At a glance
- Alta Developers, which completed the building in 2019, was the seller, according to Commercial Observer.
- The 25,504-square-foot condo at 3900 Biscayne Boulevard sits across the train tracks from the Design District.
- The purchase lands as the Design District's owners push into another expansion phase.
JBL Asset Management paid $17.3 million for the ground-floor retail condo at Quadro, a 200-unit tower in Miami just east of the Design District. Alta Developers, which completed the building in 2019, was the seller, according to Commercial Observer.
The 25,504-square-foot condo at 3900 Biscayne Boulevard sits across the train tracks from the Design District. The Shade Store, a 7th Avenue furniture store and Waterworks are its retail tenants. JBL, based in Hollywood, Fla., is marketing the last remaining suite in the 407,498-square-foot building: 2,358 square feet, suggesting the retail floor is nearly sold out.
The purchase lands as the Design District's owners push into another expansion phase. A joint venture tied to Miami-based Craig Robins and LVMH's Bernard Arnault closed a $125 million construction loan this week for a Snøhetta-designed mixed-use building and launched sales at Fouquet's, a David Chipperfield-designed condo and hotel. Commercial Observer calls the 18-block district one of the country's highest-grossing upscale malls.
At about $678 per square foot, JBL is underwriting the asset's current income, not the district's construction pipeline. That is the more sensible trade at this stage: a completed building with tenants in place, bought on the edge of an expansion that should push rents rather than inside a project that has to be built and leased. The 2,358-square-foot suite on the market is the tell. If it leases quickly, Quadro will look cheap next to the new development across the tracks. If it sits, the buyer's downside is limited to 25,504 square feet of retail.
Alta completed the tower in 2019 and sold the retail piece seven years later, as the district moved into its next development push. The sequence suggests the developer held the retail until the expansion was well underway; JBL steps in with a clearer view of what the district will become.
Representatives for Alta and JBL did not respond to requests for comment, according to Commercial Observer.
Reported by the Deals desk from Commercial Observer. Published . Corrections