A new zoo is coming to Miami. But instead of live wildlife, visitors will observe and interact with holographic projections of animals.

Holozoo Florida has signed a 51K SF lease to turn a former lighting and hardware store on the west side of Coconut Grove into its first location.

Turkish entrepreneur Tan Umut Koker signed the lease for the digital zoo concept in June and said he expects to open in November with roughly 100 animal visuals on display. Ticket prices will average around $30, he said.

The deal with the landlord, Coral Gables-based Constellation Group, was first made public in Colliers' third-quarter retail report.

Colliers brokers Jonathan Carter and Pablo Camposano handled the lease, a Constellation Group representative said. Neither immediately responded to a request for comment.

Holozoo is taking over space vacated by Farrey's Lighting, Bath & Decorative Hardware, which owned and operated the building at 3000 SW 28th Lane since it was built in 2001. The residential and commercial lighting company sold it to Constellation Group exactly one year ago for nearly $12M, according to property records provided by Vizzda.

The lease is a shift from Constellation Group's previous considerations for the site, right off US-1 and steps away from Grove Central. Initially, the developer weighed building a residential component, principal Eduardo Otoala told the South Florida Business Journal last year.

A representative for Constellation Group confirmed the deal but directed further inquiries to Holozoo, which Koker founded last year.

Koker expects to attract 1.5 million annual visitors to Holozoo Florida, which "transforms the real zoo experience into a digital format with five unique technologies, setting it apart from simpler competitors and freeing animals from being confined for entertainment purposes," he wrote on LinkedIn in December.

Koker said he searched all over the world — including London and Paris — for nearly three years for Holozoo's first location before landing on Miami.

"Florida is a very good location actually because the weather is hot," Koker said. "There are very less experiences for people to visit, and people want to be inside some closed space, not outdoors, because it's always hot, and there's a lot of humidity."

Holozoo had planned to debut at the Boca Raton Innovation Campus that Related Ross purchased last month. But Koker said he canceled the deal after finding the retail building in Coconut Grove.

The build-out to open the location from scratch, including what it takes to build out the technology, costs between $2M and $3M, he said.

Koker is already surveying opening other Holozoo locations in Orlando and New York City, which he expects will take less time and money to open than the Miami location, and not just because the technology will be a "copy and paste."

"The first one is harder because you need to convince people of the project," Koker said. "You need to raise capital, and the first one you don't have proof of concept. We sold this, but we didn't have proof of concept to operate it. So, after Miami, I think everything will skyrocket."

The company is in the fundraising stages for other locations in Istanbul and Antalya, Turkey, Koker said.

Holozoo's deal was the largest retail lease in Miami in the third quarter, followed by Addison House Home Collections' 14K SF lease in Aventura and Spirit Halloween Superstores' 10K SF lease at Kendall Place.

Finding retail space in Miami is no small feat. Vacancy has hovered around 3% for roughly a year, and average asking rents have hit a record $44.34 triple-net per SF, according to Colliers.

It's even harder in Coconut Grove, which The Wall Street Journal in February dubbed "the next playground for billionaires.” Retail vacancy was 1.2% and asking rents were $96.84 per SF at the end of the third quarter, second only to Miami Beach, according to Colliers.

“The Coconut Grove location is, I think, probably the best location in Greater Miami,” Koker said.