Robert Rivani sold the Wynwood Jungle for $26 million, with plans to use the profits to fund the pending acquisition of a Miami Beach office property.
The nearly 39,000-square-foot retail plaza at 51 Northwest 23th Street sold for nearly double its previous sale price five years ago, Patrick Khoury, chief investment officer for Rivani’s Miami-based namesake firm, told The Real Deal.
Eric Williams with Newmark represented the seller and the buyer, an investment group based in Dallas, Khoury said. He declined to name the buyer.
An affiliate of Rivani, formerly Black Lion, bought the property, formerly known as Wynwood Arcade, from New York-based East End Capital in 2021 for $13 million, records show. The two-story development is 50 percent vacant, including a rooftop space previously leased to Fabel Miami restaurant, which closed last year, Khoury said.
“The upside for the buyer is that the rooftop is a little over 10,000 square feet so they can put in a really cool tenant up there and activate the property,” Khoury said.
Leasing activity at Wynwood Jungle has taken a few hits. Last year, Rivani sued an affiliate of Miami-based Goat Hospitality Group, led by restaurateur Derek Gonzalez, for $10.5 million in damages. The pending complaint alleges that Goat signed a lease in 2024 for a steakhouse but failed to open and owes $9.1 million in rent through 2035, plus taxes and common area maintenance. A Rivani affiliate recently filed a motion for summary judgment.
The same Rivani affiliate is also in a pending legal battle with an entity managed by Columbus, Ohio-based restaurateur Brian Swanson. In 2024, Swanson’s entity sued the Rivani affiliate for allegedly breaching a lease agreement by only providing 6,158 square feet for a new restaurant when the deal allegedly called for 7,751 square feet. Rivani countersued, alleging the square footage complaint was a bogus attempt to break the lease.
Despite the lease disputes, Rivani sold Wynwood Jungle for a sizable profit that will allow the firm to use the sale proceeds to fund the purchase of an “iconic office building in Miami Beach,” Khoury said. He added that Rivani also retained ownership of a small slice of the Wynwood Jungle property that is under contract for $1 million.
The sale of Wynwood Jungle underscores Rivani’s shedding of a retail and hospitality portfolio the firm acquired between 2021 and 2024. Last year, Rivani sold commercial condos in Edgewater, Brickell and Miami Beach for $19.8 million, $38.2 million and $28.2 million as the firm shifted its focus to a $40 million renovation of a mixed-use building near Miami Beach’s Lincoln Road.
The project landed Playboy as the anchor tenant with the iconic brand planning to move its Los Angeles headquarters to a penthouse suite at the Rivani at 1691 Washington Avenue. Rivani also bought Lincoln Theatre, a former performance venue converted into a retail building anchored by H&M, for $37 million last year.
Robert Rivani has also been active in the luxury residential market. Recently, he flipped a waterfront Palm Island mansion to José Mas and partners for $25 million, marking another profitable exit.