Billionaire hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb is in contract to sell a Wynwood site to Brooklyn developer LIVWRK for about $20 million, The Real Deal has learned.
It will mark the second acquisition in Wynwood for LIVWRK, led by founder and CEO Asher Abehsera. The company paid about $25 million last year for a 2.5-acre assemblage at 2400 and 2500 North Miami Avenue.
Now, Abehsera’s firm is buying the 1-acre site at 2050 North Miami Avenue, according to a source familiar with the deal. LIVWRK could not be reached for comment.
Loeb, CEO of New York-based Third Point, is the backer of developer Shahab Karmely. Karmely’s KAR Properties bought the property in 2014 for $12.5 million, but exited the investment months ago, Karmely confirmed. Ford’s self-driving vehicle startup, Argo AI, signed a five-year lease for the building in 2018 but closed its office. Ford recently shut down the company.
The building was previously owned and operated by the Wynwood shoemaker Mega Shoes. The land could be developed into about 250 residential units.
LIVWRK acquired the properties at 2400 and 2500 North Miami Avenue from East End Capital. LIVWRK plans a mixed-use development on those properties with nearly 550 residential units, amenities, office and other commercial space.
Development has been booming in Wynwood. More than 2,200 apartments and condos are in the pipeline for the neighborhood as of this summer, according to a TRD analysis.
Alchemy-ABR Investment Partners plans to develop the Salvation Army parking lot in Wynwood that it acquired last month for $18 million into a 12-story apartment building with 186 units, retail spaces and a garage.
In September, Block Capital Group, a prolific developer and investor in the neighborhood, submitted an application for a five-story, 17-unit residential building with 3,000 square feet of retail at 91 Northwest 27th Street.