TransMontaigne Partners is under contract to sell a potential Fisher Island development site for $180 million, but the mystery buyer will have to deal with environmental cleanup.
The Denver-based energy and fossil fuels storage company entered into a sales agreement for its 9.6-acre fuel depot at 1 Fisher Island Drive, a press release states. TransMontaigne, led by CEO Randy Maffett, did not disclose the buyer’s identity.
A source who received an offering memorandum last summer told The Real Deal that the buyer is based in Chicago and is interested in redeveloping the fuel depot into luxury homes in the future. “But the site has issues,” the source said. “It has no development rights, and there are environmental issues.”
For now, TransMontaigne will lease the terminal back from the buyer after the expected closing in May, the release states. The energy firm will continue operating the terminal to fulfill storage agreements with its clients, which run through 2027.
When the fuel depot hit the market in May, the source told TRD that TransMontaigne’s starting asking price was $200 million. The listing was handled by CBRE.
In 2003, TransMontaigne acquired the Fisher Island property in a $156 million purchase that also included six other energy storage facilities, including at Fort Lauderdale’s Port Everglades, published reports state. The fuel depot on exclusive Fisher Island is near the Fisher Island ferry terminal and golf course.
The property is being sold as is, and the buyer is “responsible for evaluating any zoning, environmental, land use, regulatory, title or other constraints relating to the use or operation of” the fuel depot, the offering states.
Fisher Island has run out of developable land. In 2022, developer Heinrich Von Hanau sold the last remaining development site for $122.6 million to a partnership between Jorge Pérez’s Coconut Grove-based Related Group, Aventura-based BH Group, billionaire Teddy Sagi, and Chicago-based Wanxiang America RE Group.
The group is currently building Six Fisher Island, a 50-unit boutique condominium with units starting at about $30 million. In October, French perfume mogul Jean Madar unveiled plans to build six spec mansions as part of von Hanau’s 12-lot Link Estates project. Prices will range from $31 million to $55 million, but Madar is also considering combining lots to build a larger estate that would go for $100 million.