Tootsie’s strip club, warehouse sell for $15 million in Miami Gardens

Where will they fit all those $1 bills?

Strip club king RCI Hospitality Holdings shelled out $15.3 million on Monday for a Miami Gardens retail complex that includes the strip club Tootsie’s Cabaret. The publicly traded Houston-based company has leased the 74,000-square-foot building where Tootsie’s operates since 2007.

Also part of the package are buildings that house less exotic trades including a pharmacy, a tattoo parlor and a warehouse for a wholesaler of home tiles.

Ed Anakar, the company’s director of operations, said RCI prefers to own rather than lease its properties. The deal gives RCI full control over one of its signature locations, putting it in pole position to take advantage of Miami’s strong tourist economy, Anakar said.

“We own locations all over the country, but Miami is the best place to be,” Anakar said. “This is just about the only place you can have a club of that size other than Vegas.”

Tootsie’s brings in about 1,500 customers on an average weekend night, according to RCI.

The property will also provide a steady income stream from the other tenants, Anakar said.

“We think it’s a great investment,” he said. “It has good long-term tenants, it’s 100 percent occupied and the previous owner remodeled not too long ago.”

The 14-acre complex, at 18201 NW Second Ave., sold last year for $12.3 million, county property records show. That’s a tidy $3 million profit for sellers Mount Kellett Capital Management, a New York-based investment firm — more than enough to make it rain.

This story was originally published August 3, 2015 at 4:28 PM with the headline "Tootsie’s strip club, warehouse sell for $15 million in Miami Gardens."