Newgard Development Group fattened up its assemblage for a Miami River megaproject by picking up three more redevelopment properties near Brickell City Centre.
Miami-based Newgard, led by founder and CEO Harvey Hernandez, paid a combined $7 million for a trio of small commercial buildings at 66 Southwest Sixth Street, 625 Southwest First Avenue and 69 Southwest Seventh Street, according to a press release.
An Avison Young team led by Michael Fay and John Crotty represented the seller, Norman Superstein Trust, which acquired the property at 66 Southwest Sixth Street for $9,100 in 1975, records show. Previous sale information for the other properties is not available. Completed in 1951 and 1953, the three buildings have a combined 19,000 square feet.
The three properties, totaling about 0.6 of an acre, will serve as the gateway to three residential towers and a marina Newgard plans to develop at a 1.6-acre site at 99 Southwest Seventh Street, the release states. Last year, Newgard paid $50.5 million for that land. The new buildings will span 2 million square feet with 400 feet of frontage on the Miami River.
In June, the firm landed a $170 million construction loan for Lofty Residences Brickell, a 44-story condo tower that will be built on the site. The development will also include another luxury branded condominium and a branded multifamily building, the release states.
Newgard contacted Avison Young to facilitate the latest purchase, due to the brokerage’s relationship with the seller, Fay said in a statement.
Newgard has a pending lawsuit in Miami-Dade Circuit Court against Benzol Properties Corp., which sold the 1.6-acre site to Hernandez’s firm. Newgard seeks a court injunction to force the disclosure of contamination studies that the buyer claimed posed a health and safety risk.
Recently, NGD Centro Holdings, a bankrupt entity managed by Hernandez, sold nine units at Centro Miami for $3.2 million to avoid losing the properties in foreclosure. Newgard developed the 37-story, 352-unit condo tower in downtown Miami.