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February 9, 2010 |
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| October 09, 2008 |
By: Eric Kalis |
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iant real estate investor Hines Interests is in talks with the owners of a Coral Gables auto dealership property to expand the developer’s South Florida real estate portfolio.
Privately owned Hines, which owns and operates the Doral Corporate Center and several other commercial properties in the region, wants to buy four parcels that comprise the Coral Gables Lincoln Mercury dealership.
The properties are controlled by the family-run 4001 Corp., whose principals are John, Paul and Thomas Schaefer, according to state corporate records. The Schaefers own the dealership’s real estate but do not own the auto retailing franchise. The Schaefers could not be reached for comment.
In the first step toward assembling a larger site, Hines closed in March on the $5 million purchase of four adjacent properties from Coral Gables-based Santisteban Ltd., an entity controlled by Gregorio Santisteban, according to Miami-Dade property records.
Included in the March transaction were two parking lots totaling 6,342 square feet, a 4,620-square-foot warehouse built in 1948 on a 0.14-acre lot and a 4,009-square-foot vacant parcel zoned for industrial use. All four properties are located in the city of Miami, while the dealership is in Coral Gables.
Commercial real estate brokerage Colliers Abood Wood-Fay, which is representing 4001 Corp. in the negotiations, last week included the 3-acre dealership property on a list of recently completed transactions. The reported price was $26 million.
That listing — and the reported value of the deal — is erroneous, said Hines spokeswoman Kim Jagger, who acknowledged that negotiations are ongoing. She declined to disclose additional details until the deal is complete.
“It is a company policy not to discuss deals that are still in progress,” Jagger said.
Colliers broker Jay Ziv declined to comment about the deal.
If the deal for the dealership site closes, the future of the dealership could be in question, since Houston-based Hines focuses on office and retail development and management.
Hines built the Wachovia Financial Center in downtown Miami and manages the Airport Corporate Center in the Airport West section of Miami.
Hines developed and manages a mixed-use building at 2525 Ponce de Leon south of Miracle Mile. The 250,000-square-foot building’s tenants include the law firms Adorno & Yoss and Kozyak Tropin & Throckmorton and the financial services firm Raymond James & Associates.
Coral Gables Lincoln Mercury continues to operate normally. Domestic automakers are struggling to compete with fuel-efficient imports and rising gas prices. Ford Motor, which builds Lincolns and Mercurys, and Chrysler are two companies that are consolidating dealerships across the country to save money. That’s resulting in more dealership real estate hitting the market.
Late last month, Miami Lincoln Mercury at 8101 NW Seventh Ave., which was owned by New Jersey-based Holman Enterprises, closed down after Metro Ford purchased it for an undisclosed amount.
If the Coral Gables sale goes through, Hines will have to get past plenty of hurdles to obtain the necessary permits to build on the site, said William Kerdyk, president of Coral Gables-based commercial real estate firm Kerdyk Real Estate.
The site being assembled includes properties in both Coral Gables and the city of Miami that are zoned for liberal commercial use. More density would be allowed on the Miami parcels than the properties in Coral Gables, which has more strict height limits on mixed-use buildings.
Any delay redeveloping the dealership site wouldn’t hurt Hines. With the national economy in the tank, holding off on completing the project for several years would be a safe strategy, said Kerdyk, who is also vice mayor of Coral Gables.
“Hines is looking at several years before being able to get started on construction,” he said. “The approvals are further complicated by having two municipalities involved. They will have to deal with logistics, such as the street [Southwest 39th Avenue] which bifurcates the site. But two years from now things will change, and Hines is probably not so concerned about moving rapidly.”
The site, which is close to U.S. 1 at the intersection of Ponce de Leon Boulevard and Bird Road, draws heavy vehicle traffic, Kerdyk said. A project with a high-end, ground-floor retailer supported by offices above would be the best strategy, he said.
“The whole key to that site is that people do not walk in front of it, so you have to create interest in a retail component,” Kerdyk said. “It could be a destination showroom type of retailer, maybe a high-end furniture store, with a bank. A boutique store is not going to make it there.”
The property is across the street from high-end car dealer The Collection and blocks from Metrorail. The neighborhood also has a strip club and includes industrial uses.
If Hines includes office space, it would be competing with nearby office-condo developments Merrick View and Miami Green. The property is helped by the proximity of mass transit, Kerdyk said.
“This is a very good location for an office building with access to downtown Miami and the Coral Gables central business district,” he said. “It would be easy for workers to take the Metrorail, and there is a trolley stop.”
Eric Kalis can be reached at (305) 347-6651.
4001 Ponce de Leon photo by A.M. Holt
Reader's comments
Ann Johnson said:It would be nice if you got all of your facts right. The dealership was sold years ago. I would love to know when the parties were interviewed. It seems you have not done enough research. Oct. 12 at 4:32 p.m. |
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