Transamerican Development paid $13.4 million to acquire a North Miami Beach property it eventually plans to redevelop.
Transamerican bought the building currently occupied by Brazilian steakhouse Area Code 55, brokers Engin Yergin and Steven Brodsky of Common Capital Partners told The Real Deal.
Records show Transamerican principal Albert Benalloun in February entered into an agreement with the seller, Biscayne Cove LLC, to buy the property at 16375 Biscayne Boulevard. The February agreement also includes the adjacent 16395 Biscayne Boulevard, which was not part of the $13.4 million sale. Benalloun could not immediately be reached for comment.
Yergin and Brodsky, who brokered the deal, said they had been working on the deal on and off for two years as land prices in the city have increased and zoning changes were enacted. Area Code 55 still has time left on its lease, Yergin told TRD.
The off-market deal closed last week.
The 8,569-square-foot building, constructed in 2000, sits on a large, roughly 93,000-square-foot lot. The seller, managed by Enrique Puig, paid $8.3 million for both sites in 2005.
Just east on Northeast 165th Terrace is the Harbour development site, a twin-tower, 425-unit luxury condo project on the water. Developers 13th Floor Investments and Key International paid about $31 million for the land, a 5-acre site at 16385 Biscayne Boulevard, in August and broke ground in February.
Transamerican’s new property is also near CK Prive‘s planned mixed-use development on the southeast corner at 16301 Biscayne Boulevard – currently Dean’s Gold strip club and an ABC Fine Wine & Spirits.
The Miami Beach-based developer is also active in Ojus, Dania and Aventura.