Tabani Group, a Dallas-based investment firm, is the buyer that dropped $25.7 million for the Wynwood Jungle, a Miami retail complex that’s entangled with tenant lawsuits.
Robert Rivani, through two affiliates, sold the nearly 39,000-square-foot plaza at 43-75 Northwest 23rd Street last month, which was about half vacant, The Real Deal previously reported. At the time, the buyer was identified only as a Dallas-based investment firm.
Tabani borrowed $15.7 million from Frost Bank for the purchase, according to records and real estate database Vizzda. Founded in 1981 by Zaffar Tabani, the firm has a portfolio of about $1 billion and 10 million square feet of residential, hotel and commercial properties nationwide, its website shows.
Tabani’s Florida properties include the Baldwin Park Village mixed-use complex in Orlando, the master-planned Park Lane apartment and retail complex in Gainesville, and the Abacoa Town Center retail, dining and entertainment complex in Jupiter, the firm’s website shows.
The two-story Wynwood Jungle was completed in 2016 on a 0.7-acre lot, Vizzda records show.
Its tenants include The Salty, a doughnut shop.
Affiliates of Rivani, who leads his Miami-based eponymously named firm, paid $13.3 million for Wynwood Jungle in 2021, purchasing it from New York-based East End Capital.
Wynwood Jungle has been tied up in lawsuits over leases with former and prospective tenants, and Rivani’s affiliates.
In March, Rivani’s entities sued the operators of a frozen gelato café, alleging they stopped paying rent in January for a 641-square-foot space and vacated the premises a month later, the complaint says. The former tenants still owe the base rent of over $4,700 a month and $1,500 daily for each day the business has been closed, according to the complaint.
Last summer, Rivani’s affiliates sued an entity tied to Miami-based Goat Hospitality Group, led by restaurateur Derek Gonzalez, for about $10.5 million in damages, alleging the hospitality firm failed to open a steakhouse at Wynwood Jungle and owed $9.1 million in rent through 2035 under their 2024 lease agreement.
Goat Hospitality and Gonzalez countersued in December, claiming that Rivani induced them to lease at the building, including misrepresenting the condition of the building and its financials, as well as its other tenants such as the Fabel Miami restaurant. Fabel previously had leased the roughly 10,000-square-foot rooftop but closed last year. Goat and Gonzalez also alleged the landlord failed to disburse an up to $300,000 allowance for architectural and design costs.
The outcome is unclear, as the case is listed as closed, while the last filing shows a July 16 hearing on Rivani’s motion for summary judgment.
Separately, an entity led by Brian Swanson sued Rivani’s affiliates, alleging the landlord provided just over 6,100 square feet for a restaurant space even though the lease was for nearly 7,800 square feet. Rivani countersued, claiming the complaint over the size of the space is an attempt to break the lease.
Court records show the judge in the case approved last month the Swanson side’s request to end further mediation after two failed attempts, with the case headed to a Sept. 14 trial.
Tabani representatives didn’t immediately return a request for comment on whether some of the vacancy at Wynwood Jungle has been filled or if the firm is in talks with prospective tenants.
Rivani’s plan is to use its gain on the Wynwood Jungle sale for an office building in Miami Beach, Riani COO Patrick Khoury told TRD last month, adding that the firm retained a small portion of the complex that’s under contract for $1 million.
Rivani moved his firm, previously called Black Lion, from Los Angeles to Miami in 2022. At first, the firm went on a retail and hospitality real estate shopping spree, but it’s been shedding those holdings over the past year.
The firm’s been focused on its South Beach office project consisting of a renovation and expansion of the building at 1691 Michigan Avenue. Last month, commissioners preliminarily greenlit a $50 million expansion that would replace the garage’s sixth floor with 36,000 square feet of offices, three rooftop padel courts and a 6,000-square-foot restaurant.
Tenants that have signed at the South Beach building, which is called The Rivani, include Playboy, which is moving its headquarters there from LA. Also, self-made millionaire and TV personality Daymond John, who is a “Shark Tank” investor and co-host, signed up for about 3,000 square feet at The Rivani.
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