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Leste, Brazilian partner plan 500-unit apartment tower in Brickell
Through newly formed LORE Development Group, they paid $35M for half-acre site
Leste Group and Brazilian real estate firm Opportunity Fundo de Investimento Imobiliário plan a 500-unit apartment tower in Brickell, marking the first project in their $1 billion South Florida development pipeline.
Through the pair’s newly formed joint venture, LORE Development Group, the partners want to build a 70-story tower on a half-acre parking lot on the southeast corner of Southwest 10th Street and Southwest First Avenue, Stephan de Sabrit, managing partner at Leste, told The Real Deal.
LORE purchased the development site at 74, 78, 84 and 88 Southwest 10th Street, as well as at 1013, 1015 and 1021 Southwest First Avenue for $35 million, according to de Sabrit.
Designed by Corwil Architects, the $500 million project will span 442,000 square feet. It would include 2,000 square feet of ground-floor retail and a rooftop pool.
The development marks a new vision for the site, which previously was slated to be a hotel, de Sabrit said.
Records show the property’s seller, GW Brickell, paid $26 million for the assemblage of six lots in 2015. The entity is led by Jose Luis Galveas Loureiro, who is a Brazilian investor.
The Brickell tower is in the approval process, including obtaining a Rapid Transit Zone designation that allows for the development of more units on land near public transportation. The site is near the Brickell Metrorail station.
Construction is slated to start in June of next year, and completion is expected in summer 2027, de Sabrit said.
Opportunity Fundo de Investimento Imobiliário, with offices in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, is a prolific real estate developer in Brazil. The private firm was founded in 1994 by Daniel Dantas, Veronica Dantas and Dorio Ferman. Jomar Monnerat de Carvalho is Opportunity’s director.
Led by Emmanuel Hermann, Miami-based Leste is an alternative investment manager with nearly $2 billion of assets under management as of March, according to its website. Its investment portfolio includes equity and credit, private equity and litigation finance. While the firm has invested as a partner in projects, the LORE partnership’s planned pipeline marks Leste’s debut in development.
For years, Opportunity has invested in U.S. real estate through Leste as a limited partner, de Sabrit said.
“Last year, we decided, ‘OK, we now gathered a lot of knowledge, and we feel comfortable with the Southeast Florida market, and we do want to develop our own stuff, instead of just investing through third parties.’” de Sabrit said. “That’s when we decided to team up.”
Brickell-based LORE’s planned $1 billion pipeline will aim to build 500 to 1,000 units annually over the next five years in South Florida, he said. Projects would include multifamily and condominiums, including a boutique condo in Miami’s Coconut Grove. De Sabrit declined to provide details on that or other plans.
LORE’s development comes as many South Florida developers are pausing their projects because of expensive financing, costly construction materials and labor, and skyrocketing insurance rates.
LORE partly is betting on its connections in the alternative lending realm to score the “right capital,” de Sabrit said.
High interest rates led to a cooling of Miami development sites’ prices, which hit $19.3 million per acre late last year. Yet, LORE paid much more than that for its slice of Brickell: The $35 million purchase price equates to $70 million per acre.
Before starting LORE, Leste and Opportunity have been investing in projects in the U.S. and Brazil. In North Miami, they are investment partners in Chicago-based Golub & Co.s’ 450-unit multifamily building on a portion of the closed Johnson & Wales University campus. Golub paid $10 million in 2021 for the vacant campus site at Northeast 126th and 127th streets and two parking lots at 1660 Northeast 127th Street and 12600 Northeast 17th Avenue.
The Brickell Financial District, which is now home to Ken Griffin’s Citadel and Citadel Securities’ headquarters, also has caught apartment and condo developers’ eyes.
Swiss firm Empira Group paid $21.5 million for an acre at 901 Southwest Third Avenue and 244 Southwest Ninth Street, with plans for a 26-story multifamily tower. Grand Peaks is involved in the project.
On Brickell Key, Swire Properties plans a Mandarin Oriental-branded project with a 220-condo tower, and another tower with 151 hotel keys, 61 condos and 28 hotel residences. The development would replace the existing Mandarin Oriental hotel at 500 Brickell Key Avenue.