One Miami Team Says Buyer Found For Biscayne Bay Piece Of Project

By Paola Iuspa
The landowner of the 9-acre One Miami project said the multiphase development near the mouth of the Miami River is progressing again with the sale of one of four of the 3-acre parcels scheduled to close in September.

Larry DeGeorge, a principal with Miami One Centre, master developers and owners of the project, said a buyer has put down a deposit on one parcel. Mr. DeGeorge would not disclose the name of the buyer but the new developer "does work all over the world; they have built in the Miami area before."

Mr. DeGeorge said his company was negotiating the sale of three other lots now being leased out to parking operators.

"We are going to be announcing some actions on the other parcels in two to three weeks," he said.

The parcel that Mr. DeGeorge said he has deposit on sits between the Inter-Continental Miami and Dupont Plaza hotels on Biscayne Bay in downtown Miami.

The Related Group, headed by Jorge Perez, tried to buy that parcel, 205 S Bayshore Drive, earlier this year for a 29-story office tower, 38-story residential building and five-story garage. But two months later the parties could not agree on a price and the deal died.

Miami One Centre, with Ned Seigel and Morris Stoltz also as principals, bought the four city blocks in 1998 for $35 million in 1998. The blocks are bounded by Biscayne Boulevard Way to the south, Biscayne Bay and the Inter-Continental Hotel to the east, Southeast Second Street to the north and Second Avenue to the west.

"Each developer," Mr. DeGeorge said, "will need to get a site plan approval for each project."