Residential Tower to Rise at Miami Transit Hub

Oak Row Equities is planning to build a luxury multifamily tower across the street from MiamiCentral Station, the downtown Miami hub where all four major train systems in South Florida meet.

The private equity and real estate development company, with offices in NYC and Miami, announced this week that it has acquired a site at 49 NW 5th Street for $38.5M in an off-market deal.

The 700K SF, 500-unit tower, called First & Fifth, will be designed by Hollywood-based architecture firm ODP. The design will pay homage to Miami’s turn-of-century Venetian architecture while offering an extensive package of amenities for renters.

The First & Fifth tower will preserve the façade of an existing three-story former Salvation Army building that dates back to 1925 and features arches inspired by the Doge Palace in Venice.

According to the company’s press release, the deal included “structured attractive seller financing supported by in-place income at a time of limited land acquisitions in the market.”

The seller, who was not identified in the release, was represented in the transaction by Colliers Executive Managing Director Mika Mattingly and Senior Associate Cecilia Estevez and Vincent Pastore of Pastore and Associates.

First & Fifth will be a short walk from the entrance to MiamiCentral Station, the centerpiece of Brightline’s $5B investment in the South Florida transit system and the connecting point for the Brightline, Metrorail, Tri-Rail and Metromover lines.

“First & Fifth exemplifies our thesis that the ability to live, work, and play within a short walk or train ride will become critical to a renter’s decision process in South Florida,” said Erik Rutter, managing partner at Oak Row, in the company’s release.

Oak Row, which has more than $1.6B of development underway encompassing 4M SF, has been focusing on transit-oriented developments.

Oak Row developments including The Oasis, Wynwood Plaza, 2600 Biscayne Boulevard, and 2900 Terrace are all located less than a five-minute walk from a planned Northeast Corridor rail station, providing connectivity locally throughout Miami and regionally to Fort Lauderdale, Boca, West Palm Beach, and Orlando via the Brightline.

In March, Oak Row secured a $181M construction loan for a 41-story tower with 399 luxury apartments and 187K SF of commercial space at 2600 Biscayne Boulevard.