April 28, 2017
Carla Vianna
Daily Business Review
Two real estate investors and restaurateurs have purchased a retail acre on Fort Lauderdale beach for $32 million, marking one of the priciest purchases for the beachfront strip.
Aiton Yaari and Lior Avidor pocketed two buildings on the corner of Fort Lauderdale Beach Boulevard and Poinsettia Street north of Las Olas Boulevard in a deal that closed Friday, according to Broward County property records.
Yaari and Avidor, who were represented by attorney Thomas Angelo, purchased three parcels at 210-213 Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd.,which includes two retail properties totaling 18,535 square feet and an adjacent parking lot. The duo already own the property next door at 225 S. Fort Lauderdale Blvd., which houses the Tsukuro restaurant, one of a number of eateries they operate, Angelo said.
The seller was Miniaci Enterprises, a company run by brothers Albert and Dominick Miniaci of the Miniaci family, which has owned landmark bars and entertainment venues in Fort Lauderdale for decades.
The beachfront property purchased by TRD of Fort Lauderdale LLC houses the Cafe Del Mar, Margarita Cantina and The Drunken Taco.
Angelo, a managing shareholder with Angelo & Banta, worked with colleague Gavin Banta to close the deal.
The transaction was part of a 1031 exchange. Yaari and Avidor just sold a property down the street for $18.7 million.
But that wasn’t the original plan, Angelo said. His clients went to contract with Miniaci Enterprises about a year ago. Their original plan was to refinance the retail asset they owned about a half-mile away and use those funds to close this deal.
Angelo helped the investors land $10.5 million in refinancing from Florida Community Bank over a month ago for a retail building at 435 S. Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd., home to the multi-tenant Aquatic Center Plaza.
“Out of the blue, an unsolicited offer came in from [a] New York buyer,” he said.
The buyer was a company tied to developer Harry Gross, who built the tallest hotel in North America, the Marriott Courtyard and Residence Inn in Manhattan. Gross stepped forward with a multimillion-dollar offer for the 20,585-square-foot, multi-tenant retail building that Yaari and Avidor had just refinanced.
Angelo quickly orchestrated a 1031 exchange deal, which allows investors to defer taxes if they sell a property and quickly reinvest the gain in a similar income-producing asset. The New York buyer sealed the deal Tuesday in a sign-and-close transaction, meaning the contract wasn’t signed until closing, Angelo said.
The 25,594-square-foot lot is approved for a 213-room hotel, according to The Real Deal, which first reported the deal Wednesday.
“We effected a 1031 exchange with a deal that wasn’t even signed and done,” he said. “It was quite challenging to do that. It was quite an undertaking.”
The yearlong deal ended with a 2½-week crunch time at closing.
The deal is reminiscent of a transaction Angelo worked on over a decade ago, he said, pointing to a $54.3 million purchase by Israeli-based El-Ad Group on the same block.
Contact Carla Vianna at cvianna@alm.com. On Twitter: @byCarlaVianna
