From the South Florida website: Institutional real estate investors paid record breaking prices to acquire South Florida’s most sought after trophy buildings in the past year. In some cases, sellers made more than a 50 percent profit as buyers continued to pay premium rates per square foot of commercial property. Here are the top 10 building sales for 2014:
1. Six-building Lincoln Road Portfolio | $342M
In one of the largest deals in South Florida history, Terranova Corp. and Acadia Realty Trust announced in August the sale of its six building portfolio on Lincoln Road to Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing and affiliates of Terranova for $342 million. Terranova and Acadia made a 79 percent profit on the properties, which took three-and-a-half years to assemble at a cost of $191 million. The buildings involved in the deal include 600, 719-737, 740, 801-821, 826-838 Lincoln Road, and 723 North Lincoln Lane. Among the high-profile tenants are A/X Armani Jeans, Dylan’s Candy Store, Khong River House, Starbucks, Sushi Samba and 50 Eggs.
2. Las Olas Centre | $204M
In March, RAR2, an entity managed by RREEF America, the real estate investment business of Deutsche Bank’s Asset Management division, acquired the nearly 470,000-square-foot office complex at 350 and 450 East Las Olas Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale for $204 million. The seller, USAA Real Estate, paid $170 million in 2010 for Las Olas Centre, which counts Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo Bank among its star tenants.
3. Shore Club | $175.3M
Ownership of the iconic boutique hotel at 1901 Collins Avenue in Miami Beach changed hands in the first week of January. New York-based Philips South Beach filed a special warranty deed transferring ownership of the 1901 Collins Avenue property to another New York company, Shore Club Property Owner, which is managed by New York-based HFZ Capital Group, according to state corporate records. The new owner assumed two mortgage notes totaling $175.3 million for the 309-room hotel constructed in 1938. HFZ also launched sales of 75 units as condos starting at $2 million during Art Basel this year, securing 13 reservations.
4. CityPlace Tower | $150M
Newport Beach, Calif.-based KBS Real Estate Investment Trust sold the trophy office tower at 525 Okeechobee Boulevard in West Palm Beach for $150 million in August. The buyer, CPT Equity LLC from Greenwich, Connecticut, paid a 19 percent premium over the $126.5 million that KBS paid for CityPlace Tower in 2011.
5. Courvoisier Centre | $146M
In April, Orlando-based Parkway Properties paid $146 million, or $422 per square foot, for the two Class A buildings at 501 Brickell Key Drive in Miami. The seller, New York-based Tishman Speyer, completed a $10 million renovation of the 346,000-square-foot, 84-percent leased complex last year.
6. Douglas Entrance | $100M
Banyan Street Capital of Miami, in a joint venture with Oaktree Capital Management of Los Angeles, acquired the five-building project from Pearlmark Real Estate Partners of Chicago in March for $100,750,000, or $216 per square foot. The property is a Class A, 467,325-square-foot landmark office campus in Coral Gables that was 82 percent leased at the time of the transaction.
7. ArtCenter South Florida | $88M
In another blockbuster deal for a Lincoln Road property, the nonprofit ArtCenter South Florida sold its headquarters building for $88 million in October. The 17,642-square-foot facility at 80 Lincoln Road was purchased by a joint venture between TriStar Capital and RFR Holdings, which has yet to announce their exact plans for redeveloping the site.
8. Dream South Beach | $70M
SB Hospitality, a firm managed by Russell W. Rosen, an attorney with Warshaw Burstein LLP in New York., purchased the 108-room Art Deco hotel from TBS Realty, a New York-based company managed by Rabinder Pal Singh, at a 226 percent premium over its last trade in 2006, when it was bought for $21.5 million. Located at 1111 and 1119 Collins Avenue in Miami Beach, Dream South Beach is subdivided into condominiums.
9. The Raleigh Hotel | $56.6M
In April, Elmira Miami, a company controlled by fashion mogul Tommy Hilfiger, paid $56.6 million for the 105-room hotel at 1775 Collins Avenue. The iconic building was previously owned by David Edelstein and Sam Nazarian’s Twice Around 1775 LLC, which paid $55 million for the property in late 2012. The deal included assigning a $35 million mortgage from the seller to the buyer.
10. 550 Biltmore Way | $50.2M
KPERS Realty Holding #39, managed by AEW Capital Management, paid a 40 percent premium in December to acquire the trophy office building in Coral Gables. PR 550 Biltmore Way, an affiliate of Prudential Real Estate Investors, sold the property anchored by UBS to KPERS for $50.2 million.