Moishe Mana abandoned plans to convert a North Miami Beach office building into apartments, selling the property for $20 million as he focuses on other redevelopment projects.
An entity managed by New York-based real estate investor Yoel Weiss purchased the 12-story building at 633 and 699 Northeast 167th Street, according to a press release. The deal breaks down to $169 a square foot.
Joe Fishman with Hollywood-based Sheridan Capital said his firm provided the buyer with a $18 million acquisition loan arranged by Abe Koleman, a managing director with Lakewood, New Jersey-based Sevenstone Capital.
The seller, an entity managed by Mana, paid $9.5 million for the property in 2016, records show. Completed in 1965, the 118,125-square-foot building is 54 percent occupied and has an average asking rent of about $15 per square foot, the release states.
The building was previously anchored by a Regions Bank branch, but its lease was not renewed as Mana had planned to convert the property from office to multifamily use, the release states.
Weiss is planning a major interior and exterior renovation, which will include a small kosher café and gym in the building, the release states. The rebranding of the property will also include a workspace targeted to Orthodox Jewish clientele in North Miami Beach, Aventura and Hollywood. Weiss has done similar projects in Union and Spring Valley, two cities in New Jersey, the release states.
In an email, Mana said he is focused on his downtown Miami and Wynwood properties and is shedding non-core real estate assets.
“We’re in the design, construction and execution phase — transforming Wynwood and the Flagler District into the best neighborhoods in America,” he said. “I’m investing my own money here, selling non-core assets to pull off something that has never been done before and bring my vision to life.”
A real estate investor and developer, Mana is one of the largest landowners in downtown Miami and Wynwood. Last month, one of his entities paid $7.3 million for a retail building at 118 Flagler Street surrounded by other properties Mana already owns. His Flagler District portfolio totals more than 1.3 million square feet spread across 70 buildings that he plans to renovate or redevelop.
His downtown Miami investments total roughly $500 million, and he plans to create a startup and tech hub called Mana Common on the assemblage.
In Wynwood, Mana owns roughly 45 acres that he is planning to redevelop into an arts, entertainment and trade hub called Mana Wynwood Americas-Asia Trade Center & International Financial Center.
Mana has also started assembling land in Allapattah, a working-class neighborhood west of Wynwood. He recently dropped $16 million for a bar and lounge, four retail buildings, a former grocery market, a warehouse and a single-family house along Northwest 29th Street and Northwest Seventh Avenue.
