B Capital Buys Miami’s Former Immigration Building For $23M

Miami’s former immigration building has a new owner after B Capital Group finalized its $23 million purchase of the troubled property.

In March, a Miami-Dade judge approved the sale of the 3.5-acre site at 7880 Biscayne Boulevard to an affiliate of B Capital, led by CEO Sebastian Barbagallo. Some of the proceeds will be used to help pay off more than 100 Chinese nationals who invested more than $50 million in a failed mixed-use project by the previous owner, Florida Fullview Immigration Building, an entity managed by Fu Jing “Leo” Wu and Wai Kin “Benny” Lam.

An Avison Young team led by Michael Fay and Jay Ziv handled the court-ordered deal on behalf of Michael Goldberg, the receiver for Florida Fullview. In a statement, Fay said B Capital was the “sole successful bidder.” 

Goldberg took over management of Florida Fullview shortly after Chun Liu, a Chinese national residing in Portland, Oregon, who was one of the EB-5 investors, filed a 2020 class action lawsuit against the entity. 

According to the complaint, Wu and Lam recruited Liu and dozens of others to fund their planned redevelopment of the abandoned former Immigration and Naturalization Service office building. Wu and Lam had proposed building Triton Center, a mixed-use project with a 135-room hotel and 24,000 square feet of retail. 

Wu and Lam enticed Liu and other investors by marketing Triton Center as an EB-5 project. The EB-5 visa program grants permanent residency to investors and their immediate family members if they fund U.S. projects that create jobs. 

Triton Center never broke ground, and the immigration building’s gutted shell was condemned by the city of Miami in 2021. Wu and Lam allegedly misappropriated more than $50 million raised from EB-5 investors, including using some of the funds for their $14.2 million purchase of the Little Farm Trailer Park in El Portal in 2015. Wu and Lam also failed to redevelop the nearly 16-acre former mobile home park.

In March, Liu filed a second class action lawsuit against Wu and Lam that seeks to stop a $5 million payout Wu would receive from the sale of the former immigration building and the Little Farm property. Avison Young is also marketing that site. 

B Capital had also previously submitted a $102 million bid for both properties, but rescinded its offer for the Little Farm site after discovering portions of the land were contaminated.