The sprawling Miami Worldcenter is set for another apartment tower after a Chicago-based group spent $18.85 million on a development site that's less than an acre.

Akara Partners plans to develop a 450-unit multifamily tower with 20,000 square feet of coworking space. Kenect at Miami Worldcenter is to be Akara's first Florida development, according to its website.

Akara bought the 36,300-square-foot parcel west of Northeast Second Avenue between 10th and 11th streets from MWC Block A LLC, an affiliate of Worldcenter's master developer.

Miami Worldcenter Associates is led by prominent South Florida developers Art Falcone and Nitin Motwani and includes Newport Beach, California-based Centurion Partners LLC and Los Angeles-based CIM Group. As the master developer, Miami Worldcenter Associates has been selling chunks of the 27-acre downtown site to other developers.

Miami-based Royal Palm Cos., led by Dan Kodsi, developed the Paramount condominium last year, Falcone's Falcone Group and CIM Group developed the 444-unit Caoba multifamily tower, and ZOM Living is building the 434-unit Luma apartment tower. The Netherlands-based citizenM hotel brand is developing a 12-story, 351-key citizenM Miami Worldcenter hotel.

Houston-based developer Hines is to build an office mixed-use tower with up to 500,000 square feet of office space, and Miami-based MDM Group USA plans the Marriott Marquis Miami Worldcenter Hotel & Expo Center with 1,700 rooms and 600,000 square feet of exposition space.

Royal Palm also plans a condo-hotel tower that will be pandemic-sensitive in design and with on-site medical equipment and staff, which will allow the hotel to stay open during pandemics. Legacy Hotel & Residences will have a 256-key Legacy hotel, 274 microLUXE-branded residences and a 100,000-square-foot Center for Health + Performance.

Akara's Kenect tower is part of the developer's brand with other properties in Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Nashville and Phoenix. Kenect at Miami Worldcenter is to be 38 stories and include 10,000 square feet of retail.

Akara now owns 44,527 square feet of land at Miami Worldcenter — the Kenect site and 8,227 square feet of land that can't be developed under the Metromover tracks and was transferred to Akara at no cost.

Akara CEO Rajen Shastri in a statement touted Miami Worldcenter's connectivity and proximity to major attractions.

"The Kenect brand is designed with the busy professional in mind — adapting to the way people live and work to create a lifestyle, not just a residential building. Miami Worldcenter fits that vision of a lifestyle as the new epicenter of downtown Miami," Shastri said. "From museums to sporting events to the beach and transportation centers, Miami Worldcenter provides proximity to the best that Miami has to offer."

Miami Worldcenter, which covers 10 city blocks, is east of Virgin Trains' MiamiCentral station and near three Metromover stations. The Kenect site is steps from the Metromover's Eleventh Street station.

Miami Worldcenter also is near the Perez Art Museum Miami, Frost Museum of Science, AmericanAirlines Arena and Adrienne Arsht Performing Arts Center.

Instant Insights /

Miami Worldcenter Multifamily, Coworking on Tap After $19M Site Deal

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