Forte Capital Continues Wynwood Shopping Spree
By Chava Gourarie April 14, 2022 6:20 pm
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Chaim Cahane’s Forte Capital Management is playing Monopoly with Wynwood buildings.
The Miami Beach-based firm has purchased three properties in Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood since last year, with another one under contract. Forte also flipped a retail building on NW Fifth Avenue for a 60 percent markup after just three months of ownership.
In December 2021, Forte picked up the 14,000-square-foot retail building at 2830 NW Fifth Avenue for $6.4 million, with plans to reposition it as creative office. But then Cahane got an offer he couldn’t refuse from Alex Kleyner, a South Florida local and serial entrepreneur, for $10.3 million. By March 10, the paperwork was signed and recorded.
“We did nothing,” Cahane told Commercial Observer. “All we did was empty out the building. It cost me $14,000.”
Not a bad deal. And also not the only one Forte has cooking.
In March, Forte partnered with 7G Realty to purchase an 18,256-square-foot warehouse at 2214 N Miami Avenue from East End Capital for $10.7 million, The Real Deal first reported. While the initial plan had been to reposition the asset, the partners are currently in negotiations with a food and beverage tenant that may take half the space, Cahane said. If that happens, they’ll stabilize it and hold it for cash flow.
The relationship with East End Capital has been a fruitful one. Just up the road, at 2312 N Miami Avenue, Forte is under contract to buy another warehouse from East End Capital for $5.6 million, Cahane said. It is an off-market deal, and the fourth property Forte is buying from the seller.
The 4,475-square-foot site is just across from Oasis, a mixed-use office development that is home to Spotify’s Miami offices. The property also comes with an adjacent lot at 25 NW 23rd Street, behind the Lelia Mordoch Gallery. Forte plans to build a six-story building on the lot, with five floors of office and retail on the ground floor, according to preliminary plans.
In addition to these recent purchases, Forte owns a handful of additional retail and warehouse properties in Wynwood, as well as additional properties throughout South Florida and the New York metropolitan area.
Kleyner and East End Capital could not immediately be reached for comment.
Chava Gourarie can be reached at cgourarie@commercialobserver.com.
