California's Black Lion Investment Group has invested $10.2 million in South Florida for the establishment of a new restaurant space located at Four Ambassadors condominium. The company has already signed a deal to a new steakhouse tenant, a report from The Real Deal said.
According to the report, the deal will cover a 14,000-square-foot space located at the 801 Brickell Bay Drive. The space was previously occupied by the popular Porcao, a Brazilian eatery which was owned by Brickell. The company has shut down the operations of the Brazilian eatery because of the economic instability it suffered back in the late 2000s. It was said that another Brazilian steakhouse, Brasileiro, succeeded the operation but suffered the same fate of Porcao.
"For Black Lion, the third time's the charm: alongside its purchase, the investment firm signed a multi-year lease with Rodeo Angus LLC, which is linked to the Gil family of Argentinian cattle barons. Here they plan to open El Churrasco, the family's first restaurant in the United States. Black Lion, a commercial investment firm headed by Robert Rivani, bought the space from the International Finance Bank of Miami. The commercial bank picked up these spaces during a 2010 foreclosure proceeding against the previous ownership, according to Miami-Dade County court records. Both the lease and the purchase were brokered by Robert Zinzell and Matthew Rotolante of Sperry Van Ness," the report said.
In the same report, SVN South Managing Director Matthew Rotolante expressed confidence that the new business venture of the Black Lion Investment Group will spur economic activity in the area. "New residents are pouring into Brickell, and people need to eat," he said.
"Black Lion Investment Group, Inc., a commercial real estate investment firm based in Los Angeles, along with its affiliated companies* specializes in the acquisition, development and repositioning of shopping centers and other retail investment properties, with over a half million square feet of retail space, including holdings in California, Georgia, Florida, Illinois, Nevada, Texas, and Wisconsin," reads a profile of the company from Zoom Info.
