The SunTrust International Center garage at 55 NE First St. Courtesy photo

A downtown Miami garage recently bought by an Israeli investment company is being considered for mixed-use redevelopment as residences, a hotel and retail, according to architect Kobi Karp.

Mishorim Real Estate Investment Ltd., which invests in real estate, bought the garage at 255 NE First St. from Boca Raton-based Crocker Partners LLC, another real estate investor, for $18.25 million.

Now Mishorim has hired Miami-based Kobi Karp Architecture & Interior Design and is exploring development options, Mishorim CEO Daniel Leventhal said in an email.

Exactly what is Kobi Karp considering?

"We are looking to create a cutting-edge, environmentally sustainable project with mixed uses such as residential, hospitality and neighborhood commercial retail," said Karp, architectural firm founder and principal.

Karp declined to disclose details, such as the building height, but said his firm also is looking at increasing connectivity between Northeast Second and First streets on either side of the existing seven-level, 247,000-square-foot garage.

The site has development rights for potential buildable space of 1.35 million square feet and up to 860 residential units.

Before anything new rises on the site, however, it's expected that the garage will get a facelift. Mishorim will renovate the garage, including painting it and adding more lights, Leventhal has said, adding it was too early to say if parking fees will increase.

The garage sale, which closed Oct. 22, breaks down to nearly $74 per square foot and $24,140 per space.

This is Mishorim's second investment in Miami's Central Business District after starting two years ago with a 4,350-square-foot retail space at the Centro residential tower at 151 SE First St.

The garage once was bound by shared Crocker Partners ownership to SunTrust International Center a block away. Crocker, a value-add investor, unloaded some of its downtown holdings this year.

In May, the company sold the SunTrust office tower for $127 million, and some of its tenants use the garage a block north. Real estate finance and investment manager PCCP LLC was the buyer.

In September, Crocker was part of the joint venture that sold the 33-story Brickell City Tower, also called Brickell Bayview, for $117 million.



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