Harvey Hernandez and a rendering of his Brickell project
Developer Harvey Hernandez paid $ 50.5 million for a riverside site near downtown Brickell, where he is planning a three-tower residential and marina project.
A subsidiary of its Newgard development group has closed on the 1.6-acre property at 99 Southwest Seventh Street in Miami. She secured a $ 55 million loan from 3650 REIT, a Miami-based lender affiliated with development firm Grass River Property.
Benzol Properties, run by Bernard and Jerome Herskowitz, had owned the site since 1987. It currently houses a 25,000 square foot building with KLA Schools tenants and a dry cleaner, which would be demolished. The site sits just northwest of downtown Brickell, a $ 1.5 billion mixed-use development that Swire Properties completed in 2016 and plans to expand.
Preliminary plans for the property call for three towers: one would have branded luxury apartments, a second would have branded condos, and a third would be a branded hotel or hospitality project, all with a marina component. , restaurants and a link to the Underline linear park. One tower will bear the hallmark of Newgard’s new “Lofty” colocation line. The price of the units will range from approximately $ 500,000 to over $ 1.5 million.
In total, the development could reach nearly 2 million square feet, Hernandez said.
Hernandez, who has been involved in litigation over other Miami projects, has filed a previously sealed lawsuit against the seller of the Brickell property. Court records show that its 99SW7 Holdings LLC filed a lawsuit earlier this month against Benzol Properties Corp. to force the disclosure of contamination studies which the purchaser believed posed a risk to health and safety. Hernandez declined to comment on the litigation.
The companies run by Hernandez have already fought legal battles with a former employee, as well as with Airbnb, as well as with its previous Centro and Brickell House projects.
On Brickell, Hernandez’s company locked out KLA schools shortly after the sale closed, The Miami Herald reported. KLA Schools is in the process of building its new campus and is about to make an agreement to temporarily relocate.
Fortune International Realty negotiated the sale of the Brickell property to the Hernandez entity, according to a copy of the sales contract included in the lawsuit.
Lotus Capital Partners, led by Faisal Ashraf, arranged the financing, which was used both for the acquisition and to fund pre-development construction costs. The two-year loan has two six-month extension periods.
New York-based Lotus will also market the project to potential financial partners starting next year.
Hernandez said Newgard would like to innovate next year and that completion would be around two to three years after inauguration.
The property, with 400 feet of frontage along the Miami River, is one of the largest riverside redevelopment sites in Brickell. The Related Group is planning a project of three Baccarat brand towers to the east of the site, also along the river.
Swire is also set to launch the second phase of Brickell City Center soon.
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