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How much does it cost to own the jewel of Downtown Miami’s skyline? A cool $105.5 million. The Miami Tower (up until last year known as the Bank of America tower) is undoubtedly the signature of the skyline, and is now owned by I&G Miami LLC, a group backed my Chicago-based real estate investors LaSalle Investment Management. Despite Miami’s recent real estate troubles, that’s still a lot more than the $85 million that previous owners, Wealth Capital Investments, paid for the building in 2003.
The Tower is only the 8th tallest building in Miami (and all of Florida, actually), but has became an icon. Completed in 1987 and designed by famed architect I.M. Pei, the building’s unique multi-tiered artifice is regularly lit up at night in a variety of color schemes.
The building has also been featured in episodes of Miami Vice, a Gloria Estefan video, the backdrop of Jay Leno’s Tonight Show, and just about every movie and TV show to feature Miami ever.
The South Florida Business Journal reports that the building could have gone for a much higher price were it not for a complicated lease with the city:
The tower’s TV stature and trophy status drew plenty of institutional-grade suitors this sales go-round, but complications arising from its air-rights lease with the city likely tamped down the price that most were willing to pay.
The tower sits atop a 10-story garage owned by the city, and the owner pays rent to the city for the office floors above. The city had to sign off on assignment of that lease to the new owner.
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