Berkadia Arranges $31M Sale of Mixed-Use Bay Harbor Islands Development Site

Berkadia has arranged the $31 million sale of a 1.8-acre development site in Miami’s Bay Harbor Islands known as 1177 Kane Concourse. Located just west of Bal Harbour Shops, the site includes 300 feet of frontage on Kane Concourse and is permitted for a mixed-use residential, retail and office development. Jaret Turkell, Roberto Pesant, Scott Wadler, Omar Morales…

Billionaire Teaming Up With Sidewalk Labs On Miami Development

Billionaire developer Moishe Mana, through his company Mana Common, has engaged Alphabet’s Sidewalk Labs to plan sustainable infrastructure for a swath of property he owns in Miami’s trendy Wynwood neighborhood. Sidewalk Labs, dubbed an urban innovation company, will design energy, waste and parking systems across 24 acres. It is one of the first projects…

Forget Silicon Valley: Commissioner Wants to Attract Big Pharma to Miami-Dade

When it comes to the future of Miami, the buzz for the past six months has pretty much focused on Mayor Francis Suarez’s push to make the city a hub for tech companies and startups. That’s been the narrative ever since December, when the mayor responded to a throwaway suggestion on Twitter (“ok guys hear me out, what if we move silicon valley to…”)

Miami Market Update: Office Transaction Activity Picks Up Pace

In April, six properties totaling 575,367 square feet changed hands in Miami, at a combined price of $265 million and an average of $461.1 per square foot, according to CommercialEdge data. The office market has picked up momentum in the first quarter of the year, and the growing interest in the Southern Florida market doesn’t seem to be slowing…

Kleber Discusses Miami’s Office Boom

Miami is having a moment. Name a premier financial or tech company and chances are it’s scoping out Miami offices. These include industry giants Citadel, Millennium Management, Apollo Global Management, Apple, Bitcoin.com, and the list goes on. The Magic City is an appealing alternative to New York and San Francisco. Why not settle some place where the…

Related, Dezer report nearly $1 billion sellout at Residences by Armani/Casa

A new benchmark for post-pandemic condo sales in South Florida was set with the nearly $1 billion sellout of the Related Group and Dezer Development’s Residences by Armani/Casa. The developers are among the latest to report a sellout or near sellout in recent months as demand remains high for luxury condos in South Florida. E11even Hotel…

Rilea Group plans multifamily project on Wynwood site purchased for $22 million

Miami’s Wynwood continues to grow as an apartment rental market, with a developer planning a multifamily project on a site it purchased for $22 million. Rilea Group bought the property at 56 Northeast 29th Street from 29th Street Warehouse LLC, managed by Lombardi Properties, in an off-market deal, according to a news release. Alfred…

Hamilton on the Bay’s owner Aimco adds more land to its Edgewater war chest

Multifamily real estate investment trust Aimco, owner of the waterfront Hamilton on the Bay apartment tower, is expanding its land assemblage in Miami’s Edgewater neighborhood. Aimco has closed on or is in contract to buy nearly the entire block of 34th Street, across from the Hamilton, sources told The Real Deal. The Denver-based REIT was rumored to…

Office investors Tishman Speyer, Brookfield put money where mouth is

Since early in the pandemic, office landlords have maintained that work-from-home would not cripple their big-city portfolios. But talk is cheap. Who backed up their bluster with billions of dollars in office investments? Tishman Speyer and Brookfield did, their executives said Wednesday at a forum in Qatar. Rob Speyer said that since March, his firm had…

Estate Companies sells Soleste Alameda apartments in West Miami for $83M

The Estate Companies sold its fifth West Miami multifamily project for $82.9 million. Estate, based in South Miami, sold the 306-unit Soleste Alameda at 6320 and 6290 Southwest Eighth Street to Dallas-based Westdale Real Estate Investment and Management, according to Neyda Bravo, a broker on the deal. The sale breaks down to $270,971 per unit. Bravo work…

Mall landlords turn to pop-up stores to boost revenue

Retailers aren’t the only ones working their way back from the ravages of the pandemic. Mall landlords have been decimated, and many are now courting temporary tenants, pushing the pop-up stores to boost revenue and fill space. Mall operators on Long Island and across the nation are trying to entice retailers with cheaper rents — sometimes a few months…

Global Horizons buys Buena Vista and Little Haiti portfolio for $13M

Global Horizons Group bought a 35-property portfolio of single-family homes and apartment buildings in Miami’s Buena Vista and Little Haiti neighborhoods for $12.85 million. The North Miami Beach-based investor bought the properties from Miami-based Bowery Properties, led by Thomas Neary, according to Global Horizons’ co-founder and co-managing…

County cuts $4 billion West Dade development deal with developer Terra

Miami-Dade and developer Terra have agreed to early terms of a project near Dolphin Station that is expected to yield the county more than $4 billion over a century. Commissioners June 15 approved a 97-year contract with the Miami firm for construction of Upland Park, a mixed development to span 33 county acres where the Dolphin Expressway and Florida…

Major Mexico investment firm to open in Miami

Banorte Securities International (BSI), an investment management and brokerage service company based in Houston, announced it will open offices in the Brickell financial district to attend to its clients from Mexico and the Latin American region in South Florida.  The company is a subsidiary of Mexican financial institution Grupo Financiero Banorte…

Economists agree inflation may hit 5.5% this year

Inflation is here already. Prices of goods are increasing and consumers are starting to notice it. The federal response due to the coronavirus health crisis caused an extra liquidity in the system and the monetary base is expanding at record levels. As a consequence, economists agree that inflation may rise up to 5.5% at the end of 2021 but are still uncertain…

The pandemic’s boost to online sales: A one-time event or a new normal?

The FRED graph above shows online retail sales. It’s no surprise these sales have been steadily increasing, even if there are a few rough patches during recessions. And it’s also completely expected that the pandemic provided a large boost to e-commerce over on-site retail. The question is whether this is a temporary boost that will subside once the world returns to…

PMG buying shuttered Johnson and Wales North Miami campus, planning redevelopment

The Johnson and Wales campus and PMG principals Kevin Maloney and Ryan Shear (PMG) Property Markets Group is making a big play in North Miami. The New York-based luxury condo and apartment developer is buying the shuttered, 25-acre Johnson and Wales campus, with plans for partial redevelopment, according to city documents and a commercial…

Neighbor sues to short-circuit Jimmy Tate and Sergio Rok’s no-bid North Miami project

An aerial of the proposed development site and warehouse with Sergio Rok and Jimmy Tate The city of North Miami’s plan allowing developers Jimmy Tate and Sergio Rok to build a mixed-use project on two city-owned parking lots has hit a legal snag. The owner of a warehouse next door to the proposed development and its tenant are suing North Miami and TR…

AMS Hospitality, Black Salmon buy Circa 39 hotel in Miami Beach

A joint venture between The Allen Morris Company and Stormont Hospitality partnered with Black Salmon to buy a boutique hotel in Miami Beach, the second in a series of planned purchases together. AMS Hospitality Group and Black Salmon paid $25.5 million for Circa 39, a 97-key hotel at 3900 Collins Avenue, according to a press release. The Art…

Terra paid $32M for Bay Harbor Islands development site

Terra closed on a mixed-use development site along Bay Harbor Islands’ Kane Concourse for $31.5 million. David Martin’s Coconut Grove-based Terra had been under contract to purchase the property at 1177 Kane Concourse and closed on Wednesday, according to a news release from one of the sellers. The purchase comes on the heels of the Bay Harbor…

Investment firm makes $130M offer for 60-year-old Edgewater condo complex

Edgewater, a bayfront Miami neighborhood north of downtown, continues to attract big spenders. The latest, Beach Hill Capital Partners — a Miami-based investment firm led by Daniel Rotenberg — is offering $130 million for an older waterfront condo complex called Bay Park, The Real Deal has learned. The company submitted a letter of intent in mid-May for the…

Ex-WeWork CEO Adam Neumann inks $44M deal for Bal Harbour properties

So long, Bay Area: Adam Neumann is headed to South Florida. The WeWork co-founder and ex-CEO inked an off-market deal for two properties on the Bal Harbour Marina, just north of Miami Beach, for $44 million, the Wall Street Journal reported. The purchase comes roughly two months after Neumann sold his northern California estate for $22.4 million. Local…

The grand reopening: As restrictions lift, CRE markets race toward recovery

It wasn’t the pan-roasted halibut that drew a small crowd to Blu Mar on a recent Thursday afternoon. One after another, guests on the splashy Southampton seafood spot’s outdoor patio removed the face coverings they had been wearing for the better part of a year and tossed them into a fire pit, which was then doused with fuel and set ablaze to the tune…

Chart: Miami-Dade Commercial Real Estate Sales May 2021

The above chart shows the number of closed sales of Miami-Dade commercial properties, including both improved commercial property and vacant commercial land, that were booked in the Miami MLS for the two years ending May 2021. Last month, May 2021, was the second highest month over the prior two years, though still off somewhat from the…

Software firm Chetu buys Sunrise office property for $25M

Software provider Chetu paid $25 million for its new headquarters in Sunrise in Broward County. Chetu, now based in Plantation, bought the office property at 1500 Concord Terrace at the Sawgrass International Corporate Park, according to a news release. Chetu will move its headquarters there in the fall. The seller, 1500 Concord Terrace LLC…

Des Moines investment firm pays $26M for T-Mobile data center in Sunrise

A group tied to Principal Real Estate Investors picked up a T-Mobile data center in Sunrise for $26 million. Property records show an affiliate of Des Moines, Iowa-based Principal Real Estate Investors bought the property at 4850 Northwest 103rd Avenue from LPCH Florida Equities, tied to Dallas-based Lincoln Property Company. Lincoln Property’s data center division…

Harbor Group Sells Pembroke Pines Apartment Community for $223M

Harbor Group International LLC has sold a 700-unit apartment community in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale suburb of Pembroke Pines, Fla., for nearly $222.7 million, marking the metro’s largest recorded multifamily sale this year. The Class A property, City Center on 7th, spans 40 buildings near the intersection of Pines Boulevard and Palm Avenue. Harbor Group….

Pebblebrook Buying Florida Margaritaville Resort For $270M

Bethesda, Maryland-based Pebblebrook Hotel Trust, a publicly traded REIT that owns 51 hotels in the U.S., announced Wednesday that it will acquire the 18-story, 369-room Margaritaville Hollywood Beach Resort in Hollywood, Florida, for $270M. The sale price amounts to more than $731K per room. The seller, Denver-based KSL Capital Partners, bought the…

Pebblebrook buying Margaritaville Hollywood Beach for $270M

Pebblebrook Hotel Trust is buying Margaritaville Hollywood Beach Resort for $270 million, which would be the biggest South Florida hotel sale this year. The real estate investment trust is in contract to acquire the 369-key Jimmy Buffett-inspired resort at 1111 North Ocean Drive in Hollywood, according to the company. Pebblebrook, one of the country’s largest…

Aimco spinoff buys Harbor Group’s Pembroke Pines apartments for $223M, marking largest South Florida multifamily sale this year

Harbor Group International sold a 700-unit apartment complex in Pembroke Pines for nearly $223 million, marking the largest multifamily deal in South Florida this year. Norfolk, Virginia-based Harbor Group sold City Center on 7th to Air Communities, an entity linked to the real estate investment trust Aimco, The Real Deal has learned. AIR Communities…

Furniture wholesaler pays $9 million for Hollywood distribution facility

A California home furniture wholesaler bought a Hollywood industrial building to serve as a distribution facility for $9.1 million. Records show Los Angeles-based VIG Furniture bought the property at 3600 North 29th Avenue from TMS Hollywood Properties, which is tied to RS Trading Company. The 75,988-square-foot building was constructed in 1969…

Fuse Group acquires Security Building in downtown Miami, plans to sue WeWork for alleged lease breach

Fuse Group Investment acquired the storied Security Building in downtown Miami and plans to sue WeWork over allegedly vacating its offices in violation of the lease, The Real Deal has learned. The 17-story, historic building at 117 Northeast First Avenue was under a foreclosure action against the previous owner, Security Building AR Owner LLC. Fuse Group…

All in on Miami: Kushner pays $21 million for Edgewater site of planned apartment tower

Kushner Companies paid $20.5 million for a slice of an assemblage in Miami’s Edgewater neighborhood, more than two years after going into contract on the property, The Real Deal has learned. Investor Enrique Manhard and his partners sold the 0.75-acre piece of a larger assemblage, at 2000 Biscayne Boulevard, to New York-based Kushner, led by Charles…

Melo joins Miami condo craze with two-tower Edgewater project

Melo Group is launching condo sales of one of two towers on a site it has been assembling for more than a decade in Miami’s Edgewater, The Real Deal has learned. The Melo family, which has largely focused on building rental towers in recent years, released information to brokers on its next project, Aria Reserve Miami. The two-tower, roughly 800-unit…

Arch, Infinity JV to build mixed-use multifamily tower in Miami’s Edgewater

Arch Companies and Infinity Real Estate are partnering to build a mixed-use multifamily project in Miami’s Edgewater, across the street from their 2500 Biscayne tower. The two New York firms plan to develop the more than 1-acre assemblage at 2501 Biscayne Boulevard, most recently home to Latin Cafe 2000. The property sold for $13 million in 2017 to an entity…

Investor buys multifamily complex near Miami Shores for $15M

Investor Leon Ojalvo bought the lakefront Blue Lake Village Apartments near Miami Shores for $15 million. Ojalvo, of Miami-based investment firm Liberty Base Investments, bought the 106-unit community at 1205 Northwest 103 Lane from an entity tied to investor Fidel Yero, according to the seller’s broker. The deal breaks down to $141,509 per unit. Jacob…

State Attorney moving to River Landing in what could be $108 million lease

Leaky bathrooms, malfunctioning air conditioning, faulty elevators, and a flooded parking garage. Those are some things that staff at State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle’s office will say goodbye to in about six months, when they move into new space at River Landing Shops & Residences. The arrangement will benefit both tenant and landlord…

FPL is Offering Commercial Property Owners EV Fast Charger Stations at No Cost

Florida Power and Light (FPL) recently reached out to me to inquire as to who I might know that could be interested in having FPL install a few electric vehicle (EV) fast charging stations at no cost. FPL will provide the EV chargers and cover the installation and maintenance. There also note that there would be no net impact on electricity costs. They are looking…

Air urban mobility set to take off in Miami; passenger drones coming soon that you think

The Miami Parking Authority and the Miami-Dade County Department of Transportation and Public Works are already thinking about how to integrate emerging urban air mobility into the transportation ecosystem in Miami.  Air mobility of passengers is closer than we might think, “it is something that would be here within the next two to three years,” said…

CIP Miami Springs, LV Lending Break Ground on 120,225 SF Mixed-Use Project

CIP Miami Springs and LV Lending have broken ground on Miami Springs Town Center, a 120,225-square-foot mixed-use project located at 1 Curtiss Parkway in Miami Springs, about 10 miles outside of downtown Miami. The project is scheduled to be complete in the second quarter of 2022. Designed by Cabrera Ramos Architects, Miami Springs Town Center will feature…

Miami Office Market Update: Rising Demand, Falling Vacancy Rates

Miami has been reaping the benefits of migration trends for quite some time, becoming one of the nation’s fastest-rising cities. According to CommercialEdge data, the market encompassed some 7.7 million square feet of vacant office space as of May and a vacancy rate of 14.6 percent, falling below the 15.3 percent national average. Miami is dealing with…

Related Group, Starwood Team Up With Baccarat-Branded Condo Project In Miami

Jorge Pérez’s Related Group and Barry Sternlicht’s SH Hotels & Resorts will be working together on a project for the first time with a Baccarat-branded residential project in Miami’s Brickell neighborhood. Baccarat makes crystal and has been in existence since 1764. A Baccarat Hotel & Residences at 53rd Street and Fifth Avenue in New York opened in 2015 with…

Allapattah Residents Fight For A Seat At The Table As City Makes Development Decisions

Allapattah is a primarily Latino, working-class neighborhood in Miami, with one section called Little Santo Domingo for its influx of residents from the Dominican Republic. In the past few years, as land prices in trendier neighborhoods like Wynwood and Brickell shot up, Miami developers have turned their attention there. A funky project with units on stilts, designed…

Despite big gaps, Miami tourism passes pre-covid levels

Miami-Dade’s tourism industry is surpassing many comparable 2019 statistics despite a glaring lack of international, convention and cruise travel. At the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau’s State of the Tourism and Hospitality Industry’s May breakfast, experts predicted summer hotel occupancy highs would approach summer 2019 lows.

EB-5 program set to expire at the end of June

A U.S. visa program that gave green cards to investors and was popular among real estate developers, is set to expire, with no clear plan for an extension. As it stands, the EB-5 program allows foreign investors in the U.S. who put at least $900,000 into a business that creates 10 or more jobs to apply for permanent residence. It’s now due to expire at the end of June.

Canadian finance firm to relocate headquarters, 450 jobs to Miami

A Canadian firm seeking to relocate its global headquarters to Miami and create 450 high-paying jobs got a go-ahead Tuesday to receive $167,500 through a Miami-Dade incentives program. Dallas was competing for the headquarters. The global wealth and asset management firm has vowed to spend $5 million on a 45,000-square-foot office and by 2028 create the…

Nuveen Nears Completion of $55M Renovation at Three Office Properties in Miami

Nuveen Real Estate is nearing completion of renovations at three of its office properties in Miami. The assets are located at 801 Brickell and 701 Brickell in the city’s Brickell financial district and at Waterford Business District, a 250-acre office hub that Nuveen co-owns with Allianz Real Estate. The capital improvements total $55 million in value and include digital…

Chart – Inflation Watch May 2021: Rise in Inflation Expectations Pauses at Elevated Levels; 5-Year TIPS Spread Indicating 2.57%

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, 5-Year Breakeven Inflation Rate, commonly referred to as the TIPS Spread, a measure of expected inflation derived from 5-Year Treasury Constant Maturity Securities and 5-Year Treasury Inflation-Indexed Constant Maturity Securities, for the 5 years ending 5/31/21 Above is the chart for the 5-Year breakeven inflation…

Dear Mr. President: Landlords urge Biden to let eviction ban expire

Throughout the pandemic, landlords and real estate trade groups have filed lawsuits seeking to end the federal eviction ban. So far, none has succeeded. Now, with the moratorium set to end on June 30, property owners are asking the Biden administration not to issue another extension. Twelve organizations representing landlords, brokers and developers sent a…

Miami’s First Large-Scale Opportunity Zone Project Begins Leasing

Miami-based multifamily developer The Estate Cos. and PTM Partners, a real estate investment and development firm with a focus on qualified opportunity zones, announced Monday that they have launched leasing at Soleste Grand Central in Overtown, which they described as Downtown Miami’s first large-scale opportunity zone project. Scott Meyer, chief…

Mall REIT Washington Prime Group files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy

In November, with mall owners getting crushed, Washington Prime Group CEO Lou Conforti said that bankruptcy was off the table. But in March, it was reported that the mall REIT was preparing for the filing. Now it has done the deed. Washington Prime Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Sunday. The company has secured $100 million of funding for day-to-day…

Related Group’s condo kings expand their realm

Getting burned twice in Las Vegas didn’t kill Related Group’s dream of national expansion. But it taught the megadeveloper the importance of boots on the ground. Miami condo king Jorge Pérez and his son Jon Paul are expanding their Related Group with a $13 billion pipeline of projects throughout the Americas, their boldest move beyond Florida since…

HFZ Capital off the hook for $6M in failed Shore Club South Beach deal

HFZ Capital Group is off the hook from paying $6 million to the planned operator of the Shore Club in South Beach, following litigation tied to the companies’ failed deal. HFZ Capital Group wanted to redevelop the property at 1901 Collins Avenue in Miami Beach into a condo-hotel, and signed luxury Brazilian hospitality brand Fasano to manage the revived…

TPG nabs Miami AC Marriott, Hampton Inn in Edgewater for $61M

TPG Real Estate Partners bought two hotels in Miami’s Edgewater neighborhood for $61 million. Investor TPG, through an affiliate, bought the AC Hotel Miami Midtown at 3400 Biscayne Boulevard and the next-door Hampton Inn & Suites at 3450 Biscayne Boulevard, records show. TPG bought the properties through its national…

Drive Shack bringing Puttery socializing and golf entertainment concept to Wynwood

Drive Shack Inc. (NYSE: DS), a leading owner and operator of golf-related leisure and entertainment businesses, announced today that it will bring Puttery, its newest competitive socializing and entertainment golf experience to Wynwood, an eclectic neighborhood in the core of Miami, Florida. Located approximately two miles from downtown Miami…

Moishe Mana expands downtown Miami assemblage with $27M purchase

Moishe Mana, the biggest private real estate owner in downtown Miami, bought two more buildings for $27.2 million. The properties add to his massive assemblage aimed at creating a tech hub. Records show 41 Flagler Realty, which is linked to Mana’s Wynwood convention center, bought the properties at 62 Northeast First Street and 41 East Flagler Street from…

Grove Isle legal battle ending, as developer rebrands planned waterfront condo project

After winning an appeals court decision that caps a lengthy legal battle, the developer of The Markers Grove Isle is moving forward with construction, and rebranding the planned waterfront condominium project as Vita. Construction is expected to begin in early 2022 after design tweaks, said John Shubin, the attorney for the developer, Grove Isle Associates, LLP.

North Miami studios, home to “Miami Vice” and “The Birdcage,” sells to developer that plans mixed-use project

North Miami Studios and two productions, “The Birdcage” and “Miami Vice” (Getty) The production studios, once home to “The Birdcage,” “Miami Vice,” “Something About Mary” and a number of other films and television shows, sold to a developer that plans a mixed-use project… paid $10.5 million for the 2.8-acre property at 12100 Northeast 16th Avenue in…

The share of US companies planning to slash their office space is plummeting

US companies that planned to downsize their office real estate during the pandemic are now rethinking their plans. Only 9% of large US companies, defined as 10,000 employees or more, anticipate their office portfolios will get “significantly smaller” over the next three years, according to a new report from CBRE, a commercial real estate company. That’s down from…

The Top 10 Tallest Buildings in Miami (You Can Live In)

If you’ve been visiting Miami over the years, one thing you’ve probably noticed is the buildings keep getting taller, and the skyline keeps growing. Ever since the FAA relaxed its height restrictions more than six years ago, Miami’s skyline has continued to elevate itself with glimmering designs of glass and light. The tallest residential building in Miami as of this post…

Seattle investors buy Fort Lauderdale, Oakland Park apartment buildings for $7M

Seattle-based investors bought three multifamily buildings with 48 units in Broward County for $7.25 million. Schulman Properties, based in Las Vegas, Nevada, sold the two buildings at 999 West Prospect Road in Oakland Park and the building across the street at 1007 West Prospect Road in Fort Lauderdale to Delaware-registered Jass 2 LLC, records show. The deal…

Cortland buys Deerfield Beach multifamily complex for $66M

Cortland bought a 226-unit Deerfield Beach multifamily complex for $66 million. Atlanta-based Cortland bought the 226-unit Indigo Station at 67 Southwest 12th Avenue from Palm Beach Gardens-based Ram Realty Advisors, records show. The deal breaks down to $291,814 per unit. Ram Realty, led by Casey Cummings, buys, renovates, manages and develops…

Hudson Capital, Barron Commercial tycoons buy Oakland Park shopping center for $10M

Real estate honchos Steven Hudson and Charles Ladd Jr. bought the Primavera Plaza in Oakland Park for $10 million, their second retail purchase in the city in as many weeks. Hudson, of Hudson Capital Group, and Ladd, of Barron Commercial Development, bought the property at 830 and 840 East Oakland Park Boulevard from ATID Investments, managed…

Core pays $19M for shopping center near FIU

Core paid $19 million for a shopping plaza near Florida International University’s Modesto A. Maidique Campus in west Miami-Dade County. The Miami-based real estate investor, through an affiliate, bought the retail property at 9720 Southwest Eighth Street from two sellers tied to Miami-based Orion Real Estate Group, records show. The seller bought the…

‘We Can’t Raise Rents Fast Enough’: South Florida Multifamily Market Soars (But So Do Costs)

In South Florida, where the population is booming and homeownership is out of reach for many, multifamily developers have been able to command high rents in their fully leased apartment complexes. But building new projects is challenging because land is only available between the ocean and the Everglades, and savvy sellers are not letting go of their…

Lynd pays $40M for Miami Gardens apartments

Lynd bought a Miami Gardens apartment complex for $40.1 million, marking the group’s second South Florida multifamily purchase this year. San Antonio, Texas-based Lynd purchased the 234-unit Parc Place Apartments at 17600 Northwest Fifth Avenue in an off-market deal, according to a news release. The price breaks down to $171,282 per unit.

Biden ends talks with GOP on infrastructure, turns to Plan B

Following a week of fruitless negotiations with Senate Republicans to fund a $1 trillion infrastructure plan, President Joe Biden ended the talks without a deal. The failed bargaining efforts concluded with a Tuesday call with Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, the lead Republican negotiator, the New York Times and other outlets reported. Republicans had long been…

Clevelander wins lawsuit against Miami Beach over alcohol rollback

Miami Beach’s attempt at curbing late-night partying by ending alcohol sales earlier was overturned in court. The decision is a win for businesses that opposed the rollback but bad news for developers who say the city needs to reinvent its image in the entertainment district. The Clevelander South Beach, a hotel with a restaurant and bar known for its all-day…

Miami Condo Building To Install World’s Largest, Tallest Automated Parking System

A New Jersey-based company has been contracted to install a robotic parking system in a 46-story condo building in Miami. It will be the largest and tallest automated guided vehicle, or AGV, parking system in the world, according to a May 26 announcement from Park Plus, which is taking over the job after a different parking provider allegedly installed a faulty…

Terra puts Bay Harbor Islands mixed-use dev site under contract

Terra has a development site along Bay Harbor Islands’ Kane Concourse under contract, with plans for a residential, office and retail project. Coconut Grove-based Terra, led by David Martin, intends to purchase the 2-acre vacant property at 1177 Kane Concourse from NR/Wharton Kane Concourse Property Owner, according to a letter filed with the town.

PMG Developing Condo Project With Miami ‘Ultraclub’

The $40M venue E11even Miami has been described as a strip club, “technically not a strip club,” a club where dancers just happen not to have tops on and “an R-rated version of the alien bar in the opening sequence of Star Wars, but add in a great sound system with strippers.” Its website defines it as an “ultraclub.” Whatever the definition, it is popular.

Black Lion doubles down on Miami with purchase of Wynwood Arcade, Amara at Paraiso

Robert Rivani’s Black Lion Investment Group purchased the Wynwood Arcade and the nearby Amara at Paraiso property in Miami’s Edgewater for more than $25 million combined, as the firm doubles down on South Florida. The two sales mark another sign of rising demand for retail and restaurant properties in Miami. East End Capital sold the Wynwood…

Daniel Sundheim’s D1 Capital Partners inks 10-year Coconut Grove office lease

Daniel Sundheim’s D1 Capital Partners is the latest investment firm to plant a flag in Miami. The New York City-based hedge fund signed a 10-year, 25,000-square-foot office lease at Related Group’s new building in Coconut Grove, where the developer is now based. The building, at 2850 Tigertail Avenue, is now fully leased, according to a release. D1 lost $4 billion, or…

Miami-Dade gets rent check from casino giant Genting for $10 million

Miami-Dade got a big check in the mail last week: $10 million from the Genting Group as part of the Malaysian casino giant’s nearly century-long rental of space above an Omni bus station north of downtown Miami. The one-time payment precedes planned construction of a 36-story hotel and retail center on Northeast 14th Terrace. The county and Genting…

Coral Gables turning up the volume at downtown eateries

A Coral Gables ordinance to allow outdoor live amplified music on private ground level for private establishments in the Central Business District has gotten a preliminary go-ahead.  During Tuesday’s city commission meeting, city officials voted 4-1 to move forward with an ordinance that would create an additional exemption to the city’s noise ordinance allowing…

Property Appraiser lists Miami-Dade taxable values as up 3.6% countywide

Countywide taxable property values in Miami-Dade rose 3.6% last year, according to an estimate by Property Appraiser Pedro Garcia. The estimate includes both new and old construction. Properties that existed a year ago as a group rose 1.9% over the period, an increase of $6.28 billion in value, Mr. Garcia’s estimate shows. The rest of the increase was attributed…

Battle for their apartments: Hamilton on the Bay tenants in Miami’s Edgewater fight Aimco’s lease terminations

Hamilton on the Bay Tenants of a prized multifamily property in Miami’s Edgewater are fighting back after their landlord notified them that their leases are being terminated, The Real Deal has learned. Tenants of the Hamilton on the Bay apartment building are being asked to leave by July 16, according to a lease termination letter obtained by TRD. Aimco…

Miami Beach board approves pharmacy for North Beach project

Developer Aria Mehrabi’s future 12-story mixed-use project will now include a pharmacy, in spite of a recommendation from Miami Beach’s planning department to reject the request, due to its proximity to another drugstore. By a vote of 6 to 0, Miami Beach’s Zoning Board of Adjustments on Friday approved variances that will enable a CVS pharmacy to…

Ubiica, Maven buy Coral Gables office building, parking lot for $9 million

Ubiica and Maven Real Estate bought a Coral Gables office building and parking lot for $8.7 million. The partners bought the two-story property at 1533 Sunset Drive and the 10,000-square-foot parking north across San Ignacio Avenue, said Alejandro Salazar, Ubiica’s manager. The seller is Winter Garden, Florida-based Windsor Investments, managed by…

Miami among cities where the most self-storage space was built in the past decade

The self-storage sector added about 300 million square feet of new supply over the last decade, as the number of apartments grew and the size of each unit fell. People in the self-storage industry often talk about the “four Ds” that drive demand for their business: death, divorce, dislocation, and downsizing (or disaster, or density, depending on who you ask). The past…

Miami Makes List of Top 10 Markets for Self Storage Rent Growth

The self storage sector has established itself as a strong performer, despite troublesome market conditions over the past year. Thanks to its countercyclical nature and low sensitivity to changes in the economy, the sector could capitalize on the demand fueled by the pandemic-induced relocations and displacements across the country, leading to…

8.5-Acre Medley Development Site In Booming South Florida Industrial Market Purchased

Hilco Redevelopment Partners (HRP), a unit of Hilco Global, just announced the purchase of an industrial development site located at 11002 Northwest South River Drive in Medley. The 8.5-acre property is part of a larger 25-acre Superfund site which has previously undergone corrective action. HRP has current plans to develop the site into a state-of-the-art…

What Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan holds for real estate

President Joe Biden offered a series of concessions to Senate Republicans this week, the White House said, as he negotiates passage of his $1 trillion infrastructure deal — a plan that would have huge implications for the real estate industry. In an Oval Office meeting, Biden proposed that a new corporate version of the alternative minimum tax would be imposed…

Economic recovery quickens from crawling to merely slow

The economic recovery can’t get here fast enough. Employers added back 559,000 jobs to the U.S. economy in May, more than double the number in the previous month. While that is confirmation that the economy is recovering from the pandemic, it’s coming back at a slower pace than economists had predicted. The gains were “lower than anticipated…”

Restoration Hardware to open Miami Design District store

Restoration Hardware, now known as RH, is planting a flag in the Miami Design District, The Real Deal has learned. The high-end furnishings retailer inked a lease at Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance and the Comras Company’s buildings on the west end of the Design District, according to sources. Michael Comras confirmed that Restoration Hardware…

Retail Real Estate Leases – Q2 2021

The South Florida retail real estate market is witnessing quite a bit of activity despite the influence and presence of the pandemic, and it seems it is turning the page. There are several factors for this, but two primary reasons are: 1) Florida is back in business and has been open earlier compared to other…

The Fed: A V-shaped recovery : Tracking GDP in the G-7 through COVID-19

The pandemic-driven recession started in the first quarter of 2020. After a  year, it appears the recession is nearly at an end. The FRED graph above tracks this downturn in GDP for countries in the G-7, all indexed to 100 in Q4 2019. The full legend is large, so we’ve removed it from this graph. Simply mouse over the graph to read the series titles and identify…

The Fed: Beige Book Contacts Figure Labor Shortages Will Improve by Fall

Some Atlanta Fed business contacts expect worker shortages, particularly for lower-wage jobs, to become less troublesome by the fall. Already, pressure to increase wages across the Southeast picked up from April through the middle of May, most notably for low-skilled positions, according to the new Beige Book report of regional economic conditions…

Miami board delays vote on revised Little Haiti mixed-use project

The development team of Sabal Palm Village aims to replace low-rise Design Place with a high-rise community with public spaces and bike paths. For the ninth time, the city of Miami’s Planning Zoning and Appeals Board deferred voting on a controversial mixed-use, high-rise project that would exceed 5 million square feet. It’s slated to replace the 512-unit Design…

Despite Shutdown, Brightline Still Drives South Florida’s ‘Rail Estate’ Market

A pandemic-driven suspension of the Brightline train service has endured for more than a year, yet it hasn’t derailed real estate investment near its South Florida stations. Brightline, which launched its passenger rail service in 2018, currently connects Miami to Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, at downtown train stations in each city. Service, which was suspended…

Blackstone, Starwood up bid for Extended Stay America

Blackstone Group and Starwood Capital Group are once again trying to woo Extended Stay America’s shareholders. The two firms announced Tuesday that they would increase their offer to buy the hotel operator to $20.50 per share, Bloomberg News reported. In March, they agreed to buy the company at $19.50 per share. But some of Extended Stay’s shareholders…

Investors pour $10B into life sciences real estate this year

The future of the office sector remains largely uncertain at this point post-pandemic, but there’s one segment that continues to see huge gains. Investors have spent more than $10 billion on buying life sciences buildings this year, Bloomberg News reported, citing data from Real Capital Analytics. That’s about 4 percent of all global commercial real estate transactions…

This startup creates community to help landlords retain tenants

A property tech startup is betting that New Yorkers, after a year spent huddled inside, could use a little help meeting and mingling with their neighbors. The firm, Venn, just raised $60 million in venture capital — funds earmarked, in part, to build out its New York footprint. The company launched its eponymous app in 2017 as a hyperlocal social network…

South Florida’s Outlying Markets, From Belle Glade To Treasure Coast, Heat Up

For years, economic developers in Palm Beach County pitched the rural Glades region as an up-and-coming area for industrial development. And for years, splashy deals failed to materialize. That recently changed, when Apopka-based Finfrock, a maker of precast concrete buildings, bought 94 acres on the site of a former state prison in Belle Glade, located just off…

Miami commissioners approve West Grove bed-and-breakfast

A bed-and-breakfast complex planned for the West Grove is moving forward, despite neighboring homeowners’ objections to rezoning the development site due to fears of gentrification. The Miami City Commission last week voted in favor of changing the zoning for six lots near 3227 Charles Avenue in Miami’s Coconut Grove from single-family residentia…

Aventura office complex trades for $93M

Real estate investor and motivational speaker Grant Cardone bought the Harbour Centre at Aventura office complex for $93 million, The Real Deal has learned. Cardone bought the offices at 18851 Northeast 29th Avenue next door to his 10X headquarters. He envisions merging the two properties into a walkable mixed-use campus with affordable housing, he said.

Michael Swerdlow’s Block 55 in Overtown lands nearly $8 million affordable housing grant

A Michael Swerdlow-led mixed-use project in Miami’s Overtown neighborhood at 249 NW 6th Street is getting local government financial assistance for its affordable housing component. Miami city commissioners on Thursday unanimously approved awarding an additional $2.5 million grant to Block 55, after previously giving the project $5 million last year.

Miami-Dade looks to a Center for Genetics of the Americas

While Miami-Dade is already working to attract genetics-focused organizations and businesses, more can still be done, including the possible creation of a Center for Genetics of the Americas, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava’s administration says. The genetics industry – which encompasses life science, healthcare, agriculture and genomic research, among others…

Mixed-income housing across from Marlins Park wins OK

A plan for new construction of an attainable mixed-income residential development called Paseo del Rio earned the praise of a City of Miami review board. The seven-story, 182-unit building is planned for county-owned property at 1401 NW Seventh St., across from Marlins ballpark. The Urban Development Review Board unanimously recommended approval…

Underdeck connector to follow vast signature bridge/I-395 project

As Downtown Miami approaches another busy summer abuzz in construction, steady progress continues on the I-395/SR 836/I-95 Design-Build Project. An added benefit to improved freeway surfaces is the plan to reconnect areas to downtown, including Overtown, Edgewater and the Omni neighborhood. Miami commissioners approved the first step…

Micro-mobility infrastructure plan targets downtown Miami

A micro-mobility infrastructure project half funded by electric scooter fees could be coming to downtown Miami, adding about three miles of protected bicycle and scooter lanes and laying the groundwork for more lanes in the future. The green-patterned pavement lanes, which would come with concrete barriers separating them from traffic, would run from…

Lack Of Land Has Industrial Developers Looking To Take Over Florida’s Golf Courses, Lakes And The Everglades

As senior vice president for Duke Realty, Stephanie Rodriguez oversees a portfolio of industrial properties in South and Central Florida, a geography with limited space and shrinking new development options. “We’re all fighting over the same pieces of dirt,” Rodriguez said during a May 12 Bisnow South Florida Industrial Update event. “Industrial is the…”

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

January 2011 to April 2021 Sales to List Price Ratio for Commercial/Industrial Property within Miami-Dade County, Florida and Priced from $1 Million to $10 Million as Recorded in Miami MLS The chart above shows the sales to list price ratio as reported by the Miami MLS for improved commercial real estate (MLS classification: commercial…)

Ugo Colombo’s The Collection nabs $65M construction loan for second Coral Gables dealership

Ugo Colombo’s The Collection luxury dealership scored a $64.5 million construction loan for a second Coral Gables location. The Collection, led by Colombo and president and CEO Ken Gorin, is building the Jaguar and Land Rover dealership on about 2 acres at 125, 155 and 163 South Dixie Highway. JP Morgan Chase Bank is the lender, records show. Jaguar sales will be transferred to the new location from The Col…

Mila Group, partners plan hotel and restaurants on Miami River site

A boutique hotel, beach club and two restaurants are planned for a Miami River site, four years after plans for a Sushi Samba eatery fell through. Miami Beach restaurateur Gregory Galy’s Mila Group, in partnership with developer Pacific Star Capital and a Spanish investor, bought the property at 40 Southwest North River Drive from an affiliate of the Melo Group…

LeFrak buys Normandy Isle apartments in Miami Beach for $25M

LeFrak bought the Marina Del Rey apartments in Miami Beach’s Normandy Isle for $24.5 million. The Finvarb family sold the 108-unit waterfront complex at 1006 and 1022 Bay Drive. The sale breaks down to 226,852 per unit. Calum Weaver and Garrett Pordes of Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller in the deal. Marina Del Rey, which varies in…

$24.5M Sale Arranged of Marina Del Rey Apartments in Miami Beach

Cushman & Wakefield has arranged the $24.5 million sale of Marina Del Rey, a 108-unit waterfront apartment community in Miami Beach. Calum Weaver, Garrett Pordes, Robert Given, Zach Sackley and Troy Ballard of Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller, Finvarb Group, in the transaction. An entity doing business as 1006 Bay Drive LLC was the…

Anatomy Opens New 15,000 SF Location at Regatta Harbour in Coconut Grove

Anatomy has opened a new location at Regatta Harbour, a 9.5-acre mixed-use development underway in Miami. Anatomy is a progressive fitness community that integrates exercise programing with wellness and beauty. The Regatta Harbour location will be Anatomy’s fourth location in South Florida… Regatta Harbour’s first tenant… at 3385 Pan American Drive…

Black Lion Investment Group Acquires Amara at Paraiso Restaurant Property in Miami for $12.1M

Los Angeles-based Black Lion Investment Group has acquired a restaurant building in Miami known as Amara at Paraiso. The seller, Related Group, sold the property to Black Lion for $12.1 million. Fabio Faerman and Sebastian Faerman of Miami-based FA Commercial represented both parties in the transaction. Amara at Paraiso is a 12,300-square-foot…

Starved for relief: Restaurants seek $76B, far more than budgeted

The Small Business Administration is dishing out rent relief to restaurants, but many figure to go hungry. The demand for federal pandemic relief has far exceeded the amount of money available, so some restaurants, bars and other food businesses might not receive it, the New York Times reported. Restaurants could apply for relief starting May 3, and applications closed…

Miami Market Update: Development Pipeline Holds Steady

Miami’s under construction office stock has expanded to 2.4 million square feet by the end of April, registering a slight spike compared to March, according to CommercialEdge data, with most projects poised for completion by the end of the year. Under construction and planned stock amounted to 8.1 percent of the market’s total office footprint, down…

Flurry of Lease Deals Totals 70 KSF at Miami Tower

Three law firms and a federal government agency have signed a flurry of lease commitments totaling more than 70,000 square feet at Miami Tower located at 100 SE 2nd Street, Sumitomo Corp. of Americas’ landmark, 47-story office asset in downtown Miami. Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani LLP inked a new, 9,726-square-foot lease at the I.M. Pei-designed skyscraper…

An Update on the South Florida Hotel Industry’s Post-COVID Recovery

COVID-19 caused a massive downturn in South Florida’s hotel industry, but an uneven recovery is underway  It goes without saying that COVID-related lockdowns and panic caused a significant slowdown in South Florida’s service economy. Tourism, conventions, and general business travel are vital to the region’s financial stability, given the money they bring in…

Brookfield buys Comcast-leased Miramar building for $29 million

Brookfield Property Group paid $29 million for a Miramar building that is fully leased to Comcast. Brookfield, through an affiliate, bought the property at 15800 Southwest 25th Street from 15800 Building LLC, managed by Arturo Alvarez Demalde of AD4 private equity firm in South Florida, records show. Steve Medwin and Nick Wigoda of Newmark were the…

Feldman Equities buys Fort Lauderdale office complex for $59 million

Feldman Equities bought the Pinnacle Corporate Park office complex in Fort Lauderdale for $58.9 million. The Tampa-based investor bought the two buildings at 500 and 550 West Cypress Creek Road from a fund managed by DRA Advisors in joint venture with Banyan Street Capital, according to a news release. The deal breaks down to $226 per square foot. Brokers for…

Hudson Capital, Barron Commercial honchos buy Oakland Park shopping center for $23M

Longtime South Florida developers Steven Hudson and Charles Ladd Jr. bought an Oakland Park shopping center for $23.4 million. Records show Hudson and Ladd, through an affiliate, bought the Festival Centre at 3400-3570 North Andrews Avenue from Sela LLC, managed by investor Amos Chess. The buyers secured a $12 million loan from Starwood Mortgage…

ShareMD buys Boynton Beach medical office building for nearly $7M

ShareMD bought a Boynton Beach medical office building for $6.5 million, as it continues to invest in healthcare space. Alpharetta, Georgia-based ShareMD bought the building at 2828 South Seacrest Boulevard from Delray Beach-based Redfearn Capital, according to a news release. Elliot LaBreche and Abbe Kind of Easton & Associates represented ShareMD. The 31,747…

LIVWRK in contract to buy Wynwood assemblage from East End Capital

LIVWRK, a Brooklyn-based development firm, is making its first foray into Miami commercial real estate, The Real Deal has learned. The company, led by founder and CEO Asher Abehsera, is under contract to buy a 2.5-acre assemblage in Wynwood, according to sources. East End Capital is selling the properties at 2400 and 2500 North Miami Avenue in Miami. LIVWRK…

Ugo Colombo’s CMC Group sells Brickell Flatiron sales center to Argentine investors

Ugo Colombo’s CMC Group sold the Brickell Flatiron’s sales center for $6.5 million to Argentine investors who plan to build a retail project on the site. The 11,088-square-foot triangle-shaped lot at 1101 South Miami Avenue is immediately south of Brickell Flatiron. CMC affiliate BP Development Holdings LLC sold the property. The buyer is Retail Ocean LLC, according…

Sky-high lumber prices are starting to impact apartment construction

Multifamily developers are starting to feel the pain of sky-high lumber costs. The price of softwood lumber jumped 83 percent from a year ago, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing data from CoStar Advisory Services. That jump has led to an increase in prices for single-family homes, and now it’s trickling down to developers of apartment buildings, too.

Chart: Miami-Dade Population Shrunk in 2020 for First Time Since 1993

Put me down as surprised, even skeptical. Per the St. Louis Fed, for the first time since 1993 the population shrunk year over year, from 2,711,612 in 2019 to 2,707,303 in 2020. Who knew? This also follows negligible growth in the prior two years. You wouldn’t know it in downtown Miami or in any of the county’s urban centers. Miami’s central business district has…

Mast Capital brings on JV partner Rockpoint to develop Miami Beach condo project

Rockpoint Group bought a stake in Mast Capital’s long-planned Miami Beach condo project. An affiliate of Mast Capital sold the property at 4000 Alton Road to the joint venture for $18.2 million, records show. Coconut Grove-based Mast Capital, led by Camilo Miguel Jr., secured approval from the Miami Beach City Commission in November for a modified version…

22-Story Resi Tower Opening Soon with  312 Transit-Oriented Rentals Connected to Metrorail

Miami’s newest transit-oriented apartments are now available for lease at CORE Link at Douglas, a new 312-unit residential tower which will offer premium amenities, unmatched connectivity, and a central location near the City’s hottest shopping, dining and entertainment destinations. Slated to open in August at 3060 SW 37th Avenue, CORE will become the first…

Argentine architecture firm opening first U.S. office in Miami

Argentine architecture firm Hitzig Militello is opening its first office in the U.S. in Miami, in a bet on the city’s growth as a tech and hospitality hub. The firm, led by architects Fernando Hitzig and Leonardo Militello, will start operating out of the Minds coworking space at 114 Northwest 25th Street in Wynwood in the next month, Militello said. Plans are to eventually open…

Historic Miami Circle Park downtown closing for an upgrade

Miami Circle Park is about to get a long-awaited sprucing up. The park, situated at the confluence of the Miami River and Biscayne Bay, will be closed beginning June 7 while repairs and improvements are underway, said Horacio Stuart Aguirre, chair of the Miami River Commission. The park sits atop the Miami Circle, a 2,000-year-old, historically significant…

Influencers leading the charge in Miami’s tech boom

Miami’s tech boom is real, and as cutting-edge companies flee Silicon Valley, New York and other areas to join start-ups and investors here that are turning the “Magic City” into a prime innovation hub, some local influencers are leading the charge. And it’s likely none comes to mind sooner in that regard than Mayor Francis Suarez, who has courted…

Fintech Startup Nirvana Technology Signs Lease in Wynwood

Miami will soon welcome a new Silicon Valley tenant. Fintech startup Nirvana Technology, headed by tech veteran Bill Harris, signed a three-year lease for 3,700 square feet in Miami’s Wynwood district. Asking rent for the office at 120 NE 27th Street was $38 per square foot, landlord Bill Rammos…

Miami Comes in at #4 on List of Top 10 Markets for Self Storage Rent Growth

On a national level, street-rate rents rose 8 percent for the average 10×10 non-climate-controlled and 9.5 percent for climate-controlled units of similar size, year-over-year as of April. Overall, annual street-rate performance was positive in all of the top markets tracked by Yardi Matrix, for both the standard 10×10 non-climate- and climate-controlled units…

Developers move fast to meet Miami’s growth needs

As Miami continues to rebound from the pandemic, developers are making their mark by building new towers and infrastructure to meet the current and future needs of the city. Rishi Kapoor, “Best of Miami: Leading Residential Comeback” nominee and founder and CEO of Location Ventures, said one leading developer worthy of recognizing is Terra…

Miami Beach hotel on Alton Road heads to foreclosure auction

The owners of the Variety Hotel are almost out of options. The property, at 1700 Alton Road, is heading to a foreclosure auction June 7, nearly a year after a company tied to BridgeInvest filed a foreclosure lawsuit against AC 1700 Alton Owner LLC over an allegedly unpaid $25 million loan. Adam Verner of New York-based Springhouse Partners and Chaim Cahane…

Lagniappe owner acquires Edgewater property & other restaurant news

Lagniappe owner David Tunnell paid $2.5 million to acquire the property he had been leasing since the bar and restaurant opened in 2012 in Edgewater. The deal included a roughly 2,500-square-foot building on a nearly 7,200-square-foot lot, according to Marcus & Millichap broker Jonathan De La Rosa. Tunnell was able to finance the deal using a…

South Florida’s hotel conundrum

The lights are still dark at the Diplomat Beach Resort, a sprawling 1,000-room oceanfront hotel in South Florida. More than a year after the pandemic began, conventions and business travelers — the lifeblood of such large properties — remain sparse. And cruises, which usually feed hordes of passengers to hotels, are still halted. While leisure travelers…

Hotel mogul Sam Nazarian’s new food venture inks office lease in Coconut Grove

SBE Entertainment Group founder Sam Nazarian is forging ahead with his ghost kitchens venture. Nazarian, who last year sold his remaining stake in SBE’s hotel business to French hospitality company Accor, inked a lease for his virtual kitchens platform C3. The company is taking 10,000-square-foot space at 3015 Grand Avenue in Miami’s Coconut Grove. The office…

Is e-commerce king? Retailers reflect on pandemic changes during earnings calls

Many people are excited for shoppers to return, but many have switched to e-commerce. Amid rising vaccination numbers and lifting of Covid-related capacity restrictions nationwide, landlords are eager to see shoppers return to brick-and-mortar stores. But retailers may have different ideas. On their first-quarter earnings calls, executives of major retail brands said…

WeWork reports $2 billion in losses in Q1

WeWork’s financial troubles keep getting worse. The embattled co-working company reported $2.1 billion in losses in the first quarter, according to the Financial Times. WeWork also shed 200,000 members over the last year, about a quarter of its membership. Membership dipped to 490,000 in March, from 693,000 in March 2020. Adding to that, the firm has…

Shahab Karmely, Edgardo Defortuna team up on bulk condo buy at Brickell City Centre

Swire Properties sold the remaining condos at Brickell City Centre in Miami, allowing the developer to move forward with new projects in the area, The Real Deal has learned. A partnership between Shahab Karmely’s KAR Properties and Edgardo Defortuna’s Fortune International Group acquired the 81 units at Reach and Rise for an undisclosed amount, with plans…

Development trio plans 340-unit multifamily complex near Homestead

A mixed-use, multifamily project with up to 340 units is to rise north of Homestead on land now used mostly as a scrap yard. The development trio of Jose Canero, Simon Ferro and Carlos Fernandez plans to build the complex on 5.4 acres at 29055 Southwest 162nd Avenue, after scoring county zoning approval this week. The project will include 3,000 square…

Lack Of Land Has Industrial Developers Looking To Take Over Florida’s Golf Courses, Lakes And The Everglades

As senior vice president for Duke Realty, Stephanie Rodriguez oversees a portfolio of industrial properties in South and Central Florida, a geography with limited space and shrinking new development options. “We’re all fighting over the same pieces of dirt,” Rodriguez said during a May 12 Bisnow South Florida Industrial Update event. “… Industrial is the darling…”

Miami board approves projects in Wynwood and Little Havana

Miami’s Urban Development Review board approved The Collective Wynwood, a co-living project in Wynwood at 2825 NW 2nd Ave, and Paseo Del Rio, the Related Group’s mixed-income apartment building at 1401 NW 7th St near Marlins Park… an eight- to 12-story co-living building with 180 residential units, 70 lodging rooms and 9,508 square feet of… retail.

Alto Real Estate buys Lincoln Road retail building for $19M

Alto Real Estate Funds bought a Lincoln Road building for $18.9 million, marking the third South Beach retail deal so far this month. Gombinski Properties sold the property at 900-904 Lincoln Road in Miami Beach to Alto Real Estate, which offers several funds to investors, according to deal broker Ran Ziv. Ziv and Sean Shahad Ziv, both of GLT Group Brokerage…

ALTO Real Estate Funds Purchases Lincoln Road Retail Property in Miami Beach for $18.9M

ALTO Real Estate Funds has purchased a 7,142-square-foot retail property located in Miami Beach for $18.9 million. The property is situated along Lincoln Road, Miami Beach’s high street retail corridor. The seller was Gombinski Properties, who bought the property in 1985. Ran Ziv and Sean Shahar Ziv of GLT Group Brokerage represented the seller and the buyer.

Saks CEO: Work-from-home is “culture killer,” office must be default

Many companies are grappling with what office culture will look like in a post-pandemic world. For Saks, one thing is certain: The office will go back to being its primary workplace, with employees expected back at its Brookfield Place headquarters in September, the New York Times reported. The company’s CEO, Marc Metrick, aims to make a statement about…

House Democrats consider curtailing Biden’s inheritance tax plan

The Biden administration proposed dramatically expanding the inheritance tax on wealthy Americans. House Democrats are pumping the brakes. Democratic lawmakers are discussing a range of alternatives that would weaken Biden’s ambitious plans for taxing estates’ capital gains, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. In an effort to finance social programs as part…

Seagis Property Group pays $8 million for Medley industrial building with cold storage

The warehouse property in Medley (Google Maps) Seagis Property Group bought a Medley warehouse with cold storage space for $7.9 million. The Conshohocken, Pennsylvania-based logistic real estate investor bought the vacant building at 12800 Northwest 113th Court from Land Quest Enterprises, according to the brokers for the deal. Jose Sasson and…

CRE investors hedge bets in suburbs despite hope for urban office revival

Commercial real estate investors have high hopes that major office markets will return to normal in the near future, but most aren’t betting on it just yet. Nearly three-quarters of real estate industry professionals believe that office leasing velocity in major cities will return to pre-pandemic levels within the next four years, according to a new survey…

Regal Acquisitions pays $34 million for CVS-anchored retail at Boulan South Beach hotel

Regal Acquisitions bought the CVS-anchored retail at the Boulan South Beach hotel for $34 million. The New York City-based investment firm bought the two-story retail at 2000 Collins Avenue and the retail at the garage at 237 20th Street from an affiliate of PGIM Real Estate and Madison Capital, records show. Regal Acquisitions took out a $22.1 million a…

The return to the workplace is re-shaping the workspace

As more Americans get vaccinated, the return-to-office movement is gathering steam. Companies that a month ago were merely speculating about recalling workers are now setting firm deadlines. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon told staff to start reporting to the office part-time by July, a move widely interpreted as a signal to other Wall Street firms that…

Florida Realtors organization sues CDC “landlord-in-chief” over eviction ban

The largest Realtors association in the country is the latest to sue the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over its ban on evictions, which is set to expire June 30. Florida Realtors filed the federal suit, alleging many of its 200,000 members who handle residential leases have been “detrimentally impacted…”

Only 14% of restaurants closed permanently because of pandemic

The number of restaurant casualties resulting from the pandemic may be far less than expected. The National Restaurant Association found that 90,000 restaurants — approximately 14 percent of all eateries — across the U.S. have closed permanently or long-term, according to Bloomberg News. It was once predicted that one-third would shutter. In a normal year…

Fleet of LNG cruise ships anticipated at PortMiami

PortMiami expects an influx of liquefied natural gas-powered cruise ships to arrive through 2027, and Miami-Dade commissioners want Mayor Daniella Levine Cava’s office to look at how best to accommodate the new vessels’ needs. Commissioners in committee this month unanimously advanced a resolution by Rebeca Sosa that would direct Ms. Levine…

MMG Equity buys Plantation shopping center for $12M

MMG Equity Partners bought a Plantation retail center for $12 million. The Pinecrest-based investor bought Plantation Square at 1723-1797 North University Drive. The firm plans $2.4 million in capital improvements, including to the facade, stucco, lighting and landscaping, said Marcos Puente, MMG Equity Partners’ acquisitions director. Pacific National…

Looking Into the Future of Cities

“Unprecedented” was and continues to be one of the most frequently used words to describe the current state of affairs in the world. The pandemic has become the number one threat to the health and well-being of each person, and its impact will be felt for years to come. COVID-19 has also played the role of an accelerator of the trends that were already…

A Q&A With Developer Yair Levy on Re-imagining Downtown Miami’s Diamond & Jewelry District

Why did you decide to focus not only on the Miami Real Estate market but specifically in the diamond and jewelry district in downtown Miami?
When I began looking for commercial real estate investment opportunities in Miami, one of my first stops was in the jewelry and diamond district in the heart of downtown. I was shocked to find that some of the most…

South Florida’s Outlying Markets, From Belle Glade to Treasure Coast, Heat Up

For years, economic developers in Palm Beach County pitched the rural Glades region as an up-and-coming area for industrial development. And for years, splashy deals failed to materialize. That recently changed, when Apopka-based Finfrock, a maker of precast concrete buildings, bought 94 acres on the site of a former state prison in Belle Glade, located just off…

MMG Equity Partners Acquires Plantation Square for $12 Million

MMG Equity Partners has acquired Plantation Square, a 65,796 sf retail strip center located in Plantation, FL., for $12,000,000 or $182 psf.  The property is located at 1723-1797 N University Drive, Plantation, FL., Pacific National Bank provided the buyer with an $10,157,000 acquisition and construction loan. Plantation Square…

Kushner Companies wins approval for four-tower mixed-use project in downtown Fort Lauderdale

Kushner Companies won approval to bring a four-tower, mixed-use development to downtown Fort Lauderdale, with 1,300 apartments, office and retail, and possibly a hotel. Construction of the Broward Boulevard project is expected to start in the first quarter of 2022 and finish in phases in 2026, Laurent Morali, president of New York-based Kushner Companies…

Mesirow buys Fort Lauderdale multifamily complex for $84M

Mesirow Financial bought a Fort Lauderdale multifamily complex for $83.5 million. The Chicago-based financial services firm bought Elan 16Forty at 1600-1700 East Sunrise Boulevard from GS Sunrise Subsidiary, an affiliate of Greystar and PGIM Real Estate, according to records. Charleston, South Carolina-based Greystar, led by Bob Faith…

Related Companies buys West Palm Beach office tower for $175M

Related Companies bought the CityPlace Tower in downtown West Palm Beach for $175 million, marking the company’s second major office purchase there this year. Related, led by Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, bought the 18-story building at 525 Okeechobee Boulevard from CPT Equity, an affiliate of Greenwich, Connecticut-based W. R. Berkley…

Related Group sells Royal Palm Beach apartments for $119M

The complex at 10900 Town Circle is shown with (from left) Group chair and CEO Jorge Pérez and President Jon Paul Pérez and Pantzer Properties co-CEOs Jason and Jordan Pantzer, The Related Group sold a Royal Palm Beach multifamily complex for $119.4 million. New York-based Pantzer Properties, through an affiliate, bought the 392-unit community…

Related Cos.’ $175M Buying Spree in West Palm Beach

Related Cos. has expanded its downtown West Palm Beach, Fla., office footprint with the $175 million purchase of CityPlace Tower, as first reported by the South Florida Business Journal and confirmed by public records. The seller, W.R. Berkley Corp., picked up the 18-story, 297,652-square-foot asset in 2014, for $150 million, according to…

Bill Seidle’s Nissan dealership buys Doral building for $16M

A Nissan dealership bought a Doral building where it operates its service center for $16 million. An affiliate of Bill Seidle’s Nissan, which sells and repairs vehicles, bought the property at 10688 Northwest 12th Street from The Miami International Grantor Trust, according to public records. The trust, whose trustee is accounting firm DiSanto, Priest & Company…

Multifamily developer buys piece of Little Havana assemblage

A market-rate multifamily developer paid $15 million for land in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood. Premium Development bought the 2.3-acre property at 700 West Flagler Street from Presidente Supermarkets, according to a broker involved in the deal, Carlos Fausto Miranda of Fausto Commercial. Premium Development, an Austrian company that has…

13th Floor Investments, Adler Group to Open 22-Story Apartment Tower in Miami

Developers 13th Floor Investments and Adler Group have opened leasing for CORE Link at Douglas, a new 312-unit residential tower underway in Miami. Slated to open in August at 3060 SW 37th Aveenue, CORE will become the first tower to open at Link at Douglas, a seven-acre mixed-use development located adjacent to Miami’s Metrorail and The Underline…

In Coconut Grove — Miami’s ‘Neighborhood With A Soul’ — Retail Is Reimagined

When retail plaza CocoWalk opened in Miami’s Coconut Grove neighborhood in 1990, the three-story, open-air mall was the place to stop for a fro-yo, a fruity cocktail or some khakis. Planet Hollywood, Cheesecake Factory, Gap — big retail tenants all cycled through over the years. Now, as CocoWalk emerges from a multimillion-dollar renovation and another…

South Florida Retail Real Estate Summary: Leases, Sales & Construction Projects

Market Snapshot for South Florida Retail Real Estate A summary of the statistical highlights, latest retail transactions, vacancy / lease trends, and current market activity for South Florida commercial real estate focusing on Miami-Dade County. The retail real estate report is updated every quarter by our CRE experts. The analysis is derived and compiled from…

Eichner plans waterfront condo projects in Bay Harbor Islands

Continuum South Beach developer Ian Bruce Eichner acquired two waterfront sites from Bay Harbor Islands-based Taubco, with plans to build two condo projects. Eichner’s Continuum Company paid $29.5 million for the land at 9201 and 9461 East Bay Harbor Drive, according to a press release. He’s planning to build two buildings with a combined 142 units…

Miami Beach “declared war” on nightlife, Clevelander alleges in lawsuit

The Clevelander South Beach’s owner is suing the city of Miami Beach, alleging that the rollback of alcohol-serving hours, the removal of noise exemptions, and the closure to vehicular traffic on its street have ruined its multimillion-dollar investment at the Art Deco hotel on Ocean Drive. The lawsuit comes in response to the rollback of alcohol-serving hours…

Downtown Miami dev site zoned for 80-story tower hits the market

The assemblage in downtown Miami A downtown Miami investor is looking to sell his assemblage near Miami Dade College’s Wolfson campus. The 1-acre assemblage at 222 Northeast First Avenue, and 50 and 60 Northeast Third Street, hit the market unpriced. The three lots are zoned T6-80-O, which means they can be developed into an 80-story tower, or even…

Wynwood project’s design returns to win Round Two

A plan to construct a 12-story building containing commercial space and workforce housing in Wynwood garnered the approval of the Wynwood Design Review Committee after some recommended changes were made. The owner-developer, New Urban Development LLC, plans to construct View 29 at 2901 NW Second Ave. At its April meeting the committee…

New construction OK’d at 70-year-old MiMo motel

A 70-year-old motel in the MiMo or Miami Modern Historic District will be allowed some new construction after a recent decision of the city’s Historic and Environmental Preservation Board. At its May meeting the board unanimously approved a request from Domingo Rodriguez, on behalf of owner Sandip Patel, to make alterations to the motel at 6200 Biscayne…

Estate Companies scores $76M construction loan for North Miami Beach apartments

The Estate Companies will start building a North Miami Beach apartment project, after scoring a $76 million construction loan. The South Miami-based group is developing the 367-unit Soleste NoMi Beach on 1.8 waterfront acres at 16395 Biscayne Boulevard, according to a news release. Little Rock, Arkansas-based Bank OZK is the lender. The 23-story…

Estate Cos. Lands $76M Loan for Miami Project

The Estate Cos. has secured a $76 million construction loan for its latest luxury Miami-area community. JLL’s Brian Gaswirth and Michael DiCosimo brokered the construction financing for Soleste NoMi Beach between the developer and lender, Bank OZK. The 23-story community is expected to break ground this quarter and will span 685,957 square feet. The luxury…

Ocean Drive property owned by Gloria and Emilio Estefan lists for $45M

It’s time for the listing agents of an Ocean Drive property owned by Gloria and Emilio Estefan to get on their feet and make a sale happen. The Estefans listed the mixed-use commercial building at 820 Ocean Drive in Miami Beach for $45 million, an online listing shows. They’ve owned the Shore Park Hotel property for nearly 30 years. It is the longtime home…

Developers’ attempts to change Opportunity Zone boundaries fail

Developers who had hoped for potential expansion of Opportunity Zones won’t be getting their way. The Internal Revenue Services announced last week that the boundaries of about 8,700 Opportunity Zones “were established at the time they were designated and are not subject to change,” Bloomberg News reported. Developers and investors had lobbied…

Doral Seeks To Take Over Business-Rich County Lands

Doral wants to absorb two square miles on its southwestern corner that contain big-name commercial and industrial tenants. Miami-Dade is now reviewing the annexation request. If the county approves Doral’s application, business additions to the city will include tenants at 436-acre Beacon Lakes Industrial Park, which hosts distribution centers…

Tibor Hollo, Pam Liebman and Housing Trust Group latest to donate to Miami mayor’s campaign

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez’s public relations campaign is continuing to pay off for his run for re-election. Since mid April, Suarez has raised an additional $777,000 from real estate, healthcare, tech and private equity, according to state and local campaign finance records. That brings his total raised via his campaign and his political action committee, Miami…

Demand for short-term rentals surges past pre-pandemic levels

It’s gearing up to be the best summer ever — for short-term vacation rentals. Last month, demand for short-term rentals was 5.4 percent greater than in the same period of 2019, according to data from AirDNA reported by Inman, and 66.4 percent more than last year. Read more Bonkers season on tap for summer vacation rentals Covid-19 brings single-family rentals…

Deco Capital moves forward with new version of long-planned Sunset Harbour mixed-use development

A mixed-use development backed by the family office of Marc Rowan, the billionaire co-founder of Apollo Global Management, is moving forward in Miami Beach’s Sunset Harbour neighborhood. Deco Capital Group secured Miami Beach commission approval on Wednesday for its latest iteration of the project, now called Eighteen Sunset. The five-story building…

Fight Over Miami Curfew Takes On Racial Tone, As Business Owners Blame Hip-Hop Culture

The Miami Beach City Commission on Wednesday voted 4-3 to roll back alcohol serving times from 5 a.m. to 2 a.m. in the beachfront Entertainment District along famous Ocean Drive. It will affect businesses on Ocean Drive and Collins Avenue from Fifth to 16th streets. The issue pitted some of Miami’s top developers and investors against one another. But it also…

Cold-storage to classrooms: School pays $13M for Doral warehouse, retrofitting as campus

A private school bought a Doral warehouse for $13.2 million, with plans to retrofit it and reopen the facility as a campus next year. Shelton Academy, a Catholic school for students pre-K through high school, bought the property at 9455 Northwest 40th Street Road. It was previously used as cold-storage by food distributor Swiss Chalet Fine Foods, according to a broker…

Miami Beach residents rally against proposed hotel in Sunset Harbour

The Miami Beach City Commission moved forward with approving a zoning overlay district in Sunset Harbour that encourages office development, as some residents tried to stop a hotel project in the same neighborhood from being grandfathered in. The overlay district, which was passed on first reading at Wednesday’s meeting and will head to a second reading vote…

Location Ventures buys South Beach office, retail property for $20M

Location Ventures scooped up two commercial buildings along Miami Beach’s Washington Avenue for $20 million. The Coral Gables-based real estate investor bought the retail property at 1260 Washington Avenue and the adjacent office building at 1234 Washington Avenue from an affiliate of Miami Beach-based Fryd Properties, led by Jonathan Fryd, records…

Alcohol rollback on Ocean Drive pits developers against business owners

The Miami Beach City Commission’s vote to roll back alcohol hours in South Beach to 2 a.m. was met with support from prominent developers Jorge Pérez, Don Peebles and Barry Sternlicht, as well as the threat of a lawsuit from the Clevelander hotel. The commission voted to move up last call by three hours from 5 a.m. only in the mixed entertainment district…

CRE Confrontation Pressures Developers To Improve Pay, Conditions

About 10 janitors and union organizers on Monday afternoon confronted developers in Downtown Doral, Codina Partners’ massive mixed-use development near Miami, over alleged unfair labor practices. Seven janitors allegedly lost their jobs after they tried to organize a union and Codina switched cleaning contractors. Service Employees…

Regalia association scores $18M settlement in construction defects lawsuit

The Regalia condo association settled its lawsuit alleging a slew of construction and design defects and building code violations at the luxury oceanfront tower for $17.5 million. In 2018, the Regalia on the Ocean Condominium Association sued the developers, architect, general contractor and subcontractors over alleged flaws such as improperly…

Development site near MiamiCentral hits the market

A downtown Miami development site where an 80-story tower could be built hit the market. The property, across from Brightline’s MiamiCentral station, could sell for more than $40 million, according to the listing brokers. The Citadel Arena Corporation is selling the nearly 1-acre site at 49 Northwest Fifth Street, which includes a parking lot and a three-story…

Miami To Get A $300 Million Eco-Adventure Park And Hotel

Miami’s Jungle Island will be receiving a $300 million facelift, which will include a new aerial adventure course with zip lines, animal encounters, water attractions, entertainment and nightlife, and a new hotel. ESJ Capital Partners (ESJ), an Aventura, FL-based commercial real estate firm, has secured the final approvals necessary to move forward with developing…

New Laws Benefit Developers, But Will They Hurt Local Governments?

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is being asked to veto several bills that passed the Florida legislature and are now poised to become law, with critics alleging they would benefit real estate interests but hurt local governments, ordinary citizens and the environment. The Daytona Beach News-Journal Editorial Board opined that 2021’s annual lawmaking session…

Fresh Recruits Mitigate Pandemic’s Blows to South Florida Office Leasing

Office tenants new to South Florida – many with roots on Wall Street – are easing the impact of the COVID-19 recession on office owners and developers, particularly in Miami and West Palm Beach. The biggest city between them, Fort Lauderdale has been bypassed by corporate newcomers looking for ample space in South Florida. But that may change as a…

Duke Realty Starts 500K SF Spec Development In Miami

The South Florida office of Duke Realty Corporation is breaking ground on a speculative development totaling 501,224 square feet of logistics space. The planned project is the second of two distribution facilities in Duke Realty’s Miami 27 Business Park in Medley. The development is immediately adjacent to U.S. Highway 27, with convenient connectivity to the Florida…

Industrial facility serving Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, other events sells for $29M

Realterm Logistics bought a Fort Lauderdale industrial facility used by major local events for $28.6 million. The Annapolis, Maryland-based industrial and logistics real estate investor bought the property at 1900 Northwest 21st Avenue from an affiliate of Jonathan Cox, founder and

Shoma pays $16M for North Bay Village site, plans Publix-anchored apartment project

North Bay Village is poised to get a 19-story multifamily and retail project anchored by Publix. Masoud Shojaee’s Shoma Group bought a development site, consisting of a 1.8-acre parking lot at 1850 79th Street Causeway and the next-door retail building at 1872 79th Causeway, for $15.8 million, records show. Shoma Bay will feature an apartment building with 333..

Affordable housing developer buys piece of Little Havana assemblage

The site and renderings of Premium Development’s nearby project. (Premium Development) An affordable housing developer paid $15 million for land in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood. Premium Development bought the 2.3-acre property at 700 West Flagler Street from Presidente Supermarkets, according to a broker involved in the deal…

UOVO scoops up art storage facilities in Miami, West Palm Beach in $50M buy

Making a bet on South Florida’s growth as an art mecca, New York-based UOVO bought a local art logistics provider and its storage centers in Miami and West Palm Beach for $50 million. UOVO, led by Miami-based real estate developer Steven Guttman, bought Museo Vault, including its art storage facility in Miami, five art transport vehicles and an in-house crafting…

Monarch paying $300M for downtown Miami’s Citigroup Center office tower

Monarch Alternative Capital agreed to acquire a 90 percent stake in a downtown Miami office tower for $300 million, The Real Deal has learned. Monarch is taking over Townsend Group’s interest in Citigroup Center, a 34-story office building and adjacent nine-story parking garage at 201 South Biscayne Boulevard, according to sources familiar with the…

Duke Realty Breaks Ground on 501K SF Project Northeast of Miami International Airport

Duke Realty Corp. has started work on a speculative logistics building that will span more than half a million square feet northeast of Miami International Airport, amid a shortage of modern industrial space in the area. The new project is the second of two distribution facilities in the company’s Miami 27 Business Park in Medley, Fla., a small community…

Shelton Academy Picks Up Doral Cold Storage Site for $13 million

Even as the industrial sector booms thanks to a surge in online shopping, some buyers are still repurposing warehouses. Private school Shelton Academy has acquired a 75,164-square-foot cold storage facility in Doral, Fl., for $13.2 million, according to information from Cushman & Wakefield. The property, at 9455 NW 40th Street Road is located 12 miles west of…

Miami Market Update: An Emerging Hotspot for Office Transactions

As the pandemic’s effects still loom over the office sector, sales have continued to contract in most U.S. markets. Miami and Phoenix seem to be the exceptions, according to CommercialEdge data, recording year-on-year growth both in transaction volume, and average price per square foot. Blackstone’s $230 million Florida expansion in March made a significant…

Boutique Offices Make a Comeback in Miami

As hybrid work models become the new norm, companies are moving away from congested urban cores in search of boutique offerings, targeting move-in ready office suites. With outdoor meeting areas and reimagined workspaces, the most appealing properties are taking shape in areas with commercial activity that also allow for flexibility in employees’ commutes.

Redwood, Winston Capital Nearing Completion of Workforce Housing Community in Opa-Locka

Redwood National Properties LLC and Winston Capital Partners LLC are co-developing The Mirage at Sailboat Cove, a new workforce housing community in Opa Locka. Upon completion, the property will offer 112 townhome units featuring four-bedroom and 2.5-bathroom floorplans available to low- and middle-income residents. The Mirage at Sailboat…

Latigo Group to Open Pomelo Apartments in Miami Gardens

The Latigo Group, a residential developer based in Los Angeles, is nearing completion of The Pomelo, a new, seven-story mid-rise multifamily community in Miami Gardens. The property will feature 259 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, all with modern finishes. Designed by local interior designer Moniomo, The Pomelo will feature keyless entry…

Ex-PayPal CEO Bill Harris will hire 200 for new Miami startup

Bill Harris, the former CEO of PayPal Holdings and Intuit, is the latest financial technology executive to launch a new company in Miami. On Tuesday, Harris announced he moved to the Magic City, where he’ll open the headquarters of his newest venture, Nirvana Technology. The company, based in Miami’s Wynwood, plans to hire up to 200 people for…

#Miamitech, Wall Street of the South: These Tech and VC Firms are Investing in Miami

“What if we move Silicon Valley to Miami?” This off-the-cuff tweet by Venture Capitalist Delian Asparouhov caught the eye of Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who replied with a simple “How can I help?” This short conversation started a movement. Literally. The phrase has become a de facto slogan for Miami, in general, and a signal to tax- and regulation…

Downtown Miami Revitalization Begins with Flagler Street Makeover

After several years of planning, the City of Miami is finally moving forward with its long-awaited plan for revitalizing Downtown by revamping the Flagler Street corridor. The Downtown Flagler Street project’s principal objective is to return the cultural and commercial viability of Flagler Street by improving and beautifying the corridor, transforming it into a…

Video: How climate change puts real estate at risk

Where should you invest when seas are rising, temperatures and going up, and extreme weather events are looming? “There is no place on earth that is completely safe and no risk,” CBRE Global Investors’ Aleksandra (Sasha) Njagulj said in the latest installation of TRD Tips. “It doesn’t really depend that much on the building type or use… where the risks become more…

Sale Of Doral Industrial Land Site Negotiated

Fortuna Real Estate purchased the parcel located at 10405 NW 19th Street from Inter Dolphin Property LLC for $3,650,000. The deal closed April 30. The parcel is located within International Corporate Park, a 300-acre, Class A business campus encompassing more than 4 million square feet of industrial, office and retail space. The land site is north of the Dolphin…

Hand over the money: JP Morgan Chase loses lawsuit over North Miami branch rent increases

The JP Morgan Chase North Miami branch and attorney Howard DuBosar JP Morgan Chase will have to pay much more rent for it’s North Miami branch after a federal judge sided with the bank’s landlord. For the last two years, the bank had refused to pay annual rent increases for a one-story commercial building at 14590 Biscayne Boulevard that JP Morgan Chase…

2021 is raining dollar stores as near of new shops will be discount retailers

Cost-conscious consumers have gotten the attention of retailers. Nearly half of the 3,597 stores expected to open nationwide this year will be no-frills discount shops, according to a report from Coresight Research. Dollar General will open 1,035 locations, Dollar Tree will cut the ribbon on 393 stores and Family Dollar will open up 200 shops. Dollar Tree also…

National chains paid 93% of rent in April

In April 2020, one month after pandemic-related lockdowns started in much of the U.S., national chains such as Ann Taylor, Bob’s Discount Furniture, Men’s Wearhouse and Tilly’s did not pay any of their rent. One year and the lifting of many restrictions later, those retailers have all returned to paying 90 percent or more. Rent collections for national chains…

FECI plans Countyline Corporate Park expansion with $33 million construction loan

Florida East Coast Industries is adding two warehouses to Countyline Corporate Park in Hialeah, after scoring a $32.8 million construction loan. Miami-based FECI secured the financing for buildings 27 and 28, at 4181 and 4241 West 108th Street, from Wells Fargo. It notified Miami-Dade County that it is starting construction, according to records. Each…

Chetrit scores $63 million construction loan for long-planned Collins Park hotel in Miami Beach

The Chetrit Group scored a financing lifeline for its long-planned Collins Park hotel redevelopment, The Real Deal has learned. New York-based Chetrit landed a $62.5 million construction loan for the project, according to sources. Chetrit has owned the property for nearly a decade. Maxim Capital Group, which declined to comment, is the lender. Robert Verrone’s Iron…

Doral seeks to take over business-rich county lands

Doral wants to absorb two square miles on its southwestern corner that contain big-name commercial and industrial tenants. Miami-Dade is now reviewing the annexation request. If the county approves Doral’s application, business additions to the city will include tenants at 436-acre Beacon Lakes Industrial Park, which hosts distribution centers for…

Public-private Miami administration building deal nears

The City of Miami’s administration team could finally be moving away from the Miami Riverside Center in a public-private development deal with the Adler Group. City commissioners are to vote today (5/13) on whether a new headquarters building will be located as long planned at the Nexus site at 230 SW Third Street. This formal decision on the site is necessary for…

Navigation district funds pivotal to save Henry Flagler worker’s home

The Miami River Commission has for many years been asking the City of Miami to clean up Fort Dallas Park – and, most urgently, to save Palm Cottage, a unique piece of the city’s early history now located within the park’s gates – from the ravages of time. Recent interest from the Florida Inland Navigation District, or FIND, could come to the rescue.

Miami Beach may sell six city properties

Miami Beach staff have targeted six city properties that could sell for a total of over $70 million that could then fund capital improvements.  The big-ticket sale in the group would be the land that currently houses the soon-to-be-moved North Shore Branch Library at 7505 Collins Ave., which is estimated to be worth $58 million to $65 million, according to a…

Melo Group affiliate plans twin Edgewater towers

A developer is proposing twin towers of 15 stories, bringing apartments, office space and retail to a prominent corner in Miami’s Edgewater district. The development, URBAN22, also includes an eight-story building in back and a parking pedestal for 529 vehicles. Cardinal Plaza Corp., affiliated with the Melo Group, plans to construct URBAN 22 at 2200 NE Second Avenue.

Bridge Investment Launches Abridge Flex Office Space Program; Starting with Miami, Other Select Markets

Anticipating increased demand for flexible office spaces in suburban markets, Bridge Commercial Real Estate, the commercial brokerage subsidiary of Bridge Investment Group, has launched Abridge, a flex office program starting in five high-growth U.S. markets that expects to deliver about 1 million square feet of inventory across Bridge’s national office…

Simon says suburbia is hot, raises guidance for 2021

After a devastating year of mall closures and tenant bankruptcies, Simon Property Group raised its guidance, saying that people are returning to its retail centers. “We are encouraged with what we are seeing in terms of sales traffic,” said David Simon, CEO of Simon Property Group, during the company’s first-quarter earnings call. “Suburbia is hot, suburbia is the…”

New Uses for Vacant Retail Anchor Spaces

Both prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic, many well-known retailers that occupied anchor spaces at the ends of malls and shopping centers made the difficult decision to close their doors permanently. Malls were hit especially hard as large department store chains (such as Sears) closed many of their locations, leaving behind empty blocks of…

Gambling portability a no-go in Florida this year for Jeffrey Soffer, Trump

Jeffrey Soffer will not be able to move his casino license to his Fontainebleau Miami Beach hotel, at least for this year. Florida Senate President Wilton Simpson told CBS Miami that Soffer will not be able to transfer his casino license from his Big Easy Casino in Hallandale Beach. He said that former President Trump would also not be able to transfer…

Video: Optimizing the office & the new workplace normal

CREtech CEO Michael Beckerman declared that he “can call BS” on the idea that the office is dead. Michael Beckerman To him, and to each of the speakers who participated in the TRD Brand Studio’s first-ever webinar, the future of work is flexible. Beckerman sat down with some of the biggest names in the flex-office space for a forward-looking conversation on…

Arbor Management buys multifamily dev site near Aventura for $10M

Arbor Management Acquisition Company paid $10.3 million for a multifamily and retail development site near Aventura. The New York-based firm, through its AMAC Holdings III, will develop Aventura Park in joint venture with Coral Gables-based ROVR Development on 3 acres at 17990 West Dixie Highway, according to a news release. The mixed…

Thoma Bravo signs major lease in Brickell, UFC Gym inks one at Doral Square, & other Miami leasing highlights

Thoma Bravo expanded to Miami. The firm signed a long-term lease at 830 Brickell, a 55-story office building under construction in the Brickell Financial District. Thoma Bravo will occupy roughly 36,500 square feet on the two top floors. Thoma Bravo expects to open its office at 830 Brickell in the fourth quarter of 2022. Cushman & Wakefield represented…

Inflation Watch April 2021: 5 Year TIPS Spread Levels Out, Predicting 2.5% Inflation, as 10-Year Continues Climb

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, 5-Year Breakeven Inflation Rate, commonly referred to as the TIPS Spread, a measure of expected inflation derived from 5-Year Treasury Constant Maturity Securities and 5-Year Treasury Inflation-Indexed Constant Maturity Securities, for the 5 years ending 4/30/21 Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, 5-Year Breakeven…

Industry Leaders Discuss Construction Delivery Methods and Potential Pitfalls

On March 3, 2021, Bilzin Sumberg hosted its annual South Florida Redevelopment Conference.  During one of the sessions, the leaders of our firm’s Construction Law Group, Joy Spillis Lundeen and Felix X. Rodriguez, were joined by Brad Meltzer, Chairman and CEO of Plaza Construction, and William O’Donnell, Managing Principal of Desimone Consulting Engineers…

Job recovery sputters, but hospitality & leisure add hiring

A weaker-than-expected month for job gains had one bright spot, and it’s the same sector that has been leading employment for several months now. The leisure and hospitality sector led employment gains for the third straight month, bringing back 330,000 workers in April. Restaurants and bars did more than half the hiring, while recreation centers…

Rents rise across country as economy rebounds

Rents are going up, which is bad news for tenants staring down eviction. The median monthly charge on a vacant rental saw a $185 annual jump in March, Bloomberg News reported, citing data from the U.S. Census Bureau. In April, rents rose nearly 2 percent, the biggest jump since 2017. Those increases, along with the uneven economic recovery…

Lument Closes $12.8 Million Fannie Mae Loan for Multifamily Community in Hialeah, Florida

Lument recently announced the closing of a $12.8 million Fannie Mae conventional multifamily loan to facilitate the refinance of Civica, a 92-unit, garden-style apartment community in Hialeah, Florida, in Miami-Dade County. In addition to providing high-quality rental housing, Civica features four bottom floor retail spaces to benefit the surrounding community.

The Astor Companies closes sale of Merrick Manor retail condominium

Merrick Manor, a luxury mixed-use building in Coral Gables, has announced the sale of a retail condominium. In the transaction, a South American investor purchased a 1,115-square-foot space occupied by Elegance Beauty Salon for $1.03 million. Elegance offers specialized services for hair, nails, makeup and eyebrow threading. Elegance is part of…

No room in the warehouse: Amazon fuels shortage

Amazon takes up warehouse space — a lot of it. It’s to the point where the vacancy rate is so low in some North American cities that their economies could be throttled, according to Colliers International Group and CBRE reports cited by Bloomberg News. The warehouse vacancy rate in Toronto shrunk to 0.5 percent as Amazon snatched up warehouses in response…

Alliance Residential buys site, scores $46 million construction loan for senior apartments in Delray Beach

A 187-unit apartment complex for seniors is on tap west of Delray Beach, after the developer bought the site and scored a $45.7 million construction loan. Alliance Residential Company, based in Phoenix, Arizona, bought the land at 6595 Morikami Park Road from an affiliate of Miami-based Millennium Management for $8.2 million, records show. Dallas-based…

Banyan Street Capital buys Weston office complex for $52 million

Banyan Street Capital bought the renovated Weston Corporate Center for $52.25 million. The Miami-based office investor bought the two-building complex at 2500 Weston Road and 2700 South Commerce Parkway from Newport Beach, California-based KBS, according to a news release. Christian Lee and José Lobón of CBRE represented KBS in the deal.

Bell Partners buys Fort Lauderdale apartments for $100 million

Bell Partners bought a 279-unit Fort Lauderdale multifamily complex for $99.5 million. The Greensboro, North Carolina-based multifamily investor and manager bought the Satori Apartments at 1015, 1111 and 1201 East Sunrise Boulevard from Greystar, according to a deed. The deal equates $356,631 per unit. Bell Partners, founded in 1976 and led by Jon Bell…

3 Of 5 Top Office Transactions in Florida in Q1 were in Miami-Dade

Florida’s second-largest office deal was EQ Office’s purchase of Two and Three MiamiCentral, a 333,438-square-foot office portfolio in Miami. The Chicago-based REIT paid Shorenstein $230 million for the buildings, which previously traded for $159.4 million in 2019, one year after their completion. Shortly before deciding to purchase the assets, the new…

Judge strikes down federal eviction ban

A federal judge in the District of Columbia on Wednesday voided the nationwide moratorium on evictions. U.S. District Court Judge Dabney Friedrich wrote in an opinion that although the pandemic is a health crisis, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lacks the legal authority to ban evictions. The order does not supersede statewide moratoriums…

RealOp Investments buys Waterford office complex for $110M

RealOp Investments paid $110.1 million for three office buildings at the Waterford Business District near Miami International Airport. The Greenville, South Carolina-based commercial real estate investor bought the Waterford Atrium complex at 6100, 6303 and 6505 Blue Lagoon Drive in two deals from different affiliates of MetLife, records show. RealOp…

East End Capital, Australian investors lose suit over $6M deposit in failed downtown Miami office tower sale

East End Capital and a pair of Australian investors were ordered to pay back a $5.5 million deposit tied to the failed $98.8 million sale of their office tower in downtown Miami. BentallGreenOak had put the funds in escrow last year as part of its planned purchase of the 30-story 100 Biscayne office building at 100 Biscayne Boulevard and garage at 130 Biscayne Boulevard…

Miami Market Update: Planned Inventory Increases

By the end of March, there were 4.1 million square feet of office space under construction within the greater Miami area, including Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. The majority of projects are scheduled for delivery by year’s end. Construction within the office sector has somewhat slowed down in Miami, with 2.2 million square feet underway…

Kushner Companies violated multiple laws in massive tenant dispute, judge rules

It’s been six years since Dionne Mont first saw her apartment at Fontana Village, a rental housing complex just east of Baltimore. She was aghast that day to find the front door coming off its hinges, the kitchen cabinet doors stuck to their frames, mouse droppings under the kitchen sink, mold in the refrigerator, the toilet barely functioning and water stains on every…

Hialeah Trade Among Top 5 Industrial Transactions in Q1

The largest industrial deal in Florida through the end of March was CenterPoint Properties’ $184 million acquisition of 4040 and 4210 W 108th Street in Hialeah, just outside Miami. The two buildings delivered at the end of 2020, marking the market’s largest industrial completion of the year. The developer and seller, Florida East Coast Industries, financed the…

More urban areas lost population in 2020

Americans made some major moves in 2020, draining the population of key cities. Urban counties saw the greatest impact of pandemic-year migration, according to an analysis of census data by the New York Times. Urban populations had also fallen in 2019 after seeing growth slow since 2012, largely from a lack of housing, but last year accelerated that trend.

Sam Zell acquires industrial firm Monmouth Real Estate for $3.4B

As the industrial real estate sector booms, Sam Zell’s Equity Commonwealth is expanding into the field. The billionaire’s company, which focuses on office real estate, is acquiring the big industrial firm Monmouth Real Estate Investment in a $3.4 billion, all-stock deal, according to Crain’s Chicago Business. Based in Holmdel, New Jersey, Monmouth owns 120 properties…

Notable Retail Leases Signed in South Florida Q1 2021

South Florida Retail Leases 2021 – 2020 We’ve compiled a comprehensive list of the top retail leases signed by square footage in South Florida during Q1 2021. This quarter was busy overall, especially considering the current pandemic, and saw several big box leases signed and sealed. Despite the sentiment that the traditional retail market is…

Rent relief hinges on dwindling goodwill

Sometime this month, New York landlords and tenants will gain access to $2.3 billion in federal aid allocated by the state. The catch: They’ll have to work together to get it. In a year that’s pushed the cat-dog dichotomy of the landlord-tenant relationship to extremes, cooperation could be elusive. The law allows either party to start an application for relief. But for money…

Investors team up with pastry chef and chocolatier for planned Wynwood market

Chef Jorge Kauam and 310 Northwest 25th Street A new high-end market with a restaurant, bean-to-bar chocolate station, patisserie and cocktail bar is coming to Wynwood. Ananda Market, led by partners Antonio Ortega and Piero Pini, signed a 10-year lease for nearly 12,500 square feet at 310 Northwest 25th Street, The Real Deal has learned. Forte Capital…

Renters prepare for eviction crisis as aid is held up

The U.S. may be past the worst of the pandemic, but it could be in for another major crisis. With a federal moratorium on evictions scheduled to end June 30, millions of people who owe back rent could lose their homes if federal aid does not arrive in time, according to Politico. Congress has allocated about $50 billion to help struggling tenants and landlords…

Easton scores $24M construction loan for Hialeah Gardens spec warehouse

The Easton Group’s Edward Easton and a rendering of the warehouse project The Easton Group scored a $24 million construction loan for a Hialeah Gardens spec warehouse, aiming for e-commerce, distribution or logistics tenants. Doral-based Easton Group, founded and led by Edward Easton, already is building the 266,000-square-foot industrial project…

The next big boom in North Miami

At long last, North Miami is ready for its close-up. Before leaving office in 2019, former Mayor Smith Joseph called it the “city on the move,” but he was just a tad early. The big action was happening solely at the 184-acre, $4 billion Solé Mia project, which runs pretty much as a self-contained principality within North Miami’s boundaries. It includes the eye…

Wynwood mixed-use project deferred amid concerns

A plan to build a 12-story mixed-use structure containing commercial space and affordable/workforce housing met with a chilly reception before the Wynwood Design Review Committee. The developer, through representatives, chose to voluntarily defer the project in order to address concerns and suggestions from committee members. Members…

City seeks yet another advisor on Miami Marine Stadium

More than four years have passed since the Miami City Commission made the restoration of Marine Stadium on Virginia Key a reality by approving bond funding for the project. Yet the project remains in limbo, costs have risen, and now city staff is hiring even more consultants to check the work that’s already been done by architects and scores of other consultants.

2021 Legislature Clarifies Use of Contract Deposits by Condominium Developers

Section 718.202 of the Florida Condominium Act sought to address the extent that condominium developers could apply contract deposits to pay costs involved in construction of a project. This Section of the Condominium Act allowed deposits in excess of 10% of the purchase price to be used, with appropriate language in the sales contracts for expenditures used in…

Fisher Brothers pays $18M for Wynwood assemblage owned by RedSky venture

RedSky Capital and JZ Capital Partners sold the former Miami Rescue Mission site for $17.6 million, as the joint venture continues to offload its Wynwood portfolio at a discount. New York-based Fisher Brothers purchased the buildings… RS JZ NW1 2200 sold the parcels at 2201, 2229 and 2159 Northwest First Court, and 2200 and 2250 Northwest First Avenue.

CoStar lures workers back to offices with cash prizes, Teslas

Three lucky CoStar employees and their guests will be heading to Barbados on a private plane, with all expenses paid by their employer. Who gets to take the fancy trip? Winners of a lottery that’s available only to workers who are vaccinated and physically present in their office, according to the Wall Street Journal. Office occupancy rates remain low as employees…

Don Peebles Maps Out Opportunities in Miami and Beyond

While developer Don Peebles calls Miami and New York home, he is all over the map. Literally. With a focus on large-scale projects developed by public/private partnerships, Peebles and his development firm, the Peebles Corporation, are seemingly everywhere. Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Boston, in addition to his two home bases, are just…

Major plans: Major Food Group to open four more restaurants in Miami, Miami Beach

Major Food Group is serving up four new restaurants as part of its expansion in South Florida, The Real Deal has learned. The New York-based restaurant group, led by founders Mario Carbone, Rich Torrisi and Jeff Zalaznick, will open an Israeli concept in the South-of-Fifth neighborhood of Miami Beach and a French steakhouse in Brickell. It will also open…

Prologis plans to expand its Beacon Lakes business park in Miami-Dade

Prologis wants to expand its massive Beacon Lakes business park in northwest Miami-Dade County by building two logistics and distribution warehouses. The San Francisco-based real estate investment trust submitted a proposal to Miami-Dade County for two 164,435-square-foot facilities on the southeast corner of North…

Miami Design District refi loan wrapped into BofA’s latest conduit

Four investment-grade quality loans – including one refinancing the tony Miami Design District luxury retail development – highlight a new $1 billion commercial mortgage securitization being placed by Bank of America. BANK 2021-BNK33, the third CMBS offering on the conduit trust shelf of BofA Merrill Lynch Commercial Mortgage Inc., includes 68…

Biden’s proposal to cut 1031 exchanges may be “tremendous blow” to real estate: experts

Last spring, Newmark broker Ken Zakin was hustling to find a buyer for a client’s retail property in Queens. The tenants had stopped paying rent because of the pandemic, leading to a major loss in income for the landlords, a family that owned the building for four decades. Zakin planned to take advantage of the 1031 exchange program, which allows real…

Russell Galbut wants to turn South Beach hotel and adjacent building into offices and restaurants

Russell Galbut is looking to revive the shuttered Bancroft Hotel and an attached commercial building in South Beach as offices and restaurant space. According to plans submitted to the Miami Beach Planning Board, Bancroft Ocean Five Holdings, LLC, a company managed by Galbut, wants to convert the Bancroft’s rooms into executive office suites and offer…

South Florida by the numbers: Formula One revs up Miami real estate

“South Florida by the numbers” is a web feature that catalogs the most notable, quirky and surprising real estate statistics. Miami…start your engines! The region’s hopes for post-pandemic momentum was super-fueled by Formula One’s recent commitment to hold annual races at Hard Rock Stadium, beginning in the second quarter of 2022. This will…

Guess it didn’t work out: Guess loses suit seeking rent break at Lincoln Road store in Miami Beach

After Guess stopped paying rent unilaterally at all its stores last year, the clothing and accessories brand’s landlord on Miami Beach’s Lincoln Road sued — and won. The Denison Corporation, a Miami Beach-based family business led by Robert Quittner, sued in May for $291,162 in rent and other expenses owed over three months. Guess made good on what it owed…

Harbor buys nearly 5,500-unit portfolio from Chetrit for $390M

In one of the largest multifamily transactions of the year, the Chetrit Group sold a nearly 5,500-unit multifamily portfolio to Harbor Group International for $390 million, The Real Deal has learned. The apartments are in 56 communities across Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Harbor Group International, which is led by Jordan…

Video: Avra Jain discusses Miami development, “getting off the Beach”

Developer Avra Jain is “not afraid to go west.” The Vagabond Group founder spoke with The Real Deal’s Amir Korangy on the latest episode of Coffee Talk, sharing insights about what it means to be a developer and what’s next for Miami’s hottest neighborhoods. An early investor in now-trendy Wynwood, Jain is out amidst a zoning overhaul in the area. “When they…”

Miami Beach to prohibit hotels in Sunset Harbour? Zoning overhaul could derail Ronny Finvarb’s project

New proposed zoning regulations for Miami Beach’s Sunset Harbour neighborhood would encourage office development, but shun future hotels, putting a new project by Ronny Finvarb in a perilous position. The Miami Beach Planning Board on Tuesday recommended the city commission approve the new overlay district for Sunset Harbour, along with an…

Melo Group scores $99M refi for apartment tower north of downtown Miami

Melo Group secured a $99 million refinancing for its recently completed Miami Plaza apartment tower, after reaching 95 percent occupancy. Freddie Mac is the lender and Berkadia’s Miami office is the seller servicer for the 10-year, interest-only loan, according to a press release from Aztec Group. Peter Mekras, president of Miami-based Aztec, represented Melo in…

Distress investing is dead. Long live distress investing

Churchill Real Estate’s Justin Ehrlich and Oaktree Capital’s Howard Marks When Howard Marks’ Oaktree Capital set out to raise billions of dollars targeting troubled debt last spring, loan defaults seemed inevitable. Companies were teetering, people were hunkered inside and travel had come to a halt. “The firewood had been stacked,” Oaktree wrote in…

What Biden’s first 100 days meant for real estate

President Joe Biden’s administration on Wednesday unveiled a $1.8 trillion spending plan that would eliminate a “special real estate tax break” for certain investors. The partial demise of that tax break, mentioned briefly as part of the American Families Plan, is just one of several policy initiatives affecting real estate that have started to take shape under Biden, some…

R.O.I. Capital buys Oakland Park multifamily complex for $59M

R.O.I. Capital founders Noam Avrahami, Shay Atiya, Shay Milch and Northland Investment founder Lawrence Gottesdiener R.O.I. Capital Group made its first venture into the South Florida multifamily market, buying a 296-unit Oakland Park complex for $58.5 million. Israel-based real estate investor R.O.I. Capital bought Green Tree Apartments at 5201 North Dixie…

Safe Harbor pays $340 million for Fort Lauderdale mega-marina

Safe Harbor Marinas paid $340 million for a superyacht storage and repair facility in Fort Lauderdale. Dallas-based Safe Harbor Marinas, led by Baxter Underwood, bought the Lauderdale Marine Center at 2029 Southwest 20th Street from The Carlyle Group, records show. The property spans 60 acres along the New River’s South Fork. Lauderdale Marine Center was founded…

Midtown Capital Partners buys Plantation office building for $78M

Midtown Capital Partners bought a newly built office building at the Plantation Pointe business park for $78 million. Miami-based Midtown Capital bought the four-story property at 1700 North University Drive in Plantation and the adjacent 900-space garage from Northbrook, Illinois-based Torburn Partners, according to a deed. Midtown Capital took…

Universal Technical Institute Picks Miramar for Latest Campus

Phoenix-based University Technical Institute Inc. has leased an approximately 100,000-square-foot facility in Miramar, Fla., in southern Broward County, for its newest campus. The new space will be UTI’s 14th campus nationwide and second in Florida and is expected to open in late 2022, subject in part to completing the campus buildout. The provider…

MG3 Group sells Florida charter school portfolio including Everglades Prep in Homestead for $242M

An Aventura-based charter school developer sold two South Florida campuses for $78.1 million, as part of a $242 million portfolio deal for eight schools throughout the state. MG3 Group, led by Marcelo Saiegh, Hernan Leonoff and Gustavo Bogomolni, sold the schools to nonprofit Educational Growth Fund, according to a press release. Fort Lauderdale…

Florida CRE Gets Long-Sought Tax Break On Commercial Leases

Florida is trading one state tax for another as Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a bill implementing a 6% sales tax on products purchased from out-of-state, online-only retailers and reducing a tax rate on commercial leases from 5.5% to 2%, saving affected businesses about $1B. As the only state in the country that charges a tax on commercial leases, Florida’s Business…

Sentinel Real Estate Purchases Miami Beach Multifamily Portfolio for $96.6M

Sentinel Real Estate Corp. has purchased a 452-unit multifamily portfolio in Miami Beach for $96.6 million. The portfolio includes a total of 30 individual properties, 25 of which are located in the heart of South Beach, with the other five located in the submarket of Bay Harbor in north Miami Beach. Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller, Boardwalk…

OKO Group, Cain International Secure $128M Loan for Miami Tower

OKO Group and Cain International have received a $128.3 million construction loan from Bank OZK for the ongoing development of Una Residences, a 47-story luxury waterfront condominium tower in Miami’s South Brickell neighborhood. The developers broke ground on the high-rise in May 2020 and expect to complete the project in 2023. Terms of the…

CSteven A. Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management Inks Lease at Nuveen’s Brickell Tower

Point72 Asset Management, a hedge fund founded by billionaire Steven A. Cohen, is moving into 9,000 square feet of space at Nuveen Real Estate’s 701 Brickell in Miami. The firm will occupy part of the 33-story, 685,835-square-foot Class A tower, which is currently undergoing renovations. The deal comes on the heels of a lease that Point72 signed in January, where…

Software Focused Private Equity Firm Thoma Bravo Signs 36,500 SF Office Lease at 830 Brickell

Thoma Bravo, a private equity firm focused on the software sector, has signed a long-term lease at 830 Brickell, a 55-story, Class A office building in Miami’s Brickell district. The founder of Thoma Bravo, Orlando Bravo, relocated to Miami late last year, and partner Chip Virnig and other existing members of the Thoma Bravo team have already moved to the Miami…

Thoma Bravo Inks Lease at Future Miami Skyscraper

Thoma Bravo of Chicago has leased space in Miami’s biggest upcoming office project, as a wave of interest from financial and tech companies offers hope for the city’s struggling office market. The private equity firm has signed up for roughly 36,500 square feet on two floors at 830 Brickell, a 55-story skyscraper under development in the Brickell financial district.

Microsoft, Apple, ViacomCBS Hunt for Miami Office Space Heat Up

A trio of big name tenants — Microsoft, Apple and ViacomCBS — are making progress in their individual searches for Miami office space, with one of them getting into the finer details on a sizable lease, Commercial Observer has learned. Software giant Microsoft is still in active lease negotiations at OKO Group and Cain International’s 830 Brickell, and…

‘Perfect Storm’ Of Construction Cost Spikes Wreaking Havoc On Contractors, Developers

The cost of construction materials — things like lumber, steel, wood paneling, flooring and joint compound — has collectively risen close to 13% over the last year, the largest annual spike since 2008. The ripple effects for the real estate industry from such a sudden cost increase are vast: Projects are getting delayed and development timelines are lengthening…

Lawsuits, interrupted: Judges nix business pandemic insurance claims

GreenStreet Cafe’s lunchtime rush had just ended on a recent afternoon, but the clamor of dishes in the kitchen hadn’t ceased. Business has finally picked up at the popular eatery in Miami’s Coconut Grove, known for its red velvet outdoor couches, a place where athletes and artists have dined over the past 30 years. Still, owner Sylvano Bignon is heated. A judge in…

Miami Beach board backs Bulgari hotel plans to redevelop Seagull with height increase and ground-floor expansion

Bulgari’s plan to redevelop the Seagull Hotel Miami Beach is advancing, with aims to include adding two floors to the seven-story building, as well as expanding the ground floor. The Miami Beach Planning Board on Tuesday voted to recommend the city commission approve amendments to land use regulations that will allow the height increase and the…

Boston Properties to launch $2B joint venture for bet on office market

Boston Properties is making a $2 billion bet on the office market. Executives at the real estate investment trust announced during its first quarter earnings call that it will team up with two sovereign wealth funds to invest in office real estate. The investors, which the REIT said it would identify once the joint venture paperwork was finalized, will put in about…

Deutsche Bank eyes hybrid model while JPMorgan plans office return

More bad news for commercial landlords: Deutsche Bank is considering return-to-office plans that would make it one of the most flexible employers among large international banks. Under the proposal, employees would be able to work from home up to three days a week, Bloomberg News reported. The bank is also “moving to provide our employees some…”

Higher profits brewing for prolific retail tenant Starbucks

As Starbucks attempts to reel customers away from their home-brewing habits, the company says it expects higher profits this year. It’s a welcome sign for owners of retail space. As sales plummeted last year, Starbucks shuttered 400 stores across the country. But now the coffeehouse chain’s business is growing again. The company said Tuesday that global…

Ubiica, Maven plan multifamily project in Coral Gables

A new luxury multifamily project could be on tap for Coral Gables, which already is experiencing major redevelopment. Ubiica and Maven Real Estate completed their development site assemblage for the planned apartments. They bought the office building at 152 Almeria Avenue for $4.1 million, according to a press release. In 2019, the duo bought two lots at…

Bill targets discrimination in home and commercial appraisals

A new congressional bill seeks to root out racial discrimination in the residential and commercial real estate appraisal industry. The measure, sponsored by Reps. Emanuel Cleaver II and Ritchie Torres, would create an interagency task force to study factors that lead to disparities in property valuations and lay out specific steps to combat them. The task force…

Restaurants can apply for $29B in relief starting May 3

Help for restaurants promised by the federal $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package is coming to fruition. On May 3, the Restaurant Revitalization Fund will begin accepting applications for $29 billion in grants, according to the Wall Street Journal. The money is only available to restaurants, bars and other food-service businesses. Restaurants have been some of the…

North Beach development site hits the market for $18M

A development site in North Beach hit the market for $17.5 million. The Gaeta family owns the 1-acre assemblage at 7410 Collins Avenue in Miami Beach. It includes a two-story building that is leased to CVS. The property is separated by a public alley. “Very rarely do you see an acre of land come to market on Miami Beach,” said listing agent Skyler Marinoff of Dwntwn…

Miami investor DiGasbarro completes Allapattah assemblage with $5M warehouse purchase

Roland DiGasbarro completed his assemblage in the produce district of Miami’s Allapattah, buying a warehouse for $5 million. DiGasbarro bought the building at 1221 Northwest 22nd Street, rounding off his industrial properties between Northwest 13th and 12th avenues along 22nd Street, according to Carlos Fausto Miranda of Fausto Commercial, who brokered…

With Gaming Poised To Expand In Florida, Top Developers Are On Opposite Sides Of The Issue

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on April 23 signed a compact with the Seminole Tribe of Florida. It would expand gaming in the state, guarantee the state $2.5B in revenue sharing in the next five years and $6B through 2030, and give the tribe the exclusive right to operate sports betting in the state through 2030. Critics have vowed to stop the plan, alleging it is…

Malls are back, say mall landlords

After a devastating year for malls, landlords say shoppers are heading back in droves. In March, foot traffic was up 86 percent at 50 shopping centers tracked by the data firm Placer.ai compared to the same month last year, according to the Wall Street Journal. But that was still 24 percent lower than it was in March 2019. Mall owners say sales are also improving as…

Coral Gables central business district healthy, adding on

Though last year was a tough one for the restaurant, retail and entertainment industries, occupancy is high in Downtown Coral Gables and the city, along with organizations like the Business Improvement District of Coral Gables, are focused on activation and 21st century marketing strategies. “We have seen our retailers and restaurants pivot…

Multi-use Wynwood project with hotel wins design OK

A plan to construct a building 12 stories high in Wynwood, bringing residential units, hotel rooms and an internal courtyard with commercial-retail uses, gained a positive vote from the Wynwood Design Review Committee…  Developer Wynwood Gateway II LLC proposes to build The Collective Wynwood at 2825 NW Second Ave., providing 143 multi-family…

Miami International Airport gives 63 tenants another break

A year-old program forgiving rent and other payments by shops, restaurants, luggage wrappers and car rental companies at Miami International Airport (MIA) will continue past mid-2021 as business remains far below pre-pandemic levels. Miami-Dade commissioners last week extended the program for a fourth time for 63 MIA tenants, one…

Long-awaited downtown Flagler Street revamp days from starting

After many starts and stops and years of inaction and delay, the City of Miami is days away from mobilizing its latest plan for improving Flagler Street downtown. “We are mobilizing the first week of May. The first section is expected to take nine months and the entire project is about 30 months long,” Hector L. Badia, with the City of Miami’s Office of Capital…

Miami Beach Convention Center lineup grows

The Miami Beach Convention Center is arising from pandemic shutdowns with 20 events and counting lined up for the rest of 2021, including the annual meeting of The Aesthetic Society (American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery), which kicks off Friday. Last summer the center’s nearly 500,000 square feet of exhibit space was a state-sponsored covid…

Interest, Not Deals, Fuel Miami’s Office Market

Headlines portray Miami’s office market as a pandemic boomtown. While cities like San Francisco and New York suffer, Florida’s Magic City is wielding low taxes and a pro-business mayor to attract high-profile signings, including private-equity behemoth Blackstone, sandwich franchise Subway, and venture capital heavyweights Founders Fund…

Coral Gables may extend outdoor dining breaks into 2022

Under Coral Gables’ incoming mayor Vince Lago’s administration, restaurants will be able to use outdoor vacant lots and parking lots beyond the June 15 extended expiration date. Coming in May, Mr. Lago said, he’s presenting three ordinances that would expand on the outdoor dining experience through January 2022.  “It’s been very successful allowing…

WATCH: How the eviction ban is affecting landlords, renters

New York’s eviction moratorium has saved some from ruin, but threatens to cause it for others. The moratorium, which has stretched on for 13 months, isn’t the only of its kind: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced its own national eviction moratorium last September which, like New York’s, has been repeatedly extended. And the state…

The Fed: Did the Pandemic Spur Urban Flight? A Look at the Eighth District

Recent research by economist Stephan Whitaker at the Cleveland Fed found little evidence of an “urban exodus” during the pandemic. Populations of urban neighborhoods declined across the U.S. in 2020. However, this decline was primarily due to a drop in the flow of people moving into urban areas—not a mass urban exodus. Whitaker found evidence of…

Seller of industrial property near MIA to Blackstone sues ex-partners for $5M

Blackstone’s $56 million purchase of an industrial property near Miami International Airport closed nearly two years ago, but the legal fight among the sellers is still brewing. Samuel Friedman alleges that he was shortchanged more than $5.1 million by the other three sellers of Airport Trade Center – Haim Yehezkel, Roy Mussaffi and Joseph Cohen. The…

Earnings up, stores down: Why successful retailers close locations

By the look of things, Best Buy had a great winter. Domestic revenue surged 11 percent in November, December and January to $15.4 billion. But in announcing the good news, the electronics retailer said it would lay off 5,000 full-time workers and ramp up store closings. In the crosshairs are 450 locations with leases expiring in the next three years. “There will be…”

The Innovators: Codina Partners

By 1979, Armando Codina had already pioneered the field of data processing for doctors’ offices when he founded Codina Group, which he grew into Florida’s largest privately held commercial real estate company. He later merged it with another to eventually be sold off to Fortress Investment Group. In 2009, he teamed up with his daughter…

American Landmark CEO Joe Lubeck Provides Updates On Florida Strategy, $2B Shopping Spree

When Bisnow checked in with American Landmark CEO Joe Lubeck last March, the coronavirus pandemic had just broken out and the stock market crashed 26%, but he was still calmly intent on deploying $2B in capital to buy up apartment complexes. “We had hoped to acquire a billion last year,” Lubeck said. “We ended up with about $700M. So we didn’t quite hit our…

Expanding his empire: David Grutman to take over The Forge in Miami Beach

In a deal that marks the end of a dynasty’s control, hospitality mogul David Grutman plans to take over The Forge in Miami Beach, The Real Deal has learned. Alvin Malnik opened The Forge in the 1950s, and the glitzy restaurant was known as a hangout for celebrities like the late Frank Sinatra and Elizabeth Taylor. The restaurant at 432 West 41st Street…

Rent hikes are back

Stimulus payments, the vaccine rollout, low inventory of homes for sale and the recovering economy likely contributed to landlords accelerating the pace of rent increases last month. (iStock) The pandemic did not stop rents from increasing, but it steadily slowed that increase to almost nothing. However, the trend ended last month, according to a new report. In…

Telecommunications and power delivery contractor Concurrent Group leases in Opa-Locka & more leasing news

Concurrent Group LLC, a telecommunications and power delivery contractor, leased 8.4 acres in the Gratigny Industrial Park at 3705 Northwest 123rd Street in Opa-locka. The yard can fit nearly 200 trailers. Edward Easton of The Easton Group represented Concurrent Group. Brian Smith at JLL and Bob Comunale of Industrial Group…

For Data Centers, Opportunity Lies In Florida

The number of people who move into Florida each year is about equal to the population of Orlando, said Landmark Dividend Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer John Regan, speaking on a Bisnow webinar about South Florida data centers on April 22. Most of those roughly 500,000 new residents use computers and smartphones. “If every one of them…”

Dev site with retail-office building in Wynwood Norte hits market for $25M

A development site with a fully leased retail-office building in Miami’s newly anointed Wynwood Norte district hit the market for $24.5 million. An investment partnership led by Cymbal Development is selling the 1.4 acres at 3452 and 3466 North Miami Avenue, 20 and 34 Northwest 35th Street, and 28 and 29 Northwest 34th Terrace, according to a release. Property…

Commissioners give green light to 36-story tower in the Miami Design District

Despite protests from a competing developer, Dacra and its partners are a step closer to finalizing zoning changes that would allow them to build a 36-story tower in the Miami Design District. The Miami City Commission voted 5-0 on Thursday to preliminarily approve a slate of changes in the Miami Design District special area plan, or SAP. They include increasing the…

Building owners crucial to Biden’s climate goals

If President Joe Biden is to slash the country’s greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030, he will need a lot of help from residential and commercial buildings owners. The president announced the goal, which is based on 2005 emission rates, Thursday during a global climate summit. The new target greatly accelerates the Obama administration’s reduction target of…

Northbridge sells Aldi-anchored shopping center in West Kendall for $22M

Northbridge Investment Management sold the Aldi-anchored Kendall Pointe shopping center in West Kendall for $22.4 million. A deed shows the Toronto-based investment firm sold the property at 16508 and 16514 Southwest 88th Street to Arlington Mass, which is tied to Miami-based self-storage provider A+ Storage. The buyer took out an $11.4 million loan…

Optimizing the office: How flex workspaces will bring tenants back

Companies have accepted that work-from-home is here to stay. Commercial landlords need to stay relevant. Enter the flexible office. TRD Brand Studio will host its first virtual event, Optimizing the office: How flexible workspaces will bring back office tenants, on Tuesday, May 4 at 2 p.m. EST. This live event will feature executives from Essensys, IWG, Industrious…

Ocean Terrace developers to pay $3M to settle lawsuit with Miami Beach

Miami Beach squeezed a $3 million payment from the developers of Ocean Terrace to end a dispute over floor-to-area ratio calculations for the North Beach mixed-use project. Miami Beach city commissioners on Wednesday approved a settlement agreement with Ocean Terrace Holdings that squashes a lawsuit the developers filed against Miami Beach in…

Fifteen Group sells off last piece of Homestead townhome portfolio for $101M

Fifteen Group sold the last piece of its Homestead townhome portfolio for $101 million. The Miami-based investment firm, led by brothers Mark and Ian Sanders, sold 157 units to an undisclosed bulk buyer, according to a release. Late last year, Fifteen Group sold the 292-unit Seascape Pointe community, within the assemblage, to Mast Capital. Fifteen Group…

Exeter Property Group buys Miami Gardens industrial property for $14M

Exeter Property Group bought a Miami Gardens industrial building occupied by RC Home Showcase for $13.5 million. The Conshohocken, Pennsylvania-based commercial real estate investor, developer and manager purchased the property at 16115 Northwest 52nd Avenue from K2 Aluminum in an off-market deal, according to broker Jonathan Salk…

MMG’s Retail Real Estate Leases – Q1 2021

The South Florida retail market is witnessing quite a bit of activity despite the influence and presence of the pandemic, and it seems it is turning the page. There are several factors for this, but two primary reasons are: 1) Florida is back in business and much more open than other states, and 2) people…

Neology Debuts Allapattah Multifamily, No. 17 Residences

Neology Life Development Group has opened its first ground-up residential project in Miami’s Allapattah neighborhood. The No. 17 Residences Allapattah has also pre-leased 50 percent of its units and will see residents move in this month, according to Neology. The luxury community offers 192 units in studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom floorplans that range…

There’s “lots of runway in real estate”: Blackstone’s Jon Gray

Blackstone Group’s president and COO Jon Gray thinks higher inflation is on the way, and he thinks risky real estate investments could be the anecdote for investors. “What we’re trying to do is position ourselves for things that look and feel [the] least bond-like as much as possible,” Gray said Thursday during the investment giant’s first-quarter earnings call. Gray said safe…

Last call? Miami Beach proposal would ban future standalone and rooftop bars on Ocean Drive

Miami Beach’s strategy for killing the rowdy, at times violent, party atmosphere on Ocean Drive and nearby Collins Avenue involves curtailing development of future standalone and rooftop bars. The Miami Beach City Commission on Wednesday gave preliminary approval to a slate of commercial changes aimed at revamping the Art Deco Historic District…

Biden administration considers Opportunity Zone overhaul

A Trump-era tax incentive was meant to drive investment into parts of the country that were struggling economically. Spoiler alert: It didn’t, and President Joe Biden’s administration is weighing what it wants to do about the program. For a recently released study on the program, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, looked at 2019 investment figures…

Tricera Capital, LNDMRK Acquire Cube Wynwd Office Building in Miami for $28M

Tricera Capital, a Miami-based real estate investment firm, and LNDMRK Development have acquired Cube Wynwd, a newly constructed office building with ground-floor retail space in Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood. RedSky Capital sold the property to the buyers for $28 million. Scott Wadler and Michael Basinski of Berkadia arranged the $27.5 million loan for…

Prestige scores $21M construction loan for three Hialeah workforce housing complexes

Prestige Companies is continuing its multifamily development spree in Hialeah, as it just scored a $21 million… loan for three workforce housing complexes. The Miami Lakes-based developer will start building Palm Avenue Lofts at 1201 Palm Avenue; Champions Lofts at 40 West 23 Street and 2290 Palm Avenue; and Poe’s Lofts at 7901 West Fourth Avenue…

Downtown Delray Beach retail building sells for $12M

A retail property along Atlantic Avenue in downtown Delray Beach sold for $11.5 million, delivering a windfall for the family that owned it for more than 40 years. The Cook family of Delray Beach, through an affiliate, sold the building at 325 East Atlantic Avenue to an entity managed by Steven Cohen of Delray Beach, records show. The buyer, 325 East Atlantic…

Mindful Capital buys Deerfield Beach industrial complex for $6 million

Mindful Capital Group bought a Deerfield Beach industrial property for $6 million. Delray Beach-based Mindful Capital, through an affiliate, bought the four-building complex at 830 Northeast 41st Court from Lotus Commerce Center, according to a deed. The 43,500-square-foot complex was built in 1991 on 4 acres, records show. The seller, managed by attorney…

Nuveen buys Coconut Creek multifamily complex for $47 million

An affiliate of global investment manager Nuveen bought a Coconut Creek multifamily complex for $46.5 million. CVIII Waterview Apt Holdings bought the 192-unit Waterview at 3621 Hillsboro Boulevard from Coral Gables-based Bar Invest Group, according to a deed. The buyer has the same New York address as Nuveen and lists several…