Source: Miami Herald
A mixed-use office building on city-owned land near Lincoln Road has sold for $80 million, one of Miami Beach’s largest commercial real estate transactions in 2016.
The eight-story building at 1601 Washington Ave. is the headquarters of LNR Partners, a real estate management company. It has 110,000 square feet of office space, 30,000 square feet of retail and a 500-car parking garage.
“It’s a big property right in the heart of everything,” said Michael Lapointe, executive managing director of brokerage NGKF Capital Markets, which represented the buyer, a New York-based real estate investment firm called the Nightingale Group. “The buyer sees a lot of activity on Lincoln Road and sees Washington Avenue as a major corridor for redevelopment.”
The city of Miami Beach is planning improvements to Washington Avenue that include incentives for builders, small public parks and future parking garages.
LNR’s lease expires in 2021, meaning the site could be redeveloped. The city owns the land but not the building. It had to sign off on the transaction. Among the retail subtenants are Regions Bank.
The seller is Cousins Properties, based in Atlanta. The property, called Lincoln Place and built in 2002, last sold for $66 million in 2013.
Miami Beach real estate has traded for big numbers as South Florida attracts more foreign and out-of-town investors. Earlier this year, the Thompson hotel in South Beach sold for $229.4 million and the lease for a commercial building at 1691 Michigan Ave. sold for $109.25 million. Last year, Spanish billionaire Amancio Ortega paid $370 million for an entire block of shops on Lincoln Road.
Ortega made headlines again in 2016 when he bought downtown Miami’s Southeast Financial Tower for $516.6 million. It is believed to be the largest real estate transaction in Miami-Dade County history.
MIAMI HERALD STAFF WRITER JOEY FLECHAS CONTRIBUTED TO THIS REPORT.