Michael Comras is planning a major renovation of a Lincoln Road portfolio his namesake firm acquired for $140 million.
Comras declined to confirm the purchase price, which was provided to The Real Deal by a source familiar with the transaction.
Miami Beach-based Comras Company bought 11 storefronts at 600, 719–737, 741, 801–821 Lincoln Road and 723 North Lincoln Lane, a press release states. The firm financed the purchase with a $117 million loan from San Francisco-based Acore Capital.
The seller, New York-based Morgan Stanley, acquired the assemblage in 2014 as part of a larger portfolio deal valued at $342 million, records show. At the time, Morgan Stanley bought the properties from Coral Gables-based Terranova, which retained a stake.
Current tenants include The Cheesecake Factory, Salt & Straw, It’Sugar and Lincoln Eatery.
Comras plans to transform the properties into a 150,000-square-foot boutique shopping district called NoLi, which is short for North Lincoln Road, the release states. The district will entail Via NoLi, an 18-foot-wide paseo carved through the 700 block of Lincoln Road, connecting to North Lincoln Lane. Via NoLi will be lined with boutique storefronts and culinary destinations.
The project will also have NoLi Plaza, which will consist of café seating, a central fountain and greenery, and North Lincoln Lane will be transformed from a service alley into a pedestrian walkway featuring storefronts, expanded sidewalks with cafes and outdoor seating, the release states. Retail spaces will range from about 400 square feet to 4,000 square feet.
The portfolio was set to be sold to another buyer. Duane Reade drugstore’s Cohen family was under contract to buy the buildings for more than $150 million, but the deal fell apart when the Cohens were unable to land an equity partner or secure a loan, published reports state.
Founded in 1992, Comras also has a leasing brokerage division and owns other properties on Lincoln Road, including 635-639, 701 and 734-744 Lincoln Road, according to the company’s website. Comras’ Lincoln Road tenants include Aldo, Swarovski and Hoka.
In 2015, Comras sold the block at 1001-1035 Lincoln Road to Pontegadea, the family office of Spanish billionaire Amancio Ortega, for $370 million.
Lincoln Road has gone through a downturn in recent years as the outdoor pedestrian shopping street has lost national tenants to newer competing retail and dining destinations such as the Miami Design District and Wynwood. Many storefronts are currently vacant, and the Regal South Beach movie theater is shuttered. But landlords and brokers say Lincoln Road is averaging an occupancy rate of 77 percent, and a new influx of tenants are building out some of the empty spaces.