A trio of investors sold a piece of a Doral office complex for $63.3 million, but kept one building and teamed up with Zom on a Live Local Act redevelopment.
Denver-based Ascentris, as well as Highline Real Estate Capital and Square2 Capital, both based in Miami, sold the Westside Plaza I at 8400 Northwest 33rd Street and the nearby Westside Plaza III at 8200 Northwest 33rd Street.
Miami-based Cofe Properties bought the pair of four-story buildings spanning a combined 261,600 square feet, according to records and real estate database Vizzda.
The deal breaks down to $242 per square foot.
Cofe borrowed $41.4 million from Ocean Bank for the purchase.
The deal comes after Ascentris, Highline and Square2 sold the three-story Westside Plaza II at 8300 Northwest 33rd Street for $26.3 million in January to a joint venture between the selling partners and Dallas-based Zom. The new partnership plans to redevelop the property with a 380-unit Live Local Act project.
Zom is led by Greg West.
The Live Local Act allows developers to build bigger projects than what a site’s zoning permits as long as at least 40 percent of apartments are designated for households earning no more than 120 percent of the area median income. Developers also receive other perks such as property tax abatements.
Ascentris, led by Gabe Finke; Highline, led by David Moret; and Square2, led by Jay Caplin paid a total of $73 million for the Doral office campus in 2021. The partners renovated the complex and increased occupancy at Westside Plaza I and III from 63 percent to 98 percent, media reports say.
The properties were developed in 1996, 1998 and 2001.
The planned redevelopment of Westside Plaza II into multifamily aligns with a growing trend to raze suburban office buildings and rebuild the sites with other asset classes, usually apartments or industrial.
Although the influx of new-to-market companies to South Florida has created demand for top office buildings in coastal areas, some aging suburban properties have struggled due to the remote work shift, higher interest rates and less demand.
Also in Doral, Bridge Industrial is redeveloping the 16-acre office campus at 7775 Northwest 48th Street with a pair of warehouses spanning a combined 268,700 square feet. The firm is doing a similar project on the site of logistics giant Ryder System’s former headquarters in an unincorporated area of west Miami-Dade County. The industrial project, called Bridge Point Flagler Station, will span 326,400 square feet.
Ryder moved to a smaller office in Coral Gables, citing the remote work shift.
