Michael Simkins picked up a Lincoln Road building in Miami Beach at a bargain price as the pedestrian-only retail street experiences a revival.
An entity managed by Simkins, a Miami Beach-based investor, paid $11.7 million for a one-story building at 716-720 Lincoln Road, records and real estate database Vizzda show. The buyer financed the 6,900-square-foot acquisition with an $8.5 million loan from City National Bank of Florida.
The sale price amounts to $1,685 per square foot.
Simkins, who also leads Lion Development Group and is co-developing a pair of downtown Miami condo towers, joins other major commercial real estate investors, like Michael Comras and Robert Rivani, who have recently acquired Lincoln Road properties.
Simkins acquired his building for nearly $23 million below the previous sale price 12 years ago.
The seller, an affiliate of New York-based JSRE Acquisitions, paid $34.5 million — almost $5,000 per square foot — in 2014, records show. Completed in 1936, the building has one tenant, Captain Candy Store, which opened last year, and two vacant spaces, online listings show.
When JSRE acquired the building more than a decade ago, Lincoln Road was among the most expensive retail streets in South Florida, with rents ballooning from $150 a square foot to $300-plus a square foot and national tenants establishing flagship stores along the open-air mall.
Competition from Miami’s Design District, Wynwood and Brickell neighborhoods caused a retail exodus from Lincoln Road in the late 2010s, and landlords struggled to attract new tenants that could sustain high rents.
In the past year, rents have become more affordable for local tenants, and Lincoln Road is going through renewed momentum that has brought in players like Comras and Rivani.
Comras’ namesake firm acquired 11 Lincoln Road storefronts for $140 million in November. Comras plans to transform the properties into a 150,000-square-foot boutique shopping district called NoLi, which is short for North Lincoln Road.
Rivani purchased the historic Lincoln Theatre building on Lincoln Road for $37 million in August. In addition to anchor tenant H&M, the fully leased property’s other tenants are Swatch, Tapelia Spanish Cuisine restaurant and Myka, a Greek frozen yogurt shop.