The retail space at 220 Riverside is under new ownership.
CRE Properties of Miami Lakes has acquired the four retail units on the ground floor beneath the 220 Riverside Apartments at 220 Riverside Ave. near Downtown from the property developer, HP Retail 220 LLC.
CRE Properties paid $3.5 million for the 17,053 square feet of space.
Two of the four units are occupied by restaurants. A sign in front of the building indicates space is available for rent.
Individually, the retail spaces comprise 6,667 square feet, 4,560 square feet, 2,112 square feet and 3,714 square feet.
The total tax value is $3.6 million according to the Duval County Tax Assessor’s Office.
According to documents on file at the Duval County Clerk of Courts, the acquisition was executed in lieu of foreclosure on default of an existing loan. The original $5 million mortgage was taken out by HP Retail 220 from Wells Fargo in 2014. The loan was acquired by BankUnited of Miami Lakes in December 2015.
CRE Properties is listed as a privately owned subsidiary of BankUnited.
Founded in 1998, CRE Properties maintains, manages, owns and operates commercial real estate properties.
HP Retail 220 developed the site in 2015 in partnership with Mid-America Apartment Communities, which still owns the 294 apartments and the grounds.
The apartments and retail building are at the heart of Unity Plaza, which includes a man-made pond with a fountain adjacent to an outdoor amphitheater.
Alex Coley, a principal with NAI Hallmark and HP Retail 220, said the lack of success of what was intended as a hub of Riverside activity can be blamed on slower-than-expected growth in the area and the shortage of viable tenants for the restaurant spaces.
“The neighborhood is developing and you can see that, but it is developing a little more slowly than we anticipated,” Coley said. “And we had a major tenant that went out on us, and since there were only four units that makes it difficult to succeed,” he said.
That tenant was the restaurant Sbraga & Company, which closed abruptly in July 2016.
Although the reason for the closure was not made clear, owner Kevin Sbraga, a winner of TV’s “Top Chef” cooking competition show on the Bravo channel, claimed at the time it was not his decision.
The Sbraga & Company space remains vacant. Remaining restaurants are Brixx Wood Fired Pizza and Hobnob, the latter open Thursday through Sunday.
The fourth space has been used for special events.
Coley said the project served one of its intended purposes: as a catalyst for further development in the Brooklyn area. NAI Hallmark, in partnership with Bristol Development Group of Tennessee, is developing Vista Brooklyn next door to 220 Riverside.
It’s a 10-story building comprising 213 apartments and 18,000 square feet of retail space.
He said 220 Riverside also sparked other commercial development nearby.
“It has served as a catalyst to spur development in the neighborhood, and I think very successfully,” Coley said. “It’s coming, but it’s coming slowly. I guess that’s the nature of community building.”
