Michael Shvo along with an aerial view of his newly-acquired retail properties between 16th and 17th Streets along Alton Road in Miami Beach (Google Maps, SSHaving, CC BY-SA 4.0 – via Wikimedia Commons)
Michael Shvo is betting big on Miami Beach.
The New York developer, who made his debut in South Florida with the purchase of three South Beach hotels in 2019, bought a commercial strip on Alton Road — including the former Epicure Gourmet Market & Café building — with plans for a 250,000-square-foot redevelopment that will include office and retail space, according to a source.
An entity tied to Shvo paid $39.3 million for the properties at 1656 to 1680 Alton Road, as well as an adjacent 0.2-acre parking lot at 1677 West Avenue, according to Noah Fox and Lyle Stern of Koniver Stern Group. Two entities led by investor Robert Shor sold the 50,814-square-foot buildings, records show. The lot totals 60,000 square feet, including parking.
One of the properties formerly housed Epicure, a popular gourmet grocer that closed in 2017 after Hurricane Irma. Ace Hardware’s space is also part of the purchase.
Fox and Stern represented the buyer. John Crotty of Avison Young represented the seller.
Shvo is joining the ranks of other high-profile developers opting to build offices in South Beach, aiming to tap into the influx of tech and finance companies to the region.
Nearby, two development groups – one consisting of Don Peebles, former Mayor Philip Levine and Scott Robins, and the other of Integra Investments, Barry Sternlicht and Michael Comras – are seeking to build two separate office projects on city property off Lincoln Road.
High-net worth family offices are also flocking to the city. The Gebbia family, linked to a former star of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” paid $6.8 million for a building at 653 Collins Avenue for the Florida headquarters of its Siebert Financial and Rise Financial.
The boost in office development partly reflects the city’s push to shed South Beach’s image as an anything goes party mecca, and turn it into more of a live-work environment.
The Alton Road purchase is the latest marquee deal for the controversial developer and its partner Deutsche Finance. Since 2018, Shvo has been on a buying spree. He partnered with Turkish investor Serdar Bilgili and Deutsche Finance to acquire trophy assets, including the site of the historic Raleigh hotel in South Beach and two adjacent hotels for $243 million and the former Coca-Cola building on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue. Two years later, Bilgili split, leading to heated litigation that was eventually settled.
Shvo and Deutsche Finance have carried on without Bilgili on the Raleigh project. The high-end Rosewood Hotels & Resorts announced it will brand the Miami Beach project. Plans for the site also include a 17-story, 44-unit condo tower.
