Zom Living, Ascentris Plan $119M Office-To-Residential Redevelopment In Doral

Zom Living and Ascentris are moving forward with a $119 million redevelopment of an office property in Doral, converting it into a multifamily project under Florida’s Live Local Act.

An entity tied to Denver-based Ascentris, led by Gabe Finke, and Orlando-based Zom Living, led by Greg West, acquired the Westside Plaza II office building at 8300 Northwest 33rd Street for $26.5 million, records show. The joint venture secured a $92.3 million construction loan from PNC Bank and recently broke ground on the project.

The redevelopment, branded Hazel Doral, will replace the three-story, 109,750-square-foot office building with a seven-story multifamily development featuring 380 apartments. Forty percent of the units will be designated as workforce housing to comply with the Live Local Act, according to a Zom spokesperson. The project will include studios, one-, two- and three-bedroom units, along with a seven-level parking garage offering 789 spaces. Construction is expected to be completed next year.

The seller was a partnership between Ascentris, Highline Real Estate Capital and Square2 Capital. That group purchased Westside Plaza II for $19.9 million, or about $181 per square foot, in 2021 as part of a broader acquisition of three office buildings in the Westside Plaza complex.

The partnership also paid $52.9 million for Westside Plaza I and III, four-story office buildings at 8200 and 8400 Northwest 33rd Street. The three properties, completed between 1996 and 2001, later saw occupancy drop to 53 percent following the departure of two major tenants, published reports show.

Office-to-residential conversions remain limited in South Florida compared to markets such as New York. One of the few projects in the pipeline is being led by Pennsylvania-based Keystone Property Group, which last year secured a $62 million construction loan to convert two office buildings near Dadeland Mall in Kendall. Keystone plans to deliver 212 apartments in the converted buildings, along with a new 25-story tower containing 219 units, according to filings with Miami-Dade County. Construction on the first phase began in June.

Zom Living has developed approximately 24,500 apartment units nationwide, according to its website. In Doral, the firm previously completed Bel Air at Doral, a 249-unit lakefront community adjacent to the Trump National Golf Resort, in 2015.

Source: The Real Deal