Miami Worldcenter gets even bigger after purchase

South Florida Business Journal

by: Oscar Pedro Musibay

Miami Worldcenter, which plans retail in downtown Miami that may include Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s, has expanded its footprint with the purchase of two parcels for $12 million, according to property records.

The properties at 130 NE 10th St. and 127 NE Ninth St. were sold by Equipment Leasing of Florida.

The group, operating as Miami Fourth, also took out a $7 million balloon mortgage tied to the site, according to property records.

The Business Journal reported Oct. 2 about an agreement between Worldcenter Associates and The Forbes Co. to develop more than 750,000 square feet of retail on the site.

Worldcenter, which the city approved during the last real estate cycle, is in a highly desirable part of the downtown, immediately adjacent to I-95 and within blocks of Biscayne Boulevard, Metrorail and Metromover.

It is also roughly in the middle of several important institutions including theAmerican Airlines Arena, the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, and the art and science museums now under construction at Museum Park. Its southwestern edge also is adjacent to the proposed All Aboard Florida project, which seeks to build a passenger train that would connect Miami to Orlando.

The original project was to include hotels, residences, retail and offices.

To achieve the right density, the Miami Worldcenter group assembled several blocks in downtown Miami from Northeast Sixth Street to 11th Street and from Second Avenue to North Miami Avenue. It also owns the old Miami Arena site, which is under contract to MDM and might possibly be developed as a convention hotel.

If the entire community is developed, it would rank with Brickell CityCentre and Midtown Miami among Miami’s most important and transformational projects.

Oscar Pedro Musibay covers real estate.