Developer Oscar Barbara acquired one of the largest undeveloped waterfront properties in Miami-Dade County, with plans to build a mainly residential complex, The Real Deal has learned.
Barbara paid $33 million for the sprawling property.
Florida Power & Light sold the 71-acre development site at 6525 Southwest 152nd Street in Palmetto Bay to Yacht Club by Luxcom LLC. Barbara, CEO and chairman of Luxcom, expects to build residential on the site with a marina and clubhouse, and is also considering a commercial component, he said.
The deal closed on Dec. 21. Avison Young’s Michael Fay, John Crotty, David Duckworth, Jay Ziv and Brian de la Fé brokered the sale.
FPL had the property on and off the market since at least 2013. It was asking $60 million when then-Standard Pacific Homes tried to buy the land. Avison Young re-listed it earlier this year.
Fay said the plot is “the last major waterfront property with direct access to the ocean with no bridges and a marina basin” in Miami-Dade. Barbara called the site a “unicorn,” adding that “it’s a bucket list [project] I thought I would never be able to check off.”
The Palmetto Bay land sits on Biscayne Bay close to the Deering Bay Yacht and Country Club and adjacent to the Deering Bay Estates. FPL built a power plant on the site in the 1940s, but it was decommissioned in 2012 and torn down in 2013.
Property records show it is zoned for 1-acre estate homes.
Coral Gables-based Luxcom has projects in Sunrise, Wellington, Fort Lauderdale and Coral Gables. Last year, the company paid $12.6 million for a shopping center in Sunrise to build a mixed-use apartment project with an Aldi grocery store.