Moishe Mana buys City National Bank building in downtown Miami
City National Bank announced Tuesday it had sold its former downtown headquarters to developer Moishe Mana for $25 million.
The 12-story building at 25 West Flagler Street spans 166,817 square feet. The developer paid about $150 per square foot.
The building will be gutted and renovated to serve the legal community, Mana said. Given the building is steps from the Miami-Dade County Courthouse, Mana said, “The idea is to give them shared office space and a place where they can stay and sleep. It is an interesting concept that we are working on.”
His vision for the historic building, originally constructed in 1955, will take a few years to be realized, he said. “The next step is getting the team to come up with a good vision and finances. It will take a few years to design the interior and permitting.”
The price Mana paid per square foot is substantially less than the most recent comparable sale. The 7-story, 120,740-square-foot building at 91 Southwest Third Street sold for $522 per square foot in May.
Mana has invested millions in the downtown district, in addition to other holdings across Miami-Dade County. He has spent more than $350 million alone to buy over 50 properties in the downtown core, making him the single largest landowner in downtown Miami. He has plans to redevelop the Flagler District with the Mana Common project, a tech- and start-up driven enclave which recently broke ground.
His focus now is on his buildng at 155 E. Flagler and the surrounding area. Mana said. Permits are in the works, he said, and he is approaching potential tenants to open in the area including European and Latin American consulates and universities including Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
“If you want to create something special it takes time. I want to curate the tenants,” Mana said.
“Moishe Mana is one of a handful of real estate developers who are spearheading the revitalization of Flagler Street, which has been Downtown Miami’s historic main street dating back a century,” Christina Crespi, Deputy Director of the Miami Downtown Development Authority, said in a statement. “The new investment pouring into the Flagler District is being driven by a fast-growing residential population in our Central Business District, record-setting tourism activity in our urban core, and the upcoming redesign of the Flagler Streetscape set to begin 2020.”
City National, meanwhile, said the transaction is part of its plan to invest in talent, technology and cyber security. CNB’s team is now spread across Coral Gables, downtown and Brickell. CNB will continue to have a banking center on Flagler Street.
“Building Florida’s iconic bank begins with our people, and attracting and retaining the top talent in the market means offering our team a best-in-class workplace,” City National Bank President & CEO Jorge Gonzalez said in a statement. “Our modern offices in Downtown, Coral Gables and Brickell will provide our employees an environment that promotes collaboration and innovation, with state-of-the-art technology in a modern workplace — resulting in an even better experience for our clients.”
CNB completed the purchase of TotalBank in 2018 and recently announced plans to acquire Kendall-based Executive National Bank. It’s combined assets total approximately $16 billion, up from $3 billion a decade ago.
This story was originally published December 17, 2019 at 12:17 PM.
