Lionheart Capital Purchases 700 KSF Miami Heart Institute

February 10, 2012
Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor

With the acquisition of the former Miami Heart Institute, Lionheart Capital L.L.C. has just gotten its hands on a prime waterfront property in Miami. The real estate investment firm acquired the 700,000-square-foot facility from Mount Sinai Medical Center.

“The market response was exceptional because of the location; it really drew people in,” Ike Ojala, director with Holliday Fenoglio Fowler L.P., the real estate services firm that marketed the asset on behalf of the seller, told Commercial Property Executive.

Sited at 4701 N. Meridian Ave. in a residential neighborhood roughly one mile from the Mount Sinai Medical Center, the Miami Heart institute encompasses a seven-story hospital building and two parking structures. Features unique to the property are a waterfront dining facility and a 241-seat auditorium within a conference center.

“There was a good amount of interest from a variety of buyers,” Ojala noted. Obviously, the location is world-class. You’re on Miami beach with absolutely stunning views of the Ocean, Biscayne Bay and the Miami Skyline. And it’s in a very nice residential area.”

Investors from all walks — developers and redevelopers, seniors housing-type users and the usual suspects — had their eye on the Miami Heart Institute.

Financial terms of the transaction have not been publicly disclosed. While the property fetched a great deal of attention, when commercial real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle had marketed the asset during the economic downturn in 2009, there were apparently no takers. At that time, JLL had speculated that the facility would sell for somewhere in the neighborhood of $50 million, according to the firm’s press release announcing the property’s availability for purchase.

The Miami transaction is part of a larger trend, with hospitals and healthcare properties seeing increased transaction volume. “Hospital merger and acquisition activity will be a major theme in the healthcare industry in 2012,” Mindy Berman, managing director of healthcare capital markets at Jones Lang LaSalle Inc., said. “This activity involves not only hospital to hospital combinations with numerous permutations on the theme but also combinations with highly prized physician practice groups.  All of this M&A activity comes with a lot of real estate baggage.”