Miami-Dade County paid $182 million for a 1970s office complex that will house various departments.
An affiliate of New York-based Bushburg Properties sold The Current Miami at 9250 West Flagler Street to Miami-Dade, records and real estate database Vizzda show.
The 26-acre property includes a six-story building and a one-story building spanning a total of 671,088 square feet. The buildings were completed in 1974 and 1975, records show.
Bushberg paid $57.4 million for the property in 2014, records show.
The deal has been in the works for more than a year and stirred controversy when Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava sought county commission approval on an expedited basis in December to purchase the property for $205 million.
At the time, two appraisal firms hired by Miami-Dade determined the complex, which is 80 percent vacant, was worth about $110 million “as-is” to private investors, the Miami Herald reported.
In June, the county commission voted 10-0 to purchase The Current Miami for $182 million, about 11 percent below the purchase price Levine Cava originally sought. Commissioners also approved spending $74 million to renovate the office complex, which will be the new home for the information technology, regulatory and economic resources, water and sewer and solid waste departments. The property will also house the Office of Property Appraiser, which will be an independently elected office after the November election.
The complex will be renamed West Dade Government Center. The county will also explore the possibility of developing an affordable housing project on a parking lot at the site.
It’s not the first time the county is involved in a real estate deal that is far off the appraised market value. In May, county commissioners approved Levine Cava’s recommendation to sell a 17-acre site in southwest Miami-Dade to Coconut Grove-based Swerdlow Group for $8.1 million. Two independent appraisals valued the land at $31 million, published reports state. Swerdlow intends to develop a Costco store on the site.
