The once-popular Fox’s Lounge in South Miami has a new owner.
Fox’s Plaza, marketed as a redevelopment opportunity, just sold to an out-of-state buyer for its asking price of $7.5 million.
Tony Arrellano of Metro 1 Commercial
Rene Dahdah sold the properties at 7435 Southwest 61st Avenue and 6022-6030 South Dixie Highway to S. Miami Retail BH LLC, according to a press release. The site hit the market with Colliers International South Florida broker Marcos Puente in August. Tony Arellano of Metro 1 Commerical represented the buyer.
Puente said he received multiple offers at the asking price because of the lack of supply along U.S. 1.
“It’s definitely not unusual in this market to have full price or over ask for good, quality real estate, especially in markets like South Miami,” Arellano told The Real Deal.
State records show an attorney manages the buyer, a Miami-based entity. Arellano declined to identify his client, but said they are from outside of Florida. The deal, which closed Thursday, has not yet been recorded.
The buyer will renovate and re-lease the buildings, according to the release. The properties were marketed with approved plans for two four-story, mixed-use buildings with retail, office and apartments on the site, which currently includes two vacant buildings with 165 feet of frontage on U.S. 1 and land in the rear.
Asking rents will be in the $65 per-square-foot range. The plan is to bring in “interesting and creative tenants” like those in Wynwood, Arellano said. The project, in the drawing stage, will be completed within a year.
In all, the site has 48,350 square feet of land and 10,830 square feet of buildings. Dahdah, who paid $3 million for the parcels in 2009, closed Fox’s during the summer of 2015 with plans to build a mixed-use project himself. Fox’s, built in 1946, was open for nearly 70 years.
Downtown South Miami and parts of Coral Gables along South Dixie Highway have become increasingly attractive to investors and developers. Nearby projects include Paseo de la Riviera, a mixed-use development on the Holiday Inn site in the Gables, the planned redevelopment of the Shops at Sunset Place, and a handful of smaller retail projects in South Miami.
First National Bank of South Miami provided financing for the Fox’s deal, Arellano said. He declined to provide the loan amount.
George Befeler, partner at Homer Bonner Jacobs, represented Dahdah and Denise L. Ben-David, partner at Waserstein Nunez & Foodman, represented S. Miami Retail BH LLC, according to the release.