Michael Shvo sold his former Epicure assemblage on Alton Road, where he planned a luxury office and apartment project, to Infinity Collective, The Real Deal has learned.
The sale comes as Shvo is fighting to hold onto control of the nearby Raleigh condo and hotel development on Collins Avenue, amid his dispute with Germany’s largest public pension fund, Bayerische Versorgungskammer. BVK backed some of his investments in the U.S., including the Raleigh, but it was not invested in the Alton Road site.
Shvo’s BH The Alton LLC sold the properties at 1656, 1664, 1676 and 1680 Alton Road, and 1677 West Avenue, home to the former site of Epicure Gourmet Market & Café. Shvo had tapped brokers to market the assemblage for sale earlier this year, sources told TRD. Newmark’s Adam Spies and Marcella Fasulo brokered the sale.
New York-based Infinity, led by Steve Kassin and David Berg, confirmed the purchase in a statement to TRD.
Shvo secured approval from the Miami Beach Design Review board in 2023 for The Alton, a planned six-story building with about 17,000 square feet of office space and five apartments on the northwest corner of Alton and Lincoln roads. Foster + Partners and Kobi Karp designed the project.
New York-based Shvo said in a statement provided to TRD that office development was “no longer the highest and best use for this site.”
“Shvo’s singular focus remains super-prime real estate, and we are pleased that Infinity Collective will move forward with much-needed housing at this location,” the statement from Shvo reads.
Berg, a partner at Infinity, said the firm will explore “alternative mixed-use development options.”
Infinity’s portfolio in Miami Beach includes the Esme hotel on Española Way, the Variety Hotel at 1700 Alton Road and properties on Ocean Drive.
Shvo paid $39.3 million for the Alton Road development site in 2022, at the time marking his growing investment and development pipeline in South Beach. That same year, he paid $4.5 million for a portion of the development site for his One Soundscape Park project, the second office building he planned in South Beach, at 1665 and 1667 Washington Avenue
At the time, South Florida’s office market boomed, fueled by an influx of out-of-state financial, tech and other companies that leased offices. Rents surpassed $100 per square foot for the first time in the tri-county region. In Miami Beach, the push for more office development also was championed by city officials who wanted to shed South Beach’s party image.
But as interest rates increased, the pipeline of new-to-market firms slowed and the hype over South Florida’s office market quieted. Questions loomed over the viability of some of the planned office buildings, including Shvo’s two South Beach projects.
In a March interview for a story on delayed and canceled office projects, Shvo told TRD that The Alton and One Soundscape Park were “full steam ahead.” Construction, he said, was expected to start by the first quarter of next year.
He had scored approval for the five-story, 62,500-square-foot One Soundscape Park office building last year.
Unlike the planned office projects in Brickell that are large, The Alton and One Soundscape Park would be smaller and “demand in Miami Beach is still there,” Shvo said during the March call.
Yet, Shvo was trying to sell The Alton early this year, according to sources. The development site was “quietly” marketed during the first quarter. Brokers in January sent marketing materials to select developers who were asked to sign non-disclosure agreements, one of the sources said. An asking price wasn’t specified, though the source said the whisper among real estate circles was that the price equals the amount of the loan on the site.
Shvo borrowed $28.3 million from an affiliate of New York-based Maxim Capital Group in 2022 when he purchased the property, according to records. Jason Bordenick of Maxim Capital Group declined comment.
Also this year, a consultant for Shvo’s German investment partner in The Alton also was marketing the site, the source said, adding that at some point it became “unclear” whether Shvo or his German partner, Deutsche Finance America, had the authority to sell the property.
Deutsche Finance America co-purchased the property with Shvo in 2022. The firm didn’t return a request for comment.
Shvo’s trophy asset in Miami Beach is the assemblage composed of the former Raleigh, South Seas and Richmond hotels at 1775, 1757 and 1751 Collins Avenue. Shvo announced in 2023 that Rosewood Hotels would brand the luxury condo and hotel project, which is being designed by Peter Marino and Karp. The project includes the restoration and renovation of the historic structures on the 3-acre property and a new, separate 17-story, oceanfront condo tower.
But the project has struggled with presales, and earlier this year, Nahla Capital won a bid to take over the development for $275 million. Shvo has the right of first refusal and has been working to try and match the bid, sources said.
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