A 30-story office tower across from the Broward County Courthouse has a new owner. Miami investor Moishe Mana paid $89 million for 110 Tower in downtown Fort Lauderdale, whose reported size varies: Connect CRE lists 394,057 square feet, while The Real Deal describes it as 777,248 square feet. Mana acquired the building from seller GEM Realty Capital, adding to his South Florida office holdings.
The sale, first reported by Connect CRE, puts 110 Tower at 110 S.E. 6th Street back on the market map after years under GEM Realty's ownership. National Bank of Florida provided Mana a $66.25 million mortgage to fund the purchase, according to the outlet's reporting, which cited the S. Florida Business Journal for that financing detail. The deal was structured as part of a 1031 real estate exchange, a tax mechanism that requires investing proceeds from another property sale into the newly acquired asset.
The price represents a steep drop from what GEM Realty paid to acquire the tower back in 2016. That earlier purchase closed at $112.9 million, per the same Connect CRE account, and the building's mortgage was last modified at $90.15 million in 2019. The building's amenities include a fitness center, a restaurant, and a conference center, according to Commercial Search.
A Tower With a Complicated Recent History
110 Tower has not been without its headaches for prior ownership. In April 2023, a Broward County Circuit Court judge ordered logistics firm Southeastern Management to pay $5.4 million in back rent and damages to the building's owners after the company executed an 11-year lease for nearly 10,000 square feet in August 2022 but never moved in or paid rent, as detailed by The Real Deal. That judgment covered security deposits and monthly rent commitments stretching through 2034.
Completed in 1988 and designed by Garcia Stromberg Architecture, 110 Tower is a Fort Lauderdale office tower, per Wikipedia. The tower underwent a renovation in 2010.
Mana's Expanding South Florida Footprint
The Fort Lauderdale purchase follows closely on the heels of Mana's biggest deal of the year so far: a $110 million acquisition of the 31-story One Downtown office tower in Miami, the former SunTrust International Center, in March. That deal, at roughly $244 per square foot, came at a nearly 14% discount from the $127 million the building sold for in 2018, according to Bisnow. Bisnow reported that the building was 75% leased at the time of Mana's purchase.
Mana's commercial holdings already span roughly 80 buildings in Downtown Miami, mostly along Flagler Street, part of an effort to build what he calls the “Flagler District” tech and business hub, plus 45 acres in Wynwood, per CRE-sources. In July, he added to that Wynwood footprint with a $24.5 million purchase of a 13,000-square-foot retail property leased to restaurant Pastis, a deal Hoodline previously reported was brokered off-market by DWNTWN Realty Advisors.
What the Broward Office Market Looks Like Right Now
South Florida's office submarkets broadly have outperformed the national vacancy average of 17.6%, with West Palm Beach-Boca Raton posting 11.3% vacancy and Miami at 12.8%, according to MIAMI REALTORS.
Whether Mana plans capital improvements, a rebranding effort, or a strategy to fill any current vacancies at 110 Tower remains unclear. His recent acquisitions span Wynwood retail, Miami's skyline and Fort Lauderdale's Justice District.
