Craig Zinn Automotive Group paid $23.5 million for a development site in Kendall.
The Hollywood-based car dealer acquired an 8.3-acre property at 15200 Southwest 136th Street, records and Vizzda show. The site is approved for a two-story auto retail building spanning nearly 76,000 square feet and 580 parking spaces, records and Vizzda show.
The seller, an entity managed by Ben Joannou Sr. in Miami, paid $4.1 million for the property in 2015, records show.
Named after its CEO, Craig Zinn Automotive Group owns five dealerships in South Florida: Toyota of Hollywood, Lexus of North Miami, Lexus of Pembroke Pines, Acura of Pembroke Pines and Subaru of Pembroke Pines.
Craig Zinn’s latest land acquisition is adjacent to a 14-acre property at Miami Executive Airport that the automotive firm is leasing from Miami-Dade County. Last month, the county commission approved a 30-year lease agreement with two five-year renewal options that allows Craig Zinn to build a $15 million Subaru dealership and ancillary facilities, according to a Miami-Dade memo.
During an 18-month due diligence phase, Craig Zinn will pay Miami-Dade $135,000 in rent. Craig Zinn will then pay $1.5 million for the first year of the lease. The rent increases by 2 percent in the second year, and then every five years based on appraisals, the memo states.
Miami-Dade will receive roughly $77 million by the end of the 30-year term, the memo shows.
In the past six months, a couple of automobile retailers have been cruising for south Miami-Dade properties to add to their portfolios. In August, Birmingham, Alabama-based Dream Motor Group acquired a Mercedes-Benz dealership and an auto body repair shop in Cutler Bay as part of a $150 million portfolio purchase. The deal also included a Mercedes-Benz dealership and former city government office building in Coral Gables.
A month later, Miami-based auto mogul Luis Somoano paid $20 million for the land underneath his 7.3-acre Ford dealership in Kendall.
Also last year, Tampa-based Morgan Auto Group expanded into Broward County. The firm paid $42 million for Al Hendrickson Toyota in Coconut Creek.