CLIENT NEWS: Aimco teams up with Brooklyn firm to develop mixed-use project in Miami’s Edgewater
March 17, 2022A Brooklyn real estate firm is partnering with apartment real estate investment trust Aimco to develop a mixed-use project in Miami’s Edgewater. The development site is on the same block where Aimco has been assembling land and gut-renovating the Hamilton on the Bay apartment tower.
Beitel Group paid $45 million for the 2.8-acre property at 3333 Biscayne Boulevard, two months after Denver-based Aimco’s $1.7 million purchase of 440 Northeast 34th Street, according to Marcus & Millichap, which represented the seller.
The two firms plan to build a 1.5 million-square-foot development with more than 600 apartments, retail and office space, said Julien Darmon, director of acquisitions at Beitel Group. The office space would be built above the ground-floor retail, fronting Biscayne Boulevard. The acquisition marks Beitel’s first purchase in Miami. The buyers financed the deal with a $40.9 million loan from Northwind Group, Darmon said. Beitel is looking at other deals in South Florida, he said.
Apartment developers have flocked to Edgewater in recent years, and a number of new projects are in the pipeline.
Landy Toledo with Marcus & Millichap was the listing broker for the site at 3333 Biscayne Boulevard. Miami Sunrise Properties LLC, controlled by Jose Afonso Assumpção, founder of Brazilian airplane charter and sales company Lider Aviacão, is the seller of the 11 parcels on the east side of Biscayne Boulevard. The properties include a Wendy’s-leased building and a group of apartment and home rentals.
The site, one of the largest remaining assemblages in Edgewater, could be developed into a 36-story tower, or up to a 60-story high-rise with bonuses, according to the marketing materials. By right, about 417 residential units could be built and more than 2 million square feet of new construction. Residential, office, hospitality and retail are allowed on the assemblage. Miami Sunrise Properties paid a total of $31.5 million for the assemblage. It began acquiring parcels in 2014.
Aimco acquired the waterfront Hamilton on the Bay from the Arison family in 2020, and later started buying properties on the south side of 34th Street. The REIT made headlines when it canceled all of its tenants’ leases last year.
The Hamilton on the Bay property is not included in the Beitel deal, and Aimco’s land across from the Hamilton is also not included in the upcoming planned development. Aimco now owns roughly 5.5 acres of land, not including Beitel’s parcels.
Aimco, an apartment investment and development firm, was rumored to be assembling land for a Special Area Plan, which requires at least 9 acres.
