Jun 15, 2017 - 0 Comments - Top Stories -

Miami Commercial Property News June 15, 2017: Milagro Coral Gables Sells for $78 Million; 1031 Exchange May Disappear; More…

Wafra buys Milagro Coral Gables apartments for $78 million

An affiliate of the New York-based Wafra Group just picked up a luxury apartment complex in Coral Gables for $78.15 million, property records show. Delaware-based Rex Art Owner LLC, an entity managed by JP Morgan Investment Management Inc., sold the 238-unit building at 2263 Southwest 37th Avenue in Miami to Coral Gables GF Deal LP. The buying entity is managed by Wafra Senior Vice President and Director of Acquisitions Edward J. Ryan. The deal breaks down to about…

City’s kick can block Miami Beckham United stadium deal

A last-minute change to a deal between Miami-Dade County and Miami Beckham United clearing the way for the firm to buy county land for a Major League Soccer stadium in Miami has left City of Miami officials crying foul. Among conditions the county commission set June 6, one would require Beckham’s group to hire county police and emergency responders for off-duty work inside the planned 25,000-seat Overtown stadium. By agreeing, Beckham’s group may have created another…

Popular commercial real estate tax break 1031 exchange may be wiped out

The 1031 exchange, a tax break used extensively in the commercial real estate industry, could disappear if a lower tax rate is passed by Congress. The tax break gives sellers of real estate and other asset types the opportunity to defer capital gains taxes by reinvesting in “like-kind” properties. But lobbyists and Capitol Hill officials working on tax legislation have told the Wall Street Journal that, even if a sweeping federal tax overhaul doesn’t go ahead this year, a more modest tax-rate cut may still

Boulevard 57 condo site sells to 13th Floor, Tricera for $20 million

13th Floor Investments and Tricera Capital paid $19.5 million for the former site of Boulevard 57 in Miami’s Upper East Side with plans to build a mixed-use project. 13th Floor, led by managing principal Arnaud Karsenti, in partnership with the newly formed Tricera Capital, led by Scott Sherman and Ben Mandell, acquired the 2.2-acre site at 5700 Biscayne Boulevard on Monday in an all-cash deal, Karsenti told The Real Deal. The deal has not yet cleared public records. The developers…

Riverfront revival in Miami targets hotel, convention center

A variety of stakeholders have their eyes set on a riverfront revival in Miami. These interests are converging now and could lead to a new and vibrant riverfront downtown that could see a revived hotel and convention center, expanded and improved public riverwalk, and a renovated and reopened Fort Dallas Park. The changes might also encourage the use of water taxis. The players include City of Miami officials, the Miami River Commission, Downtown Development Authority, Hyatt…

County working on foreign trade zone at Miami International Airport

Miami-Dade’s Aviation Department is still working to set up a foreign trade zone magnet site on Miami International Airport property, anticipating that the approval will come by the end of the summer. Officials have said that the zone will attract new business opportunities and better utilize vacant cargo and non-terminal areas. Emilio González, Miami-Dade Aviation Department director and CEO, first told Miami Today of the plan in April 2016. The airport first began talking with…

Miami DDA launches ‘Complete Streets’ initiative

A $500,000 program designed around adding in bike and bus lanes The Miami Downtown Development Authority, in partnership with the City of Miami, Miami-Dade County and the Health Foundation of South Florida, launched a $500,000 project called Complete Streets, which includes the creation of a dedicated bike lane in downtown Miami along Southeast/Southwest First Street into a multimodal corridor. The pilot initiative entails a high visibility bike lane, bus lane, enhanced…

EastGroup Debuting In Miami-Dade With 200,000 SF Spec Warehouse

As Miami’s industrial market sees vacancy rates below 4%, Mississippi-based EastGroup Properties is rolling the dice on an 850K SF industrial park for its Miami-Dade County debut. EastGroup has tied up a 61-acre site that was formerly the practice track for Calder Race Course with plans to develop an industrial park of up to five buildings. The developer plans to break ground later this year on a 200K SF multi-tenant warehouse without any tenants pre-leasing spaces, JLL Senior Vice…

Restaurant Boom Feeds 1031 Investment Pipeline

Investors using 1031 exchanges continue to have a voracious appetite for triple net lease properties, and they are increasingly setting their sights on restaurants. “People are shifting to e-commerce-resistant retail, and restaurants are at the top of the list of what people are looking for,” says Randy Blankstein, president of the Boulder Group, a net lease advisory firm. “So it has gone from a category that five years ago was considered specialty to very much a mainstream…

Planned Miami condo nixed for 393-unit apartment tower

At 2000 Biscayne in Edgewater In what’s becoming a trend for residential projects across Miami’s core, another developer is planning to swap out its condo plans in favor of rentals, according to The Real Deal. Planned for 2000 Biscayne in Edgewater, the 393-unit development will rise 36 stories and include 455 parking spaces in an attached eight-story garage. Dorsky + Yue, based in Fort Lauderdale, is the architect and the residences range from studios to three-bedrooms. The 0.75-acre site…

EB-5 financing can provide up to 35% of investment stack, but lining up investors may take years: panel

While not “a magic wand,” financing from foreign nationals under the U.S. government’s EB-5 investment program can provide between 25 percent to 35 percent of a real estate project’s capital stack, said attorney Larry J. Behar. But obtaining approval for an EB-5 application is a long and complicated process for the potential investor, sometimes taking about five years, he noted. Speaking…

Bed Bath & Beyond Plaza in Doral hits the market, could fetch $40M, brokerage says

The Bed Bath & Beyond Plaza in Doral, next to Miami International Mall, just hit the market. Though the retail center at 10640 Northwest 19th Street doesn’t have a price, listing brokerage HFF told The Real Deal that it expects offers of more than $40 million. HFF Miami’s Danny Finkle, Luis Costello, and Eric Williams have the listing. In addition to Bed Bath & Beyond, other tenants at the 97,456-square-foot shopping center include including Office Depot, Pier 1 Imports…

Brazilians Using Economic Recovery To Funnel Millions Into Miami Real Estate

On the evening of June 7 in Porto Alegre, Brazil, about 150 people showed up to a cultural center called Instituto Ling to hear a pitch from Alan Araujo. There, the director of international sales at One Sotheby’s in Miami was pitching these mostly high-net-worth investors and their families on condominium units at two high-end projects in Miami: One Thousand Museum by Zaha Hadid Architects and the Louver House. And on this Wednesday evening, Araujo said at least part of his…

Grand Peaks Properties Acquires 196-Unit Soleste Club Prado Apts

Grand Peaks Properties acquired the Soleste Club Prado apartments at  (950 Red Road) in Miami, FL for $61 million, or about $311,000 per unit, from Mattoni Group and Fortune Capital Partners, Inc. The eight-story, 175,000-square-foot luxury mid-rise multifamily building (view birdseye) sits on 1.8 acres in the West Miami submarket, with easy access to major job centers in Coral Gables, Blue Lagoon, Brickell and Downtown Miami. It features best-in…

Video: Nadia Balint of RENTCafé Discusses Suburban Multifamily Performance

Nadia Balint of RENTCafé joins The Commercial Real Estate Show to discuss multifamily growth in suburban markets and why they appeal to renters today. She discusses rent growth in downtown markets versus suburban markets from a supply and demand standpoint, noting suburban markets as benefiting from lower, more competitive, rent rates.

Study: U.S. must add 4.6 million new apartments by 2030 to meet rising demand

The affordable housing crisis in the United States has many causes. A new study, commissioned by apartment industry groups, highlights how low inventory may be a contributing cause for this issue in cities nationwide. The country needs to construct 4.6 million new apartments by 2030, according to a new study conducted by Hoyt Advisory Services and commissioned by the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) and National Apartment Association (NAA), two nonprofit…

Commercial borrowers struggle to repay loans maturing in May

The number of commercial mortgage borrowers failing to repay their loans was up last month. In May, commercial real estate mortgage borrowers paid off maturing loans at a slower rate, according to Morningstar Credit Ratings LLC. In 2007, borrowers took out 10-year loans that were repackaged into commercial mortgage backed securities. This partially explains the uptick in the number of unpaid and delinquent loans, the Wall Street Journal reported. About $9.4 billion was unpaid…

Real Estate Investors Navigating Fully-Priced Market

For institutional investors, 2016 was a year of portfolio rightsizing. In 2017, this cascaded throughout the commercial real estate sector, which has seen an increase in flight-to-quality strategies, a widened bid-sell gap and uncertainty related to the effects of monetary policy. It appears the industry may be coming to terms with a slowing market.

What kind of construction disputes can occur in Miami?

Construction projects in Miami, as well as in other parts of Florida, may involve the creation of corporate buildings, residential buildings, roadways, bridges industrial plants and many other structures. Regardless of what type of property you are developing, you will likely be required to enter into construction contracts and work with other parties to determine the terms of these contracts. When these terms are unclear, the parties may disagree on what was agreed upon and end up in a major…