Terranova Sells Miami Beach Office Buildings to Ivy Realty

Beach Tower LLC, an affiliate of Miami Beach-based Terranova Corp., has sold two South Miami Beach office buildings to to Ivy MBT Property, an affiliate of New Jersey-based Ivy Realty, for $48.75 million, or $406 per square foot. The sale price marks nearly double the original purchase price of the properties set in 2004 when Beach Tower acquired them for a combined total of $27.03 million. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the Daily Business Journal notes that Ivy Realty also recently paid $68 million for a five-building office portfolio in Miami's Waterford at Blue Lagoon Business Park.

"There are enormously high barriers to entry for office space in Miami Beach with virtually no new inventory in nearly a decade and no new construction on the horizon," said Rusty Warren, Co-CEO of Ivy Realty. "Once we revitalize Miami Beach Towers in the tried and true formula we've employed with other office buildings in South Florida, we expect occupancies to soar. It's a stellar addition to our 1.7 million square-foot office portfolio in South Florida, and the plans for Lincoln and Meridian Roads' transformation will only add to Miami Beach Towers' future value."

"We are delighted with the positive conclusion of this investment," added Terranova Chairman Stephen Bittel. "Our current development of two neighboring three-story retail buildings [801 Lincoln Road and 723 Lincoln Lane] featuring Marshalls and Anthropologie as anchor tenants, will open the future of Meridian Avenue and expand Lincoln Road, Miami's most famous landmark, an eight block expanse of shopping, dining and entertainment."

The two office properties are located at 1674 and 1688 Meridian Road and total nearly 120,000 square feet. Developed in 1959 and 1961, 1674 Meridian stands five stories tall, and 1688 Meridian covers 10 stories on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Meridian, across from Macy's. The occupancy rate wasn't reported, but major tenants of the properties include Regus, Next Model Management, Verizon Wireless, Barclay's Real Estate Group, SCPF and Merchant Data Systems. The buildings offer a prime Miami Beach location less than half a block from shopping, dining, and entertainment on Lincoln Road, across the street from City Hall and the Miami Beach Convention Center.

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