The Opa Locka Hialeah Flea Market is under contract to a partnership between Michael Fay, developer Jackson Ward, Rodney Barreto, Chris Kallivokas and Brian May, sources told The Real Deal.
The deal for the 72-acre assemblage, off of LeJeune Road and the Gratigny Expressway, is expected to close during the fourth quarter of this year, Ward told TRD. He declined to provide a sale price.
Fay is a principal at Avison Young, which acquired his firm Abood Wood-Fay in 2014. Kallivokas is the founder and head of RER Ventures based in Coral Gables. Barreto, a former lobbyist and banker, is also chair of the Fish & Wildlife Foundation of Florida. May is a partner at Floridian Partners and lobbyist.
Eventually, the buyers have plans to develop the property into a mixed-use residential and commercial project, Ward said. He said they plan to continue to operate the flea market and the neighboring Insurance Auto Auctions.
The sellers are Bodwin Ltd. and Seabase Florida Corp. Both are entities managed by North Miami Beach attorney Sheldon Zipkin. S L Huang is also a director of Seabase Florida, state records show.
More than 100,000 attend the flea sprawling market on a weekly basis, according to its website.
The deal includes the three parcels at 12705 and 12691 Northwest 42nd Avenue, as well as 12700 Northwest Le Jeune Road in Opa-Locka. Altogether, they last sold for a combined $11.3 million between 1984 and 1991.
Although the buyers declined to disclose a sales price, a property of this size is likely to sell for tens of millions. Last month, Stuart Miller’s Lennar Corp. and Armando Codina and Jim Carr’s CC Homes paid $96 million for the former White Course in Doral, a 130-acre property they will redevelop. That deal marks one of the most expensive land deals in Miami-Dade history.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.