Cargo shipping company King Ocean Services picked up a boat and auto yard near the Miami River for $18.8 million.
An affiliate of Sweetwater-based King Ocean acquired the 3.3-acre industrial site at 2147 Northwest 32nd Avenue and 3140 Northwest South River Drive, according to records and Vizzda. The properties have four industrial buildings totaling 13,588 square feet that were completed between 1925 and 1967.
The sellers, two entities controlled by Jordan Monocandilos in Miami, paid $350,000 in 1980 for the parcel at 3140 Northwest South River Drive, and $1.7 million for the property at 2147 Northwest 32nd Avenue in 1992, records show.
The King Ocean affiliate also has a right of first refusal to purchase an adjacent 3-acre site at 3163 Northwest South River Drive owned by another Monocandilos-entity, records show.
Established more than 30 years ago, King Ocean specializes in various types of cargo shipping, including raw materials, jewelry and clothing accessories, dry foods, vehicles and auto parts, construction machinery and building materials, according to the firm’s website.
King Ocean has 17 container ships that sail to the Caribbean, Singapore, Portugal, Malta and Liberia, the website states.
While King Ocean will maintain use of the properties for its cargo operations, land trades along the Miami River over the last two decades have typically been for redevelopment purposes.
This month, real estate investor Babba Joshua Yesharim listed a 1.2-acre development site on the Miami River for $26 million. The assemblage is zoned for a project of up to four stories and a maximum 44 units.
In May, Lissette Calderon’s Neology Life Development Group unveiled plans to develop three 15-story buildings with 1,250 apartments on a 7.3-acre site at 2301 Northwest 33rd Avenue near the boat and auto yard King Ocean purchased. Last year, Neology paid $32.2 million for the former National Car Rental facility.
And in January, developers Edgardo Defortuna and Shahab Karmely scored a $38 million loan for sales and marketing and development of their One River Point project. It entails two proposed 60-story condo towers on a 1.8-acre site along the Miami River.