Flagler Street building in downtown Miami sells at premium

Flagler Street building in downtown Miami sells at premium

Property sold for $9 million or $213 per square foot

June 16, 2015 03:15PM
By Katherine Kallergis

                

Downtown Miami

An office building on Flagler Street in downtown Miami sold for nearly three and a half times its previous sale in 2009, The Real Deal has learned.
On Thursday, the property at 219 East Flagler Street, sold for $9 million or $213 per square foot, Marcus & Millichap commercial broker Alex Zylberglait told TRD. Zylberglait represented the seller.

Flagler Building at 219 East Flagler Street

“Not only does the sale reflect the state of the market, but it reflects the opportunities in downtown Miami,” he said. “The buyer sees the long term potential.”
Downtown Miami Center, a company listing Israeli owners Dvir Dehry and Limor Dehry on its corporate records, sold the six-story, 42,123-square-foot building to East Flagler Building, an Aventura-based LLC. In May, Dvir Dehry was charged with bribing a city fire inspector to remove code violations, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, for another building at 223 East Flagler.
The 7,000-square-foot site last sold for $2.6 million in May 2009 as part of a distressed sale, according to Miami-Dade property records. Information on last week’s buyer was not available in public records, but Zylberglait said the new owner has invested in Miami before.
“The existing economics of this deal are not the most attractive to the [typical] investor,” he said. “The buyer sees the opportunity of appreciation over a number of years.”
Developments such as All Aboard Florida, Miami Worldcenter and recent sales of properties along Flagler Street are spearheading the eventual transformation of downtown Miami, according to Arnstein & Lehr Partner Luis Flores.
Investor Moishe Mana, for example, has acquired more than 530,000 square feet of retail properties, and nearly five acres of land on or near Flagler Street since last year. He has yet to release his plans.
Flores, who most recently represented J. Milton & Associates in closing a $136.5 million construction loan for the Parque Towers project in Sunny Isles, said that the Miami’s Central Business District is in need of more office and retail space, and that the Brickell market is fully developed and oversaturated.
“Everyone is looking at downtown Miami,” he said. “There will be a full renaissance downtown. Maybe not in two years or three years, but in 10 years. The smart players are putting their foot in the door now.”

Tags: 219 flagler, central business district, downtown miami, flagler street

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