Espirito Santo Plaza sells for $142M

Dallas, Texas-based Gaedeke Group has purchased the Espirito Santo Plaza in the Brickell Financial District for $142 million, Miami-Dade County records show.

Estoril Inc. sold the 36-story office building at 1395 Brickell Avenue. EXAN Capital was marketing the property. It was developed in 2004 and spans 659,753 square feet, according to Miami-Dade property records.

In June, Gaedeke announced plans to invest $300 million in “larger office properties exclusively in primary markets.” The full service real estate firm, which has regional offices in West Palm Beach, also closed a $65 million mortgage from JPMorgan Chase, records show.

The office tower was expected to sell for at least $120 million, the Wall Street Journal reported in April. Proceeds from the sale will go to creditors of Espírito Santo International SA. Estoril is part of the bank’s subsidiary, Rio Forte Investments SA.

EXAN’s Adam Wolfson, Juan Jose Zaragoza and Juan Arcila worked on the deal. There was no listing price, “but we were obviously aware of what’s going on in the market,” a spokesperson told The Real Deal.

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Not included in the acquisition was the Conrad Miami, which is on site. The hotel was listed for sale earlier this year and expected to sell for more than $100 million. CBRE is marketing the luxury 203-key hotel.

“There is enough capital interested in acquiring Brickell Avenue office properties for each property to sell many times over,” Chris Lee, vice chairman of CBRE Capital Markets told The Real Deal. “It is among the most difficult markets in the world for a buyer to win a deal.”

The property is in the heart of Brickell, near Brickell City Centre, which when completed will include a 500,000-square-foot shopping component, two condominium towers, two Class A office buildings, and its EAST, Miami Hotel.

In February, the 13-story SunTrust office building at 777 Brickell sold to Brazilian investors for $140 million.