The 2.1-acre tract sold for $8.8 million, or about $4.2 million per acre. The seller was Realty Parking Co. Inc., which purchased the property in 1989. The approximately 91,000-sf property encompasses a city block and is zoned for more than 2,000 residential units or a major office and retail project.

The new owner purchased the property as an investment, with future development expected there by someone at some point in the future. But the owner hasn't decided on its plans for the property, says Allan White of Colliers International, who represented Realty Parking Co. in the property sale.

"I think they'll probably consider development opportunities that will come up," White says.

The Brickell area and city's greater CBD could see around 17,000 new residential units, "and we've never had anything like this," White says. White, who questions whether that many units will really go up, agrees at least the first such developments should do well, more so if the economy remains good.

"Downtown Miami is just going through an incredible development explosion. The big push right now is for high-rise residential," he says. "I think the buyer will do well, but quite frankly, the seller did well."The new owner purchased the property rather quickly, without a building permit contingency, which many developers want and "easily" could take 10 to 15 months, delaying a sale, White says. The seller did not want to go through such a lengthy permit process, he adds.

This is the first time in 14 years that the property, which currently is a parking lot, has been for sale. The site was put together by Federated Department Stores in the 1980s.