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.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Partners.

South Beach Portfolio Sold to JV for $139M

Three Lincoln Road buildings in South Beach, Florida sold this month to a joint venture between Terranova Corp. and Acadia Realty Trust from South Beach Tristar Capital for $139 million, or more than $2,600 per square foot. According to a CoStar report, Tristar had acquired the portfolio in 1998 for $15.75 million, at the time setting a record with its $295 per-square-foot purchase price. "The rental rates on Lincoln Road have been skyrocketing to in excess of $250 a foot," according to Howard Taft, senior managing director at Miami-based Aztec Group.

"Over the past few years, Lincoln Road has established itself as a 'must-have' location for our retailers, with exceptional global branding opportunities matched by high sales productivity," stated Kenneth F. Bernstein, President and CEO of Acadia Realty Trust. "Tenants are attracted to this prime street-retail market as an essential component to their various multi-channel retailing initiatives. As such, we are pleased to continue building a presence along this vibrant international shopping and dining corridor in partnership with the extremely talented team at Terranova. We look forward to participating in Lincoln Road's next chapter with our valued partner."

The three-building portfolio at 719-838 Lincoln Road totaling about 60,000 square feet is fully leased to credit tenants including Aldo, Solstice, Tiramesu, Fossil, Kiehl's, SOBE, Steve Madden and the new Dylan's Candy Bar. Terranova intends to handle leasing and management at the buildings.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.