Shvo Plans More Office In Miami Beach (December 12, 2023)

A 170K SF office building from New York developer Michael Shvo is moving ahead after securing unanimous approval from the Miami Beach Design Review Board. The project, called The Alton, is expected to break ground early next year on six lots at the intersection of Alton Road and the Lincoln Road shopping district. 

Courtesy of Shvo and Foster + Partners

Shvo is planning 170K SF of office space with five residences and ground-floor retail just off Lincoln Road.

The Alton will rise six stories, with 17K SF of ground-floor retail, five luxury residences on the third floor and office space on the upper levels. It was designed by London-based Foster + Partners with Kobi Karp Architects as the project’s local architect.  

Shvo paid $39.3M for the assemblage last June, property records indicate. 

Shvo is also developing two other Miami Beach office buildings — a six-story building at 1667 Washington Ave. and the redevelopment of a 13-story property at 407 Lincoln Road — for a total footprint of nearly 400K SF. The firm also secured $190M in June from BH3 to redevelop The Raleigh with 60 hotel rooms and 42 condos. 

CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT

Houston-based Morgan Group won approval from the city of Sunrise to build a 452-unit apartment complex, The Real Deal reported. The developer is partnering with the owners of the 21-acre site to build Caroline at Sunrise at 3363 North Pine Island Road. 

It will include eight four-story apartment buildings and six three-story townhouse buildings, with units ranging from one to three bedrooms. To secure approval, Morgan agreed to reserve 15% of the units for affordable housing with below-market rents, pay $150K to upgrade a nearby bus stop and build a 7-foot wall on the west side of the development site. 

The site is made up of two parcels, with one owned by Humbold 18, managed by Aventura-based Lauren Iaslovits, and the other held by 3363 Pine Island LLC, managed by Steve Flasz of Hallandale Beach. The properties were acquired in 2019 for a combined $13M, according to TRD. 

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A joint venture of Lionheart Capital, Leviathan Development and Well Duo tapped Japanese architect Kengo Kuma to design a planned retail and office building at 4200 Northeast Second Ave. in the Miami Design District, according to a release. 

The three-story project, named Mirai Design District, would be the first development in the United States for Kuma. It would have 17 modular retail units totaling 15K SF on the ground floor topped by approximately 41K SF of office space. 

Miami-based Lionheart, California-based Leviathan — an investment vehicle for Lionheart partner Allison Greenfield — and Well Duo, led by Venezuelan developers Eduardo Pelaez Romer and Alvaro Cardenas, paid $20M in September for an 11K SF portion of the development site. Lionheart already owns the neighboring 15K SF site where it has its headquarters, South Florida Business Journal reported.

The joint venture plans to break ground on the project next summer and is aiming to have it completed by the end of 2025. 

Kushner Cos.’ inclusion of a synagogue at its planned Surfside apartment project allows it to include underground parking.

New York-based Kushner Cos. received approval from the Surfside Planning and Zoning Board for an 87-unit luxury apartment building with a 720 SF synagogue at 9300 Collins Ave. 

The 140K SF, three-story building would have apartments ranging from 1,238 SF to 2,284 SF and 194 underground parking spaces, South Florida Business Journal reported prior to the board’s approval. A 2,250 SF historic building on the site would be preserved and would have the project’s drop-off zone entrance built around it. 

The inclusion of the synagogue allows the property to be classified as mixed-use, a designation Kushner needed to include underground parking, Graham Penn, a partner at Bercow Radell Fernandez Larkin & Taipans that is representing the developer, said at the Nov. 30 board meeting. The site plan passed the zoning board in a 7-1 vote and will head to the Surfside Town Commission for final approval. 

Kushner paid $40M through an affiliate in September to acquire the mostly vacant 2.2-acre site, property records indicate. 

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An eight-story hotel is being proposed in Wynwood by Miami-based Robert Finvarb Cos., South Florida Business Journal reported. The 116-key hotel is planned for an 11K SF lot at 160 Northwest 28th St. that was acquired by an entity managed by CEO Robert Finvarb in March for $6.7M. 

The hotel, a partnership between Finvarb and New York-based Hidrock Realty, would include a 205-seat restaurant on the mezzanine level, a 156-seat rooftop restaurant and 24 basement-level parking spaces. 

Finvarb is aiming to break ground on the hotel in the second half of 2024 and expects to sign a branding deal with a national hotel chain for the property, Finvarb told the SFBJ. The Wynwood Design Review Committee will consider the application on Dec. 5. 

FINANCING

The 204K SF AutoNation building in Downtown Fort Lauderdale was refinanced for $55M, Commercial Observer reported. Stiles Corp. and Las Olas Capital, which own the property at 200 Southwest First Ave., secured the debt from Barclays and New York-based Argentic. The financing replaces a $53M loan that had been issued by PNC Bank. 

The transaction was arranged by Jay Miller, Spencer Miller, A.J. Felberbaum and Noah Rothman at Baybridge Real Estate Capital. 

AutoNation occupies around 85% of the property as its corporate headquarters, with the remaining space leased by professional services firms. 

Montauk Lobster House opened its first location outside of New York at 1549 Sunset Drive in Coral Gables.

LEASES

Montauk Lobster House opened its first location outside of New York at 1549 Sunset Drive in Coral Gables, according to a release. The 3,500 SF location with a 1,500 SF patio was previously occupied by Gringo’s Oyster House. 

Montauk Lobster House first opened on Long Island in 2018 and has since added two locations. 

CBRE retail broker Alex Cesar represented the tenant in the lease. The landlord, Beverly Hills Cafe VIII Inc., was represented by Bob Burstein at KW Commercial. 

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French-inspired café Maman will open its fourth South Florida location at 830 Brickell in late 2024, according to a release. The new location will span 2,950 SF and follows plans for outposts in Wynwood, Coral Gables and West Palm Beach. 

Maman was launched in New York in 2014 by Benjamin Sormonte and Elisa Marshall and has since expanded to 31 locations in the Northeast and Toronto. 

Taryn Brandes and Emily Green at Brand Urban represented Maman as its master broker and partnered with Michael Sullivan at Vertical Real Estate on the lease. OKO Group and Cain International, the developers of the under-construction 830 Brickell, were represented by Aaron Butler of Avenue Real Estate Partners. 

PEOPLE

JLL’s South Florida multi-housing investment sales team added Nick Lavin, who had previously been a director at the firm’s Los Angeles office, according to a release. 

Lavin’s focus during nearly six years in Los Angeles was on representing owners in sales transactions. He has executed more than $4B in transactions in Los Angeles and Chicago, where he worked for HFF prior to it being acquired by JLL in 2019. 

He joins an investment sales team that includes Matthew Lawton, Maurice Habif and Simon Banke. The group has executed around $1B in land sales and $1.4B in multifamily sales and joint venture equity over the last three years.