Microsoft to lease 50K sf office at under-construction Brickell tower

Microsoft is making its expansion in Miami official. The tech giant inked a roughly 50,000-square-foot lease at a new office tower under construction in the Brickell Financial District, as out-of-state tech firms continue to head to South Florida. Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft will use the space at 830 Brickell as its new regional headquarters, according to a statement…

Microsoft to Open 50 KSF Office in Miami

Microsoft has announced it will open a new, 50,000-square-foot office in downtown Miami. The tech giant has inked a lease at 830 Brickell, a forthcoming Class A office building in the city’s financial district. A partnership of OKO Group and Cain International is developing the 640,000-square-foot 830 Brickell, which was approved by the city in 2019.

Microsoft Leases 50K SF As Miami Aims To Balance Tech Influx, Hesitant Return To Office

Microsoft will lease 50K SF at 830 Brickell, a trophy office tower under construction in Miami. The 55-story, 640K SF tower from developers OKO Group and Cain International is Miami’s first stand-alone, Class-A office building built in over a decade, according to the developers. Cain International Vice President Justin Oates, a panelist at Bisnow’s…

Chetrit Group sells Miami Beach hotel for $42M

The Chetrit Group sold a Miami Beach apartment hotel to its operator for $42 million, The Real Deal has learned. Royal Stays Miami, led by Yedid Buchweld, acquired the 104-key property at 1000, 1020 and 1030 Collins Avenue, according to a source. Royal Stays has been operating the property under a leasehold agreement since 2018. The deal breaks down to nearly…

Chart: Miami-Dade Commercial Real Estate Sales August 2021

This chart displays the number of closed commercial property sales in Miami-Dade county including both improved commercial properties and vacant commercial land, that were recorded in the Miami Commercial MLS for the two years ending August, 2021. August 2021 volume, as was the case with July, seems to be at a normal, non-pandemic, level. “Don’t wait to…”

Chart: Miami Commercial Real Estate Sales to List Price Ratio August 2021

This chart displays the sales price to listing price ratio as reported in the Miami Commercial MLS for improved commercial real estate (MLS classification: commercial/industrial) that lies within Miami-Dade, including cities within, that were priced from $1 million to $10 million and that closed from January 2011 to August 2021. This ratio edged up a touch…

Student housing survives pandemic and investment returns

The pandemic can’t keep student housing down. In fact, it may even be graduating to a new era as college students return to in-person classes across the country. Property investors are spending billions of dollars on student housing while developing off-campus options for new and returning students. Developers are also adding perks to entice students…

Developers rush in: Vivian Dimond-led group offers $150M for older bayfront Miami condo building

The bidding to buy out an older bayfront condo complex in Miami’s Edgewater is up to $150 million, according to offers obtained by The Real Deal. Condo owners at the roughly 254-unit Bay Park, 3301 Northeast Fifth Avenue, have received three written offers since May. The latest is $150 million from Aman Group, led by Miami-based broker, investor and…

Bill Gates’ Cascade taking over Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts

Bill Gates’ Cascade Investment is taking a swing in the hotel industry, paying more than $2 billion to take control of Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts. Cascade is planning to buy 23.8 percent of a stake belonging to Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, spending $2.2 billion, according to Reuters. The purchase will give Cascade a 71.3 percent stake and…

Lease roundup: New York pizzeria opening at Wynwood 25, logistics provider heading to Davie & more

Joe’s Pizza I Wynwood 25 New York classic Joe’s Pizza is opening its first Miami location at the mixed-use project Wynwood 25. The family owned and operated pizzeria inked a 1,758-square-foot, long-term lease at the multifamily-retail building, according to a news release. It is planning to open in spring 2022. Joe Pozzuoli, of Naples, Italy, founded the pizzeria…

Doral Keeps Growing

“People discovered Doral.” It is with this phrase that Mayor Juan Carlos Bermudez defined the population’s growth in our city. Today, we can count a total of 75,874 residents according to the results of the last census of 2020. The census showed that Doral is a culturally diverse city, a city represented by people of…

Biscayne Bay advisory board ready to get feet wet

A 21-member Biscayne Watershed Management Task Force is assembling its members for what is to be a permanent organization in charge of addressing the recovery of water quality in Biscayne Bay and future management of the watershed. The county so far has received nine nominations and the Chief Bay Officer, Irela Bague, is expecting that…

Developments Face More Scrutiny After Catastrophic Miami Condo Collapse

The full consequence of the tragic Surfside, Florida, condominium collapse won’t be fully realized for years to come. For now, the deadly disaster at the Champlain Towers South stripped some luxury condominium buyers of the comfortable assumption that they’re buying a safely constructed property. After the 12-story oceanside residence crumbled to the ground…

Key Biscayne looks for better way to handle Rickenbacker Causeway

A county-sponsored public meeting will be held to discuss and possibly suggest amendments to the Rickenbacker Causeway request for proposals that Miami-Dade County approved for action in July after Key Biscayne residents and council members last week expressed disapproval and called it “a veiled, obscure process that did not consider the realities of the…

TREO Group Completes $36M Student Housing Development Near University of Miami

Miami, Fla.-based The TREO Group has completed Vox Miami, a 326-bed student housing community located at 7202 S.W. 72nd St. in south Miami. The development cost for the 193,250-square-foot project was $36 million. Vox Miami offers a mix of one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom units with a TV in every living room, floor-to-ceiling windows, stainless…

Teahouse to be planted in center of Biscayne Boulevard downtown

A brand new Green Initiative promises to transform stark urban pavement into an oasis in Downtown Miami. With dual goals of increasing walkability and welcoming green space in dense areas, developer PMG and the Miami Parking Authority (MPA) have announced they are joining forces to create a community driven project called the Green Initiative along Biscayne…

JV plans high-end offices at old Bancroft Hotel in South Beach

A joint venture plans to convert the closed Bancroft Hotel and a building next door in South Beach into high-end offices, marking another bet on the tourist area morphing into a workplace hub. Pebb Capital, based in Boca Raton and New York City, and Miami-based Maxwelle Real Estate Group… Pebb and Maxwelle bought the property at 1501 Collins Avenue…

Babba Joshua Yesharim plans residential project along Miami River

A residential project with up to 36 units is in the works for the north side of the Miami River. Babba Joshua Yesharim, a longtime investor in real estate along the river, envisions either condominiums or a membership-based club with short-term rentals for a site he just purchased, according to the broker who handled the deal. The project would include a 260-foot long…

GPI Real Estate wins $6M settlement over failed Sunny Isles Beach project

When plans for a hotel and residential project in Sunny Isles Beach hotel fizzled after five years in the works, the site’s developer and seller hurled accusations at each other in court. Now, GPI Real Estate Group, which was in line to buy the 1.6 acre lot, has won $6 million from seller Robert Cornfeld. The settlement payment comprises the refund of a $5 million…

Latest draft of Surfside rezoning shows only 80 units could be built on collapse site

Amid heightened scrutiny over downzoning of the collapsed Champlain Towers South site, the town of Surfside is still looking at further limiting the number of units that can be built on the oceanfront property. If approved, the latest version of the proposed rezoning could impact the marketing and sales process of the site. Under this proposal, roughly 80 units could be…

Fill ’er up: Hialeah Gardens and Fort Lauderdale Wawas sell for a combined $22M

Retail real estate investors keep filling up on Wawa gas station convenience stores in South Florida. Two different buyers closed on a Wawa in Fort Lauderdale and another in Hialeah Gardens, paying a combined $22 million. In the Fort Lauderdale deal, Tampa-based Brightwork Real Estate sold the recently completed Wawa at 6191 North Powerline Road for…

Where department stores go when they die

Department stores are dying in droves. The buildings that house them? Not so much. According to Bloomberg, 40 percent of department stores in the United States have closed in the past five years. While some are ultimately razed, others are being converted into different types of spaces to reduce costs and environmental impacts, the publication reported. Old…

Shoma Group HQ faces foreclosure over allegedly unauthorized construction: lawsuit

Shoma Group built a new glass-encased rooftop lounge at the company’s Coral Gables headquarters without permits and without authorization from the company’s co-founder Maria Lamas, according to a recently filed foreclosure lawsuit. Lamas is exercising a clause in the $6 million mortgage that she holds, which allows her to declare default against a Shoma…

The Surfside Condominium Collapse and Its Ripple Effect in Miami

By now, you’ve probably heard of the Surfside Condominium Collapse, but if not, here’s a brief overview. On the morning of June 24th, 2021, while most of the inhabitants slept, half of the building came crashing to the ground. Ninety-eight people lost their lives that morning. Why did this happen? Was it some natural disaster that comes once in a blue moon?

Retail Center, Town and Country Plaza Refinanced for $27M

MMG Equity Partners has secured $26.6 million and refinances retail center, Town and Country Plaza, located at 13712 SW 152nd Street in Miami, FL.  Guardian Life Insurance Company of America provided the loan for the shopping center.  JLL Capital Markets team, which included Chris Drew, Brian Gaswirth, and Reid… Read more » The post News first…

Joe’s Pizza Will Bring the Classic NYC Slice to Wynwood

It’s official: Yet another famous New York City restaurant is making the trip south to Miami. Joe’s Pizza, the family owned-and-operated Greenwich Village institution that set the standard for the quintessential New York slice will open its first Florida location at Wynwood 25. The restaurant is scheduled to open in spring 2022. Last week, Joe’s Pizza owner/president…

Easton Group, LBA Logistics buy Doral warehouse for $20M

The Easton Group, in joint venture with industrial investor LBA Logistics, bought a Doral warehouse for $19.5 million. Badia Spices, a homegrown spice and herbs maker and distributor, sold the 105,365-square-foot building at 9880 Northwest 25th Street, according to an Easton news release. The deal breaks down to $185 per square foot. Dalton Easton…

Cabot Properties buys Miramar distribution center for $72M

Cabot Properties paid $71.6 million for the Bridge Point Miramar distribution center. The Boston-based logistics real estate investor bought the industrial building at 15501 Southwest 29th Street from Chicago-based Bridge Industrial, according to the seller’s broker’s news release. Mike Davis and Rick Brug…

Trammell Crow Residential wins approval for 250-unit multifamily project in Miramar

More apartments are planned for Broward County, as Trammell Crow Residential won approval to build Alexan Miramar, a 250-unit multifamily development just east of I-75 in Miramar. Dallas-based Trammell Crow won city approval to build the project during a commission meeting Wednesday night. It will include two six-story apartment buildings with 125 units…

Weston medical office building trades for $17M

A two-story medical office building in Weston sold for $17.2 million. Two affiliates of Montecito Medical Real Estate sold the 32,559-square-foot building at 2229 North Commerce Parkway to another affiliate of Montecito named MMAC Pix Weston FL SPE LLC, records show. The deal was financed with a $22.3 million loan from BMO Harris Bank. Montecito, based in…

Abacus Capital Partners pays $125M for Plantation apartments

A New York-based real estate investment firm specializing in multifamily properties picked up an apartment community in Plantation for $125.4 million. An affiliate of Abacus Capital Group bought the 376-unit St. Tropez Apartments at 8000-8290 Cleary Boulevard, records show. The seller is an entity tied to Dallas, Texas-based real estate investment firm Lincoln…

NHL Team, Elon Musk Tunnel Demonstrate Fort Lauderdale’s Growth Potential

Fort Lauderdale is on the rise, and it is luring the big names to prove it. The Florida Panthers hockey team is exploring a permanent move to Fort Lauderdale from its current county-owned facility in Sunrise, Florida, Mayor Dean Trantalis told Bisnow. “The team is talking with various stakeholders, various landowners in the area to identify sufficiently…

Blackstone buys Boynton Beach apartment complex for $171M

An entity tied to New York-based investment behemoth Blackstone bought the One Boynton apartment complex for $171 million. The buyer, which lists several Blackstone executives, purchased the 494-unit apartment complex at 1331 and 1351 South Federal Highway in Boynton Beach from an affiliate of Atlanta…

Related Cos. completes $65M purchase of West Palm affordable senior housing

Stephen Ross’ The Related Companies completed its acquisition of two affordable senior housing apartment buildings in West Palm Beach. Affiliates of Related’s affordable housing division paid a combined $65 million for Saint Andrews Residence, a 182-unit building at 208 Fern Street, and Saint James Residence, a 148-unit building at 400 South Olive Avenue…

Milestone Group pays $107M for Emerald Palms apartments near Zoo Miami

The Milestone Group paid $107 million for the 505-unit Emerald Palms apartment complex near Zoo Miami in southwest Miami-Dade County. The multifamily investment firm bought the community at 12325 Southwest 151st Street from an affiliate of Denver-based Grand Peaks Properties, records show. Milestone Group took out a $70.2 million mortgage, which…

U.S. construction spending is on the rise — for now

The U.S. construction industry can thank residential projects for an increase in spending. Yet, the uptick may prove short-lived. U.S. construction spending rose 9 percent in July from the prior year to $1.57 trillion on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the Commerce Department’s most recent report. The bulk came in residential construction spending…

RAM buys Lago Mar apartments in Hialeah for $18M

Lago Mar apartments in Hialeah Rental Asset Management bought the Lago Mar multifamily complex in Hialeah for $17.5 million. The Fort Lauderdale-based firm, which also manages apartment properties, bought the 112-unit complex at 1035-1055 West 71st Street. The seller is Lago Mar Apartments, led by Steven Levy and Amir Hayun, records show. Ram borrowed $10.7…

Miami Among Top 5 Markets for Multifamily Development

The pandemic made this Florida market even more attractive to companies looking to relocate from both New York City and California, and this has spurred robust demand for multifamily projects. Through July, 7,173 units came online in the metro, with more than 6,625 units delivered during the same period last year. The construction pipeline is second only to…

Land swap to create memorial on Surfside collapse site becomes a viable option

A proposed land swap with the town of Surfside to create a memorial on the Champlain Towers South site, where 98 people died, is emerging as a possibility. The option, discussed during a court conference on Wednesday, would involve swapping the oceanfront lot where the majority of the 12-story Champlain Towers South toppled, with a nearby, similarly sized…

Collapsed Surfside Condo Site Officially Hits The Market

Avison Young on Monday officially began marketing the site where the Champlain Towers South once stood in Surfside, Florida. The condominium collapsed June 24, killing 98, and a judge has ordered the site to be sold to compensate survivors and families. A live bidding process will ultimately be held in a Miami courtroom, the firm announced Monday.

Biden to change rules to boost affordable housing

With housing in short supply and affordable housing hard to find, the Biden administration aims to make technical changes to ease construction and financing for homes and rental properties. The potential moves could be announced by the White House as soon as Wednesday, according to the Wall Street Journal. One change: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would…

Miami Beach investor buys apartment complex in Overtown Opportunity Zone for $12M

A Miami Beach-based multifamily investor paid $11.7 million for a three-building apartment complex in Miami’s Overtown neighborhood, The Real Deal has learned. Paul J. Neary’s purchase of the 92-unit Citywalk Apartments at 415 and 423 Northwest Ninth Street breaks down to about $127,717 per unit. The property, built in 1950, is located in an Opportunity…

Beckham’s Inter Miami, Jeter’s Marlins Haven’t Delivered On Development Promises

South Florida sports teams led by soccer star David Beckham and baseball legend Derek Jeter have both failed to deliver on promises made to the public when they pushed to build stadiums, critics say. Beckham United, a partnership including Beckham and Jorge Mas, head of infrastructure firm MasTec, owns the Major League Soccer team Inter Miami. The group…

Greenstone pays $41M for North Beach apartments along Tatum Waterway

Greenstone Property Group paid $41 million for a multifamily complex in North Beach, completing its $119 million purchase of an apartment portfolio in South Florida, The Real Deal has learned. The New York-based investment firm acquired Ocean House NoBe, a 186-unit property at 7745 to 7790 Tatum Waterway, from Ytech. Ytech put Ocean House up for sale a…

Office building by Lincoln Road in Miami Beach trades for nearly $50M

A renovated office building by Lincoln Road in Miami Beach traded for $49.5 million. 1688 Property Owner LLC, an entity managed by Ophira Cukierman, bought the Class A office property at 1688 Meridian Avenue, which is across the street from the Macy’s off Lincoln Road. Cukierman is the founder and principal of Greenacres Management, a Scarsdale…

Melo Group pays $17M for assemblage north of downtown Miami

The Melo Group is continuing to invest in Greater Downtown Miami, likely with plans for another rental development. The Miami-based company, led by Jose Luis Ferreira de Melo, Martin Melo and Carlos Melo, paid $16.5 million for an assemblage near Melo’s Art Plaza and Square Station apartment towers in Miami’s Arts & Entertainment District, The Real…

Goldman: 750K households face eviction this year if rent relief isn’t sped up

With the federal ban on evictions nullified, economists are painting a grim picture for millions of Americans behind on rent. A new report from Goldman Sachs estimates that 750,000 rental households could face eviction this year if the slow rollout of rent relief persists in the absence of another moratorium. Analysts at the banking giant estimate that 2.5 to 3.5 million…

Three firms deal to build hotel at Miami International Airport

Three local firms shortlisted to develop a hotel at Miami International Airport are at individual negotiations with the county prior to the second phase of the request of proposals (RFP) that ultimately would award the project to only one firm.  “The end of the individual negotiations phase will lead right into issuance of Phase 2 of the RFP. The expected timeframe…

HighBrook Pays $70M for Florida Industrial Portfolio

HighBrook Investors has acquired a four-property industrial portfolio—three in Miami and one in Tampa, Fla.—totaling 740,400 square feet from Seaboard Warehouse Terminals. Americas Commercial Real Estate facilitated the sale and represented the buyer, while The Katsikos Group represented the seller. The portfolio traded for nearly $70.4 million…

Shrinking apartment inventory sends rents soaring

The multi-family apartment rental market is currently facing a shortage in Miami-Dade, with less than a month’s worth of inventory, according to local residential real estate experts.  There’s about a month of inventory in rentals, which are historical lows, according to Christina Pappas, vice president of the Keyes Co. Anything below six months of inventory is…

Underline linear park starts next phase, with traffic detours

Miami-Dade County’s signature linear park and urban trail project, the Underline, is on its way to deliver the second phase of its development, with the construction of a 2.14-mile segment connecting Southwest 13th Street to 19th Avenue. The project, which is now estimated to cost around $141.2 million, came to life with the public-private partnership of the…

Work to begin on luxury auto track Drivers Club Miami

A luxury auto track and commercial development planned near Miami Gardens is scheduled to begin construction in November after a delay in early phases pushed the completion date back almost two years.  Drivers Club Miami, a more than $100 million project being developed by 13 Pista LLC, would include a two-mile private driving track, club, hotel, retail…

County readies pact for Miami-Miami Beach monorail

Miami-Dade County is finishing pre-development and preparing an agreement for a monorail and rapid mass transit line that would cross the MacArthur Causeway, connecting Downtown Miami to Miami Beach.  The Department of Transportation and Public Works is working with MBM Partners LLC in an interim agreement to finish pre-development work…

Upland Park plans for nearly 2,000 units at county transit hub

A 44-acre development near and over the county’s Dolphin Station is set to begin construction of its first phase on county-owned land in February 2022, according to documents delivered by an affiliate of developer Terra Group to the county’s Internal Services Department. Plans include an amendment to Chapter 33 of the county’s code and a new zoning district.

Emirati wealth fund launches $1B U.S. industrial real estate venture

An Abu Dhabi-based sovereign wealth fund is betting big to capitalize on the hot industrial real estate market in the U.S. Mubadala Investment Co. has partnered with Dallas-based real estate investment firm Crow Holdings to develop $1 billion of Class A industrial properties across the country, according to Pensions & Investments. “Mubadala is seeking to invest…”

South Florida by the numbers: Record rents go through the roof

“South Florida by the numbers” is a web feature that catalogs the most notable, quirky and surprising real estate statistics. For local renters, a perfect storm of challenges has made South Florida living dramatically more expensive in 2021. A surge in demand (primarily driven by out-of-staters unburdened by their previous home’s state income taxes)…

Lease roundup: Blue Zones to run Legacy Hotel & Residences health and wellness hub at Miami Worldcenter & more

Blue Legacy Ventures I Legacy Hotel & Residences at Miami Worldcenter Blue Zones – which identified the healthiest places in the world with the aim to put the research toward improving community wellbeing – will run the 10-story medical and wellness center at the Legacy Hotel & Residences planned for Miami Worldcenter. The commercial lease marks the…

REEF Technology and Archer Aviation to run air taxis from parking garages

REEF Technology has unused flat rooftops. Archer Aviation has electric mini-helicopters. Together, they might have something. The two firms are partnering to run Archer’s proposed air taxis from REEF’s parking garages in Miami and Los Angeles. The partners aim to launch air taxi service from REEF garage rooftops by 2024, according to the Commercial Observer.

“Hardest project in my career to capitalize”: Diversity fund proves tough test for Peebles

More than two years after Don Peebles launched a $500 million fund to support minority and women developers, he has had little success so far garnering support from investors. The developer launched a fund in June 2019, aimed at projects ranging from $10 million to $70 million throughout the country. The fund intends to help established developers as well…

KKR plans $3B triple-net-lease portfolio

Global investment firm KKR is diving deeper into real estate, launching a platform designed for triple-net lease investments. The company announced the formation of Strategic Lease Partners this week. KKR has plans for a portfolio that will exceed $3 billion with diversified assets, according to Commercial Property Executive. The platform intends to…

Brazilian real estate giant JHSF buys oceanfront Miami Beach hotel, plans first Fasano

An affiliate of Brazilian developer JHSF bought the Como Metropolitan Miami Beach hotel, with plans to renovate and brand the property a Fasano, The Real Deal has learned. The purchase marks the developer’s first acquisition in South Florida. A Como Hotels and Resorts affiliate sold the oceanfront 74-key property at 2445 Collins Avenue for $70 million to…

Lender acquires Variety Hotel in Miami Beach following foreclosure suit

One of the first South Florida hotels to be on the receiving end of a foreclosure suit during the pandemic was seized by its lender. An affiliate of BridgeInvest obtained the title to the Variety Hotel in Miami Beach through an auction, more than a year after it filed to foreclose on the 68-key renovated hotel at 1700 Alton Road. The borrower is an entity led by…

Hotel Greystone to reopen in September amid partnership break-up

The Hotel Greystone at 1920 Collins Ave will reopen after a Miami-Dade judge reversed a previous ruling appointing a receiver to take over the Art Deco hotel. The Miami Beach property is set to start receiving guests on Sept. 16. Former college pals and ex-business partners Branden Muhl and James Vosotas are locked in a bitter legal battle in New York and…

Rolling the dice: Charter school, apartments planned for Hialeah Park racetrack and casino property

A public charter school and low-rise apartments are planned next to the Hialeah Park racetrack and casino, as the first phase of a long-term development of the 200-acre property. The Brunetti family, which owns Hialeah Park, is developing the projects in partnership with Miami Lakes-based developer Prestige Companies and Mater Academy, which…

The rent is finally due: Supreme Court ends moratorium

The Supreme Court dropped the hammer on nonpaying tenants Thursday, ruling President Joe Biden’s latest eviction ban unconstitutional. The decision frees landlords to move forward with eviction proceedings, except in the few places where local moratoriums remain in place. New York’s ban, which was severely weakened by the high court this month, is due to…

Miami Beach bans new apartment hotels in parts of South-of-Fifth — for now

The 5-to-0 vote last week will prevent property owners in a large chunk of residential South-of-Fifth from converting their buildings into apartment hotels. After more than a dozen residents described public sex acts, defecation and the need to carry a gun when going outside, the Miami Beach Planning Board backed a proposed ordinance to ban new…

Investors put waterfront Normandy Isle apartment complex on the market for $15M

Two years after picking up two apartment buildings in Miami Beach’s Normandy Isle for $7.3 milion, an investment group led by Jonathan Politano is looking to sell the Pierre on the Bay complex for double the price. The 70-unit waterfront complex, at 2050, 2070 and 2095 Bay Drive, is listed for $15 million. The pair of two-story buildings were built in 1951.

Landlords are their own worst enemy: report

Listen up, landlords: The culprit behind tenant churn has been unmasked, and it was you all along. A report by resident-experience firm Zego found that tenants were twice as likely to turn down a lease renewal because of a factor under their landlord’s control than for personal reasons. Citing a survey of 372,000 renters by the National Multifamily Housing Council…

Peebles loses $15M claim tied to allegations he was duped out of Miami Overtown project

Eight years ago, Don Peebles was poised to build a commercial project in Miami’s Overtown neighborhood. Now, as a different developer is building on the same site, Peebles has suffered another defeat in his legal battle over the property. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Michael Hanzman this week struck Peebles’ affiliate Overtown Gateway Partners’ claim for a…

Video: NAREIT’s Midyear Outlook; Robust Recovery, Growth

Economist Calvin Schnure from the National Association of REITs, more commonly referred to as NAREIT, appears on America’s Commercial Real Estate Show with its Michael Bull to share an update on REITs (real estate investment trusts) and how the economy, trends in work from home, and the recovery will impact the interest rate environment, various…

Circle Capital Partners buys Davie apartments for $35M

Coral Gables-based Circle Capital Partners paid $34.7 million for the Vue on 67th apartment complex in Davie. Records show Circle Capital, through an affiliate, bought the community at 4199 Southwest 67th Avenue from an entity led by executives at Boca-Raton based Park Partners Residential. Circle Capital took out a… Rick Giles and Rosemurgy Properties…

JV buys Hollywood office campus for $50M

Two Broward County real estate investment firms teamed up with New York City-based TFK Real Estate Investment to acquire a three-building office campus in Hollywood for $50 million. The joint venture among TFK, Fort Lauderdale-based Fox Ridge Capital and Pompano Beach-based Jax Capital Investments paid about…

Tamarac city manager charged with conspiracy against developer Arnaud Karsenti

Tamarac City Manager Michael Cernech was arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit racketeering for his alleged role in attempting to extort $3.4 million from Miami-based development firm 13th Floor Investments. In a press release, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said a Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation…

Amazon pays $85M for Sunrise fulfillment center site

Amazon paid $84.5 million for a 133-acre tract in Sunrise where it plans to build a fulfillment center. Jeff Bezos’ e-commerce giant, which has grown as consumers increasingly turn to online shopping, bought the land on the northwest corner of 44th Street and Hiatus Road, records show. The sellers are Section 18, managed by Curtis Deem; and the Trust Indenture of…

Deepak Khosa buys West Palm Beach apartments for $8M

Real estate investor Deepak Khosa paid $7.9 million for the Lake Arjaro Apartments complex in West Palm Beach, The Real Deal has learned. DME Trust, an affiliate of Port St. Lucie-based DME Group managed by Maria Garcia and George Hartley, sold the seven buildings at 4885 Lake Arjaro Drive. Khosa, owner of Palm Beach Gardens-based Atlantic Property…

Acquest Development buys Royal Palm Beach offices for $23M

Acquest Development paid $23 million for a pair of office buildings that are part of South University’s Royal Palm Beach campus. The New York-based real estate investor bought the properties at 9801 and 9901 Belvedere Road from affiliates of Rendina Real Estate Development, according to records. The purchase closed in two deals, with Acquest Development paying…

Home Depot buys former Sam’s Club site near Lake Worth Beach for $26M

Home Depot bought the former site of a Sam’s Club store near Lake Worth Beach for $26 million. Records show the home improvement and building materials retailer bought the building at 7233 Seacrest Boulevard from an affiliate of Alliance HP, which has offices in Fort Lauderdale and Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. The 135,268-square-foot building, constructed…

Hidrock Properties, Robert Finvarb pay $13M for Wynwood site

New York-based Hidrock Properties and its partner, the Robert Finvarb Companies, purchased a property in Wynwood for $13 million that they eventually plan to redevelop, The Real Deal has learned. The two firms acquired the building at 2534 North Miami Avenue and the adjacent lot at 26 Northwest 26th Street, as Hidrock expands in South Florida, Hidrock…

California investor buys new Medley industrial park for $35M

A California-based real estate investor bought a new Medley industrial park for $34.8 million, marking its first venture in Florida. VlietCo Enterprises, based in Santa Monica, California, bought the South River Industrial property at 8200 Northwest 93rd Street. It scored a $13 million acquisition loan, according to the financing broker’s release. Melissa Rose and Cody…

Witkoff buys South Beach restaurant building off Lincoln Road for $15M

New York-based developer and investor Witkoff bought a South Beach retail property off of Lincoln Road for $15.4 million. Witkoff, led by Chair and CEO Steven Witkoff, bought the free-standing building at 1681 Lenox Avenue from an affiliate of New York-based real estate development, investment and management firm Marx Realty, according to records.

That’s a hard no: Coral Gables board rejects Allen Morris development near The Plaza megaproject amid public outcry

A Coral Gables board flat-out rejected all seven items related to the approval of a mixed-use apartment tower near The Plaza megaproject. That means the developer, The Allen Morris Company, will have to go back to the drawing board. The city’s planning and zoning board rejected the proposed ordinances and resolutions at its meeting late last week, following…

After helping kill off department stores, Amazon plans to open its own

After amassing an e-commerce empire by disrupting brick and mortar retail for the better part of three decades, Amazon is now taking the competition into the real world. The e-commerce behemoth is planning to open “several” large brick-and-mortar retail locations, similar to department stores, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

‘Pandemic-Ready’ Tower Breaks Ground at Miami Worldcenter

A partnership of Royal Palm Cos., Adventist Health, Blue Zones and Accor Hotels has broken ground on what is being called the world’s first COVID-conscious, pandemic-ready, all-in-one residential, hotel and medical center skyscraper. Located in Miami, Fla., the $500 million, 55-story Legacy Tower at Miami Worldcenter marks the first major construction start at Miami…

Joint Venture Breaks Ground on 255-Room Legacy Hotel & Residences Hotel at Miami Worldcenter

The joint venture, Blue Legacy Ventures, has broken ground on Legacy Hotel & Residences Hotel, a mixed-use tower in Miami with 255 hotel rooms, 310 residences and a $100 million medical center. Legacy Hotel & Residence is part of Miami Worldcenter, a $4 billion, 27-acre mixed-use development in downtown Miami. The tower sits on 1.3 acres. All 310…

Futuristic $100M Wellness Center Takes 10 Floors At Miami Worldcenter

In what is being described as one of the largest commercial leases to be executed in Downtown Miami’s history, Adventist Health and Legacy Hotel & Residences have teamed up to bring a center for well-being to a skyscraper in Miami Worldcenter, a multibillion-dollar mixed-use project. The Blue Zones will occupy 10 stories and cost $100M, according…

Miami Office Market Update: Vacancy on the Right Track

As of July, Miami’s office vacancy rate was 14.2 percent, dropping 40 basis points month-over-month, according to CommercialEdge data, and below the national average of 15.5 percent. The metro’s rate expanded by 160 basis points when compared to the same period in 2020. Miami and Los Angeles were the only gateway markets to lower their vacancy rates…

Restaurants plead for more relief as Delta variant keeps diners away

The restaurant industry is coming back for seconds. The National Restaurant Association on Tuesday urged lawmakers to replenish the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, warning that increased costs and changes to consumer behavior amid rising caseloads has put restaurant owners under “crushing long-term debt loads.” “The small gains that our industry…

Australia’s Harbour Outdoor buys Miami Design District building for nearly $7M

Furniture design company Harbour Outdoor picked up a Miami Design District redevelopment site for $6.5 million. The Sydney, Australia-based firm plans to open a flagship showroom inside the 3,224-square-foot retail building at 170 Northeast 38th Street, according to brokers involved in the deal. The site is zoned for a new development of up to 20 stories.

South Florida apartment crunch: Locals squeezed out, as demand from newcomers leads to record rents

Laura Flores is close to calling it quits on her apartment hunt. The 40-year-old Miami resident has done everything to position herself as the perfect candidate: She has a full-time job that allows for $2,400 in monthly rent, and she started searching four months before her current lease ends. Yet, she has only seen one apartment in Doral since June…

Related and Two Roads to pay about $130M for the oceanfront Carlton Terrace condo building in Bal Harbour

A number of developers tried to do it before, but the Related Group and Two Roads Development are now close to completing a bulk purchase of units at the Carlton Terrace condominium at 10245 Collins Avenue in Bal Harbour, The Real Deal has learned. The developers’ joint venture is spending roughly $130 million for…

Action on vast Wynwood project deferred for changes

The developer of one of the largest mixed-use residential and office projects to rise in Wynwood has deferred a city review and promises to work with City of Miami staff to help improve the overall project. The developer aims to tweak the plan based on a series of comments and concerns voiced by members of the city’s Urban Development Review Board (UDRB) at a…

Cryptocurrency Trading Platform OKcoin Expands to Miami

The Sunshine State is beginning to seem more like the Crypto State. A new cryptocurrency trading platform called OKcoin announced it would open an office in Miami, marking the San Francisco-based company’s seventh global office. The platform, which lets users buy and sell cryptocurrencies, says it will bring about 100 jobs with its move. “Looking forward to…”

Chart: Miami-Dade Commercial Real Estate Sales July 2021

This chart displays the number of closed commercial property sales in Miami-Dade county and the cities, including both improved commercial properties and vacant commercial land, that were recorded in the Miami Commercial MLS for the two years ending July, 2021. The number for last month, July 2021, seems to have reverted to more of a normal, non…

Twin 52-Story Miami Towers Are Complete, Fully Pre-Leased

Melo Group announced Friday that it has completed the second tower at Downtown 5th, consisting of two identical 52-story apartment towers. The project is already 100% pre-leased. It is the largest multifamily project in Downtown Miami’s Central Business District, with 1,042 rental apartments in total and 12,500 SF of ground-floor retail. Units of 650 SF to 1,200 SF…

Alex Hurst: Firm he founded now holds $1.6 billion in real estate assets

Perhaps, in a parallel universe, Alex Hurst is a successful author of business strategy books rather than the founder and managing principal of real estate investment firm Palatine Capital Partners. He nearly went down that path while on hiatus from college. He was working abroad in England, where he’d gotten in on the ground floor of a successful internet…

The Fed: Rents still rising with regional riffs : Rent CPI has outpaced headline CPI for 20 years

If you’ve been paying rent just about anywhere in the United States, you likely already know that rent has been going up. And the FRED graph above shows exactly that. Average rent in U.S. cities has risen by 85% in just the past 20 years. That’s 30 percentage points above the 55% inflation that’s occurred between then and now (July 2021, at the time of this writing).

Chart: Miami Commercial Real Estate Sales to List Price Ratio July 2021

This chart displays the selling price to list price ratio as reported in the Miami Commercial MLS for improved commercial real estate (MLS classification: commercial/industrial) within Miami-Dade county, including cities within, in the sunny state of Florida that were priced from $1 million to $10 million and that closed from January 2011 to July 2021. This…

B Group Capital Management buys Shoppes of Coral Way in Miami for $24M

B Group Capital Management bought the Shoppes of Coral Way in Miami for $23.7 million. The Miami-based firm scooped up the retail center at 2690 Southwest 22nd Street from private investor Rajen Properties, according to a news release. Kirk Olson and Drew Kristol of Marcus & Millichap handled the deal, after listing the property in September 2020. The sale price is…

Industrious hires new COO to lead IPO prep, international expansion

Industrious has a new chief operating officer. The flex-office provider has tapped Liz Simon, chief operating officer at tech-focused continuing education school General Assembly, as its new COO, The Real Deal has learned. Tasked with overseeing Industrious’ legal department, cross-functional operations and “people function,” according to the company…

Eviction ban heads back to Supreme Court

Joe Biden’s new eviction moratorium is set to face its biggest challenge yet: the Supreme Court. Real estate groups and property owners petitioned to the nation’s highest court on Friday to strike down the ban on evictions, which applies to most of the country. Chief Justice John Roberts has asked the government to respond to the petition by Monday at noon, according…

Restaurant Migration Creates Dire Shortage Of Eatery-Ready South Florida Space

Wife-and-husband restaurateurs Christie Tenaud, a chef, and Roberto Colombi, a sommelier and general manager, operated The Blue at the Boca Raton Resort & Club but wanted to open their own space somewhere in South Florida. They started looking in December of 2018. “We looked from Wellington to Hollywood,” Tenaud said. In February of 2020, they homed…

Lease roundup: New York hedge fund takes Miami space for HQ2, More…

Schonfeld Strategic Advisors I The Dorsey in Wynwood Hedge fund Schonfeld Strategic Advisors signed a long-term, 18,441-square-foot lease at The Dorsey project in Miami. New York-based Schonfeld is opening its second headquarters at the new Wynwood development. A partnership among Related Group, Tricera Capital and Lndmrk Development is…

Medical Properties Trust completes $900M portfolio buy with Hialeah Hospital

A Birmingham, Alabama-based real estate investment trust that binges on medical sites picked up Hialeah Hospital for $133.7 million. An affiliate of Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare is the seller of the 378-bed medical facility at 651 East 25th Street in Hialeah, records show. The purchase completes Medical Properties Trust’s play for a South Florida medical portfolio…

Developers of Society Wynwood mixed-use project scores $142M construction loan

PMG and Greybrook Realty Partners scored a $142.3 million construction loan for their planned mixed-use rental project in Wynwood. Pacific Western Bank and Square Mile Capital provided the loan for Society Wynwood, which broke ground earlier this year at 2431 Northwest Second Avenue, according to a release. The 10-story building will have 318…

Life sciences sector poised to shatter records again in 2021

Unprecedented demand for life sciences real estate has prices soaring in markets across the country. Pricing for life science and R&D properties averaged $585 per square foot in the first half of this year, up 50 percent over last year’s average, according to a new report from Newmark. That increase was partially driven by a handful of major deals. In March…

North Beach multifamily portfolio trades for $31M

A dozen apartment buildings in Miami Beach traded for $31 million, as demand for multifamily assets in the city’s North Beach neighborhood heats up. Records show the entity Kerem North Beach Apartments bought the 12 properties between Byron and Carlyle avenues from 75th Street to 84th Street. Kerem is an affiliate of another similarly named entity managed…

Public Storage and American Homes 4 Rent Founder Wayne Hughes Dies

B. Wayne Hughes Sr., who built Public Storage into an industry behemoth and repeated the feat four decades later in single-family rentals with American Homes 4 Rent, died Wednesday. He was 87. The billionaire died at Spendthrift Farm in Kentucky, a legendary Thoroughbred breeding ranch that he bought in 2004, according to the Los Angeles Times. Born in…

Toys ‘R’ Us to be resurrected inside 400 Macy’s locations

Call it a miracle on 34th Street. Three years after shuttering its remaining U.S. locations, Toys ‘R’ Us is planning a large-scale comeback with the help of fellow iconic retailer Macy’s. The two retail brands are teaming up, with Toys ‘R’ Us set to bring more than 400 shops-within-ships to Macy’s department stores across the country starting next year, according to…

Developers of Little Havana mixed-use project score $27M construction loan

A planned Little Havana mixed-use development at 805 W Flagler Street anchored by Ross Dress for Less and Aldi scored a $26.5 million construction loan from Parkview Financial, a mortgage real estate investment trust based in Los Angeles. The development team, made up of New York-based Posner Group and Miami Beach builders Todd Michael…

Opportunity Zone site in Miami’s Arts & Entertainment District hits market — again — for $21M

A development site in a Miami Opportunity Zone is on the market again with an asking price of $21 million. The lot, which is slightly less than an acre, could be developed with a 48-story tower, with either 427 residential units or 854 hotel keys, with bonuses, according to a release from listing brokerage Colliers South Florida. It is at 1550 Northeast Miami Place.

South Florida construction starts more than triple in June

South Florida construction starts surged in June, more than tripling the amount recorded in the same month of last year, according to a new report. Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties’ total construction starts climbed 240 percent in June, year over year, reaching $1.9 billion, according to Dodge Data & Analytics, a Hamilton, New Jersey-based…

Melo Group Completes 52-Story Downtown 5th Apartment Towers in Miami

Melo Group has completed Downtown 5th, a pair of 52-story towers in downtown Miami with 1,042 rental apartments and approximately 12,500 square feet of ground-floor retail space. Construction began in late 2019 and move-ins are currently underway. Downtown 5th apartments include one-, two- and three-bedroom units measuring between 650 and 1,200 square…

The Miami Underline – Miami Public Transportation & Infrastructure Updates

Miami is undergoing a rapid expansion. Major tech companies, established investment and banking firms, start-ups, restaurant concepts, and more businesses are moving to Miami and the Tri-County area every day. The city’s focus on improving its public transportation systems and infrastructure has never been greater. With so many changes taking…

Alta Developers pays $23M for mixed-use dev site in Hollywood

Raimundo Onetto’s Alta Developers paid $23 million for a mixed-use site just north of Young Circle in Hollywood. The Miami-based developer plans a pair of 18-story towers with 452 apartments on 2.4 acres, according to a news release. The property is at 401 North Federal Highway. Records show seller Hollywood on the Golf is affiliated with Aventura-based…

Related Group sells downtown Fort Lauderdale apartments for $85M

Jorge Pérez’s Related Group sold the New River Yacht Club apartments in downtown Fort Lauderdale for $85 million. BJ Verde Properties, based in Harbor City, California, bought the multifamily tower at 400 Southwest First Avenue, records show. The buyer is managed by Baiyan Li. The deal for the 249-unit building breaks down to $341,365 per apartment. Coconut Grove…

Covenant Capital Group buys Tamarac apartments for $69M

Covenant Capital Group bought the Lakeview Flats apartments in Tamarac for $69 million. The Nashville, Tennessee-based investor bought the complex at 8800 Northwest 78th Court and 8900 Northwest 77th Court from affiliates of Ortsac Capital Group, based in Fort Lauderdale, records show. The buyer…

Bascom Group buys Lauderhill apartments for $79M

Bascom Group bought the Sunny Lake Apartments in Lauderhill for $79.3 million. The Irvine, California-based investor, through a partnership with Duff Bedrosian of Miami-based East Hill Capital Partners, bought the complex at 2360 Northwest 56th Avenue, according to a news release. An affiliate of Miami-based Bar Invest Group, an investor in multifamily…

RAM buys Boca Raton apartment complex for $20M

Rental Asset Management bought The Village at Boca East apartment complex for $20 million. Records show RAM, through an affiliate, bought the 84-unit community at 1551-1601 Northwest 13th Street. The deal breaks down to $238,095 per unit. Seller 3T (Country Club Village), a limited partnership whose president is Oded Meltzer, sold the property.

Deco Green multifamily, mixed-use project in Lake Worth Beach moves forward

A 127-unit multifamily project with retail, offices and green space is moving forward in Lake Worth Beach. Deco Green will have four residential buildings on 2.3 acres, along with 8,000 square feet of retail and offices, according to a news release. Miami-based Office America Group is developing Deco Green with an eye toward creating an outdoor…

Medical Properties Trust buys Palmetto General Hospital as part of $900M South Florida expansion

Medical Properties Trust just closed on the fourth of the five hospitals it plans to acquire as part of a major expansion into South Florida healthcare totalling roughly $900 million. The Birmingham, Alabama-based real estate investment trust bought Palmetto General Hospital in Hialeah for $315 million from an affiliate of Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare, records show.

Grupo Televisa sells Virginia Gardens office building for $13M

Mexican media conglomerate Grupo Televisa sold the U.S. headquarters building of its Televisa International in Virginia Gardens for $12.8 million. Records show an affiliate of Grupo Televisa sold the office building at 6355 Northwest 36th Street to Las Mercedes Holding III, managed by Marlon Munoz and Jorge L. Raad. The buyer financed the deal with a $10 million..

Miami Among Top 5 Markets for Transaction Activity in 2021

Last year was one of the most volatile years from an economic standpoint. Terms such as “unprecedented” and “uncertainty” have been thrown around in every industry, sector and field of activity, and recovery will be just as unsure. Consequently, last year’s second quarter—when volatility was at its peak—investment activity nearly came to a halt in some markets.

Judge overseeing Surfside collapse litigation chastises town over proposed downzoning

he judge overseeing Surfside condo collapse litigation again implored the town to drop its proposed downzoning of the Champlain Towers South property, nearly two months after a portion of the building came down, killing nearly 100 people. Confusion surrounding the site’s zoning is dampening efforts to sell the oceanfront property for the highest…

Hedge Fund Taps Miami’s Wynwood for Second HQ

The $22 billion hedge fund Schonfeld Strategic Advisers announced it will open a second headquarters location in Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood.  Schonfeld’s new office will be located at the Dorsey, a 604,110-square-foot mixed-use development that was completed earlier this year by a Related Companies-led joint venture. According to the company, the new space…

Touchless Taco Bell could be the future of drive-thrus

Late-night munchies will be a little easier to satisfy for mobile customers at Taco Bell’s new touchless drive-thru restaurant coming to Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. Why it matters: When you’re hungry, you want your food NOW. Flashback: Axios’ crack local reporters in Minneapolis-St. Paul already flagged plans for this prototype fast-food joint back in February…

Lease roundup: Uber takes space in downtown Miami, six retailers open at Brickell City Centre

Uber I 3 MiamiCentral in downtown Miami Ride sharing giant Uber leased about 13,000 square feet of office space at downtown’s 3 MiamiCentral. It is set to open in January 2022. Alan Kleber and Adam Bernstein of JLL represented Uber in the deal. Scott Silverstein and Blanca CRE represented the landlord, EQ Office. EQ Office, Blackstone’s real estate…

LA, Boston lead office recovery as Chicago and SF lag: report

The office leasing market is slowly climbing out of the pandemic-driven downturn that made working from home ubiquitous across the nation. The pace of recovery, however, varies widely in each city, according to a CBRE report on the 12 largest U.S. office markets. The monthly report used three indexes — space requirements of active tenants in the market, leasing…

Jessica Goldman Srebnick on Art, Wynwood and Being Her Father’s Daughter

Jessica Goldman Srebnick stepped in as CEO of Goldman Properties in September 2013, just five days before her father, visionary developer Tony Goldman passed away. “It was a tsunami of emotions, but it was a really extraordinary privilege,” Goldman Srebnick said. “It was something he trained me for. The role of leader for me is living a life that would make…

Avra Jain closes on Hialeah industrial property for entertainment project

Developer Avra Jain closed on a warehouse in Hialeah that she plans to redevelop into an entertainment/retail project. Jain and partners, through Factory Town Holdings LLC, paid $10.5 million for the industrial property at 4800 Northwest 37th Avenue. Property records show 4700 NW 37th Investments LLC, managed by Michael Simkins and David Martin’s Terra…

Sweetwater affordable senior rental project scores $33M construction loan

An affordable senior rental project is on tap in Sweetwater with the help of a $33 million construction loan. Developer CREI Holdings, led by managing director Raul Rodriguez, secured the loan from Centennial Bank Southeast Florida, according to a news release. Centennial’s J.C. de Ona and Yuleisy Montalvo handled the financing. The project, which broke ground…

Norman Brothers Produce sells Kendall site to ALF developer

Kendall area favorite Norman Brothers Produce sold its last cranberry tuna salad, high-end meats and locally grown vegetables about a week ago. Now its decade-long home also will disappear. The grocer, which closed on Aug. 8, sold its site to a developer who will build an assisted-living facility. GCNB, led by… Michael Garcia-Carrillo, bought… 7621 Southwest 87th Avenue…

Oxford Properties buys $2B U.S. industrial portfolio from KKR

Oxford Properties Group is eyeing action in the red hot industrial space as part of its continued push into the U.S. market. The Canadian-based, multinational real estate investment firm has agreed to buy a 14.5-million-square-foot portfolio of industrial properties from KKR for $2.2 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal. Many of the 149 buildings in the…

First Glass Installed At 55-Story 830 Brickell Office Tower

830 Brickell, the office tower now rising across from Brickell City Centre, has had its first glass installed, a new photo shows. There’s a lot more of it coming: in total, there will be 1,030,000 square feet of uninterrupted glass installed on the façade of the tower. The glass itself is Low-E, according to the developers website. That generally refers to glass with an extremely…

Corporate jet hub eyed for Homestead Air Reserve Base

A 2020 county effort to sign an agreement with the Air Force that could bring corporate jets and cabin-class helicopters to the Homestead Air Reserve Base is still awaiting an Air Force response.  The runway for the effort has been long and takeoff remains in holding mode.  Conversations between the parties date back to 2015, when county commissioners…

Cross-bay ferry comes back big

After navigating serial setbacks, from Covid-19 to bureaucratic delays, Poseidon Ferry is back in service.  The waterborne commuter service’s relaunch Monday went without a hitch, said CEO Johnathan Silvia, carrying a mix of 69 commuters and other passengers across Biscayne Bay between Miami and Miami Beach/South Beach all day – a far cry from the…

Vital Dade County Courthouse repairs won’t be done until 2023

At least a dozen companies are interested in repairing the basement of the now-evacuated Dade County Courthouse as part of county maintenance. The estimated value of the repair is almost $4 million and work is expected to be substantially complete within 525 days after a notice to proceed is issued. The pre-bid and site visit to the courthouse basement took…

Transportation and Planning team digs into using tunnels countywide

The Miami-Dade Transportation and Planning Organization (TPO) is on the road to preparing a report exploring tunneling technologies that could be used in projects throughout the county. The results, due within six months, are to include details such as the cost per mile and the operation and maintenance requirements of operating tunnels.  Members of the…

Estate Companies sells Soleste Blue Lagoon apartments in Miami for $94M

The Estate Companies sold a Miami apartment complex to Westdale Real Estate Investment and Management, marking at least the fourth multifamily deal between the seller and buyer this year. Estate sold the 330-unit Soleste Blue Lagoon at 5479 Northwest Seventh Street for $93.8 million, according to Neyda Bravo, a broker on the…

High hopes for timber: Wood towers gain favor in US

A rendering of the Ascent, which would be the world’s tallest timber structure For residents of a Milwaukee tower to admire the wood holding it up, samples of the material first had to undergo a trial by fire. Literally. The U.S. Department of Agriculture burned the glue-laminated timber columns for three hours in a lab, the longest test ever conducted for the material…

Lumber now piling up for manufacturers

Call it a woodpile up. Lumber dealers are seeing inventory stack up just months after a shortage sent prices skyrocketing. A survey from John Burns Real Estate Consulting revealed that 49 percent of lumber dealers and manufacturers in July had excess lumber capacity. Meanwhile, none reported inventories that were “very tight…”

Shoma Group co-founder picks up Coral Gables apartment complex for $8M

915 and 920 Palermo Avenue in Coral Gables Coral Gables real estate investor Maria Lamas picked up a 32-unit apartment complex in her own backyard for $8.2 million. Venetian Flats, an entity managed by Lamas, bought the Venetian Apartments at 915 and 920 Palermo Avenue, located near the Venetian Pool and the Biltmore Hotel. Her company financed…

Federal eviction moratorium withstands court challenge

Renters are breathing a collective sigh of relief after a federal judge ruled that the CDC’s eviction moratorium will stay in place … for now. Judge Dabney Friedrich ruled on Friday that she didn’t have the authority to block the new targeted moratorium, according to the Wall Street Journal. The judge argued that a previous ruling that said the CDC had the authority…

Medical Properties Trust expands South Florida portfolio with $276M buy

Medical Properties Trust is fattening up on South Florida medical properties. After picking up a hospital site and medical office buildings in Lauderdale Lakes, Medical Properties Trust (MPT) recently bought North Shore Medical Center near North Miami and Coral Gables Hospital in Coral Gables. The Birmingham, Alabama-based REIT, which focuses on hospitals…

Apartment rents soar 8% year-over-year amid pent-up demand: report

South Floridians are reveling in the strong employment market, but there is always a tradeoff. Multifamily dwellers are paying higher rents due to pent-up demand created by the job opportunities attracting new residents, according to a report from commercial mortgage servicer Berkadia. Rents increased even in urban centers that saw a mass exodus over the past…

Partnership gone wrong? Receiver takes over Miami Beach hotel following alleged hostile takeover by an ex-partner

A nasty breakup between the owners of Miami Beach’s Hotel Greystone at 1920 Collins Avenue has left the Art Deco property shuttered for more than a year, according to a recent lawsuit. A Miami-Dade Circuit Court judge appointed a receiver to assume control of the hotel as the messy allegations by James Vosotas against his ex-business partner Branden Muhl are…

RREEF buys Doral multifamily property from Brookfield for $146M

RREEF Management bought Doral West Apartment Homes for $146.4 million, marking at least its fourth South Florida multifamily purchase from Brookfield in recent weeks. An affiliate of Brookfield Asset Management sold the community at 5400 Northwest 114th Avenue to RREEF, which is part of Frankfurt, Germany-based asset manager DWS Group. The 388…

US commercial property investment sales rebound with one of busiest quarters ever

U.S. commercial real estate investment bounced back in the second quarter, reversing the downward trend of the previous year. Total dollar volume was $130.9 billion, up 169.5 percent from a year ago and just 2.2 percent shy of 2019’s figure, which was the No. 2 second quarter on record, according to CBRE. Multifamily property transactions accounted for the biggest share…

Miami’s Industrial Market Soars: Reports

While Miami’s office market fuels excitement with new, high-profile Wall Street and Silicon Valley tenants, it’s the region’s industrial market that remains strongest. “Miami saw its strongest quarterly performance since the start of the recovery from the Great Recession,” a Newmark report noted.  Industrial vacancy in Miami-Dade County was at its lowest…

South Florida Industrial Asset Trades for $71M

Bridge Point Miramar, an approximately 304,400-square-foot distribution center in Miramar, Fla., has come under new ownership, courtesy of a transaction orchestrated by Cushman & Wakefield. Acting on behalf of Bridge Industrial, the company arranged the sale of the Broward County industrial asset to Cabot Properties in a deal valued at just over $71.5…

Aimco partners on Kushner’s $700M Fort Lauderdale project, scores two big loans in South Florida

Apartment giant Aimco is partnering on the Kushner Companies’ massive downtown Fort Lauderdale development, The Real Deal has learned. The company also secured loans for two South Florida projects, according to its second quarter earnings report. Aimco reported a loss of $19.7 million in the quarter ending June 30. The Denver-based real estate investment…

Janoura Realty sells Sunrise shopping center for $24M

Janoura Realty & Management sold the Nob Hill Place Shopping Center in Sunrise for $23.5 million. Records show that an affiliate of Janoura Realty sold the property at 10019 to 10125 Sunset Strip to Nob Hill Place Sunrise, managed by Alberto Dayan of North Miami Beach. The buyer took out a $15.3 million loan from Israel Discount Bank Of New York. The more…

Woodward Properties buys Boynton Beach multifamily for $13M

Woodward Properties bought the 72-unit The Villas of Boynton Beach for $12.7 million. Havertown, Pennsylvania-based Woodward Properties paid about $176,000 per unit for the apartments at 405, 406, 503, 504, 512, 515 Southeast 20th Avenue, property records show. Dillon Boynton, led by members Austin and Lawrence Rolnick, as well as Kimberly Sorrentino…

Stephen Ross becomes king of West Palm offices

Stephen Ross and Esperanté Corporate Center For Stephen Ross, his latest bet on the West Palm Beach office market must feel like déjà vu. In the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, when buyers canceled contracts, financing froze and construction halted, Ross forged ahead despite doubt over the future of New York City real estate. His Related Companies…

Morning Calm buys downtown West Palm Beach office buildings for $54M

Mukang Cho’s Morning Calm Management bought three downtown West Palm Beach office buildings for $54.2 million. The Boca Raton-based real estate investor and manager bought the Comeau Building at 319 Clematis Street, the Harvey Building at 224 Datura Street and Atrium at 324 Datura Street, Cho said. David Associates, founded and led by…

Legacy Miami Worldcenter Gets Approval To Build Taller Than Originally Planned

Legacy Miami Worldcenter is getting a height increase. The tower is now expected to rise 20 feet taller than originally planned, according to a new approval letter issued by the Federal Aviation Administration yesterday. Legacy was originally planned to rise 661 feet above ground, or 671 feet above sea level – making it the second tallest tower at Miami…

Miami Among Top 5 Markets for Self Storage Transactions

Thanks to the self storage sector’s strong performance over the past year, investor interest in the asset class continues to rise. Nationwide, nearly 30 million square feet of storage space traded year-to-date through June for a combined $2.5 billion, according to Yardi Matrix data. This marks an 88 percent increase compared to the same period in 2020 when the total…

Uber Inks Lease for Miami Base

Uber has signed a 13,000-square-foot lease with EQ Office in downtown Miami. The tech company will relocate to 3 MiamiCentral at the beginning of next year, vacating its current 9,333-square-feet base at Brickell City Tower after a seven-year tenancy. Blackstone acquired 2 and 3 MiamiCentral via its EQ Office arm in March 2021. The seller, Shorenstein…

Uber Commits To Miami, Inks Lease At EQ Office’s 3 MiamiCentral

Uber announced today that it has signed a new lease for office space at 3 MiamiCentral in downtown Miami. The move, slated for January 2022, represents Uber’s commitment to the fast-growing market, its outlook for local business development and talent recruitment in the city and throughout Florida. EQ Office, the U.S. office portfolio company wholly…

East End Capital execs illegally keeping $860K from Australian partner in Miami tower, lawsuit says

The Australian partner in a downtown Miami tower claims in a lawsuit that East End Capital, the co-owner of the property, is trying to cheat it out of $860,000 it deposited in a failed bid to purchase the entire building. Investors Errol Dorfan and Kim Davis, through their 100 & 130 Biscayne, say in a lawsuit that in March they made a push to buy East End Capital’s…

Aventura votes to require HOAs to submit critical reports within 48 hours

The city of Aventura is tightening up its requirements for homeowners’ associations in the wake of the deadly Surfside condo collapse. The Aventura commission unanimously approved an ordinance on Tuesday requiring residential associations to submit any engineering, architectural and life safety reports they conduct to the city within 48 hours of their…

Billions in allotted rent aid hasn’t gone out

The federal government has appropriated billions of dollars to help besieged renters and landlords across the U.S. weather the economic storm, but states and municipalities have yet to distribute most of the money. As of June, just $3 billion of the $46.6 billion Congress allotted in rent relief has reached those who need it, according to the Wall Street Journal. The Biden…

New York developers buy Edgewater assemblage for boutique high-rise

A pair of New York City development firms are teaming up to redevelop three bayfront properties in Edgewater… Edgewater Owner LLC, an entity managed by principals of SB Development Group and Hazelton Capital Group, recently paid $12.2 million… at 480 Northeast 29th Street and two vacant lots at 456 Northeast 29th Street and 496 Northeast 29th Street…

Real estate stung by “sobering” climate report

A new United Nations report paints a bleak picture: The world is on a path toward climate destruction, sea levels will continue to rise, ice caps will melt, and temperatures will reach insufferable levels. The impact on real estate could be enormous. The report, published Monday by the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, says there are ways to…

5 Takeaways for Real Estate From the IPCC Climate Change Report

The world we live in is significantly hotter than it was, and we’re already living the consequences. The warmer climate is triggering floods, fires and famine with higher frequency than before, and its effects will last for centuries, whether humans survive long enough to witness it or not, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC)…

How real estate is factoring in extreme weather events

As droughts, floods, wildfires and heatwaves become more frequent and extreme, real estate investors are increasingly taking climate risk into account. Extreme weather cost economies more than US$3 trillion between 2010 and 2020, according to insurance broker Aon. In the U.S., climate events that cause at least $1 billion in damage have quadrupled over…

Five New Retailers to Join Tenant Lineup at CocoWalk Shopping Center in Miami

Federal Realty Investment Trust, The Comras Co. and Grass River Property have signed five new retailers to join the tenant lineup at CocoWalk, a mixed-use shopping center in the Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami. CocoWalk’s newest retailers include GlossLab, a membership-based nail studio based in New York that is set to open in summer 2022…

Site Of Collapsed Surfside Condo Heading To Sale, Expected To Fetch $100M-Plus

A Miami judge has ordered that the site in Surfside, Florida, where the Champlain Towers South condominium once stood must be sold in order to compensate victims and their families. The condominium collapsed June 24, killing 98 people. Numerous South Florida developers have said they aren’t interested in the property, but a broker in charge of marketing it told…

Stalking horse bidder emerges for Surfside condo site offering $110M

A potential bidder has emerged with a $110 million offer for the site of the Surfside condo collapse that killed almost 100 people, leaving survivors and their heirs to try and recover what value they can from the tragedy. The offer from the undisclosed stalking horse, which would set the minimum purchase price, could rise to $120 million. It comes as the site is about to…

What’s in the $1T infrastructure bill for real estate

The Senate on Tuesday passed a $1 trillion infrastructure package, then turned to a $3.5 trillion measure that could include more extensive investments in housing and changes to zoning policies. The infrastructure bill includes $550 billion for bridges, roads, high-speed internet and other projects. The White House has billed the spending package as the…

Developer completes $500M mixed-use Life Time Coral Gables project

A $500 million Life Time-branded mixed-use project along U.S. 1 in Coral Gables was completed, with tenant Trader Joe’s expected to open in October. Life Time and developer Nolan Reynolds International delivered the 1.2-million-square-foot, 14-story project at 237 South Dixie Highway. It marks one of a number of mixed-use developments with apartments that…

New York landlords see no saving grace in return of evictions

Judgment day is coming for New York tenants: Landlords, owed more than $3 billion in back rent, may once again be able to file evictions. Brooklyn landlord Sharon Redhead says she’s due about $65,000 — but she won’t be calling on housing court to resolve that debt. Come Sept. 1, eviction proceedings for nonpayment of rent — stayed by a statewide moratorium…

Miami Market Update: Investment Volume Goes Through Roof

In June, more than 2.2 million square feet of office space across five properties traded in Miami, according to CommercialEdge data. The metro was one of the top performing markets in terms of transaction activity, the total volume of deals closed in the first half of 2021 marking a whopping 223 percent increase compared to the same period last year.

Coffee company buys Miami-Dade industrial property for $10M

A coffee grower, exporter and seller that sources its beans from a farm in Nicaragua bought a Miami-Dade County industrial property for $9.6 million. H&H Coffee Group Export, through an affiliate, bought the property at 7355 Northwest 41st Street from AFE-Airport West Coffee, managed by Cynthia Seidl and Paul H. Freeman, according to records. The 81,765…

FECI obtains $200M in financing tied to sites near Brightline stations

Florida East Coast Industries recently secured $200 million in new financing tied to seven redevelopment properties near Brightline stations in downtown Miami and downtown Fort Lauderdale. Miami-based FECI extended an existing loan with Morgan Stanley with an additional $122 million, records show. The original amount for the loan, taken out in 2019…

These are the states with the highest (and lowest) rent debts per household

Rent debt is endemic throughout the United States. Not all states are suffering equally, though. Approximately 15 percent of rental households in the U.S. are currently behind on their payments, according to a new study from the nonprofit Surgo Ventures, with arrears totaling an average of $3,700 per household. While every state’s average rent debt is above…

Judge who struck down CDC eviction ban questions new ban’s legal standing

A federal judge who previously struck down the CDC’s eviction ban suggested the White House lacked the legal authority to issue its new targeted eviction moratorium in a hearing Monday. U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich held the hearing after a group of realtors and property managers challenged the new eviction moratorium, which was adopted…

As more employers mandate vaccination, landlords let tenants decide

As Covid surges again across the nation, businesses and governments are increasingly mandating staff members get vaccinated. Big tech, financial and real estate firms have required employees to be inoculated as they prepare to return to the office after Labor Day. Landlords, however, despite being responsible for ensuring safety in their buildings, have yet to…

Rising construction costs threaten building boom

It should be the golden age for homebuilders. The pandemic propelled a mass migration of city dwellers to the suburbs, hungry to buy homes. And that surge in demand has driven new home prices up by 12 percent since March 2020. Great, right? Except construction costs have jumped as much as 30 percent in the same period. Homebuilding, which depends on…

Construction Salaries Rise Amid Competition For Workers

As the cost of materials comes back down to earth, construction labor prices — not to mention the industry’s continued labor shortage — are providing a new challenge to developers. Contractors are projecting 2021 construction staff wages to increase an average of 3.23%, according to the Contractor Compensation Quarterly report. But PAS Inc. President Jeff Robinson…

The battle over when new courthouse can open, and cost

As workers from the 93-year-old decayed and closed Dade County Courthouse do their jobs at home, the county and the developer of a new courthouse rising next door negotiate when in 2024 the new structure will open and how much more taxpayers will pay for delays. The county is pushing developers to find time savings and get the new courthouse…

Miami board OKs Merrick Towers

A developer plans to construct two companion 20-story buildings and a parking garage to contain residential units, office space and commercial-retail uses near Coral Gables and invokes the name of Gables founder George Merrick. The property is at 3898 Shipping Avenue, in the City of Miami’s southern region near Coral Gables and close to the Douglas Road…

Downtown Miami M Tower may cement public-private deal after eight years

Years in the planning, a major public-private partnership will lead to a new downtown skyscraper being built next to and connected with a long-standing municipal parking garage. Colliers’ Urban Core Division has closed on a land sale at 56 SW First St. and 65 SW Second St. The development site, which sold for $10 million, will be home to The M Tower, an approved 53…

Chart: Percent of Miami 21 Urban/Commercial Zoned Land that Remains Residential, by Zone

In the chart herein, readers can see that at the less dense end of Miami 21 commercial urban zones large amounts of land are currently being used as single family, thus clearly not (yet) as commercial. More than 85% of T3-R land is not commercial, while the more liberally zoned T3-O (“O” for open, allows more uses) has about 55% that is not commercial. Moving up…

Chart: Zoning Distribution of Miami 21 Urban Commercial Land

In this chart one can see that the T3 group of Miami 21 urban commercial zones, which includes T3-L, T3-R, and T3-O, is the most common zoning, followed by T6-8, then T5, and T4, whichT6-60 is the least common, followed by the most dense T6-80. If one looks at the same set of parcels, but excludes that which is currently being used for a single family residence and thus…

Miami-Dade report on cashless zones shortchanged

County commissioners are still awaiting a report from the mayor’s office to determine the feasibility of prohibiting cashless zones in Miami-Dade County. The resolution, prime-sponsored by Sen. Rene Garcia, was unanimously adopted by county commissioners May 4.   The document urges Congress to enact legislation to prohibit US retail businesses…

Troy Wright: Leads Washington Avenue Business Improvement District

After years in and around the music industry, first as a child prodigy and later as the vice president of Experience Hendrix, the estate of legendary rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix, Troy Wright took his talents to South Beach and used them to build up the young Washington Avenue Business Improvement District.  As a child in Washington state, Mr. Wright…

Miami-Dade Cryptocurrency Task Force awaits six members

The Miami-Dade Cryptocurrency Task Force has not convened since its creation in April and the appointment of seven of its 13 members in July by a resolution unanimously adopted by county commissioners. The total group is to be selected by commissioners, each nominating one person. The task force’s responsibility is to explore the feasibility of receiving…

100 years after the Florida land boom began, what’s coming next?

Exactly 100 years ago this month the great Florida real estate boom took off, ushering in our unofficial state bird, the construction crane, which still thrives in flocks in Miami. Real estate had already been Miami’s economic engine before the 1920s land boom was the shot heard around the world. Despite Miami’s current global links in trade and finance, world fame…

Blackstone buying WPT Industrial in $3B deal

The Blackstone Group keeps feeding its seemingly insatiable appetite for industrial real estate.  In its latest move, the firm’s private real estate investment trust is acquiring WPT Industrial Real Estate Investment Trust in an all-cash deal valued at $3.1 billion, according to Bloomberg. Debt is included in that valuation, according to the report. The deal was done…

Lennar sells former trailer park site in Homestead at a loss and buys Broward land

Less than a year after buying the site of a former mobile home park in Homestead for $29 million, Lennar Homes sold the property for $6 million less. It also picked up a site in western Broward County. An affiliate of Scottsdale, Arizona-based AGWIP Asset Management paid $23.2 million for the 43-acre assemblage at 28600 Southwest 132nd Avenue in Homestead.

Hines raises $625M for new CRE investment fund

Houston-based real estate investment firm Hines has raised $625 million for a new CRE investment fund, with no signs of slowing. Hines U.S. Property Partners fund is projected to hit $1 billion by the end of September, Bloomberg News reported, with a goal of adding a further $1 billion annually. Including a $100 million initial investment from Hines…

Superyachts and Picassos: How real estate’s wealthiest spend their millions

Going into the final stretch of the 2020 Kentucky Derby, millions of dollars rested on the performance of a 3-year-old horse named Authentic. The stallion, owned by billionaire self-storage and rental-home magnate B. Wayne Hughes, led Vegas favorite Tiz the Law by half a head. In eerie silence, the drunken revelers at home due to the pandemic, Authentic…

WeWork, Cushman negotiating $150M partnership

At its greatest heights, WeWork once considered acquiring Cushman & Wakefield. Now, the co-working firm is considering a cash infusion from the commercial real estate giant ahead of a planned SPAC deal later this year. WeWork and Cushman are in talks about forming a $150 million partnership aimed at helping office tenants adapt to remote work…

Editor’s note: Landlords left in the lurch with eviction ban

Stuart Elliott They might not have the most beloved public image, and are often caricatured as greedy and heartless. But landlords feel pain, too. And they have bills to pay. As our cover story this month explores, mom-and-pop property owners — who far outnumber their bigger and deeper-pocketed counterparts — have been incredibly squeezed alongside their tenants…

Here’s What New Sections Of Miami’s Riverwalk & Baywalk Will Look Like, After Vote Last Week

Miami Commissioners approved a plan last week that will see radical new design guidelines for upcoming stretches of the city’s riverwalk and baywalk. Commissioners voted last week to require Miami developers to build baywalks or riverwalks adhering to the strict new ‘Waterfront Walkway Design Guidelines.’ The newly approved legislation was a…

State Revs Up Action To Close Freight Truck Parking Gap

Miami-Dade County and South Florida have faced a shortage of freight truck parking spaces for at least a decade. Port of Miami is one of the largest container ports in Florida and Miami International Airport was handling 81% of air cargo tonnage in the state by 2014. Playing such a role in the freight cargo…

Questions & Answers About Distressed Properties

Distressed commercial properties are under-performing assets that pose significant challenges to owners from a physical and financial point of view. Whether they’re run down, obsolete properties or they’re producing a negative cashflow every month, distressed properties can be great investment opportunities. But investing in distressed properties…

Owner of Aloft Miami Brickell hotel files for bankruptcy

Looking to ward off an “aggressive foreclosure action” by its Park Avenue lender, the owner of the Aloft Miami Brickell hotel at 1001 Southwest Second Avenue has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In a declaration that is part of the bankruptcy petition, hotel developer Pedro Villar said New York City’s Torchlight Investors improperly tried to seize Aloft Miami Brickell’s…

Restaurants, bars, hotels stage summer comeback

Despite the spread of the Delta variant, the economy grew a robust 943,000 jobs in July with restaurants, bars and hotels making up 54 percent of private sector employment growth. It’s a hot, hot summer for the nation’s labor market. Restaurants, bars and hotels powered private-sector job gains for a second straight month, calling back 327,000 workers in July — more…

Multifamily buyers set record with $53B spending spree

Apartments are where the heart is for investors, who set a second quarter record with a three-month spending spree. Investors purchased $53 billion of multifamily real estate from April through June, according to Real Capital Analytics data. The buying binge marks a big turnaround from last year, when investors spent less than $20 billion during the same quarter in…

Bidders vie to redevelop Homestead’s old city hall site

Five developers are making a play for a prime redevelopment site in the city of Homestead. Teams led by Centennial Management, Housing Trust Group, the Meyers Group, Related Urban and 13th Floor Investments submitted proposals to transform 16 acres near North Campbell Drive and U.S.1 into a mixed-use project. The development would be anchored…

Wells Fargo, BlackRock, Amazon join others in delaying office returns

The hits keep on coming for office landlords, with three more major companies pushing back a return to in-person working. Wells Fargo, BlackRock and Amazon are the latest to postpone in-person work, Bloomberg News reported. Wells Fargo was planning on bringing back its remote workforce beginning Sept. 7, but the surging Delta variant has…

Washington “putting kerosene on an open fire” with spending bills: Starwood CEO Barry Sternlicht

The rental and single-family home markets are the best they’ve been in years, and people are “seriously wealthy,” spending money on everything, says billionaire Barry Sternlicht. But federal spending bills are a cause for concern, Sternlicht, Starwood Property Trust’s chairman and CEO, said on the real estate investment trust’s second quarter earnings call Thursday.

Biden’s new eviction moratorium immediately challenged in court

President Joe Biden’s new eviction moratorium was hit with a legal challenge just one day after he announced it. A group of property managers and real estate agents submitted an emergency motion in a federal court on Wednesday night, with the backing of the National Association of Realtors. The motion asks a judge to apply a ruling against the previous eviction…

Hospitality fund that counts A-Rod among investors buys renovated Ocean Drive hotel

Ricardo Tabet, Raoul Thomas, and Alex Rodriguez with the Celino A hospitality fund that counts Alex Rodriguez as one of its investors purchased an Ocean Drive hotel in Miami Beach. Optimum Development USA, led by Ricardo Tabet, sold the Celino South Beach hotel complex at 640 Ocean Drive to CGI Hospitality Opportunity Fund I. Rodriguez’s A-Rod…

Foundry and HighBrook buy Doral warehouse for $18M

Foundry Commercial teamed up with real estate private equity firm HighBrook Investors to buy an industrial park in Doral. The partnership paid $18 million for the Americas International Center at 9300-9380 Northwest 13th Street. The property has a 147,000-square-foot industrial facility that is 95 percent leased, according to a Foundry press release.

Foreign Investment Roaring Back To Miami

Foreign investment in the U.S. may have slowed down during the coronavirus pandemic, but it didn’t disappear, and it’s been growing since international travel picked up, Miami real estate experts say. Related Group Condominium Division Managing Director Patrick Campbell said that as the coronavirus shook the world in 2020, investor demographics changed.

Offering memorandum coming for Surfside collapse site

An offering memorandum for the Surfside condominium collapse site could be ready within a month, as Avison Young smooths out zoning and other details for the former Champlain Towers South property. In the meantime, an appraiser is determining the fair market value of each of the units, as a way to hammer out disbursements to survivors and victims’ families…

Foundry Commercial, HighBrook Investors Close On Americas International Center

Foundry Commercial, in partnership with HighBrook Investors, recently announced closing on the Americas International Center (“AIC”) industrial park, located along NW 12th Street in Miami-Dade County. The 147,000-square-foot shallow bay facility, which is 95% leased, is positioned within one of the most active industrial submarkets in the country.

Alabama REIT pays $171M for Broward hospital and medical office buildings

An Alabama-based real estate investment trust is gaining a large footprint in Lauderdale Lakes after making one of the largest commercial buys in Broward County this year. An affiliate tied to Birmingham-based Medical Properties Trust paid $171 million for a 459-bed hospital property, three office buildings and a medical office mall near the Florida…

RREEF buys Pembroke Pines apartments for $121M

RREEF Management bought the Marela Apartments in Pembroke Pines for $121.3 million. Records show RREEF, through an affiliate, bought the property at 250 Northwest 130th Avenue from an entity in the care of Brookfield Property Group. The deal for the 368-unit property equates to $329,484 per unit. Marela, built in the late 1990s, includes multiple…

Related Group scores $84M construction loan for Fort Lauderdale apartment tower

Jorge Pérez’s Related Group scored an $84 million construction loan for a new high-end apartment tower in Fort Lauderdale. The Coconut Grove-based developer plans to build the over 40-story tower with more than 300 units at 201 and 227 South Federal Highway, records show. Bank of America is the lender. Related bought the property in 2018 for $12 million…

Cortland pays $230M for Boca Raton apartments, marking priciest multifamily sale of year

The Residences at Uptown Boca with Cortland CEO Steven DeFrancis and the sellers Alexander Rosemurgy and Rick Giles A new apartment community in Boca Raton sold for $230 million, marking the most expensive multifamily sale in South Florida this year. Giles Capital Group, Rosemurgy Properties, Schmier Property Group and Wheelock Street…

Cortland Paying $504K Per Unit In Florida’s Largest Multifamily Transaction Of 2021

A multifamily property in Boca Raton traded for $230M Thursday, marking Florida’s largest multifamily deal in 2021 and the highest price per SF for a garden-style product in Florida ever, according to an announcement. The Residences at Uptown Boca was developed by Giles Capital Group, Rosemurgy Properties and Schmier Property Group in partnership…

Uptown 22 apartment complex in West Palm sells for $41M

Grand Peaks Properties sold the recently renovated Uptown 22 apartment complex in West Palm Beach for $41.4 million. Records show the Denver-based multifamily investor sold the 252-unit property at 2210 North Australian Avenue. Buyers Uptown 22, Uptown 22 II and Uptown 22 III are managed by Jacques Schmidt and Abraham Weber, who are with…

RREEF pays $158M for multifamily complexes in West Palm Beach, Wellington

RREEF Management paid $157.5 million for multifamily complexes in West Palm Beach and Wellington. Companies tied to Brookfield Asset Management sold the Vista Lago at 3130 North Jog Road and Waterstone at Wellington at 2141 Vinings Circle to RREEF, according to records. This is at least the third South Florida apartment community deal between the…

Robert Finvarb sells AC Hotel Miami Beach to TPG

Global investment firm TPG continues its hotel buying spree in South Florida. An affiliate of TPG paid $45.3 million for the 150-room AC Hotel Miami Beach at 2912 Collins Avenue, records show. The price represents what TPG paid for the real estate, but it is not the total price for the hotel asset, which the buyer and seller declined to disclose. At $45.3 million…

Bowery Properties buys Little Haiti apartment portfolio for Near $12M

An apartment portfolio in Miami’s Little Haiti sold for $11.6 million, as the neighborhood undergoes redevelopment. Bowery Properties, led by Thomas Neary, bought Buena Vista Gardens, an 89-unit complex at 5601 Northwest First Avenue, according to a news release. Secamar LLC, led by Carlos, Martha and Carmen Sesin sold the apartments, records show.

Landlords plead rent relief as Biden to approve new, targeted eviction ban

Three days after the federal eviction ban lapsed, President Biden is expected to introduce a new moratorium that would freeze proceedings for up to 60 days in areas with the highest rates of new Covid infections. The White House expects those areas to cover about 90 percent of the nation’s renters, the New York Times reported Tuesday. Like using duct tape to…

Miami-Dade judge nixes Fisher Island lawsuit, paving way for new condo project

Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Michael Hanzman blocked a legal maneuver aimed at stopping Heinrich Von Hanau from building one more luxury condominium and 12 houses on Fisher Island. Hanzman approved a settlement agreement on Monday involving Von Hanau’s Fisher Island Holdings, while dismissing a lawsuit filed by homeowners Thomas…

Miami Beach seeks buyers for city-owned development sites

Miami Beach will be entertaining offers for five city-owned development sites, but it is holding off on listing the more valuable oceanfront site of North Shore library. The Miami Beach City Commission last week opted to delay issuing requests for proposals for the lots making up the 1.37-acre library parcel at 7505 Collins Avenue, following push-back from several…

Michael Stern forms $200M SPAC with former Citadel analysts

Michael Stern of JDS Development JDS Development’s Michael Stern has found his next venture, confidentially filing to form a SPAC with two former Citadel credit analysts. The blank-check firm, called Onyx Acquisition Co. I, will seek $200 million to target general industrial and construction-tech companies valued at between $1 billion and $2 billion, Bloomberg News…

Fill ‘er up: RaceTrac buys Medley auto junkyard for $9M

RaceTrac closed on an auto junkyard in Medley, paying $8.9 million for the redevelopment site. The 8.3-acre property at 8300 Northwest 74th Street will likely be converted into a filling station, convenience store and truck rest stop, according to Daniel Pou, leasing director for Horizon Properties of Miami. Pou, along with Alex Sanchez of commercial real estate firm…

Twin 60-story Edgewater towers on Biscayne Bay win OK

The Melo Group plans a pair of 60-story towers for Edgewater and the promise of a major portion of the growing public baywalk. Aria Reserve is proposed for a more than three-acre site on Biscayne Bay at 700 NE 24th Street. The owner is listed as 24 Plaza Corp, an affiliate of the Melo family development company, owner-developers of many major mixed-use…

Ferry linking Miami to Miami Beach to cast off this month

Poseidon Ferry, Miami’s long-awaited waterborne commuter service, plans to resume hourly trips between Miami and Miami Beach on Aug. 26, and CEO Johnathan Silvia says he expects smooth sailing ahead. The ferry, which was launched at the end of last November, “had a good run for about a month and a week,” he said, before the second wave of Covid-19 forced…

Miami cuts Jungle Island debt to get hotel project moving

Miami city commissioners have approved a deal giving the owners of Jungle Island a financial break on money they owe the city, and the move is hoped to help the company get financing so it can build a big hotel at the Watson Island site. The decision came at the commission’s July 22 meeting, but only after spirited comments from Commissioner Joe Carollo who…

Lane closures, traffic shift coming in I-395 mega-change

Two major lane closures and a traffic shift are planned soon as construction moves ahead on the expansive I-395/SR 836/I-95 Design-Build Project in Miami. The work by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) is a partnership with the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority and its contractor, the Archer Western – de Moya Group Joint Venture. The massive project…

Simon Property raises full-year guidance as shoppers return to stores

Simon Property Group raised its full-year earnings guidance as consumers returned to shopping centers and malls after Covid-19 lockdowns were mostly lifted across the country in the second quarter. Funds from operations rose to $1.21 billion, 53 percent higher than the year-ago period when some stores were just beginning to reopen after months of…

David Edelstein, partner close on missing piece of Wynwood assemblage for office towers

Developer David Edelstein’s TriStar Capital and partner RAL Development paid $13 million to complete an assemblage in Miami’s Wynwood where the two firms are planning a $200 million Class A office project, The Real Deal has learned. Edelstein said the partnership plans to break ground in about six months on a two-tower, mixed-use development with 300,000 square…

Cardboard demand could fuel an industrial real estate boom

In the industrial real estate sector, e-commerce is the rising tide that lifts all boats — even those made of cardboard. As consumers and retailers alike rely more heavily on e-commerce during the pandemic, the demand for packaging has increased too, from cardboard boxes to plastic bags and padded envelopes. With production increasing, more cardboard factories…

Longpoint Realty adds three Opa-locka warehouses to South Florida portfolio

Longpoint Managing Partner Dwight Angelini and the properties Longpoint Realty picked up three Opa-locka warehouses for $21.8 million, beefing up the Boston-based private equity firm’s South Florida portfolio. The company acquired the industrial properties at 13200, 13260 and 13290 Northwest 45th Avenue from J.R. Realty Corp, a Hialeah-based real estate firm…

Democrats urge Biden to extend eviction ban after House effort falls short

Hours after a federal stay on evictions lapsed, Democratic lawmakers pleaded with President Joe Biden to extend the ban, warning that millions of Americans are now at risk of being put out on the street. The moratorium officially expired at midnight on Saturday, threatening an estimated 3.6 million renters. In response, Congressional Democrats are calling on…

South Florida industrial sector keeps beating pandemic odds, Q2 report shows

South Florida’s industrial sector continues to outperform the rest of the market still battling through the pandemic. Industrial rents rose significantly and leasing activity more than doubled throughout the region, according to second quarter reports by Avision Young. In turn, industrial investment activity in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties…

OKO, Cain Top Off 57-Story Miami Tower

Missoni Baia tower, a luxury condominium from OKO Group and Cain International, has moved one step closer to completion with the topping off of construction. The 57-story, 649-foot-tall, Missoni-branded residential tower, situated at 777 NE 26th Terrace within Miami’s Edgewater enclave, is on track for completion ahead of schedule later this year. The one- to…

Here’s what tenants pay at MG3 REIT’s Doral Concourse

The following is a preview of one of the hundreds of data sets that will be available on TRD Pro — the one-stop real estate terminal that provides all the data and market information you need. Next to Related Group and Shoma Group’s CityPlace Doral in the growing city of Doral in northwest Miami-Dade County, the six…

Doral Population Rises 6.3% In A Year

Doral has been a culturally diverse city being represented by many nationalities, with a recent influx of people moving from other regions in the US. People coming from Argentina, Brazil and across the country have grown substantially and are welcomed as new Doral residents to help thrive an eclectic and culturally rich city, said Mayor…

Johnson & Wales sells more North Miami properties for $21M

Johnson & Wales University is not done… Izhak’s Biscayne Apts Development LLC this week paid $12.3 million for the shuttered college’s golf management center and an adjoining student apartment building at 12350 Biscayne Boulevard, along with a surface parking lot and a vacant lot at 1650 Northeast 124th Street, according to records. Last month…

Lions Group NYC buys downtown Miami dev site to build apartment tower

A Long Island-based real estate investment firm is making its first dive into the downtown Miami multifamily market, The Real Deal has learned. Albert Shirian’s Lions Group NYC closed Thursday on a development site at 56 Southwest First Street and 65 Southwest 2nd Street that includes air rights above a parking garage owned by the Miami Parking Authority. The…

Rubells add to Allapattah portfolio with former pork processing facility

A former pork processing facility in Allapattah could be given a new life. Jason and Mera Rubell of the art collector family paid $5.4 million for the former Hightop Products warehouse at 1000 Northwest 23rd Street in Miami, The Real Deal has learned. A company led by Charlie and Marilyn Vazquez sold the 1-acre property. Stefano Santoro, broker and partner…

‘Very, Very Seller-Friendly’: Prime Miami Retail Properties Going To Auction

On Tuesday, a 7,762 SF building at 226-228 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach’s famed shopping street, traded for $5.8M. It was sold at auction… The owner of the neighboring building at 230 Lincoln Road, a four-story retail building with a Ross Dress For Less on the second and third floors, watched and admired the process and decided to auction his building too. That wil…

Bankruptcy could lead to redevelopment of downtown Miami Holiday Inn

The owner of a Holiday Inn in downtown Miami filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, with a plan aimed at luring investors to redevelop the site. With its close proximity to PortMiami, Bayside Marketplace and the planned Waldorf Astoria Miami luxury tower, the hotel owner’s attorney Linda Worton Jackson said the 10-story… at 340 Biscayne Boulevard…

Warehouse Distributor Carbel Signs 360K SF Lease at First Park Miami

Warehouse distribution company Carbel signed a 368,287 square-foot lease at First Park Miami, in a deal announced by CBRE, which represented the owner, First Industrial Realty Trust. The 126-acre complex, currently under construction, will comprise four buildings with 2.5 million square feet of logistics space. Located at 8801 NW 87th Avenue, the property sits on…

Was The Great Pandemic Migration To Miami Overhyped?

As the coronavirus spread last year, there were stories galore about people moving away from major cities to places that are less dense and more affordable. South Florida was made out as a big beneficiary of this trend, with a governor who resisted mask mandates and lockdowns and warm weather that allowed people to be outdoors even during winter. People…

South Florida resident Jared Kushner to launch Miami investment firm

South Florida appears to be having an inspirational effect on Jared Kushner. The ex-White House adviser and son-in-law of former President Donald Trump is launching a Miami-based investment firm called Affinity Partners. Kushner has spent the past six months with his wife Ivanka Trump in Surfside, where he’s been working on a book about his…

Miami Market Update: Office Vacancy Stays on Downward Trajectory

By the end of June, Miami’s office vacancy clocked in at 14.6 percent, down 20 basis point month-over-month and up 10 basis points year-over-year, according to CommercialEdge data. Coming into the second half of the year, Miami and Los Angeles are the only gateway markets to see vacancy come down since the start of 2021. Magic City’s office vacancy rate has fallen…

Biden wants Congress to extend the eviction ban

In another eleventh-hour intervention, President Biden is urging Congress to extend the federal ban on evictions past its scheduled expiration on July 31. In a statement Thursday morning, the White House cited the spread of the Delta variant, particularly among Americans “both most likely to face evictions and lacking vaccinations” as grounds for continuing the ban…

Sunset Harbour’s new zoning district bans Ronny Finvarb’s planned hotel, allows taller offices

Developer Ronny Finvarb won’t be able to build his planned hotel in Sunset Harbour, but taller office buildings are now allowed. The Miami Beach City Commission unanimously passed a new Sunset Harbour zoning overlay district on Wednesday that increases the height limit for office buildings to 65 feet from 50 feet. The district — bounded by 20th Street, Alton Road…

Miami’s Restaurants are Back on Track, Entertainment and Big Box Users are Still Healing

What a difference a year makes! Retail real estate in Miami is not dead nor in the depths of huge vacancy rates and declining rents; current vacancy rate is 4.3 percent and rental rates have slipped by 0.1 percent over the past year. Let’s explore several indicators of the value and use of the current state of the shopping center industry, restaurant space, entertainment…

Flex Office Strives and Thrives in South Florida

South Florida has long been viewed as a center for tourism, hospitality and logistics. These traditional industries are combining with new sources of economic growth, and a wave of new-to-market companies—including Shiftpixy, Boston Private and Point 72 Asset Management—are further spurring interest in the area. Pipeline Workspaces is one of the shared…

Miami Baywalk and Riverwalk Design Approved – Marks Long-Awaited Progress

The Miami City Commission has approved the design guidelines for the Miami Baywalk and Riverwalk, a four-mile, waterfront promenade project in Downtown Miami that has been in development for over 40 years. Extending from the northern Coconut Grove/southern Brickell area north through Downtown Miami and up to Edgewater, the Miami Baywalk…

Five Questions With Miami-Based Multifamily Investor Tzadik Properties’ Adam Hendry

Adam Hendry loves living and working in South Florida. But as a value investor, he simply can’t find the sort of bargains that entice him. During the Great Recession, Hendry, head of Miami-based apartment company Tzadik Properties, snapped up South Florida units. Since then, Florida property values have soared, and Hendry has turned into a seller.

Biscayne Gardens incorporation comes to a head

Zero hour has arrived in Biscayne Gardens, population 34,800. The first clue is the proliferating red-and-white signs: “Vote NO Incorporation. Keep Your Taxes & Rent Low.” More are scheduled to come in Spanish and Haitian Creole. The matter will come before the county commission on Sept. 1, which could then decide whether to put incorporation before the…

Conversions from offices to life science labs booming

While the office market grapples with the Delta variant, life science labs are enjoying a boom. In fact, many new labs are actually conversions from offices. The life science industry saw record investments in North America last year, bringing in $70 billion of capital investments. In six large industry markets, 20 percent of laboratory spaces being constructed…

Florida Freezer Inks New 85,000-SF Lease At Southeast Frozen Foods Building

In a strategy to expand into the Southeast Florida market, Florida Freezer has signed on for 84,993 square feet at the Southeast Frozen Foods building located at 18770 NE 6 Avenue in Miami. JC Conte, SIOR and Brian T. Ahearn, CCIM, with Butters Realty & Management Industrial Brokerage Team represented Florida Freezer in the deal…

Snow Real Estate buys Sunrise apartments for $15M

Snow Real Estate bought the Golfview Flats apartment complex in Sunrise for $15 million. Hollywood-based Snow Real Estate, through an affiliate, bought the property at 8445 Springtree Drive from Ortsac Capital Group, based in Fort Lauderdale, according to a news release. Snow Real Estate took out a $12.8 million loan to finance the purchase from New York City…

Landlords sue federal gov’t over rental losses during CDC eviction ban

In three days, the federal ban on evictions is set to expire, allowing landlords in most states to take non-paying tenants to court. But property owners say they deserve more than the freedom to join a backlogged docket. They want money. The National Apartment Association, a landlord group, filed a lawsuit in federal claims court Tuesday demanding that…

Black Lion buys SLS Lux Brickell retail condo, former Katsuya location, for $14M

Black Lion Investment Group bought a retail condo at the SLS Lux Brickell for $13.5 million. The Los Angeles-based commercial real estate and investment firm bought the unit that was formerly the site of Katsuya sushi restaurant and SBar, according to a press release from the brokers. Jorge Pérez’s Related Group, which co-developed the SLS Lux Brickell at 805…

Two of Florida’s Biggest Developers Team Up To Develop 28 Acres In Hialeah

Two of Miami’s biggest developers are teaming up on a 642-unit multifamily project on 28 acres. Related Group and Fontainebleau Development broke ground Monday on Las Carreras, a garden-style rental community in Hialeah at 7218 West Fourth Ave. The new project will bring luxury touches to what has traditionally been a working-class enclave. The project is the…

Renaissance Properties sells Aventura office complex for $140M

Renaissance Properties NY sold the Aventura Corporate Center for $140 million to a New York-based investment group that plans to build an addition, The Real Deal has learned. New York-based Renaissance, led by Kenneth, Bradley and Robert Fishel, sold the three Class A office buildings and garages at 20801, 20803 and 20807 Biscayne Boulevard to Aventura…

Commercial property sales outpace pre-pandemic figures in Q2

Commercial property sales are broadly rebounding to pre-pandemic levels across the country, though the same success isn’t being seen in select markets that dominated before the pandemic. Investors spent $144.7 billion on commercial property during the second quarter, nearly three-times the amount recorded in the same period last year, the Wall Street Journal…

Jared Kushner Plans to Open Investment Firm in Miami, Israel

Jared Kushner plans to open a Miami-based investment company with an office in Israel later this year, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. The son-in-law to former President Donald Trump is in the final stages of starting the investment office, called Affinity Partners, Reuters and the Jerusalem Post reported earlier Wednesday, citing sources they didn’t…

Miami Office Rent Growth Influenced by Influx of Tech Firms, New Capital Sources

The past year has been a long and winding ride, and some unexpected trends have been taking place in the Miami office market, between the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and through its recovery to date. Logically, one would expect that an ongoing pandemic keeping corporate offices closed and employees working from home would negatively affect…

Miami Market Update: Office Pipeline Growth Stalls

By mid-2021, Miami had 2.5 million square feet of office space under construction, according to CommercialEdge data. This amount accounted for 3.7 percent of total stock, placing the metro above the national average of 2.4 percent. June’s findings represent a 2 percent dip month-over-month, signaling the first halt in the metro’s constant pipeline growth since…

Miami’s Link at Douglas: Targeting the Top in Urban Living

South Florida, together with Arizona and Texas, has grown as an attractive alternative for New York City and Silicon Valley companies looking to relocate to more business-friendly markets. Miami in particular has garnered a lot of attention, as local authorities launched several programs offering economic incentives for businesses to relocate or open offices…

Neology Life Lands $52M Refi for Miami Luxury Community

Neology Life has received a $52 million refinancing deal for Pier 19 Residences and Marina, a 199-unit multifamily tower in the Miami River District at 1951 NW S River Drive. Berkadia arranged the two-year bridge loan provided by LoanCore Capital. The financing package included floating rates and a one-year extension at a 72 percent loan-to-value ratio. Neology…

Berkadia Secures $52M Refinancing for Pier 19 Residences & Marina in Miami

Berkadia has secured a $52 million bridge loan to refinance Pier 19 Residences & Marina, a 199-unit apartment community along Miami River. Charles Foschini and Christopher Apone of Berkadia secured the financing on behalf of the sponsor, Neology Life Development Group, a Miami-based residential and commercial real estate firm. LoanCore Capital originated…

Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser submits 2021 Preliminary Certification of Taxable Values

The Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser Pedro J. Garcia has submitted the 2021 Preliminary Certification of Taxable Values to the taxing authorities, which continues to show an overall growth in property values despite the impact COVID-19 had on certain real estate markets. The countywide estimated taxable value for 2021 is $337,968,694,350…

Sam Zell’s Equity Residential reports recovery in rental occupancy

The pandemic hit the bottom line of Sam Zell’s Equity Residential pretty hard, but the worst is finally in the rear-view mirror, executives of the real estate investment trust said Wednesday. “We acknowledge how badly our operations declined over the last 16 months,” said Michael Manelis, the chief operating officer, during an earnings call. “But the current recovery…”

Unibail-Rodamco plans “radical reduction” of regional malls

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield will look to sell its regional malls in the U.S. as it struggles to recover from the pandemic’s brutal impact on the retail sector. The Paris-based mall giant and investment firm posted a $652.6 million companywide loss for the first half of the year, it said in an earnings call Wednesday. That total…

Covid surge, CDC reversal upends back-to-office plans

As the Delta variant fuels a nationwide surge in Covid cases, employers’ return-to-work plans are being thrown into a state of flux. Earlier this week, the CDC updated its public health recommendations, imploring the fully vaccinated to resume wearing masks indoors in “substantial or high-transmission” areas — classifications that currently…

Work-from-home threat “overstated,” Boston Properties CEO says

One of the nation’s largest office landlords isn’t worried about the rise of remote work. While the continued work-from-home trend will have a long-term impact on the office market, the threat is “overstated” for landlords of Class A office space, Boston Properties CEO Owen Thomas said Wednesday. “The market is concerned … We acknowledge that’s the case,” Thomas…

Mila restaurant to add entertainment venue on Lincoln Road

Restaurateur Gregory Galy and his partners won approval to add an entertainment venue to Mila on Lincoln Road in Miami Beach. The Miami Beach Planning Board on Tuesday approved a permit for Mila to create a 7,352-square-foot nightlife venue on the second enclosed floor of the 800 Lincoln Road building. The Mila Membership Lounge plans to serve…

Too much of a good time? David Grutman and Pharrell’s Goodtime Hotel could lose entertainment permit

Hospitality mogul David Grutman and rapper and entrepreneur Pharrell Williams could use some good vibes for their Goodtime Hotel. The hotel, which opened at 601 Washington Avenue in April, is at risk of losing parts of its conditional use permit following nearly 30 noise violations. The Miami Beach Planning Board will hold a hearing over revoking the…

South Florida’s retail market slowly emerges from pandemic woes in Q2

South Florida’s retail market showed signs of recovery in the second quarter, with positive net absorption in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, and stabilizing vacancy rates throughout the region, according to a recently released report. Population growth is fueling a steady return of consumers to physical stores, restaurants and gyms…

South Florida by the numbers: Play ball; the Miami Marlins’ latest dealings

Corey Dickerson, Mike Piazza and Derek Jeter with the Miami baseball stadium (Getty) “South Florida by the numbers” is a web feature that catalogs the most notable, quirky and surprising real estate statistics. Now that they have South Florida’s sports landscape all to themselves for a little while, this is an ideal opportunity to check in on the Miami Marlins’…

Complex public-private Miami administration building deal stumbles

A complex public-private partnership is apparently falling apart between the City of Miami and a developer that won a bid to build a multi-million-dollar project on the Miami River. Because the city is considering other…  moving ahead with its own standalone residential tower on its own land near the river, at 230 SW Third Street. By working for years on the city…

Stormy city commission can’t blow Rickenbacker Marina off course

The fate of the city-owned marinas on Virginia Key led to a long and loud shouting match between two Miami city commissioners. Once decorum was restored at the July 22 meeting, the end result was a split vote that advanced a ballot proposal designed to keep the current operators of Rickenbacker Marina – Biscayne Marine Partners LLC – in control of…

Miami’s waterfront parks reimagined

Two of the City of Miami’s newest and most popular parks would have been unrecognizable even 20 years ago. Maurice A. Ferré Park, downtown Miami’s direct connection with Biscayne Bay, and Regatta Park, bringing a lushly transformed waterfront to Coconut Grove, each have less than glamorous pasts. As the City of Miami celebrates its 125th Anniversary…

Churchill’s Pub operator evicted amid foreclosure lawsuits against landlord

Mallory Kauderer and Churchill’s Pub Churchill’s Pub, the storied live venue and bar in Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood, could be gone for good after the property’s landlord secured a major victory in court last week. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Reemberto Diaz issued an eviction order and writ of possession against Churchill’s current tenant District Live Agency…

Family office buys South Beach short-term rental portfolio for $14M

Red Group sold a portfolio of short-term rental units in South Beach for $13.9 million to Daniell Group, a family office led by Avihai Daniell. Miami-based Red Group, led by co-founder and president ​​Gabriele Braha, sold the 20-unit building at 801, 807 and 815 Alton Road in Miami Beach, as well as the 18 condos at 1355-1357 Drexel Avenue, Braha said. New York-based…

Architect who designed the collapsed Surfside condo was previously suspended after toppling of other structures

The Florida State Board of architecture’s order to suspend William Friedman for six months More than a decade before William Friedman designed the collapsed Surfside condominium, Florida’s board of architecture suspended him for six months for designing structures that toppled during Hurricane Betsy. Sign pylons that were “an integral part…”

3 Warehouse Types for E-Commerce Distribution

Let’s face it: nomenclature around warehouse facilities can be confusing. Is it an industrial property, a warehouse, a fulfillment center, a distribution building or something else? Further complicating the issue is that the response to that question can often be “all of the above,” leaving the inquirer even more perplexed. To begin to sort this out, LoopNet spoke…

Instacart to build fulfillment centers near supermarkets

Instacart is the latest company seeking to cash in on the industrial real estate boom, making plans to build its own fulfillment centers for supermarkets. The grocery delivery company will begin developing an undetermined number of fulfillment centers over the next year, according to the Wall Street Journal. The centers would be able to hold between…

Raging wildfires threaten lumber market, home builders’ costs

Just as lumber prices were finally falling, wildfires and extreme weather are threatening to pull them right back up. Fires raging in the western United States are beginning to have a negative impact on lumber output. Canfor, one of the biggest lumber producers on the continent, is among the companies cutting back production in response to the weather events…

Blackstone eyes return to hotel business as real estate fuels strong Q2

Blackstone backed out of hotels in the nick of time. “It wasn’t because we anticipated the pandemic,” said president Jonathan Gray on the firm’s Q2 earnings call Thursday. Rather, the investment giant saw greater promise in the rental housing, life sciences and industrial buildings it picked up in the past year — investments that helped it nearly double its distributable…

Miami office vacancy rates reach Great Recession levels

Office vacancy rates in Miami-Dade County are hitting highs not seen since the Great Recession, according to a pair of recent market reports. A June report by the Commercial Industrial Association of South Florida, or CIASF, found that the vacancy rate for Class A office space jumped above 20 percent in the first quarter, a height not seen since the last building…

New buyer aboard: Brightline parent sells sites near Fort Lauderdale station

Florida East Coast Industries sold two development sites near its Fort Lauderdale Brightline station for $37.2 million. FLL Andrews Development and FLL Flagler Development sold the assemblages at 130 Northwest First Avenue and 117 Northwest Second Street for $17.6 million and $19.6 million, respectively. The buyers’ entities, N Andrews Ave Development…

Former Fort Lauderdale church site to be reborn with offices, retail

A boarded up, gable-roofed former church site in Fort Lauderdale will be resurrected with bars, restaurants, retail and offices. Miami-based developer Wellmeaning Properties plans to reinvent the closed Fourth Avenue Church of God property at 1237 Northeast Fourth Avenue into the Canopî project, according to a news release. Jaime Sturgis and Kaley…

Grover Corlew buys Bank of America Tower in Boca Raton for $45M

Boca Raton investment management firm Grover Corlew purchased an office building in its backyard for $44.6 million. Black Creek Group sold the Bank of America Tower, an eight-story, 109,500-square-foot Class A building at 150 East Palmetto Road to Grover Corlew, according to a press release. The property’s tenants include Charles Schwab and Waypoint Residential…

Class A Office Building In Boca Fetches $99.5 Million

KBS assisted in the acquisition of One Town Center, a 191,294 square-foot Class A office building in Boca Raton. The property was acquired from a joint venture between prominent commercial real estate firm CP Group, formerly Crocker Partners, and Siguler Guff & Co. for $99.5 million by Prime US REIT (PRIME), which trades on the Singapore Exchange Securities…

Opterra Capital buys Holiday Inn & Suites Boca Raton for $13M

Opterra Capital bought a Boca Raton Holiday Inn for $13.3 million. Records show Opterra, through an affiliate, bought the Holiday Inn & Suites at 701 Northwest 53rd Street from FLL Resorts, which is linked to Archer Capital Group. The price reflects only the building, with the true deal value being $17.6 million, inclusive of the land and furniture…

Walton Street Capital buys Boynton Beach apartments for $93M

Walton Street Capital bought the Pacifica Boynton Beach apartment complex for $92.7 million. Records show Walton Street, through an affiliate, bought the property at 1100 Audace Avenue from Miami-based Alta Developers. The deal breaks down to $286,034 per unit. The 324-unit complex consists of several buildings completed in 2019 and 2020…

Prayers answered? Related Companies closes on church site for planned office tower in downtown West Palm

The Related Companies closed on the site of a planned 25-story office tower in downtown West Palm Beach, marking progress for a project that is years in the making. The First Church of Christ, Scientist in West Palm sold the property at 134 and 142 Lakeview Avenue and 809 South Flagler Drive to Related’s RUD 1 Flagler LLC for $20.1 million, records show. The sale…

Publix pays $9M for Westlake site in Palm Beach County

Publix paid $9.1 million for the 20-acre site of a planned retail center and grocery store in Westlake, the massive master-planned community in western Palm Beach County. Records show Westlake master developer Minto Communities, through its Minto PBLH LLC, sold the property at 5075 Seminole Pratt Whitney Road to Publix Super Markets. The Lakeland-base…

Fort Partners buys Four Seasons Brickell hotel for $130M

The developer of the ultra-luxury Four Seasons at the Surf Club in Surfside acquired the Four Seasons Miami hotel in Brickell for about $130 million, The Real Deal has learned. The acquisition gives Fort Partners control of all four Four Seasons properties in South Florida, including in Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale. The 221-key hotel at 1435 Brickell Avenue in Miami is…

Madison Realty Capital Provides $105M Acquisition Loan for Four Seasons Hotel Miami

Madison Realty Capital, a New York City-based private real estate equity firm, has provided a $105 million loan to Miami-based developer Fort Partners for the acquisition and renovation of the Four Seasons Hotel Miami located in the city’s Brickell district. Located at 1435 Brickell Ave., Four Seasons Hotel Miami is a 221-room hotel that anchors a 70-story…

Video: Costar Director of Market Analytics David Kahn Discusses Office Forecast

David Kahn, Director of Market Analytics with CoStar, a leading provider of information, analytics and marketing services to the commercial property industry, joins America’s Commercial Real Estate Show to discuss the office market. Included in the discussion are rent growth, performance, vacancy, cap rates, trends and opportunities. Much of the conversation…

One of the largest Wynwood projects to bring 523 residences

One of the largest mixed-use residential and office projects ever proposed for the Wynwood Arts District will bring 12- and 8-story buildings with 523 residences to the neighborhood and more than 950,000 square feet of floor uses. L&L Carpe Wynwood Holdings LLC is the owner-developer of the project called 29N Wynwood, to rise at 95 NW 29th St. The project…

AMLI Wynwood, 550,000-sf mixed-use residential development, breaks ground

AMLI Residential recently broke ground on its 550,000-square-foot, mixed-use Wynwood development at 70 NW 25 St. The eight-story building is designed by Arquitectonica, an award-winning global architecture firm based in Miami, which also is the design team behind innovative building projects such as the Brickell City Centre, FTX Arena and the South…

Miami Market Update: Office Vacancy Slides

Despite constantly expanding its development pipeline since the onset of the year, Miami’s office vacancy has been contracting during 2021, CommercialEdge data shows. The metro’s business-friendly environment and favorable tax climate continues to attract investor interest from other parts of the country. As of May, the market’s vacancy rate hit 14.8 percent…

Beach Towing buys Sunset Harbour property for $7M

Beach Towing paid $6.5 million for the Miami Beach property where it has been based for 35 years. The car storage and towing company bought the building and parking lot at 1349 Dade Boulevard in Sunset Harbour from the Festa Family Trust, according to a news release. Mika Mattingly and Cecilia Estevez of Colliers represented the seller. Attorney Eric Gonzalez..

Rotem Rosen scores legal win against Alex Sapir

Rotem Rosen just scored a legal victory in an ongoing lawsuit with Alex Sapir, his former brother-in-law. Rosen asserts he is owed $102.9 million from the estate of Sapir Organization founder Tamir Sapir, who died in 2014. Last week, a judge ruled that Alex Sapir, a son of Tamir, must put $55.5 million in escrow while the dispute is being decided, according…

Four landlords allegedly pushed out 5,000 renters during moratorium

A House select subcommittee is hot on the trail of four landlords allegedly responsible for forcing out 5,000 renters during the CDC’s eviction moratorium. The subcommittee is asking for documents from Invitation Homes, Pretium Partners, Ventron Management and the Siegel Group about their recent eviction practices. Letters to the companies were sent…

CareRite Centers buys south Miami-Dade nursing facility for $35M

CareRite Centers bought a nursing home and rehabilitation facility in south Miami-Dade County for $35 million. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey-based CareRite, through an affiliate, bought the property at 9869 Southwest 152nd Street, records show. The buyer borrowed $30.1 million from VNB New York. Seller Del Sol Realty Holding is managed by Michael Silberberg.

Inside the tug-of-war over the Surfside condo site’s future

Steve Rosenthal loved living along the beach, chatting with his neighbors by his condominium’s pool, having everything he needed just a short walk or drive away. That was his life at Champlain Towers South in Surfside. Rosenthal lost many of his friends when the majority of the 12-story condominium collapsed last month, killing at least 97 people. He was…

Democrats look to curtail tax break for “pass-through” businesses

A tax break beneficial to “pass through” businesses — including real estate trusts — is in the crosshairs of congressional Democrats. On Tuesday, Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee, led by chairman Ron Wyden, will unveil a measure that targets the 20 percent deduction granted to such businesses, which also include law firms and family farms, according to…

Kite Realty to acquire Retail Properties of America for nearly $3B

Kite Realty Group has agreed to pay $2.79 billion to add rival Retail Properties of America to its open-air shopping center portfolio, making the real estate investment trust the nation’s fifth-largest and giving it cheaper access to capital for expansion. If shareholders approve the deal, Oak Brook, Illinois-based Retail Properties of America will become a…

Miami Hotel Rebound: ‘We’re Blowing 2019 Out Of The Water’

The recovery of South Florida’s hotel industry is stronger than anyone could have imagined in March 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic was bearing down on the world. Nationwide, Miami had the largest growth in average daily room rates (up 44.7% to $225.14) and revenue per available room, or RevPAR, (up 30.7% to $152.45), hotel data collector STR said in a report…

Employees revolt against return-to-office edicts

Momentum for a broad return to the workplace this summer is fizzling in the face of uprisings from employees reluctant to assume the risks of office life — or surrender the perks of working from home. More than seven in 10 office workers were still working remotely as of May, according to a Gallup study, and two-thirds of them want it to stay that way. In what some…

Setai Miami Beach owners and condo association sue city over Bulgari hotel height increase

The Setai Miami Beach’s owners and condominium association are seeking to upend the redevelopment of a neighboring property that is slated to become Bulgari’s first hotel on U.S. soil. Setai Hotel Acquisition LLC, an entity owned by the Nakash family of Jordache Jeans fame, and the Setai Resort and Residences Condominium Association on July 6 sued the city…

Apparel company Exist inks 142K sf lease in Miami Gardens, other leasing news

Gateway Commerce Park in Miami Gardens Apparel and fashion company Exist Inc. signed a long-term, 142,191-square-foot lease at Gateway Commerce Park, at 1722 Northwest 215th Street in Miami Gardens. Brian Smith, Audley Bosch and Matt Maciag with JLL represented the landlord, EastGroup Properties, in the deal, while CBRE’s Larry Genet and Tom…

Contract killers: Construction disputes spell disaster for projects

Days before the opening of New York City’s second-tallest building, workers in Navillus T-shirts scurried around the construction site. Their presence at SL Green’s trophy project, One Vanderbilt, raised eyebrows: Two months earlier, the concrete contractor’s CEO had been arrested on fraud charges. And before that, SL Green had fired Navillus, fearing it was going bankrupt.

Work may finally restore Irma-battered Dinner Key Marina

It’s been nearly four years since Hurricane Irma ravaged Dinner Key Marina in Coconut Grove, walloping the state’s largest municipal marina. A final round of repairs is still needed to bring Dinner Key back to its former glory. Today (7/22), Miami commissioners are to consider approval of a final contract with Kearns Construction Co. to repair the city-owned marina.

Miami-Dade office vacancies highest in 8 years

Florida’s economy is fourth-best in the nation in bouncing back from the plunge during the pandemic, but Miami-Dade’s office vacancy rates are also the highest they have been in eight years, at 16.9%. Even though vacancy has grown, so have newly signed leasing rates, by 8.6% since mid-year of 2020 and by 13.3% since the beginning of the pandemic. Although there…

Berkadia arranges $52 million recapitalization for Neology Life’s Pier 19 Residences & Marina in Miami River District

Berkadia announces it has secured a $52 million bridge loan to refinance Pier 19 Residences & Marina, a 199-unit luxury apartment community along the Miami River in downtown Miami. Senior Managing Director Charles Foschini and Managing Director Christopher Apone of Berkadia Miami secured the financing on behalf of sponsor Neology Life Development…

Miami Industrial Real Estate Quarterly Market Report 2nd Quarter 2021

The Miami industrial market’s Q1 vacancy rate was 4.6% at the close of the quarter with a $13.16 per sq. ft. average (gross) lease rate. Industrial The Miami industrial market’s Q2 vacancy rate was 3.9% at the close of the quarter with a $13.78 per sq. ft. average (gross) lease rate. Industrial vacancies have compressed after reaching higher levels in 2020.

Experts Believe a Retail Property Surge Is Coming

The latest forecast for the U.S. retail property market over the next few years is looking bullish, with the industry buoyed by a strong and fast-growing economy, pent-up consumer demand because of the pandemic, and the desire for shoppers to connect with a human. A panel of executives from brokerage JLL presented their first webinar update on retail…

PMG pays nearly $60M for Johnson & Wales North Miami campus

The Johnson and Wales campus and PMG principals Kevin Maloney and Ryan Shear (PMG) Property Markets Group closed on its purchase of Johnson and Wales’ North Miami campus. CBRE’s David Wigoda, which marketed and sold the 25-acre site, said PMG paid just under $60 million for the campus. “It was in the high 50s,” Wigoda said. Spokespersons for…

Surfside condo developer faced legal trouble in Canada, found clean slate in South Florida

As Nathan Reiber faced tax evasion charges and possible disbarment in Canada in the 1980s, he was already basking in a life of luxury in Miami Beach. A few years earlier, Reiber started a new chapter as a prominent real estate investor and benefactor to the Jewish community and the arts, rubbing shoulders at posh fundraisers with the likes of Elizabeth Taylor.

Gordon Ramsay to open first South Florida restaurant in Miami Beach

Gordon Ramsay is taking his talents to South Beach. The celebrity chef, known for his reality show “Hell’s Kitchen,” signed a lease for a restaurant in the South-of-Fifth neighborhood, The Real Deal has learned. He will be opening a Lucky Cat restaurant at the Yukon building, at 119 Washington Avenue, according to sources. Lucky Cat is taking a 9,000-square-foot…

“Too much money and no guardrails:” WeWork book authors on the collapse

Whenever Eliot Brown heard another wild Adam Neumann anecdote, he’d tell his editor. And the response would be: “Why are you not working on a profile of him again?” So Brown, armed with a perma-smirk and a background in real estate reporting, started gathering string. There was plenty to go around. Even in an era of Silicon Valley excess, Neumann…

The last mile-high club: Brokers adapt to a booming industrial market

Brian Thene was looking to break into commercial brokerage at the beginning of 2020. After spending a few years working in sustainability and corporate solutions at Cushman & Wakefield, he wanted to be a dealmaker. He cast a wide net, trying his luck in several aspects of commercial brokerage, from office to retail to multifamily. In February…

Terreno Realty Corporation Acquires Property In Hialeah For $39.4 Million

Terreno Realty Corporation, an acquirer, owner and operator of industrial real estate in six major coastal U.S. markets, acquired an industrial property in Hialeah on July 14 for a purchase price of approximately $39.4 million… at 4151 West 108th Street, immediately adjacent to Terreno Realty Corporation’s buildings at 4021-4071 West 108th Street and adjacent to…

Sovereign wealth funds are hunting for resi & industrial real estate

Sovereign wealth funds and central banks are looking to capitalize on post-pandemic real estate investment opportunities, following a brief pullback last year. Nearly three quarters of industry respondents to an Invesco survey believe the pandemic-fueled price fall in valuations will drive property purchases, according to IPE Real Assets. Participants in the…

Oceanfront Miami Beach condo La Costa ordered evacuated following bulk buyout deal

An oceanfront Miami Beach condo building that recently sold in a bulk buyout deal to developer Mast Capital is declared unsafe by the city and ordered evacuated by mid-August, The Real Deal has learned. Residents of the 124-unit La Costa building at 5333 Collins Avenue have until Aug. 16 to vacate the property, according to a photo of a notice obtained by TRD…

Here’s what Mast Capital plans for La Costa’s evacuated, oceanfront Miami Beach site

Renderings of 5333 Collins Avenue with Mast Capital’s Camilo Miguel Jr Developer Mast Capital wants to build a 100-unit luxury tower on the site of an oceanfront condo building that was ordered evacuated by the city of Miami Beach, The Real Deal has learned. An affiliate of Mast Capital purchased nearly 90 percent of the condos at La Costa at 5333 Collins…

Lightstone pays $20M for Miami Gardens warehouse leased to Moishe Mana

Real estate investor Lightstone paid $20 million for a Miami Gardens warehouse leased to one of Moishe Mana’s companies. Records show Lightstone, based in New York City, bought the property at 15801 Northwest 49th Avenue from Warehomes Precision. Mana, best known for his Wynwood property and long-planned downtown Miami project, houses…

Blackstone buys $5.1B in affordable housing from AIG

Blackstone and AIG have agreed to a massive deal involving the sale of $5.1 billion in affordable housing assets. AIG sold the assets to Blackstone as part of a “long-term strategic asset management relationship” between the two companies, Bloomberg News reported. Blackstone has been pursuing lower-cost rentals to boost its real estate arm, according to the publication.

Foundry Commercial Acquires Doral Industrial Park

Berkadia has arranged $14.1 million in acquisition financing on behalf of Foundry Commercial for the acquisition of America’s International Center, a 147,000-square-foot industrial park in Doral. Managing Directors Michael Weinberg and Rebecca Van Reken along with Associate Director Alec Fox of Berkadia Orlando secured the non-recourse…

The Fed: Though Easing, COVID Still Exerts Force on Region’s Economy

Pandemic-related forces continued to shape the southeastern economy in late May and June, as firms scrambled to fill job openings and competition for talent pushed up wages, according to the new Beige Book report on regional economic activity from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. As some companies reported offering more flexible schedules and wage…

Yacht Haven Park & Marina in Fort Lauderdale sells for $58M

The 20-acre Yacht Haven Park & Marina in Fort Lauderdale is poised for a makeover and additional storage after selling for $58.1 million, with the buyers scoring an $81.7 million purchase and renovation loan. Fort Lauderdale Motorcoach Resort and Yacht Club, with operating sponsors Gary Cioffi and Christopher Hein of Long Island, New York, bought…

Frankforter Group buys Pompano Beach apartments for $43M

Frankforter Group bought a Pompano Beach apartment building for $42.9 million. The Montreal-based real estate investor and asset manager bought Avery Pompano Beach at 275 North Federal Highway from an affiliate of Aventura-based Meyers Group, records show. The buyer borrowed $35.4 million from Arbor Realty SR, an affiliate of Uniondale, New…

Pebb Enterprises buys Boca Raton office building for $15M

Pebb Enterprises bought a Boca Raton office building for $14.52 million and fully leased it, as it continues to invest in the area. Pebb bought the property at 5900 Northwest Broken Sound Parkway at the Park at Broken Sound business park, according to a news release. Seller 5900 Broken Sound LLC is managed by Dennis Lynde, records show. It bought the property for…