UPDATED, Aug. 29, 12:05 p.m.: Developer Russell Galbut’s Crescent Heights closed on the missing piece of his assemblage in an Opportunity Zone in Miami’s Edgewater neighborhood, The Real Deal has learned.
The Miami-based firm, which is planning a major mixed-use project on the land assemblage, paid $4.9 million for the 10,452-square-foot property at 2901 Northeast Second Avenue, according to a source familiar with the deal. It includes a 3,600-square-foot retail building.
That brings the company’s total amount spent on the two blocks between Northeast 29th to 32nd streets and between Northeast Second Avenue and Biscayne Boulevard to over $37 million, according to property records.
“We believe we have all the pieces needed for development now (without buying any more) and are now in the planning stages for all,” Galbut wrote in an email, adding that “the site will have something for everyone to enjoy.”
Wynwood NW 24 LLC, a company controlled by Marsha Soffer of the prominent Aventura family, sold the latest piece. Jamie Rose Maniscalco of Keyes Commercial, who brokered the deal, declined to comment. She also represented the sellers in two additional sales to Crescent Heights earlier this year.
Jonathan Kurry of Hunton, Andrews, Kurth LLP negotiated the deal on behalf of the seller.
Crescent Heights does not own two parcels on Second Avenue and three along 29th Street. Records reveal that Daddy’s Jewelry Store owns 3025 and 3033 Northeast Second Avenue. Nearby, the under-construction Chabad at Midtown and the property next door, as well as the retail building at 2900 Biscayne Boulevard, are also not owned by Crescent Heights.
Earlier this year, Crescent Heights requested the city redraw the property lines at 3000 and 3050 Biscayne Boulevard, revealing plans for the site. (One of the buildings currently on the property is home to The Real Deal’s office.) Crescent Heights plans to build 800 residential units and over 600,000 square feet of retail and office space on the overall assemblage.
Galbut is a big proponent of the Opportunity Zones legislation. The federal program gives tax incentives to developers and investors who invest in distressed areas throughout the country.
In an interview with TRD earlier this year, Galbut called it “some of the smartest legislation that has come out of Congress in a long time.
“We’re buying properties in all markets in Opportunity Zones,” he said. “That is huge in asset planning and multigenerational thinking.”