Chef Yasu Tanaka is set to open an eight-seat omakase counter in the Miami Design District. According to a news release from Spicy Hospitality Group, which is led by Andre Sakhai, YASU Omakase will occupy a 904-square-foot space at 151 Northeast 41st Street and will begin operations on Wednesday. Chef Raymond Li is collaborating with Tanaka on the project.
This follows Spicy Hospitality’s recent launch of Milanese trattoria Le Specialità in the same district late last year. The building where YASU Omakase will be located is owned by Miami Design District Associates, a partnership between Dacra, L Catterton Real Estate, and Brookfield.
In Wynwood, Kitchen + Kocktails By Kevin Kelley plans to open in an 8,000-square-foot space at 2838 Northwest Second Avenue. Dallas-based attorney Kevin Kelley leads the venture, which already operates locations in Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. The Wynwood building is owned by New York-based Thor Equities under Joseph Sitt.
Downtown Boca Raton will see two new restaurants at The Aletto mixed-use development: Lebanese restaurant Amal has pre-leased 10,600 square feet and Italian fine-dining establishment Sofia has pre-leased 4,500 square feet. Both are being launched by INK Entertainment of Toronto and Miami, led by Charles Khabouth and Danny Soberano. Compson Associates—represented by Jonathan Carter and Dave Preston of Colliers—is partnering with North American Development Group (led by Jeff Preston) and jeweler Alfredo Aletto for this project at 119 East Palmetto Park Road. The development features two ten-story buildings with a total of 140,000 square feet dedicated to office, retail, and hospitality use.
A new seafood option has opened at Downtown Doral’s mixed-use complex: FreshCo. Fish Market & Grill now operates out of a 2,900-square-foot location at 8455 Northwest 53rd Street. Led by Mario Palazon—a Key West native—the brand also runs an outlet in Kendall. Codina Partners oversees the master development for Downtown Doral; their plans include adding another 25,000 square feet of retail space that will feature UHealth clinics specializing in eye care as well as pelvic floor rehabilitation and hand therapy services.
In downtown Miami’s office market activity: RFR Realty announced it secured over 42,000 square feet in leases at its tower located at 100 Biscayne Boulevard. French luxury conglomerate LVMH renewed its lease for five floors—34,000 square feet—for another seven years; these offices house Swiss watchmaker Hublot along with LVMH Perfumes & Cosmetic units. Independence Pet Holdings leased an additional 8,000 square feet for ten years.
RFR purchased the property for $81.1 million in 2022 and reports that occupancy has increased from sixty percent to ninety-two percent since then through deals with twenty-two new tenants—including B100M & Shade food collective occupying five thousand square feet.
Cameron Tallon and Eric Groffman of CBRE together with AJ Camhi and Rob Weller from RFR represented ownership interests during these negotiations; Luciana Carvalho handled representation for LVMH while Geoffrey Kreiss and Iker Belauste from JLL acted on behalf of Independence Pet Holdings.
Elsewhere in Miami’s Arts & Entertainment District: Skyline Consulting Group signed a lease for twenty-six thousand six hundred square feet within Genting-owned properties at 1501 Biscayne Boulevard—a deal brokered through Colliers representing Resorts World Omni (an affiliate of Malaysian casino group Genting), while Nickel Goeseke from Cervera Real Estate represented the tenant. Genting originally acquired this fourteen-point-six-acre site for $236 million back in 2011 but did not secure licensing required for its initial casino development plan.
The Skyline deal follows Skilled Trades College leasing thirty thousand square feet within the same building earlier this year; it expects to commence classes later this summer.
