmano and Charles Lomangino, sold the land.

Metro 1 founder Tony Cho and managing director Andres Nava represented the seller, LGL Realty. The site was on the market for $21.5 million, Nava said.

Bernell is founder and CEO of New York-based Clearline, which has multifamily and mixed-use projects in Florida, New York, Tennessee and New Jersey. Its planned pipeline totals about 1,500 multifamily units, according to Bernell’s LinkedIn. She worked for New York-based Kushner for nearly seven years until she left in early 2021.

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The property is in southeast Wynwood, near the Arlo hotel, which is under construction, as well as near Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits new headquarters, and the popular restaurant and bar Kush.

“Since there is not much more land available in Wynwood, especially at reasonable prices, the southeast quadrant is finally coming together,” Nava said.

Clearline plans a mixed-use project on the site that will likely include apartment rentals. Nava said the assemblage is the last undeveloped property in the area with zoning for more than 300 units. The land’s T6-8-O zoning allows for 310 units and 12 stories of development under Wynwood’s NRD-1 overlay district.

The seller paid $5.6 million for the properties between 2003 and 2007, records show.

About two blocks north, CIM Group recently sold the mixed-use apartment complex Strata Wynwood at 21 Northeast 22nd Street for an undisclosed amount. Also nearby, developer Valerio Morabito plans to build the Wyncatcher office building at 2143 Northwest First Avenue. Nava and Cho brokered that land sale as well.

Late last month, East End Capital sold the warehouse at 2214 North Miami Avenue to 7G Realty and Forte Capital for $10.8 million. And farther north on the same street, Block Capital Group sold a pair of retail buildings at 3300 North Miami Avenue and 30 Northwest 34th Street to Rüger Holding KG for $23 million.

Nava said that when Clearline went into contract late last year, he received offers higher than the ultimate sale price.

“A lot of people that we showed this pre-pandemic were kicking themselves that they missed it post-pandemic,” he said.