Rockpoint Group acquires 1221 Brickell office building
Rockpoint Group has acquired 1221 Brickell (aerial), a Miami office building. The seller was not identified. No financial terms were disclosed. Holliday Fenoglio Fowler LP represented the owner in the sale. Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P. (HFF) announced today that it has closed the sale of 1221 Brickell Avenue, a 408,423-square-foot, iconic office building in Miami’s Brickell Financial District. HFF represented the owner in the sale of 1221 Brickell to Rockpoint Group LLC. Additionally, HFF represented the prior owner..
Custom Space, a Short-Term Warehouse Leasing Firm, Nabs First South Florida Location In Doral
California-based Custom Space has leased its first South Florida location with an 85,000-square-foot industrial space at Doral Logistics Center. The firm is similar to temporary-office provider Regus, but for warehouses. It provides month-to-month leases for warehouse and office space ranging from 300 to 20,000 square feet while providing support services, such as receiving inventory and answering phones for tenants. State Street Realty’s Frank Trelles represented Custom Space in the deal while Transwestern’s Thomas…
Shahab Karmely’s secret backer is hedge fund titan Dan Loeb: sources
Shahab Karmely’s KAR Properties announced itself in swashbuckling fashion on the South Florida scene with a series of big, all-cash purchases of parcels along the Miami River, in Hallandale Beach and in Wynwood. The firm spent over $112 million on acquisitions since 2013, and millions more on pre-development costs. Which led many in the market to ask: How exactly was Karmely pulling it off? Karmely has always maintained that he has a silent partner, whose deep pockets allowed KAR to become an aggressive purchaser…
High Ground Is Becoming Hot Property as Sea Level Rises
One of the first sea-level rise maps Broadway Harewood saw was a few years back, when climate activists gathered in his neighborhood to talk about how global warming would affect people in less-affluent South Florida communities. Harewood had a realization, one that he illustrates with his hands. One hand represents the city of Miami Beach. The opposite hand, moving like the incoming tide, demonstrates how the seas will eventually rise, potentially bringing the coastline of South Florida closer to Miami’s historically…
Miami’s Real Estate Drawing Middle Eastern Buyers
Every month, the Miami Association of Realtors announces the top 10 foreign countries that use its website to search for Miami real estate. As you might expect, this list typically features the “usual suspects” month after month, such as Colombia, Canada, Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina and France. However, the most recently published report (from January 2017) included an unfamiliar newcomer: Turkey, ranked at No. 7. Miami has always attracted foreign buyers, and we are very used to seeing strong interest from Latin America…
Inside St. Regis Bal Harbour’s enhanced lobby and new restaurants
Fresh off a $35M renovation The St. Regis Bal Harbour underwent a $35 million “enhancing” that was completed a few months ago, with Michael Wolk Design Associates orchestrating the redesign of their new lobby lounge and Atlantikos restaurant. Unveiled in the Fall, these enhancements followed several other new elements that included a new four-bedroom suite collection; a couple of other new restaurants in the BH Burger Bar and St. Regis Bar & Sushi Lounge; and a 1,800-square-foot event space name…
Miami ranks 9th nationally in rent as Fort Lauderdale climbs to 12th
Median Miami one-bedrooms stick at $1800 While Miami continues to rank ninth in the country in median rent for one-bedroom units at $1800, Fort Lauderdale has climbed up to No. 12 with the same units priced at $1590. Zumper’s latest rent report, which covers the month of April, shows Miami is now tied with Honololu at No. 9 while Fort Lauderdale makes gains on No. 11 Chicago ($1680) after rising one spot in the monthly ranking. Miami’s one-bedroom figure shows about a 5-percent decrease year…
Artsy Wynwood Garage secures $22M in construction financing
Featuring parking, retail, and office space Another artsy Miami garage is rising in the form of the Wynwood Garage, with Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P. announcing it has secured $22 million in construction financing on behalf of developer Goldman Properties for the mixed-use development in the flourishing neighborhood north of downtown Miami.
Within Wynwood’s first public parking garage will be 430 parking spots, 30,000 square feet of Class A office space, and 23,000 square feet of ground-floor…
Miami-Dade may impose new rules on short-term rentals
A proposed ordinance would impose a pile of new regulations on short-term rentals in unincorporated Miami-Dade County. Hosts on such platforms as Airbnb and HomeAway would be required to obtain a certificate of use and a business tax receipt and to enforce compliance by guests with short-term rental standards. Miami-Dade Commissioner Sally Heyman, who is sponsoring the proposed ordinance, told the Miami Herald the proposal is “a work in progress.” The county commission is scheduled to consider the proposal…
Miami’s Aria on the Bay tops off at 80 percent sold
A 53-story tower in Edgewater Aria on the Bay has become Miami’s latest luxury condominium to top off, with the 648-unit tower rising to 53 stories in Edgewater. Developed by Melo Group and designed by Arquitectonica, the development is 80 percent sold and expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2018. Units range from one to four bedrooms, with prices starting in the $400,000s and maxing out at $6 million. The mixed-use project is located at 1770 North Bayshore Drive, next to the water…
Supreme Court ruling on Miami paves way for cities to sue over predatory lending
From TRD New York: Cities, not just individuals, may now be able to sue banks over discriminatory lending practices, following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling Monday. The court found the city of Miami is legally permitted to use the Fair Housing Act of 1968 to sue banks that allegedly issued risky mortgages to black and Hispanic borrowers at higher rates than other groups, the New York Times reported. Miami is trying to sue Bank of America and Wells Fargo…
New USCIS ombudsman was top exec at anti-EB5 group
From TRD New York: The new ombudsman for the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services was a longtime top executive at a group that actively lobbies for the elimination of the EB-5 program. The appointee, Julie Kirchner, was for more than a decade the executive director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), a lobbying group that advocates for the end of EB-5, which has become a key fundraising vehicle for real estate developers.
Market Trend: South Florida’s Office Vacancy Decreases to 9.8%
The South Florida Office market ended the first quarter 2017 with a vacancy rate of 9.8%. The vacancy rate was down over the previous quarter, with net absorption totaling positive 913,257 square feet in the first quarter. That compares to positive 609,681 square feet in the fourth quarter 2016. Vacant sublease space increased in the quarter, ending the quarter at 640,091 square feet. The Class-A office market recorded net absorption of…
Anirban Basu, Economic Advisor with CFMA (Construction Financial Management Association) comes on The Commercial Real Estate Show to discuss trends and forecasts in the construction industry. Some highlights include: Construction costs becoming more expensive due to labor cost increases; Skilled labor particularly difficult to find; Some materials costs increasing as well, yet many are below highs of years ago; Expect compensation costs to continue to rise as few young people take construction industry…
Barbara Denham, Senior Economist at Reis, Discusses Retail Property Market
Barbara Denham, Senior Economist from Reis, comes on The Commercial Real Estate Show to discuss the retail property market, including performance, vacancy, and cap rate trends. Some highlights of this interview include: Starting to see a trickle in impact of store closures on retails property market; Some declines in rents and increases in vacancy in some markets trickling in; Overall rent grew on average in prior year while vacancies declined; Restaurants are adding jobs while retailers cut; Seeing…