Black Salmon lists Brickell dev site, brokers shooting for $70M

Investment firm Black Salmon put a 1-acre development site in Brickell on the market, The Real Deal has learned. 

The Coral Gables-based company wants to offload three lots at 68, 82 and 84 Southwest 13th Street, as well as the adjacent vacant office building at 1399 Southwest First Avenue, according to an offering memorandum and public records. The three-story, 48,600-square-foot office building used to be home to the Consulate General of Mexico. 

After the seller turned down offers in the low $60 million, the target sale price now is anywhere from the high $60 million to the low $70 million, said broker John Crotty. 

Crotty is working with Brian de la Fé, of Avison Young, to market the site. 

The price is aspirational, given the per acre average in Brickell, though $70 million for an acre would hardly be a record nor would be unheard of. In June, Leste Group and its Brazilian partner paid $35 million for a half-acre Bickell development site, or exactly $70 million per acre. 

The property allows up to 1.2 million square feet of development with residential, offices, a hotel and retail, or a mix of these uses, the OM shows. While a buyer can build a 48-story with 510 units by right, development bonuses allow for up to 80 stories with 765 units. The allowable floor-area-ratio, or how big a project can be, is 18 by right, but 27 with bonuses. 

Under the Miami 21 zoning code, a developer can obtain a bonus by contributing to a public benefits program such as creating or maintaining parks, according to the city. 

A project also would qualify as a transit oriented development, according to the OM. The site is about a block south of the Brickell Metromover station and a block west of the Financial District station. 

Led by Jorge Escobar and Camilo Lopez, Black Salmon has $2.1 billion of projects and assets under management, according to its website. It was launched in 2017 by TSG Group, which also is led by Escobar and Lopez. 

Records show that the Brickell site traded in 2020 for $53 million, although both the selling and buying entities listed the TSG-Black Salmon address and principals. 

Black Salmon’s other South Florida investments include the Circa 39 Hotel at 3900 Collins Avenue in Miami Beach. In 2021, a partnership among The Allen Morris Company, Stormont Hospitality and Black Salmon paid $25.5 million for the 97-key hotel. 

Across Miami’s urban core, development site investment sales declined starting late last year because of expensive financing and skittish banks. But Brickell has had several land deals this year. 

In April, Swiss firm Empira Group and Grand Peaks Properties paid $21.5 million for the 1-acre site at 901 Southwest Third Avenue and 244 Southwest Ninth Street. That came on the heels of Mexican development firm Menesse International paying $6 million for 0.4 acres –– or $15 million per acre –– at 1870 Brickell Avenue, with plans for a high-end condominium. 

The record still is held by Ken Griffin’s purchase last year for $363 million for 2.5 acres at 1201 Brickell Bay Drive, or $145 million per acre, where the billionaire is expected to have a headquarters developed for his Citadel and Citadel Securities.