CP Group and DRA Purchase Miami Tower for $163 Million
The famous Miami Tower was just purchased by CP Group and DRA Advisors for $163 million.
Since its completion in 1987, the 47-story office skyscraper by the late Pritzker-winning architect I.M. Pei has served as a landmark in Downtown Miami, illuminating Miami’s skyline with light displays.
The 636,000-square-foot skyscraper has 37 levels of offices, 10 floors of parking, an on-site Metromover station, and street-level retail space. It is situated at 100 SE 2nd Street, a block from the Miami River.
Leading hedge fund Citadel and its sister company Citadel Securities, a market maker, recently announced plans to move from Chicago to Brickell, Miami’s financial area. The company’s creator, millionaire Ken Griffin, paid $287 million for the office building 1221 Brickell and $363 million for a beachfront property on Brickell Bay Drive where he plans to erect an office skyscraper.
Miami Tower traded with a loss, as opposed to 1221 Brickell, which reported an 85% gain from its most recent sale in 2017. According to public documents, Sumitomo Corporation of Americas, the seller, paid $220 million for the property in 2016.
Losing a significant tenant contributed to Miami Tower’s depreciation. Last year, the law firm Carton Fields moved into the MiamiCentral building, leasing around 95,000 square feet. Currently, Miami Tower is only about 65 percent occupied, down from almost 100 percent in 2016.
According to a source, the property’s renovation by the new owners will probably cost more than $20 million.
The agreement is CP and DRA’s second joint venture in South Florida. For $320 million, New York-based DRA acquired CP’s majority ownership of the Boca Raton Innovation Campus office development. It continues to be the largest office trade in South Florida in terms of gross volume.
Brick & Timber Collective Recently Purchased a Wynwood Mixed-Use Property for $9 Million
Brick & Timber Collective just increased their Wynwood portfolio with an off-market $9 million purchase of a newly finished mixed-use property.
The developer and real estate asset manager from San Francisco purchased a 3-story office and retail property at 2724 and 2734 Northwest First Avenue.
The mixed-use property is located across the street from Wynd 27 and Wynd 28. Kushner Companies and Block Capital Group are developing the site, with 152 apartments, 79,500 square feet of office, and retail space.
The building was purchased for $900 per square foot by Brick & Timber Collective, managed by partners Jesse Feldman and Glenn Gilmore. The property is leased to a bay area tech business that finished a 10,000 square feet makeover was finished one month ago.
According to public records, the seller, a subsidiary of Miami-based Fortis Design-Build, paid $1.8 million for the two properties in 2018.
The structure, designed by Florida International University Dean of Architecture Jason Chandler, has ground-floor retail, second-floor office space, and a rooftop deck that may be expanded, according to Polinsky.
This isn’t the first Wynwood project Brick & Timber Collective has been involved in. The company purchased a Wynwood Annex Class A office building in February for $49 million but plans on buying more properties in Wynwood in the future.
Brick & Timber Collective specializes in leasing office space to technology startups, and has been exploring Miami, notably Wynwood, for more than a year. “We were scanning the rest of the country to see which market would profit from the tech industry in the same manner that San Francisco has and we landed in Miami and Wynwood. There is a significant migratory change in progress.”
Can the Metaverse Change the Miami Real Estate Market?
“Metaverse” is a massive buzzword in the realms of technology, business, and finance right now, and like all buzzwords, its definition is hazy, debated, and molded by the objectives of those who use it. Now, the Metaverse is being debated whether it can be a real estate game-changer.
One Miami commercial group is trying to make their listings more attractive by utilizing the Metaverse. Currently, Inhouse Commercial is partnering with the Metaverse Group to create a virtual copy of the two buildings that they have for sale in Miami Beach.
The properties are located at 930 and 960 Alton Road, and whoever purchases the properties, will receive the digital copies of the buildings in the Metaverse. The total asking price for the package is $25 million.
The property is owned by the former Miami Beach Mayor, Phillip Levine. It has been on the market since early 2021. Although the property has received multiple offers, the company stated that they believe they could lure in a big tech company with the Metaverse addition.
Metaverse Group, a significant virtual real estate owner and developer, has so far only created representations of the virtual property. According to Matt Zanardo, the firm’s consulting head, it will wait until Inhouse finds a buyer to completely build it out and choose the metaverse where it will reside.
According to Inhouse’s owner, “Companies and brands in our line of business were entering the metaverse, and we saw there was probably going to be a need for a connection to the real world.”
Recently, a number of organizations and brands have entered the metaverse recent months, and the feasibility of the virtual real estate industry has yet to be shown.
If the company succeeds with this deal, this will be the first-ever commercial/metaverse purchase and will forever change how commercial properties are presented to developers as well as other potential buyers.
