Swire sells majority stake in Brickell City Centre retail to Simon for $512M

Swire Properties cashed out of the retail and parking components of Brickell City Centre in a $512 million deal with Simon Property Group.

Simon, an Indianapolis-based shopping center-focused real estate firm led by David Simon, bought Swire’s majority 75 percent stake in the 500,000-square-foot open-air center anchored by Saks Fifth Avenue, according to a Hong Kong stock exchange filing. Hong Kong-based Swire, led by Henry Bott, also sold Brickell City Centre’s underground parking garages to Simon as part of the deal.

Previously, Simon owned a 25 percent interest in the shopping center’s ownership entity since 2015. The four-level retail component was completed a year later, a press release states. In addition to Saks, Brickell City Centre has 90 retail tenants including Apple, Coach, lululemon, Sephora and Zara. The center also features 15 dining and entertainment venues including Puttshack and a CMX movie theater.

Profits from the sale, the entire $512 million, will be applied to Swire’s funding and capital obligations for the firm’s U.S. projects, the filings state. Those developments include the planned Brickell Key luxury condominium, called The Residences at Mandarin Oriental, Miami, a Swire spokesperson said in a statement. The two-tower project has reached $1 billion in contract sales and has sold more than 50 percent of one of the planned buildings, the spokesperson added.

Developed by Swire, Brickell City Centre is a 5.4 million-square-foot mixed use project. In 2020, Swire sold the development’s two office towers for $163 million to Northwood Investors. A year later, funds tied to Trinity Fund Advisors and Certares Real Estate Management bought the 352-room East Hotel at Brickell City Centre from Swire. The joint venture paid $174 million for it.

Brickell City Centre also includes Reach and Rise, a pair of 43-story condominiums.

In May, Swire sold a nearby site where the firm scuttled a supertall office project. Miami-based Melo Group paid more than $200 million for the 2.8-acre property.

Meanwhile, Simon has been expanding its ownership of big box spaces at regional malls that the firm owns in South Florida. This month, Simon paid $23 million for a shuttered Sears store at Town Center at Boca Raton in Palm Beach County, and dropped $15.6 million for a JCPenney ground lease at Dadeland Mall in Miami-Dade County’s Kendall.

This article originally appeared on The Real Deal. Click here to read the full story.