A Chinese company that once promised to build a luxury residential building on an oceanfront lot in Miami Beach has sold the site to a hotel developer for $40 million, The Real Deal has learned.
CCCC Miami Beach LLC sold the nearly 1-acre plot at 6747 Collins Avenue to Urbanica Management LLC, according to brokers Miguel Pinto and Stefano Santoro of Apex Capital Realty. The deal closed on Monday.
Sze Wai Suen, of Golden Cove Miami Beach LLC, signed the deed on behalf of the seller.
The property is one of two high-profile sites that China City Construction Company owned in South Florida. It still owns the 2.4-acre site at 1420 South Miami Avenue in Brickell. CCCC International USA paid nearly $75 million for that land in 2014.
China City Construction previously purchased the Miami Beach property from the Peebles Corporation in 2015 for $38.5 million. Peebles had planned to build a 16-story, 13-unit condo building on the site, and China City Construction hired Miami-based Arquitectonica to design a new ultra-luxury building on the site.
Urbanica is now planning to build a 20-story, 200-key hotel on the site with a pool and food and beverage concept, according to Charlie Porchetto, a principal at Urbanica. The off-market deal closed quickly: Urbanica paid cash after a 30-day due diligence period and 30-day closing, Pinto and Santoro said.
Urbanica Management, led by Porchetto and Diego Colmenero, paid nearly $1,000 per foot for the land. It’s next to the now shuttered Deauville Beach Resort.
Urbanica is planning to go before the city of Miami Beach to change the use from multifamily to hotel, Porchetto said. He hopes to start construction by the end of next year.
Urbanica recently completed an assemblage in Edgewater where the company is planning to build a 220-room hotel at 3200 Biscayne Boulevard.
Urbanica Management, which owns Urbanica The Meridian Hotel in Miami Beach, plans to expand to Chicago. The company has offices in Miami and Buenos Aires, according to its website.
Earlier this year, American Da Tang and its CEO, Shanjie Li, sued CCCC International USA, a subsidiary of Beijing-based China City Construction Holding Group Company, claiming breach of contract on the Brickell property.