Unnamed Buyer Chosen For Coveted Land Near Mary Brickell Village

By Scott E. Pacheco
There’s a buyer for the 5.65 acres at South Miami Avenue and Eighth Street once targeted for a high-rise development of more than $2 billion.

But the buyer’s identity and offer are under wraps until the deal is completed, said Larry Stockton, senior vice president with Colliers Abood Wood-Fay.

He did say the buyer is a "very logical, capable purchaser" who made a "very reasonable offer.

"We had about five to seven offers on it, some verbal, some written," he said. "We have picked a horse. I am not at liberty to say who it is. We are very optimistic that we are going to close on it.

"It should be closed probably in about 60 days if everything goes according to schedule."

The mixed-use zoned land at 700 and 701 S Miami Ave. was to be home to the $2.2 billion Brickell CitiCenter and the tallest building in Miami-Dade County before the residential real-estate market fell. It has been on the market about three months this time around, Mr. Stockton said.

According to a previous Miami Today article, the land also was on the market in August 2007.

Brickell CitiCentre LLC bought the land in 2004 and obtained a major use special permit from the City of Miami in 2005 to build the three-tower mixed-use complex. But the developers stepped away from the project and New York-based iStar Financial stepped in and bought the property.

Officials with iStar Financial could not be reached.

The property is divided into two pieces. The property to the east of Miami Avenue is 2.25 acres and is bordered by Southeast Eighth and Seventh streets. The 3.4 acres to the west is bordered by Southwest Eighth and Seventh streets. The parcels are boxed in on the west by Southwest First Avenue and to the east by the Eighth Street Metromover Station.

According to county property records, the land, which is comprised of 26 smaller lots on the county’s property search Web site, is valued at about $49 million.

The Brickell CitiCentre was to have three towers, at 72, 69 and 76 floors, with the latter rising 808 feet. The tallest building in the county now is the Four Seasons on Brickell Avenue, at less than 800 feet.

The 5.6-acre site was to house 2,424 multifamily residential units, 133,721 square feet of office space, 87,438 square feet of retail and restaurant space and 2,808 parking spaces.

Mr. Stockton said he doesn’t know what the new buyers intend to do with the property and said he "isn’t at liberty" to share if they are from Miami-Dade County. But he did say the zoning, along with its location between Seventh and Eighth streets — two main arteries to Brickell Avenue — allows for myriad possibilities.

Mr. Stockton said "more than likely (the buyer is) not going to use the current approved plans."

Tory Jacobs, president of the Brickell Homeowners Association, said he doesn’t know anything about a future changing of hands of the land but has an idea what he’d like there.

"It is prime area, but obviously there’s overbuilding in residential," he said. "I think that they’re two things we could use more of. The restaurants we have around here are all high-priced — there doesn’t seem to be much of the medium price. I think we could stand some sort of middle-priced restaurants. The other thing I think we could use… some sort of a retail complex that wasn’t fancy — maybe a Target or something." Advertisement