Vive la Miami: French developer acquires Edgewater site for $15M for first U.S. project

In two deals totaling $14.8 million, the newly established American arm of Paris-based Groupe City acquired a Miami development site for the firm’s first project in the U.S.

PR Group Florida, a subsidiary of the French development company led by Christophe Petit and Julien Ridon, paid $13.1 million for an assemblage in the city’s booming Edgewater neighborhood, according to records. The deal included a low-rise apartment complex and three houses that were combined into one parcel at 423 Northeast 27th Street. PR Group also bought an adjacent duplex at 434 Northeast 28th Street for $1.7 million, records show.

Jim Agard with Vendôme Capital represented the buyer in both deals. Fredrick Klein with Porosoff represented the assemblage’s seller, an entity managed by Octavio Maza of Miami.

In 2014, Maza’s entity paid $1.9 million for 421, 423, 425 and 427 Northeast 27th Street, records show. Wesley Bradley, the seller of the adjacent duplex, paid $200,000 in 2011, records show.

Agard, who is also PR Group’s owner representative, said the assemblage and the duplex property total 31,929 square feet. PR Group plans to redevelop the properties into a residential tower with a “French touch,” Agard said. It is unclear if the project will be condos or rentals. The developer does not want to disclose any further details at this time, he added.

PR Group also established its U.S. headquarters in an office at 1111 Lincoln Road, Agard said.

“They chose Miami because Miami is booming,” Agard said. “They are looking at other opportunities in South Florida, but this will be their first project in the U.S.”

The assemblage and the adjacent duplex are in a prime area of Edgewater, where a wave of new condominiums and apartment buildings are currently underway, Agard said.

PR Group’s parent Groupe City has developed residential, hospitality and office projects in France, French Polynesia, Mauritius in Africa and the Caribbean, Agard said. In 2021, the firm delivered nearly 2,000 residential units and is projecting to add another 2,450 this year, he added.

Klein said the assemblage was on the market for only one month and PR Group paid the asking price. “That speaks to how aggressive the Edgewater market is,” Klein said. “Developers are rushing to get projects going in the area.”

Other firms scouring for Edgewater development sites include Two Roads Development, which is about to complete a bulk purchase of Biscayne 21, a 191-unit waterfront condominium completed in the 1960s.

Last month, Colombian developers Grupo Diana and Korner secured a $55 million construction loan for Metro Edgewater, a 32-story multifamily project with 279 units at 430 Northeast 31st Street. Also in April, Miami-based Crescent Heights nabbed a $224 million loan for the firm’s mixed-use development, Nema Miami, at 2900 Biscayne Boulevard in Edgewater.