Malaysian casino conglomerate Genting Group sold a piece of its downtown Miami land holdings.
An affiliate of Kuala Lumpur-based Genting sold the 0.8-acre, six-parcel assemblage at 1515 and 1525 Northeast Miami Place, 75 Northeast 15th Street, and 1502, 1512 and 1516 Northeast First Avenue in Miami to a partnership led by an Opportunity Zone fund, according to a press release.
SF QOZ Fund I, led by co-managing principals and attorneys David Cohen and Liam Krahe, paid $20.9 million for the properties. Cohen and Krahe’s Miami-based fund is working with Chicago-based McCaffery Interests and Pittsburgh-based Grandview Development Co. The partnership financed the purchase with a land loan of an undisclosed amount from Rok Lending, Krahe said.
They plan a luxury apartment tower with retail space. Construction is expected to begin a year from now, Krahe said.
The properties are zoned T6-24-A-O and are in the Omni District overlay, which allows for 500 units per acre. With other incentives, the developers will likely build a denser project, Krahe said.
The assemblage is in Miami’s Arts & Entertainment District, near the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts and the new 1-395 Signature Bridge, which is under construction.
Krahe and Cohen said they were looking for sites in the A&E District and other areas that allow for more density and parking reductions. Because the assemblage is in a transit-oriented district, they estimate they’ll save $20 million to $30 million on reduced parking costs.
“Parking kills deals in Miami,” Krahe said. They looked at roughly 50 sites and “none of them worked with the parking requirement.”
Salomé Bascuñan of Bilzin Sumberg, and Alfonso Jaramillo of Fortune Christie’s International Real Estate represented Genting in the deal.
The project will mark the first ground-up development for Cohen and Krahe, but they are pursuing more sites in the A&E District. Investors in their fund will have the option to take advantage of Opportunity Zone incentives, but won’t be required to. Opportunity Zone investors will also have the option to exit at a certain point, Krahe said.
The federal Opportunity Zones program, approved as part of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, incentivizes development in any of the 8,700-plus designated census tracts by allowing investors to defer capital gains taxes if they reinvest those profits in a qualified Opportunity Zone. The program’s key benefits expire in 2026, but the program is expected to be renewed.
Genting was looking to sell more than half of its holdings, or about 15.5 acres, in Greater Downtown Miami. The land includes the Miami Herald’s former 14.6-acre waterfront headquarters site, which Genting acquired for a then-record price of $236 million in 2011. The conglomerate has long pushed to get a casino license
Genting listed the assemblage for sale in 2022 with Avison Young. A venture led by David Martin of Terra was in contract to buy the properties for $1.2 billion, but the deal fell apart in 2023.
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