Saudi billionaire’s son buys two area retail stores for $15.5 million

SARASOTA — A joint venture from Miami led by South Florida businessman and philanthropist Ibrahim Al-Rashid — the son of Saudi billionaire Dr. Nasser Ibrahim Al-Rashid — has purchased a pair of retail properties on St. Armands Circle.

Miami-based Limestone Asset Management, an affiliate of Orion Real Estate Group, bought 362 St. Armands Circle and 371 St. Armands Circle, according to a press release. Limestone, where Ibrahim Al-Rashid is chairman, paid $15.5 million for the properties, the release adds.

The property at 362 St. Armands Circle has three tenants: Le Macaron, an French pastry shop and sidewalk café at 362A; Breezin’ Up, offering embroidered and silkscreened clothing at 362B; and Sahara, featuring women’s clothing, jewelry and accessories at 362C. Clothing and accessories store Tommy Bahama is at 371 St. Armands Circle.

Limestone Asset Management, founded in 2010 to acquire and invest in commercial and mixed-use property nationwide, includes Ibrahim Al-Rashid’s brothers, Salman Al-Rashid and Mohammad Al-Rashid. The firm holds assets exceeding $200 million, the release states.  

“Both 362 and 371 St. Armands Circle are trophy properties in booming Southwest Florida, and both of my brothers and I are very pleased to add this to our growing asset base of commercial properties within Florida,” Ibrahim Al-Rashid says in the release. “This modern, premier shopping and dining district, originally conceived by circus magnate John Ringling in 1925, is an upscale destination that vacationers from all over the world enjoy.”

Miami-based Ocean Bank providing financing for the deal. Limestone Asset Management, the release states, uses its joint venture partner Orion Real Estate Group, led by Kevin Sanz, to complete all of its North America-based transactions. Mark Drazek and Ray Romano of CBRE’s Net Lease Property Group represented the seller, Neucon LLC, an investment entity led by Matthew Bogdovitz of Charlotte, N.C. property records show.

Limestone Asset Management’s most recent purchase prior to the St. Armands Circle properties was seven outparcels of The Mall at Millenia in Orlando for $22.7 million, an acquisition that included more than 100,000 square feet of commercial and office space.

Ibrahim Al-Rashid and his family, according to the Miami Herald, have given millions to the University of Miami, where Al-Rashid is an alum. That includes donating $10 million for the school’s Dr. Nasser Ibrahim Al-Rashid Orbital Vision Research Center in 2012. Earlier this month the newspaper also reported that Ibrahim Al-Rashid, whose mother is Lebanese-French socialite Mouna Ayoub, paid $6.3 million for the house next door to his home on Hibiscus Island on Miami Beach. Ibrahim Al-Rashid’s plans for the recently-purchased hose, the Miami Herald reports, is to tear down the 6,000-square-foot home and replace it with a private gym and spa.