The buyer, a well-known Canadian firm, acquired the off-market building at 635-639 Lincoln Road for $35 million Friday, following four to five months of negotiations.
Property records show the buyers were two limited liability companies affiliated with the ALDO Group, a Quebec-based business that owns and operates a worldwide chain of shoe and accessory stores. The seller, Camelot of Miami LLC, is managed by Phillip A. Buhler, a partner with Jacksonville-based Moseley Prichard Parrish Knight & Jones.
“There’s only a handful of streets like Lincoln Road in all of the U.S.,” said Ness Ohayon, co-founder of WITT Realty Group, part of Keller Williams-Miami. Ohayon, who represented the buyer, said the seller was reluctant to give up a piece of incoming-producing property on a corridor whose prices are consistently hitting record highs.
Built in 1935, the one-story building has remained in the Buhler family ever since, according to Miami-Dade County records. It is currently home to the jewelry store Claudia N.
Ohayon said the initial offer on the property fell through, but he simply could not let go of the deal. Located between fast-fashion chains Forever 21 and H&M, Ohayon said this particular block is emerging as one of Lincoln Road’s most popular.
“My buyers really wanted the building,” he said. The seller eventually gave in when ALDO put down its robust — and final — offer of $35 million.
Lincoln Road rental rates run about $300 per square foot of space.
“The price is pretty consistent with the market,” said Michael Comras, president and CEO of the Comras Co. of Florida Inc.
Lincoln Road is known for its international exposure and will continue to rake in record-breaking transactions, he said. When faced with volatile stock markets and an overall plunge in the global economy, real estate becomes the rosier option for investors.
Last September, a block of the Miami Beach corridor was scooped for a whopping $370 million, or more than $7,000 per square foot.
Comras and Jonathan Fryd, developer and president of Fryd Properties, assembled the properties in 1999 for a total of about $12 million and sold it to Playa Retail Investments LLC, a company affiliated with Spanish billionaire Amancio Ortega, best known for his Zara apparel and accessories chain.
The deal beat the previous record for a Lincoln Road assemblage, which generated $342 million for a 114,600-square-foot, six-property portfolio in August 2014.
Carla Vianna, Daily Business Review
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