Ben Mandell’s Tricera, partners buy Doral office building for $29M

Tricera Capital bought The Offices at Doral Square for $28.5 million, The Real Deal has learned. 

Tricera, led by Ben Mandell, and its partners purchased the eight-story office building at 8600 Northwest 36th Street and adjacent three-story garage in Doral from Bridge Investment Group, according to a memo Tricera sent to its investors, obtained by TRD. 

Salt Lake City, Utah-based Bridge Investment sold the building at a 23 percent discount off its purchase price four years ago. The firm had paid $37 million for the property in 2019, records show. 

Christian Lee and Sean Kelly of CBRE represented Bridge in the recent deal.

The Offices at Doral Square is 88 percent leased, according to the memo sent on Wednesday. 

Tenants include Navistar, a Latin America and Caribbean export office for commercial trucks and engines; currency exchange InterCredit; and beverage distributor Sun Orchard. 

Completed in 2004, the building spans 141,300 square feet and sits on a 4-acre site, according to the memo and property records. 

The Offices at Doral Square recently underwent a $10 million renovation, the memo says. Tricera bought it at a roughly 10 percent cap rate. 

Mandell declined to comment on the deal or identify Tricera’s partners in the purchase. 

In the memo to investors, Mandell says the deal basis “is well below replacement cost.” 

South Florida’s office market has slowed this year compared with the boom time from 2020 to last year when out-of-state companies homed in on the tri-county region. Elevated interest rates paused deals and suppressed prices, and leasing calmed due to remote work and more expensive capital that foiled tenants’ expansion plans. 

The market slump means investors have been on the lookout for properties to purchase at a discount. 

In August, Torose Equities, Lndmrk Development and Terranova bought the 13-story office building at 255 Alhambra Circle in Coral Gables for $54.4 million, according to records. The deal marked a 9 percent discount from the property’s $59.9 million purchase price when Deutsche Bank and RREEF Real Estate Investment Trust bought it in 2006. 

Doral has caught developers’ eyes, though the city has been devoid of big office deals this year. 

In South Florida’s biggest office trade this year, Monarch Alternative Capital and Tourmaline Capital Partners paid $250 million for the 801 Brickell tower in Miami in October.  

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