NY’s Kalimian family buys South Beach Walgreens for $35M

A member of New York’s Kalimian family made a retail investment at the entrance of South Beach.

Debra Kalimian of A&R Kalimian Realty, through an affiliate, bought the 24,000-square-foot Walgreens building at 509 Collins Avenue from New York-based Allied Partners, according to records. The two-story building was constructed in 1995 on 0.3 acres. It’s unclear if the purchase is by Debra Kalimian alone or on behalf of the entire family, which mostly owns New York real estate assets.

The buyer assumed a $21.1 million loan Allied had on the property with Wells Fargo Bank through a commercial mortgage-backed securities trust.

Ronnie Issenberg and Gabriel Britti were part of the Marcus & Millichap team that represented the seller. Jason Maier of Stan Johnson Company represented the buyer.

The deal marks the second time the building trades in three years, although it didn’t show a significant gain in value. Allied Partners, led by Eric Hadar, had paid $33 million for the property in 2019.

The Kalimian have a long history of real estate investment in New York. This summer, A&R Kalimian sold a West Village apartment building at 259 West 10th Street for $31.5 million. Also, Albert Kalimian scored a $240 million loan for the purchase of a 75-percent stake in the Flatiron office building at 79 Fifth Avenue, marking the biggest real estate loan in Manhattan in June.

The family also was thrust in unwanted headlines this month, when the Daily Beast reported a legal feud between Albert Kalimian and his nephew Justin Amirian. The late Roy Kalimian started the family’s real estate business. His children are Albert and Debra Kalimian, as well as Rita Sakhaie and Edna Amirian, who is Juston Amirian’s mother.

Miami-Dade County’s retail market has remained relatively flat, with a total vacancy rate of 3.5 percent in the third quarter, the same as the previous quarter and down from 3.8 percent year-over-year, according to Colliers.

The Walgreens deal isn’t the only small retail property to trade in Miami Beach recently. In September, investor Robert Shor paid $10 million for the vacant building at 1665 Alton Road, with plans to open an Ace Hardware store at the site.