The Florida subsidiary of Africa Israel Investments, or AFI Group, has unloaded two prime condominium development sites in Greater Downtown Miami and Miami Beach at a combined discount of 56 percent off of the original purchase price of nearly $30 million, according to a new report from CondoVultures.com.
  
Africa Israel's Florida subsidiary, AI Florida Holdings Inc., sold the site for the proposed Vitri condominium at 500 Alton Road in the South Beach neighborhood of Miami Beach for $5 million, or $73 per square foot. Some five years earlier in July 2004, AI Florida Holdings purchased the land for $11.7 million, or $170 per square foot, according to the report based on Miami-Dade County records.

AI Florida Holdings also unloaded the site for the proposed Soleil condominium at 3050 Biscayne Blvd. in Greater Downtown Miami for $8 million, or $53 per square foot, for land and an existing 90,500-square-foot office tower built in 1972. AI Florida Holdings originally acquired the land in October 2004 for $17.9 million, or $119 per square foot, according to the report based on Miami-Dade County records.

"Africa Israel has publicly acknowledged that it is in a liquidation mode, and these sales in Miami only reinforce the fact that the entity is still hemorrhaging real estate," said Peter Zalewski, a principal with the Bal Harbour, Fla.-based real estate consultancy Condo Vultures® LLC. "Africa Israel came into the Miami market at the peak of the real estate boom looking to develop condominiums, and ultimately ended up paying too much for the land. 

"It would have been interesting to see what Africa Israel could have done if it would have gotten to market a few years earlier." 

Headquartered in Israel, the AFI Group headed by Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev is the parent company of 13 publicly traded companies that are involved in real estate, construction, hospitality, energy, and the media on four continents, according to the company's website.

In the United States, Africa Israel Investments is spearheaded by the subsidiary AFI USA, which in turn controls AI Florida Holdings Inc. with Richard A. Marin as chief executive officer and Tamir Kazaz as chief financial officer, according to the Florida Secretary of State.

AI Florida Holdings was the seller of the nearly 69,000-square-foot Vitri site and the 150,000-square-foot Soleil development site for a blended average of $59 per square foot, or $13 million. The land was originally purchased for an average of $135 per square foot, or $29.6 million, according to the CondoVultures.com report.

Kazaz signed both of the deeds that were recorded Feb. 22 in Miami-Dade County, according to government records.

The Soleil site was purchased by 3050 Biscayne Properties LLC , with members Robert Danial and Crescent Heights  directors Russell Galbut and Bruce Menin, which is headquartered at 2200 Biscayne Blvd. in Greater Downtown Miami

The Vitri site was purchased by 500 Alton Road Ventures LLC, which is also headquartered at 2200 Biscayne Blvd. in Greater Downtown Miami. 

This is not the first land sale for Africa Israel.

In September 2009, a series of Africa Israel subsidiaries sold off 299,000 square feet of developable land a block west of Biscayne Boulevard in Downtown Miami for $39 million, or $130 per square foot. Africa Israel had acquired the land over the better part of a decade for $32.3 million for a blended average of $108 per square foot, according to a previous CondoVultures.com report.

Overall, Africa Israel entities have now unloaded 518,000 square feet of developable land for $52 million, or an average of $100 per square foot. This represents a 16 percent discount off of the $61.9 million, or $119 per square foot, that Africa Israel originally paid while assembling the development sites, according to the CondoVultures.com report.

Peter Zalewski of Condo Vultures® can be reached at 800-750-0517 or by email at peter@condovultures.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Don't forget to sign up for our weekly Market Intelligence Report™ for detailed condo reports. Looking for a property at a deep discount? You are encouraged to take a peek at the Vultures Database™ or view our Video Gallery. Looking for bulk projects direct from developers or lenders? Visit the Condo Vultures® Bulk Deals Database. Our new books, the Official Condo Buyers Guide to Miami™ , Official Condo Buyers Guide To South Beach™, Official Condo Buyers Guide to Sunny Isles Beach™, Miami's Great Condo Crash: A Chronicle of the Boom and Bust™ , and the First-Time Home Buyers Guide To South Florida™ are now available. Want to see every foreclosure filed in South Florida since 2007? Check out our Foreclosure Database™.

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