Black Lion Buys Retail Space in Zaha Hadid’s Miami Condo
By Julia Echikson September 22, 2022 2:35 pm
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Robert Rivani’s Black Lion has struck again in Miami, scooping up a trophy retail property, Commercial Observer has learned.
The L.A.-based investor paid $6.4 million for the ground-floor retail space in the Zaha Hadid-designed condo tower One Thousand Museum in Downtown Miami. The space spans 6,500 square feet.
The all-cash transaction closed this week. Black Lion envisions leasing the space to a renowned hospitality group, but discussions have yet to commence, said a spokesperson for the firm.
The 62-story high-rise, one of the most recognizable in Miami, counts as residents power couple David and Victoria Beckham, Miami hospitality mogul David Grutman, singer Marc Anthony and mortgage billionaire Anthony Hsieh.
“One Thousand Museum is one of the most iconic and architecturally significant buildings in all of Miami. I knew we had to have a piece of it,” Rivani, president of Black Lion, said in a statement.
The latest purchase marks the investor’s 10th acquisition in South Florida over the past two years, which included a string of marquee retail properties.
Last year, Black Lion bought the ground-floor retail of the SLS LUX Brickell condo building for $13.5 million, now home to the buzzy Gekko steakhouse, a collaboration between rapper Bad Bunny and Grutman.
The real estate investor also dropped $11.5 million and $19 million on retail condos in the South of Fifth neighborhood of Miami Beach. The firm also owns the space leased to the Amara at Paraiso, a popular upscale restaurant in Edgewater.
“Our objective at Black Lion is to curate transformative lifestyle experiences and we plan to do just that with this property — bringing in a world-class restaurant or hospitality group to operate out of the space will be a key investment for our Miami expansion,” Rivani added.
One Thousand Museum’s developers — a partnership among Louis Birdman, Gilberto Bomeny, Kevin Venger, Gregg Covin and Todd Michael Glaser — who also sold off the retail space to Black Lion, completed the 84-unit condominium in 2019.
The sellers could not be reached for comment.
Julia Echikson can be reached at jechikson@commercialobserver.com.
