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Genting wants over $1B for waterfront Miami site

Malaysian firm is looking to sell more than half of its downtown Miami portfolio

The site at 1431 North Bayshore Drive with Genting CEO Lim Kok Thay (Genting)
The site at 1431 North Bayshore Drive with Genting CEO Lim Kok Thay (Genting)

Malaysian gambling operator Genting Group is looking to cash in on its bet on Miami — while holding onto some of its chips.

Genting is seeking more than $1 billion for its 15.5-acre waterfront assemblage, Bloomberg reported and sources confirmed to The Real Deal.

The land at 1431 North Bayshore Drive in downtown Miami’s Arts & Entertainment District represents more than half of the company’s holdings. The site includes the former Miami Herald headquarters that’s currently home to the annual Art Miami and Context fairs. Genting acquired that 14.6-acre waterfront property for $236 million in 2011, at the time a record for Miami-Dade County land sales.

Genting tapped an Avison Young team of brokers led by Michael Fay and John Crotty to list the downtown Miami assemblage. It has more than 800 feet of waterfront on Biscayne Bay, according to a press release.

“We’re already getting interest well in excess of $1 billion,” Fay said. “It’s the largest undeveloped piece of waterfront property in South Florida, and especially downtown Miami.”

The Kuala Lumpur-based conglomerate Genting, led by its billionaire CEO Lim Kok Thay, has long pursued gambling for the properties as part of a larger mixed-use project with a luxury resort, residential towers and retail. But it has been blocked by significant legislative opposition over the years.

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The site is zoned T6-36b-O, which allows for up to 60 stories of development, 500 residential units per acre or about 7,800 units, and nearly 21 million square feet in total of development, the release states.

Bloomberg first reported the news of the listing.

Genting will keep the Hilton Miami Downtown hotel and Omni Center north of the properties, according to Bloomberg.

If Genting’s property trades, it would likely mark the most expensive land sale in Miami-Dade, following years of rising land prices.

The Hollo family’s Florida East Coast Realty sold the 2.5-acre development site at 1201 Brickell Bay Drive for $363 million in April, which is the current record. Billionaire hedge fund manager Ken Griffin of Citadel was later revealed to be the purchaser. The Brickell property sold for $3,340 per square foot, or about $145 million per acre. Based on that price per acre, the Genting assemblage would sell for over $2.2 billion.

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In 2018, Genting’s Resorts World Miami inked a multi-year deal with Miami-based Loud and Live to use the former Herald site as an event venue.

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