The Edge on Brickell is over: site trades for $18M

The developer of the proposed Edge on Brickell has sold the Miami Riverfront site for $18 million to a Brazilian businessman, who plans to spend $200 million to build a 60-story condo-hotel, The Real Deal has learned.

Leo Macedo, owner of the Brick Group, bought the two adjoining parcels, at 39 Southwest Miami Avenue Road and 55 Miami Avenue Road, from The Edge on Brickell LLC, owned by Rafael Aragones.

Sisters Elena Iturriaga Arango, an agent with Arch Realty, and Cristina Gort Arango, an agent with Cervera Real Estate, brokered the deal. Iturriaga represented the seller; Gort represented the buyer, they told TRD. Their mother is Gabriella Arango, the high-end Italian designer who has a store on Miracle Mile in Coral Gables.

Now that the sale has closed, The Edge on Brickell “is over,” Macedo told TRD. “I bought the land, but I am changing the plans,” Macedo said.

He intends to develop a condo-hotel tower with 300 condo units, 200 hotel rooms, and a rooftop restaurant, he said. Architect Kobi Karp is designing the project Macedo said he is looking to bring in a five-star hotel flag.

“I am talking with many flags, because many flags are interested in opening a new hotel in Miami,” said Macedo, who is investing $200 million in the project.

“It will bring more money for the city and the Brickell area,” Macedo told TRD. “The Brickell area will be the little Manhattan. People won’t need a car, they will work close to where they live.”

The as yet unnamed condo-hotel is among several projects Macedo is developing in South Florida. He is planning a 23-story, 75-unit waterfront condo tower in North Bay Village, at 1601 79th Street Causeway. He has also built a luxury spec home at 30 Palm Island in Miami Beach that is on the market for $32 million. Leonidas also owns Mec Cars, a used exotic car dealership in at 2100 Northeast Second Avenue in Miami. And in Brazil, he said he has built 5,000 condo units through partnerships, and owns a home health care company with 300 employees and a theater in Rio de Janeiro.

The Edge on Brickell had been planned as a 58-story tower, with 130 residences, developed through a partnership between Mexican-born Rafael Aragones and Alberto Espinino. Construction was set to begin in 2015. Prices for the two- and three-bedroom units, as well as two-story penthouses, were to range from $648,000 to more than $4 million.

Miami-Dade property records show The Edge on Brickell LLS, led by Aragones, had paid $3.65 million for the site in October 2013.