Doral auto dealer Luis Somoano has snapped up the longtime Gus Machado Ford retail site in Hialeah, paying roughly $21.5 million for the 5.7-acre property. The move hands Somoano another sizable auto-retail footprint and keeps a familiar West 49th Street showroom in dealer hands instead of turning into something entirely different. The deal also signals that investor appetite for ready-made dealer lots in Miami-Dade is still very much alive.
Deal details
According to The Real Deal, an entity managed by Somoano paid $21.5 million for the Hialeah Ford site and took on a roughly $15.4 million loan with City National Bank of Florida. The property spans about 5.7 acres and includes three buildings completed in 1969, among them a two-story showroom, the outlet reported. The sale price came in around $2.2 million higher than what the property traded for less than two years earlier.
Previous owner and price history
Public records show the seller was an entity managed by Victor Benitez, who paid about $19.35 million for the same 5.7-acre parcel in September 2024. Those sale and financing details, including a mortgage of roughly $15.48 million on the property, are reflected in commercial-deal databases and filings, according to Traded.
Somoano’s wider South Florida play
Somoano has been steadily bulking up his South Florida footprint. He acquired the Ford of Kendall business operations in 2019 and later paid about $20 million in 2023 for the land under that Kendall dealership. The Real Deal reported on the Kendall land buy, and state corporate filings list Somoano as an owner of Doral Lincoln and related dealer entities. Those company records can be found through the Florida Division of Corporations at Sunbiz.
What it means locally
For Hialeah the sale keeps a longtime dealership site operating as a dealership and in the hands of a regional auto player instead of shifting to a non-auto use. Market watchers say the transaction fits a larger trend across South Florida as buyers pay premiums for turnkey lots with showrooms and service facilities while dealer groups reposition for changing inventory and retail needs.
