City National Bank sold its old downtown Miami headquarters at 25 W. Flagler St. to developer Moishe Mana for $25 million. (Photo: Courtesy Photo)

The biggest downtown Miami property owner just added another building to his holdings.

Moishe Mana bought City National Bank's old headquarters just east of the Miami-Dade County civil courthouse for $25 million. The deal closed Tuesday.

Mana, an entrepreneur and developer, has accumulated more than 50 properties that he wants to transform into a global technology hub. His "Silicon Valley of Latin America" would bring together the likes of startups and Blockchain companies from Asia and Latin America and add offerings such as food halls and micro-units.

His holdings aren't contiguous but would be redeveloped into a campus-like project. But don't expect new, modern high-rises, as Mana largely would renovate the buildings save for a few teardowns to make way for a micro-unit tower.

Mana plans to repurpose the 12-story, 140,000-square-foot City National Bank building to offer services to the legal community, he told the Daily Business Review in an August interview about his downtown project.

The washed-out pink building constructed in 1955 is within the National Register of Historic Places' Downtown Miami Historic District. City National Bank had its headquarters there for years and will keep a ground-floor banking center.

Catering to the legal community seems fitting, as the building at 25 W. Flagler St. is steps from the current courthouse and from the site where a new 23-story civil courthouse will rise. The Miami-Dade County Commission on Tuesday approved entering a public-private partnership with Plenary Justice Miami LLC development team to design, build and maintain for 30 years the courthouse.

The county also will look into redevelopment and preservation of the existing historic courthouse at 73 W. Flagler St.

City National Bank, which sold Mana its old headquarters, moved into more modern offices.

Its new headquarters is in Coral Gables and it also opened offices at the 1450 Brickell skyscraper. In downtown, it moved into 100,000 square feet of office space across five floors at Miami Tower. It also opened a banking center there.

City National Bank President & CEO Jorge Gonzalez in a news release said the bank's foundation and growth are rooted in its employees. To attract and keep "top talent," the bank should offer "a best-in-class workplace," Gonzalez said.

"Our modern offices in downtown, Coral Gables and Brickell will provide our employees an environment that promotes collaboration and innovation, with state-of-the-art technology in a modern workplace—resulting in an even better experience for our clients," he added in his emailed statement.

The banking industry has been experiencing consolidations and City National Park has taken part. Last year, it bought Miami-based TotalBank and recently announced it will buy Executive National Bank, also in Miami.

City National's combined assets total $16 billion, up from $3 billion a decade ago, according to a media release.

Beyond Mana's downtown vision, the area already is experiencing redevelopment, new tenants and population growth, and it's poised for more.

Flagler, once a bustling commercial drag during downtown's heyday in the early 1900s, is poised for a comeback. The street will get a face-lift as the Miami City Commission last summer approved a $24.4 million plan to make Flagler curbless and more pedestrian friendly.

Like Mana, other developers are opting out of building anew and into revamping and reopening existing buildings, which together represent an eclectic collection of architectural styles from the 1900s.

Stambul USA, a Miami-based construction and development company, is reopening the Old U.S. Post Office and Courthouse at 100 NE First Ave. with restaurants and bars as well as with Biscayne Bay Brewing Co. as the first downtown brewery.

Stambul also bought and will re-open the 50,000-square-foot La Epoca building at 200 E. Flagler St. with a food hall.

"The new investment pouring into the Flagler District is being driven by a fast-growing residential population in our Central Business District, record-setting tourism activity in our urban core, and the upcoming redesign of the Flagler streetscape set to begin 2020," Christina Crespi, deputy director at Miami Downtown Development Authority, said in an emailed statement. "We've already seen two dozen new food and beverage concepts open their doors over the past two years, and more are on the way as we welcome Downtown's first brewery and a brand new food hall in the historic La Epoca building."

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