Sapir Corp. and its partners planned to build a 1.7 million-square-foot project on an assemblage of land north of downtown Miami. But the Israeli real estate firm is now looking to sell the property.
The site, at 1768 Northeast Second Court, is in an Opportunity Zone, which would give a buyer substantial tax incentives. The property is in the Edgewater neighborhood of Miami, near the Arts & Entertainment District.
Sapir Corp. Chairman Alex Sapir said he’s selling the property because the Opportunity Zones program didn’t exist when the partnership purchased it, and it now adds value to the site, which is listed unpriced. Sapir Corp. owns roughly 40 percent of the partnership, while CNMB International, a Chinese construction company, and Hong Kong-based G-Resources own the rest, Sapir said.
CBRE’s Chris Wood and Jason Spalding are listing the 1.47-acre property, which is one of two sites Sapir Corp. owns in the Miami area. The other is in Surfside, where Sapir has nearly completed construction of Arte by Antonio Citterio, a boutique luxury condo building.
The Edgewater assemblage can be developed into at least 1.4 million square feet of space, including multifamily, senior living, hotel, office, and retail components. With bonuses, development could reach nearly 2 million square feet, according to the offering.
About 735 residential units could be built, or up to 1,100 units with density bonuses.
“From an Opportunity Zone standpoint, a multifamily developer that builds and stabilizes the product can really maximize the tax benefit as opposed to building for-sale condo product,” Wood said.
Mignonette Downtown, an oyster bar and seafood restaurant, leases 1,649 square feet of the building at 210 Northeast 18th Street, which is part of the assemblage.
Plans for the site included two towers, one rising 60 stories and a second rising 40 stories, with up to 1,200 rental units, plus retail and office components.
Sapir Corp., then ASRR Capital, paid $33 million for the eight-parcel assemblage in May 2017, along with its partners CNMB International and G-Resources. They first sought to sell their stake in the property shortly after the deal closed in 2017.
ASRR was jointly led by Alex Sapir and Rotem Rosen until a month after the firm purchased the Miami 18 site. Sapir bought out Rosen’s share in the company for $70 million.
Baruch Itzhak, CEO of Sapir Corp., said in a statement that the company invested in the Edgewater site “several years ago recognizing its emergent location.”
The Opportunity Zone program was part of the December 2017 tax overhaul. Since then, the government has designated more than 8,000 census tracts across the U.S. as “distressed” and investors who develop in those areas can defer federal taxes on capital gains until Dec. 31, 2026.
Investors can reduce that tax payment by as much as 15 percent and pay no taxes on possible profits from an Opportunity Zone fund if they hold onto the investment for 10 years.
Wood said that the Opportunity Zone benefit could increase the property’s value by 10 to 15 percent.