Mana Buys Fort Lauderdale's 110 Tower at 21% Discount to 2016 Price

Miami investor Moishe Mana has paid $89 million for 110 Tower, the 30-story office building at 110 SE 6th Street in downtown Fort Lauderdale, in his first deal outside Miami-Dade County. The seller, Chicago-based GEM Realty Capital, paid $112.9 million for the tower in 2016, so the sale closed about 21% below that basis. City National Bank of Florida supplied a $66.3 million acquisition loan, according to Bisnow, which reported the deal in September. Broward property records are still being checked for this story; a request for a Broward County Property Appraiser or Official Records citation on the transfer has been flagged for follow-up.

Why it matters

A trophy-grade tower trading more than a fifth below what its owner paid nine years ago is a marker for where Broward’s downtown office market actually sits, not where listing brochures say it sits. GEM bought at the top of the last cycle; the discount it swallowed to exit shows how far office valuations in South Florida have drifted from 2016 pricing, even for a leased, amenitized building next to the Broward County Courthouse. Mana’s move also matters because he has built his reputation buying large blocks of land and buildings in Miami’s Wynwood and downtown core. Him crossing the county line into Fort Lauderdale for the first time signals that discounted Broward office product is now pulling in buyers who previously stayed put in Miami-Dade.

The numbers

• Sale price: $89 million
• Prior basis: $112.9 million, paid by GEM Realty Capital in 2016
• Discount to basis: approximately 21%
• Acquisition financing: $66.3 million from City National Bank of Florida
• Building: 30-story office tower, completed 1988, downtown Fort Lauderdale

What’s next

The deal gives Mana a Broward County foothold and a large block of leasable office space to fill at a basis well under what GEM carried. Watch whether he brings the same land-banking approach he has used in Miami to downtown Fort Lauderdale, and whether the 21% haircut on this sale becomes a comparable that other Broward office owners get marked against when their own buildings come up for refinancing or sale.