It’s no secret that boatloads of investment money flowed through Miami during 2015. But what companies were behind those purchases, and what were they buying? The Real Deal analyzed data from CoStar Group, an information company, to identify last year’s five biggest investment movers and shakers in Miami’s commercial sector.
#1 Ponte Gadea — Lincoln Road
An entity owned by the world’s fourth richest man, Amancio Ortega, made Miami-Dade County history last year when it picked up an entire block of Miami Beach’s Lincoln Road for a whopping $370 million.
The purchase covered a handful of parcels that had been assembled by Michael Comras and Jonathan Fryd, two local real estate investors who had purchased the properties 16 years ago. With that sale, Ortega almost single-handedly pushed property values along Lincoln Road, where rents have already skyrocketed compared to the rest of Miami Beach.
The Zara founder has an affinity for real estate: a 2012 Forbes article said his free time is consumed by investing in properties, and his Lincoln Road deal shattered the street’s previous $342 million sales record from 2014.
#2 Carey Watermark — Key Biscayne
#3 Blackstone Group — downtown Miami
#4 Chesapeake Lodging Trust — South Beach
#5 AMLI Residential — Doral, Dadeland and Midtown Miami
That’s a combined $263 million worth of Miami-Dade real estate, which cements the fund’s position as one of the county’s major real estate players of 2015.
Sean Stewart-Muniz, The Real Deal
Read more here: therealdeal.com/miami/
