An insurance company husband-and-wife team expanded their office portfolio with a $9.3 million acquisition in an Opportunity Zone in North Miami Beach.
An entity managed by Miami-based Univista Insurance CEO Ivan Herrera, President Ania Herrera and CFO Luis Castro bought the North Miami Beach Financial Center at 16051 West Dixie Highway, according to records. The deal equates to roughly $339 a square foot.
The Herreras founded Univista in 2006, according to its website.
The seller, an entity managed by Alberto Lensi of Coral Gables, paid $3.3 million for the property in 2014.
The 2.5-acre site has a 27,415-square-foot office building completed in 1972 and a surface parking lot. The property holds city approval to develop three additional retail buildings and an office space. It is also in an Opportunity Zone, a federally designated area where developers and investors can get a tax break for investing in projects in low-income communities, according to an online listing.
The Univista executives’ purchase marks at least the second Opportunity Zone deal involving an office building in North Miami Beach in the past two years. In 2020, Argentine investor Ezequiel Schmuckler paid $6 million for a three-story building at 2020 Northeast 163rd Street.
North Miami Beach Financial Center hit the market asking $10 million, the listing states. The two-story office building is 70 percent occupied and is anchored by a Regions Bank branch on the first floor. The property is about half-a-mile south of a development site where Carpe Real Estate Partners recently won city approval to build Venus, a 26-story, 440-unit apartment tower.
In December, a separate entity also managed by Castro and the Herreras paid $47.5 million for a pair of five-story office buildings near Miami International Airport. The seller was an affiliate of developer Sergio Pino.
Another entity managed by Ivan Herrera owns the company’s headquarters along the Miami River. In 2017, Riverside Property Building LLC, tied to Herrera, paid $10.2 million for the four-story office building at 528 Northwest 7th Avenue.
