Developer buys Miami Herald printing plant in Doral for $11.6M. What will it be next?
A former printing plant in Doral that produced tens of thousands of Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald editions and other newspapers each day was sold Thursday to an Aventura-based developer for $11.6 million.
People familiar with the deal say the building will become a school. A gymnasium will replace the area where mammoth newsprint rolls were once stored, and a basketball court, baseball field and soccer field will cover the loading dock.
A spokesman for broker Cushman & Wakefield said MG3 Group acquired the three-story, 118,993-square-foot building, which sits on 6.02 acres at 3500 NW 89th Ct.
MG3 has developed both charter and private schools, single-family houses, apartment buildings and retail spaces across South Florida and the state.
Cushman & Wakefield brokers Miguel Alcivar, Wayne Ramoski, Gian Rodriguez, Dominic Montazemi, and Skylar Stein represented the buyer, MG3, and the seller, 3500 Doral MRP LLC.
MG3 found the location desirable, Alcivar said. The printing plant is near the U.S. Southern Command, Shoma Group’s gated townhouse community Contempo, and the Residence Inn by Marriott Miami Airport West/Doral.
“It’s close to the airport. It has tremendous growth from an industrial standpoint and for a mixture of uses,” he said. “There’s been a lot of residential growth.”
The firm plans to keep the building but gut the interior, Alcivar said.
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The building went up for sale in May after the Miami Herald decided to vacate in January. Since April, the Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald have contracted with the Sun Sentinel’s Deerfield Beach printing plant.
The Doral building drew over 10 offers, Alcivar said.
The Miami Herald/McClatchy acquired the land in 2012 for $3.06 million. It then built the printing plant in 2012 and 2013, adjacent to its office headquarters. In 2016, the company sold the printing plant for $13.85 million and leased the building. Seventy full-time employees oversaw the printing presses. The Miami Herald continues to lease office space in the office building across a parking lot.
MG3 acquired the printing plant at a 16.25% discount from the prior sale. It failed to bring a higher sale, Alcivar said, because the printing plant did not have a current tenant and the new owner would need to convert it to a new use.
Buyers and investors continue to drop millions on industrial real estate in South Florida, including CanAm Enterprises in Hialeah, Farmasi in Sweetwater, and Copart USA in Homestead.
“Despite the challenges that we are encountering in this pandemic,” Alcivar said, “there still is tremendous pent-up demand for industrial assets and well-located assets that lend to different creative strategies.”
Marcelo Saiegh, Gustavo Bogomolni, and Hernan Leonoff head MG3. In Miami-Dade, the firm built several projects, including Miami Arts Charter School in Homestead, Miami Arts Charter School in Wynwood, Toras Emes Academy in Miami, the Havana Towers apartment building in Little Havana, and three single-family houses in Golden Beach.
In Broward, it has developed a handful of projects, including Imagine School in Coral Springs, the Championship Academy of Distinction in Davie and the Preserve at Emerald Hills single-family community in Hollywood.
