The historic Bancroft Hotel building in Miami Beach was acquired for $47 million and part of it will be converted into Class A office space.
Bancroft Oceans Five Holdings, an affiliate of Miami-based Crescent Heights, sold the commercial condos at 1501 Collins Ave. to a joint venture between Boca Raton-based Pebb Capital and Miami-based Maxwelle Real Estate Group. Russell Galbut of Crescent Heights remains a partner in the project. JPMorgan Chase Bank provided financing for the buyers, with assistance from Tal Bar-or of Lantern Real Estate.
Built in 1939, the five-story building totals 100,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor space. That includes 50,000 square feet of offices, 20,000 square feet for four restaurants, 30,000 square feet of terrace space and 210 below-ground parking spaces.
Pebb Capital plans to renovate the building to enhance the Class A office space. This comes as many wealthy people are moving to Miami Beach and often taking their companies with them. The Bancroft is one of the few buildings with office space steps from the ocean.
“This deal capitalizes on the velocity of interest in Miami Beach’s office market, buoyed by the domestic and global business migration trends to the area that show no sign of slowing,” said Todd Rosenberg, managing principal and co-founder of Pebb Capital. “It is a long-term value play in a submarket that historically has set leading market rates and has been supply constrained.”
The new owners brought on LDV Hospitality in New York to manage the restaurants.