Matis Cohen and Galbut family score board approval for North Beach project, to include apartments and micro-units

Matis Cohen and Marisa Galbut with the 72nd and Park rendering Matis Cohen and the Galbut family’s proposal to significantly make over Miami Beach’s Carlyle and Byron avenues scored an important approval Wednesday. The city’s design review board granted two waivers for 72nd and Park, a major mixed-use project the developers propose for North Beach under new development guidelines the city…

World’s First Esports Car Racing Arena Bound For Wynwood

Move over, Indianapolis. Miami is getting the world’s first esports racing arena. Millennial Esports Corp., a publicly traded Toronto-based gaming and data company, announced last week that it will open a 12K SF facility dedicated to simulated car racing in early 2020 in the hip Wynwood neighborhood. “Miami has so much enthusiasm for cars,” Millennial Esports President and CEO Darren Cox said during…

Hotusa Hotels buys the redeveloped Langford for $37M

Stambul sold the Langford hotel in downtown Miami, three years after the development firm completed a major restoration and redevelopment of the former Miami National Bank property. Langford Partners, led by Stambul’s general manager Daniel Peña, sold the 126-room hotel at 121 Southeast First Street to Miami Southern Hotels LLC for $37 million, records show. The buyer, which is tied to…

Developer Valerio Morabito enters Wynwood market with $9M acquisition

Developer Valerio Morabito is planning his first project in Wynwood. His Morabito Properties paid $9.3 million for the building at 2143 Northwest First Avenue, according to Tony Cho, president and CEO of Metro 1. Cho and Andres Nava, his vice president, brokered the sale. The two-story, 26,388-square-foot building sold for over $350 per square foot. Morabito told The Real Deal he signed a long-term…

“Robert is Here” Fruit Stand Leads The Fight Against Development In The Everglades

Bob Moehling had tough luck trying to sell cucumbers to commercial distributors near his farm in Homestead, Florida. He placed the extra produce into a few wooden crates, and set up a roadside stand at the corner of SW 192nd Avenue and 344th Street. He then sent his 6-year-old son, Robert, to run the operation with a sign reading “Robert Is Here.” The date was Nov. 9, 1959. Pretty soon, the young…

University of Miami housing complex moves forward

The University of Miami is steadily pushing ahead with its plans to replace the current student housing, built about 50 years ago, with accommodations that mirror the way young people learn today. “Nothing impacts the quality of life for students who live on campus more than the quality of their on-campus housing,” the school’s housing website says. “As the University of Miami continues to rise…

Marcus Samuelsson’s Red Rooster Overtown restaurant is almost ready

On Monday afternoon, James Beard award-winning chef Marcus Samuelsson and his business partner Derek Fleming gave a sneak peak of his nearly completed Red Rooster Overtown restaurant. Amid dangling electrical wires, unfinished air conditioning ducts and recently installed drywall panels, Samuelsson told attendees he and Fleming were careful not to open another Red Rooster in the U.S. until the…

Jeffrey Soffer in talks to buy 1,000-room Diplomat Beach Resort for under $1B: report

Brookfield Asset Management is in talks to sell its 1,000-room resort in Hollywood to developer Jeffrey Soffer in a deal that would value the property at under $1 billion. Brookfield subsidiary Thayer Lodging Group owns the Diplomat Beach Resort at 3555 South Ocean Drive. Bloomberg reported that Soffer is looking to acquire the property, which would give him control of the second largest hotel in South…

Virgin MiamiCentral station developer and builder to pay $10.5M settlement

A contentious lawsuit alleging mismanagement, project delays and $22.4 million in unpaid work during the construction of the Virgin MiamiCentral train station has ended with steel maker ADF International walking away with a $10.5 million settlement. In the complaint, the Great Falls, Montana-based company claimed critical mistakes and plan revisions by project general contractor Suffolk…

By the numbers: Breaking down national housing agendas from the far left

Just a few months after New York passed historic reforms that infuriated landlords and thrilled tenants — with California following suit — several Congress members and presidential candidates are throwing their weight behind even more aggressive proposals. Mostly promoted by Democrats on the far left, those policies include the mid-September doozy from U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders calling for…

A look at Grant Cardone’s real estate portfolio and how he raised $15M in 90 minutes at Marlins Park

At Marlins Park on Super Bowl weekend in February, thousands of aspiring entrepreneurs watch as a black Rolls-Royce SUV with tinted windows roars onto the stage amid a cloud of smoke. Over the loudspeakers, the song “Nuthin’ but a “G” Thang” plays as Snoop Dogg steps out of the driver’s seat. But his passenger is the real star of the day. Donning dark sunglasses along with a black sweatshirt with…

Reassurances, apologies and layoffs: Inside WeWork’s first all-hands post Neumann

In WeWork’s first all-hands meeting since Adam Neumann was ousted as CEO, company executives sought to reassure employees about the strength of the firm’s business model, but made clear that layoffs were coming. Miguel McKelvey, who co-founded WeWork with Neumann in 2010 and now holds the title of chief culture officer, kicked things off by telling employees the company’s recent stumbles…

Investors are doubling their money on charter schools — when they can get ahold of them

In the summer of 2018, the Eagle Arts Academy was in a crisis. Gregory Blount, former model and events producer who founded the Wellington charter school, was accused of siphoning off $150,000 from the school to his personal companies, leaving the school unable to pay its teachers and attorneys. The county declared the school unsafe due to understaffing and shut it down just weeks before the new…

How rent control battles are playing out across the US

Days before Christmas in 2016, Karen Harvey was making plans for the holiday with her daughter when a piece of paper slid under her apartment door. It was an eviction notice. Karen Harvey Harvey and 200 other tenants in Philadelphia’s Penn Wynn apartment complex were told they would have to be out by March. “I was crushed. I felt like I’d been kicked in the face,” said Harvey. “The prospect of…”

21K sf Lease Brokered in Miami’s Four Seasons Tower

Millennium Partners has closed on a 21,000-square-foot lease with Bolton Global Capital at the Four Seasons Tower at 1435 Brickell Avenue in Miami. Principal Wayne Schuchts and Broker Bobby Benton from Avison Young worked on behalf of the landlord, while Savills’ Managing Director Steve Woodworth and Associate Director Tyler Wyant represented the new tenant. Recently, another team from…

Video: Architecture, Engineering, and Design firm Stevens & Wilkonson Chairman Ron Stang Discusses Mixed-use Development in Multifamily Today

In this episode, Ron Stang, Chairman of Stevens and Wilkonson, joins the show’s host Michael Bull to discuss the multifamily property sector, including cycle outlook, generational drivers in the market, new technology for multifamily, issues with affordability, density conditions impacting multifamily, mixed-use development, adaptive reuses, workforce housing, and multifamily construction costs.

Court Strikes Down Miami Beach’s Airbnb Ban

Miami Beach’s ban on short-term home-sharing has been struck down in court. The city of Miami Beach passed some of the harshest penalties against home-sharing in the country in 2016 — it increased short-term rental fines from $500 and $1,500 for multifamily and single-family homes, respectively, up to a whopping $20K. Each subsequent violation was set to increase by $20K. Miami Beach also…

First Ground-Up OZ Project Comes to Miami Design District

BH3 will develop an 86,000-square-foot retail project in Miami’s Design District, the 30-acre enclave featuring high-street shops, upscale restaurants, art galleries and hotels. The development will be the first and largest ground-up building to rise in this Designated Opportunity Zone. The project received its final and non-appealable site plan approval in August 2019. Having Segal Suarez as architect…

Does WeWork’s Stumble Herald A Bigger Collapse For Coworking? Miami Might Have The Answer

WeWork’s failed IPO rollout and doubts about its underlying business model beg the question: Will the fallout spread to coworking, just as it has started taking up more and more of the office market? For that answer, watch the city with the highest percentage of coworking in the country: Miami. Location Ventures CEO Rishi Kapoor, who is based in Miami and has ambitious worldwide plans for coworking…

Matis Cohen and Galbut family score board approval for North Beach project, to include apartments and micro-units

Matis Cohen and Marisa Galbut with the 72nd and Park rendering Matis Cohen and the Galbut family’s proposal to significantly make over Miami Beach’s Carlyle and Byron avenues scored an important approval Wednesday. The city’s design review board granted two waivers for 72nd and Park, a major mixed-use project the developers propose for North Beach under new development guidelines the city…

For mall owners like Simon, Brookfield and Vornado, Forever 21 bankruptcy signals more trouble ahead

Forever 21 owes these five mall owners $20.9 million, bankruptcy court records show. When South Korean immigrants Jin Sook and Do Won Chang landed at Los Angeles International Airport in 1981, they had nothing. The couple eventually scraped together a modest savings and opened their first clothing store in Los Angeles. Over three decades later, they turned that single store into a fast-fashion…

$20M Sale of Miami Distribution Center Arranged

CBRE has brokered the $19.5 million sale of the Tire Group International Distribution Center, a 179,972-square-foot single-tenant warehouse at 7500 NW 35th Terrace in Miami. TDH Realty sold the property to Brookfield Asset Management, according to the South Florida Business Journal. CBRE Senior Vice Presidents David Wigoda and Devin White, along with Financial Analyst Sean Kelly…

Here Come The Virgin Hotels

Virgin Hotels — part of billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin empire — will open an outpost in Miami’s Brickell neighborhood in 2023. The 40-story hotel will be developed with Blue Jay Capital, a South Florida private equity firm, and include 15 floors of furnished residential spaces in 150 micro and co-living units. Virgin Hotels launched in 2010 and now includes open hotels in Chicago and San Francisco.

Kushner goes to Broward, buying site near Fort Lauderdale train station

Kushner Companies is making its first big real estate play in Fort Lauderdale. The company, led by Charles Kushner, Nicole Kushner Meyer and Laurent Morali, is under contract to purchase three properties for $49 million across the street from the Virgin Trains station in downtown Fort Lauderdale’s Himmarshee District, sources told The Real Deal. Swire Properties of Hong Kong is selling the lots at 200…

Watch: A-Rod on the benefits and pitfalls of being a celebrity investor

Alex Rodriguez has been investing in real estate for decades. He made his first purchase — a duplex outside of Miami that he needed a $48,000 downpayment for — when he was 22. But in the years since, the former Yankee third baseman, who is now 44, has built a sizable national real estate portfolio. He has thousands of units, all under the A-Rod Corp. umbrella, in U.S. markets like Chicago, North Carolina…

Two South Beach hotels hit the market for $42M

The owner of two South Beach hotels is looking to sell the properties for a combined $42 million. Companies tied to Orlando J. Valdes own the Cavalier Hotel at 1320 Ocean Drive and the Henrosa Hotel at 1435 Collins Avenue. The properties mark the last hotels that the family owns in Miami Beach, according to the listing broker, Susan Gale of One Sotheby’s International Realty. The Valdes family owns…

Quadrum Global plans Arlo hotel in Wynwood

A rendering of Arlo Wynwood Hotel developer Quadrum Global is planning to build an Arlo hotel in Wynwood, nearly a year after buying the property. Quadrum Global tapped NBWW Architects (Nichols Brosch Wurst Wolfe & Associates) to design the mixed-use hotel at 2217 and 2233 Northwest Miami Court, according to a press release. The project adds to the pipeline of hotels planned for Wynwood…

Miami gives scooters two more months in trial

Scooters can remain on city of Miami at least a bit longer. With the first six months of a pilot program wrapped up, the Miami City Commission last week voted to renew the scooter program two more months. The second iteration has added measures to address safety concerns, as emphasized by Chairman Ken Russell, whose district will continue being the sole area of scooter operation in the city, He…

Climate cloud may hang over Wynwood

Plans for a woonerf on Northwest Third Avenue in Wynwood have evolved to include gateway art, possibly in the form of a “climate cloud” that would be suspended above Northwest 29th Street, and a meandering layout intended to slow traffic down. Jennifer Bolstad and Walter Meyer, co-founders of Local Office, the Brooklyn-based firm that designed the streetscapes for Miracle Mile and Giralda…

Nothing’s Forever: Lincoln Road location in Miami Beach among those on Forever 21’s closure list

Forever 21 identified a trio of New York City stores on its list of 178 locations in the United States that the struggling retailer has slated for closure. The brand also slated 20 stores in the Los Angeles area, along with nine in Chicago and three more in South Florida, including 701 Lincoln Road in Miami Beach. In Manhattan, the fast fashion…

Blackstone buys two Miami Gardens industrial properties for $14M

Blackstone CEO Stephen A. Schwarzman and 5120 Northwest 165 Street Blackstone acquired two industrial properties in Miami Gardens for $13.6 million, adding to its growing South Florida portfolio. The private equity giant bought the combined 122,078-square-foot industrial site at 5120 Northwest 165th Street from TA Realty for $111 per square foot, records show. The properties are in the Palmetto…

Downtown Miami office building hits market, brokers expect sale price to top $30M

Another downtown Miami office property hit the market, as owners of older buildings hope buyers will pay a premium to redevelop a property. The office building at 235 Southeast 1st Street is unpriced, but the brokers expect the sale price to be more than $30 million, according to a spokesperson. Colliers International South Florida’s Mika Mattingly and Cecilia Estevez are listing the property. The four…

Blackstone buys Colony Capital’s warehouse portfolio for $6B

Blackstone is doubling down on its e-commerce bet with another multibillion dollar industrial portfolio deal. The company is buying Colony Capital’s national warehouse portfolio for $5.9 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal. Blackstone also struck a deal in June to buy a similar portfolio from GLP for $18.7 billion, although it has already started to sell portions of that portfolio. The portfolio Colony…

WeWork pulls its public offering

WeWork is officially pulling its public offering. The firm’s co-CEOs, Artie Minson and Sebastian Gunningham, said in a statement that WeWork “decided to postpone our IPO to focus on our core business.” “We have every intention to operate WeWork as a public company and look forward to revisiting the public equity markets in the future,” the statement said. Sebastian Gunningham Last month, the firm’s…

Greystar looks to sell luxury rental building The Mile near Coral Gables

The Mile, Robert Given and Troy Ballard A luxury apartment development near Coral Gables is hitting the market, and it could sell for more than $40 million, based on recent sales. Greystar tapped Cushman & Wakefield to list the 120-unit building at 3622 Southwest 22nd Street without an asking price. Listing broker Robert Given said that comparable properties have sold for about $350,000 per unit. That would…

Video: Architecture, Engineering, and Design firm Stevens & Wilkonson Chairman Ron Stang Discusses Mixed-use Development in Multifamily Today

In this episode, Ron Stang, Chairman of Stevens and Wilkonson, joins the show’s host Michael Bull to discuss the multifamily property sector, including cycle outlook, generational drivers in the market, new technology for multifamily, issues with affordability, density conditions impacting multifamily, mixed-use development, adaptive reuses, workforce housing, and multifamily construction costs.

South Florida by the numbers: Miami athletes and real estate

“South Florida by the numbers” is a web feature that catalogs the most notable, quirky and surprising real estate statistics. We do love our sports here at South Florida by the numbers headquarters. And September is an especially fun time of the year: the Marlins are winding down, the Dolphins and Hurricanes have just gotten started, and the Heat and Panthers check into the game next…

Related Group, Alex Karakhanian and partners drop $32M on Wynwood site

The Related Group, developer Alex Karakhanian and their partners purchased a large property in Wynwood for $32 million, with plans to redevelop the site, The Real Deal has learned. A joint venture between Related, Karakhanian and Tricera Capital’s Scott Sherman and Ben Mandell closed Thursday on the 2.1-are site at 2801 Northwest Third Avenue. Tony…

In a sluggish condo market, these Miami developers find a sweet spot

It’s no secret that the Miami area is facing an oversupply of shiny new condos, spacious units with sprawling terraces in skyscrapers stretching from Brickell to the northernmost tip of Sunny Isles Beach. But a new product type has emerged that developers claim they can’t build quickly enough: more affordable units that buyers can rent out however and whenever they want, no strings attached.

WeWork is booting Adam Neumann’s friends

WeWork is clearing house of Adam Neumman’s closest allies. At least two executives were told Wednesday night that their tenure with the company is up, people familiar with the matter told The Real Deal. While a source said some of the execs were still at WeWork as of Thursday afternoon, another source said the company was in the process of negotiating their…

Terra closes on $185M construction loan for latest Coconut Grove project

Terra secured $185 million in construction financing for its next development in Coconut Grove. Mack Real Estate Credit Strategies is providing the loan to Terra for the Bayshore Grove project at 2655 South Bayshore Drive in Coconut Grove, according to property records. It’s one of the largest construction loans to close in South Florida this year, after the $300 million loan for Vlad Doronin…

Crescent Heights to begin construction of massive Edgewater project

Developer Russell Galbut’s Crescent Heights acquired more land for the firm’s massive Edgewater development. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation sold its building at 2900 Biscayne Boulevard to Crescent Heights’ 2900 Block Redevelopment LLC for $6.75 million. The property is in an Opportunity Zone. Galbut said it is the last piece of land needed for the fully assembled site. “Several pads within the…

Miculitzki family lists property near Wynwood Walls for $18M

Block Capital Group, owned by the Miculitzki family, is looking to sell a retail property near the Wynwood Walls for $18 million. 295 Wynwood LLC, led by Martin Miculitzki, gut-renovated the property at 2729 Northwest Third Avenue and leased the 9,616-square-foot building to Bfyne, a clothing store; Giache Crepes; and D’Cajon, a restaurant. The property fronts Third Avenue, one of the streets where…

Adam Neumann to step down as WeWork’s CEO

Adam Neumann stepped down Tuesday as WeWork’s CEO as the company moved to salvage a planned initial public offering — if not the company itself. The chief executive’s exit concludes talks that began in recent days between Neumann and his company’s investors and board members. The Wall Street Journal first reported the news. “In recent weeks, the scrutiny directed to…

Edgewater’s Development Boom Shows No Signs of Slowing

One of Miami’s hottest new locations is Edgewater, located east of Biscayne Boulevard and overlooking Biscayne Bay. Several factors already make Edgewater an excellent location thanks to its proximity to both the 195 and 395 entrance ramps leading to highway I-95, which can take you north or south. Highways 836 and 112 can get you to Miami International Airport within minutes, and there are 3…

Rent reform in New York, California propels new wave of multifamily investors to Miami

First, it was tax reform that pushed CEOs, hedge fund managers and other high-net-worth individuals to South Florida. They were lured in by the favorable climate, luxury residential properties and most of all, substantial tax savings. Now, it is the multifamily investors who are heading to South Florida, and for a different reason: rent control, something the Sunshine State lacks. In June, New York…

Alex Rodriguez, slugger-turned-investor, nears multifamily fundraise goal

Retired Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez’s Monument Capital Management has raised the majority of a $50 million fund to buy up to about $200 million in real estate. Miami-based Monument focuses on value-add multifamily real estate in secondary markets across the country. The fund, the fourth of its kind for the firm, has closed on two properties in Illinois and Tennessee and has a third under…

Crescent Heights to begin construction of massive Edgewater project

Developer Russell Galbut’s Crescent Heights acquired more land for the firm’s massive Edgewater development. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation sold its building at 2900 Biscayne Boulevard to Crescent Heights’ 2900 Block Redevelopment LLC for $6.75 million. The property is in an Opportunity Zone. Galbut said it is the last piece of land needed for the fully assembled site. “Several pads within the…

WeWork insiders slam Neumann and his enablers: “They created the monster”

In the beginning there was Adam Neumann. Now, WeWork is facing a future without its energetic leader — who raised billions and opened hundreds of office-space locations, but ultimately led the company astray. “I had so much respect for him when I got there,” said one former executive. “And I had zero when I left.” The bitter sentiment is shared by many. In recent years, Neumann’s behavior…

Adam Neumann to step down as WeWork’s CEO

Adam Neumann stepped down Tuesday as WeWork’s CEO as the company moved to salvage a planned initial public offering — if not the company itself. The chief executive’s exit concludes talks that began in recent days between Neumann and his company’s investors and board members. The Wall Street Journal first reported the news. “In recent weeks, the scrutiny directed to…

WeWork gets 2 new CEOs: ‘This is Artie. He’s the adult in the room’

Years before he stepped down as chief executive officer of WeWork amid the wreckage of an over-hyped public offering, Adam Neumann was hosting an industry leader for an early lunch at the company’s headquarters. It was the summer of 2017, and he brought the person over to the office of one of his deputies, Artie Minson. “This is Artie,” Neumann said. “He’s the adult in the room.” On Tuesday, Neumann…

WeWork’s side businesses are fizzling

When WeWork rebranded itself The We Company in January, CEO Adam Nuemann sent a clear message about his vision for the firm: it is much bigger than co-working. But We Company’s side businesses, including co-living venture WeLive, have a patchy track record of success, according to the Wall Street Journal. Some are struggling to survive while others have fizzled out altogether. The company…

Adam Neumann wants to live forever – that and more zany news about WeWork’s CEO

The controversies surrounding the We Company’s pending public offering have been almost nonstop — and Adam Neumann has been at the center of almost all of them. Since the WeWork parent company filed its S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last month, investors have raised concerns about issues ranging from the amount of control Neumann has over the company to his…

Adam Neumann is facing a coup. Can We work without him?

Adam Neumann’s vision and hype built WeWork into the largest provider of office space in the world. But his eccentric and self-serving behavior, failed IPO plans and hemorrhaging losses at the company have prompted SoftBank — its largest investor — to push for his ouster as CEO. “Could the company survive without Adam?” said Sam Zell, the chairman of Equity Group Investments. “I’m sure they…”

Small Talk: Trying to make sense of the WeWorld

The best part about the stock market is how much of a sure thing every investment is, and the best part about startups is that they are all guaranteed to become incredibly prosperous businesses. So when the guaranteed success of a startup meets the guaranteed success of the stock market, any investments are guaranteed to make you so much money that the word “guaranteed” will quickly start to sound…

AOC’s $16.5B housing plan is really bad for real estate

If AOC had her way, landlords would feel the pain. The big ones, anyway. On the heels of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ $2.5 trillion housing plan, the firebrand New York congresswoman just released her own $16.5 billion plan on Tuesday, and it’s not pretty for institutional landlords. Though any landlord with five or more properties would be subject to her overall housing proposal, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is really…

Overtown tower to have 98 of 616 units micro-sized

A developer plans a mixed-use apartment tower in Overtown providing more than 600 rental units, with nearly 100 being micro-sized. Atlantic Pacific Communities LLC plans to build Block 45 at 152 NW Eighth Street, a 36-story structure anchored by nearly 25,000 square feet of ground floor commercial-retail uses, an attached garage for up to 637 vehicles, and open space of 16,731 square feet. The city’s…

MCSS Development Sells 480 KSF Self Storage Portfolio

The five self storage assets are… Carrying the address of 1103 SW 3rd Avenue, MCSS Brickell offers 75,000 square feet… in downtown Miami’s Brickell… while… located at 590 NW 137th Avenue and 4001 NW 77th Avenue, respectively, feature 77,000 net rentable square feet each. The remaining portfolio… MCSS Coconut Grove, a 52,000-square-foot property at 2434 SW 28th Lane in Coconut Grove…

Lennar Homes to Occupy 156 KSF at Miami Office Property

Franklin Street Properties Corp. has signed a lease agreement for approximately 156,000 square feet with Lennar Homes. The new tenant intends to move its corporate headquarters to 5505 Waterford at Blue Lagoon, a Class A, 212,619-square-foot office building in Miami. The lease has an initial term of 16 years. Located at 5505 Blue Lagoon Drive in the Airport South submarket, the nine-story office…

Lennar Homes Signs 156,000 SF Office Lease for New Headquarters in Miami

Lennar Homes LLC has signed a 16-year lease to occupy 156,000 square feet of office space for its new headquarters in Miami. Lennar Homes will move into Franklin Street Properties’ Blue Lagoon property, which is a nine-story, 213,000-square-foot building located seven miles west of downtown Miami.

East End Opens Wynwood 25 And Annex As Office Rents Break Records

It’s been a busy few weeks for Related Group and East End Capital, as their new 289-unit apartment building Wynwood 25 had a grand opening party last week, and the 60K SF Wynwood Annex office building will be officially unveiled Wednesday. Its first tenant, Live Nation, which is leasing 8K SF, will move in over the next month or so. “We’re negotiating four other floors right now,” in the eight-story…

Miami Developers: All This Socialist Talk Is Really Bugging Us

Some of Miami’s most influential real estate professionals say there is a macroeconomic force at play that worries them far more than a coming recession: socialism. A panel about major projects in Miami featured Cherry Bekaert partner Carol Surowiec, Plaza Equity co-founder Anthony Burns, Mast Capital CEO Camilo Miguel and Crescent Heights CEO Russell Galbut Asked what keeps him up at night…

Eye-opening look at new vistas in 33 acres under I-395

Downtown’s overseers just got an eye-opening look at what the Underdeck – the 33 acres beneath a redesigned I-395 – could be like when today’s barriers disappear and events and amenities can flood the area with pedestrians. “That place comes back alive again and transforms multiple neighborhoods,” Steve Williamson, director of Miami’s Department of Capital Improvements, told directors of…

Fed’s rate cuts ignite mortgage industry, real estate

Fluctuations in the federal benchmark interest rate have ignited the mortgage industry, observers say. Last week, the Federal Reserve Bank lowered the rate by one-quarter of a percentage point, from 2% to 1.75%, and announced that another rate cut may be in the offing by year’s end. “Anytime we see movement in the interest rate, that always creates a fire under buyers,” said Ron Shuffield, CEO of Berkshire…

Miculitzki family lists property near Wynwood Walls for $18M

Block Capital Group, owned by the Miculitzki family, is looking to sell a retail property near the Wynwood Walls for $18 million. 295 Wynwood LLC, led by Martin Miculitzki, gut-renovated the property at 2729 Northwest Third Avenue and leased the 9,616-square-foot building to Bfyne, a clothing store; Giache Crepes; and D’Cajon, a restaurant. The property fronts Third Avenue, one of the streets where…

More South Florida Breweries on Tap Despite Uphill Battle for Real Estate

Jose Mallea set out in 2012 to open a brewery in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood, but the city had yet to craft its zoning regulations for beer makers. Instead, he opened Biscayne Bay Brewing Co. in Doral, which allows manufacturing with dual industrial-retail uses — an ideal recipe for breweries. “We spoke with Miami and it said, ‘It’s going to be difficult for you to get the manufacturing and commercial…”

Motivational speaker Grant Cardone raises $50M for South Florida multifamily fund via crowdfunding

Grant Cardone and 10X Living at Sawgrass Motivational speaker and real estate investor Grant Cardone encourages his followers to “10X” their businesses, incomes and lives. Now, time will tell if the average investor in his real estate funds will 10X his or her investment. Cardone Capital’s $50 million Cardone Equity Fund V is oversubscribed and closed as of Friday, said Susan Schieman, chief financial…

Trump EDA Chief Says States Should Throw More Money Behind Opportunity Zones

U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development Dr. John Fleming will be in Miami this week, joining Mayor Francis Suarez for a two-day summit on opportunity zones with a slew of federal officials. Fleming, a former coroner, doctor and congressman, was appointed to his post by President Donald Trump in March and spent much of this year on a “listening tour” regarding the new…

The Power of Infrastructure to Transform CRE

Roads, bridges, jobs, and commercial real estate values all benefit Infrastructure forms the fabric of our daily lives and powers our economic prosperity. Buildings, roads, bridges, and communication networks are just a few examples of the vast web of systems that give us space to work, play, and learn. When these systems are maintained and functioning well, they enhance the value of a region’s…

Long-Term vs. Short-Term Leases in a CRE Property

Which is best for you? A lot has been written lately about thinking outside of the lease box, including exploring the possibility of short-term leases. One big reason for this conversation is the rise of pop-up businesses, and the short-term lease is a way of filling space that would otherwise remain empty. Before jumping into the short-term lease market, however, there are a few things for both landlords…

Richard Branson’s Virgin Hotels unveils plans for first Miami hotel, co-living included

Richard Branson’s Virgin Hotels revealed the site of its first Miami hotel, a 40-story property in the Brickell neighborhood, with plans for a co-living component. The hotel is one of at least two that Virgin Hotels plans to operate in the Miami area, according to AFAR, which first reported the news. Miami-based Virgin Hotels is partnering with Blue Jay Capital… a nearly 250-key hotel at 1040 South Miami Avenue.

Allegations of employee theft, retaliation and female harassment at Brickell City Centre Developer Swire: lawsuit

A year after two ex-employees sued Swire Properties for discrimination, the Brickell City Centre developer is facing more internal turmoil following the dismissal of an accounting manager. She’s accused of stealing the company’s trade secrets after complaining about a high-ranking executive harassing women in his office. In a recently filed lawsuit, Swire is accusing Yelenis Jimenez, who was hired as an…

Sunny Isles Beach imposes one-year development moratorium west of Collins Avenue

Sunny Isles Beach approved a one-year moratorium on real estate development in a low- and mid-rise area west of Collins Avenue across from a row of high-rise oceanfront condos. City commissioners voted 4-1 Thursday night to impose a 12-month moratorium on development in the Town Center area between Collins Avenue and the Intracoastal Waterway from 163rd Street north to 172nd Street.

MSC Cruises gets green light for $300M terminal project at PortMiami

The Miami-Dade County Commission on Thursday approved a $300 million terminal development by MSC Cruises at PortMiami. The cruise line plans to build its two-terminal building on 16.7 acres, under a 62-year lease, which may mark the biggest lease deal in port history. Holland & Knight partner William R. Bloom, who represents MSC, said the company would pay rent totaling $2 billion over the…

Virgin Trains, Tri-Rail Roll Toward Real Estate Boom Linked to New Stations

In South Florida, real estate development is fueled by universal factors like demand, land cost and population growth. Another less obvious driver is passenger trains. Brightline, soon to be renamed Virgin Trains USA, and its older public counterpart Tri-Rail are moving from transportation modes to development incubators. From the get-go, real estate was a major aspect of Brightline as its stations…

Miami’s biggest condo developer is going micro

The Magic City’s biggest condo builder is going small on its next project. The Related Group is planning to build micro condos on a downtown Miami site it recently closed on, The Real Deal has learned. The Miami-based developer is planning to build a roughly 400-foot tower with about 350 units, Jon Paul Pérez, a vice president at the firm, said. Property records show Parcel C LLC, tied to Related, paid…

Russell Galbut, Keith Menin ink deal with short-term rental operator Domio

Hotelier Keith Menin and Crescent Heights developer Russell Galbut have inked the first of a number of deals with Domio, a short-term rental operator, The Real Deal has learned. Menin and his uncle, Galbut, signed a 10-year lease with Domio to take over management of the Kaskades Hotel at 300 17th Street in Miami Beach, Domio CEO and founder Jay Roberts said. The lease begins Oct. 1. Menin is acting…

Bernie Sanders unveils details of $2.5T housing plan: “We need a homes guarantee”

Democratic socialist Bernie Sanders released his much-anticipated $2.5 trillion housing plan today. The Vermont senator and presidential candidate would cap annual rent increases at 3 percent or one and a half times the consumer price index, whichever is higher. He would also allow states and cities to pass their own rent-control standards, even if they had stricter limits on rent increases. Sanders also…

Video: IRA Resources President Jason Craig Discusses Investing in Commercial Real Estate with One’s Self Directed IRA

Looking to increase after tax returns, diversify your portfolio, or a clever method to raise cash from investors? Jason Craig, President of IRA Resources, appears on America’s Commercial Real Estate Show to discuss benefits and strategies, as well as mistakes to avoid, for using one’s IRA funds to buy commercial real estate. A long series of things to not do, things to do, things you can’t do and things you can…

6 Key Metrics About the Miami Commercial Real Estate Market

Miami’s commercial real estate market offers a wide range of projects and property types due to its pivotal access as an Atlantic coastal town. Miami has distinct cultural influence as a transportation node between North America, Central America, South America, and Europe. It also possesses economic diversity with many opportunities illustrated by a variety of…

Amid shifting winds, industrial stands strong in core markets

The economic shores are starting to get frothy, with incoming waves like Chinese tariffs and a downturn market threatening to crash on the beach. Despite this, the 2020 outlook for U.S. industrial real estate remains positive as low vacancy rates and rising rents offer a calming breeze. That was the message from the speakers at Avison Young’s U.S. Industrial Summit, a two-day event recently held in…

Hunt Real Estate Capital Provides $5.88 Million to Refinance a Multifamily Property Located in Hialeah, Florida

Hunt Real Estate Capital announced today that it has provided a conventional Fannie Mae DUS® multifamily loan in the amount of $5.88 million to refinance a multifamily property located in Hialeah, Florida. The District Apartments, completed in March of 2019, is a newly built apartment community located at 8520 W 21 Street. The property consists of 39 units housed in one residential building, which is…

Regency Miami near Beckham’s planned soccer complex trades for $26M

A company tied to Miami investor Orlando Padron has acquired a 3.8-acre hotel property near Miami International Airport and David Beckham’s planned soccer and retail complex. OPB Capital Group Fund 1 LLC paid $25.8 million for the Regency Miami Hotel at 1000 Northwest 42nd Avenue. The seller was 10 Le Jeune Inc., led by Jose Vazquez. Banesco USA provided the buyer with a $21 million loan.

Fed cuts rates, signaling caution ahead for real estate investors

The Federal Reserve’s decision on Wednesday to again cut its benchmark interest rate, this time by 25 basis points, sends a message to commercial real estate investors that the bank is proceeding cautiously, one industry pro said. “The Fed clearly has some concerns that they’re responding to,” said Sam Chandan, associate dean at New York University’s Schack Institute. The Fed cut rates to a range…

Video: CCIM Economist KC Conway on Tariffs, Commercial Real Estate, and the Cycle

K.C. Conway, Chief Economist with CCIM and Director of the Alabama Center for Real Estate, appears on America’s Commercial Real Estate Show with host Michael to discuss his opinions and thoughts regarding tariffs, the economic cycle, and how they may or may not impact the commercial real estate market. He discusses the devastating effect the last major trade wars, effectuated via the Smoot-Hawley Tariff…

PMG, Greybrook Plan 49-Story Mixed-Use Tower in Miami

A development partnership between New York City-based Property Markets Group (PMG) and Toronto-based Greybrook Realty Partners are currently developing 400 Biscayne, a mixed-use project offering 646 rental apartments in Miami. Slated for completion in 2021, the 49-story building will include 51,000 square feet of commercial space and a 22,000-square-foot redesigned First United Methodist…

Toyota car dealer picks up Sunshine Kia of Miami site for $6M

The Sunshine Kia of Miami property site sold for $6.4 million. SAG Realty sold the 117,074-square-foot property at 17120 South Dixie Highway for $55 per square foot to a company tied to Mario J.T. Benedetti of South Dade Toyota, records show. Benedetti secured a $4.9 million loan from Ally Bank, according to records. SAG Realty, which is led by Rod Rifai of Performance Automotive Group, bought the…

In Tiny City of Sunny Isles With 6 Trump-Branded Towers, Real Estate Execs Trade Jabs Over Its Future

At a Bisnow event around the future of Sunny Isles and North Miami Beach last week, jabs flew between panelists as though they were leading a comedy roast instead of a real estate roundtable. The city of Sunny Isles Beach, just north of Miami Beach, is in the midst of a battle over its future. In the past 15 years or so, massive towers — including six Trump-branded ones — have risen along the beachfront…

County targets Biscayne Bay ferry to South Beach

Sixteen years after a study found commuter travel on Biscayne Bay feasible, Miami-Dade lawmakers have told administrators to seek waterborne transit between Miami and South Beach. Commissioners Sept. 4 OK’d an item by Eileen Higgins directing Mayor Carlos Giménez to negotiate terms for water transit “on an expedited basis” and seek state and federal funds. Javier Souto, sponsor of a 2017…

South Dade transit-oriented housing for seniors nears

The folks at Pinnacle Housing Group are proud to be delivering a brand new affordable transit-oriented development for seniors in South Miami-Dade County within a month’s time. Caribbean Village is seven stories and home to 123 residential units. The project is a public-private partnership between Pinnacle, the South Miami Heights Community Development Corp. and Miami-Dade County. The county…

Miami looks at luxury Virginia Key hotel at civil rights museum

To help revitalize Virginia Key Beach and create a stable funding stream for a civil rights museum to rise there, Commissioner Keon Hardemon proposed a potential source of revenue: a luxury hotel. As the Miami City Commission discussed the Virginia Key Trust’s proposed budget last week, Mr. Hardemon floated the idea to mixed reviews. “I think there needs to be something that we have to do in…

Rubell Collection morphing into large Allapattah museum

The Rubell Family Collection, long a Wynwood landmark, will re-open as the Rubell Museum Dec. 4 at 1100 NW 23 St., a 2.5-acre site in Allapattah. The new 100,000-square-foot campus, designed by Selldorf Architects, features 53,000 square feet of exhibition space divided into 40 galleries, as well as office and flex space, a museum store featuring art books, design objects and gifts, a research library holding…

Inside Bernie Sanders’ $2.5 trillion housing plan

For the first time in decades, a presidential candidate is pushing for nationwide rent control. Democratic contender Bernie Sanders unveiled the key points of his $2.5 trillion housing plan on Saturday, calling for national rent control standards as well as the investment of billions of dollars to end homelessness, overhaul public housing, create mixed-income housing a…

Hurricane Dorian delivers blow to Florida hotel occupancy, revenue: report

Hurricane Dorian never made landfall in Florida, but the near miss still had a sizable impact on Florida’s hospitality industry around Labor Day weekend. Demand for hotels in the Florida Keys fell by 50 percent and revenue per available room dropped by 59 percent during a seven-day period from Aug. 30 through Sept. 5, according to a report from the hotel data company STR. Daytona Beach’s hotel industry…

$37M Loan Secured for Miami Asset

CBRE Senior Vice Presidents Paul Ahmed and Amy Julian, together with Senior Financial Analysts Andrew Chilgren and Mackenzie Fry, have arranged a $37 million loan for Giralda Place, a recently completed office building in Coral Gables, Fla. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. originated the long-term, fixed-rate loan for HEC Finances. The property is situated at 2222 Ponce De Leon Boulevard on the city’s…

More like WeWait? Co-working giant to postpone IPO, report says

WeWork’s parent company is reportedly planning to postpone its initial public offering following weeks of scrutiny over the co-working firm’s valuation and corporate structure. Sources told the Wall Street Journal that the IPO roadshow would be put on hold until at least mid-October, following the Jewish High Holidays, despite earlier reports that WeWork’s IPO roadshow would kick off as early as this…

Wynwood is getting its own Moxy hotel

Dolphin Capital Partners and Baywood Hotels closed on the site of a planned Moxy by Marriott hotel in Wynwood, The Real Deal has learned. The partners paid $11 million, or $670 per square foot, for the 16,400-square-foot site at 255 Northwest 25th Street, according to Tony Arellano of Dwntwn Realty Advisors. Arellano and Devlin Marinoff brokered the deal. David Grutman’s Groot Hospitality will…

Pacific Star Capital wants to build Target-anchored retail building in North Beach

Aria Mehrabi and City National Bank Developer Pacific Star Capital is now looking to build a Target-anchored shopping center in North Beach, after a deal to swap land with Miami Beach fell through. Aria Mehrabi’s Pacific Star wants to buy the Miami Beach-owned parking lot to build the shopping center, according to a memo he sent last week. The Santa Monica, California-based real estate firm has offered…

Related Group, Atlantic Pacific seek approvals for mixed-use apartment projects in Miami

The Related Group and Atlantic | Pacific Communities will go before a city of Miami board on Wednesday for mixed-use projects along the Miami River, Liberty City and near downtown Miami. Related is seeking approvals from the Miami Urban Development Review Board for two projects. Phase three of Liberty Square, 1201 Northwest 65th Street | Related Group Related’s affordable housing arm is planning…

Related Group picks up two lots next to Miami Dade College for $9M

A company tied to the Related Group scooped up two lots near Miami Dade College’s downtown campus for $8.8 million. Parcel C LLC, which shares an address with the Related Group, bought the combined 15,000-square-foot site at 225 and 233 North Miami Avenue for $584 per square foot, records show. Henrietta and Burl Sostchin sold the 10,000-square-foot property at 233 North Miami Avenue…

Developer Armando Codina: A Downturn Is Not Miami’s Biggest Problem

South Florida developers tend to hone in on one or two areas they know best, and if you’re talking about Doral, there is no bigger honer than Codina Partners Executive Chairman Armando Codina, who built a master-planned community with schools, a city hall, 5,000 residential units, a Publix and 1M SF of commercial space. Codina, who will be a speaker at Bisnow’s upcoming South Florida State of the…

Urbanica scores construction loan from Miami Beach’s biggest developer

Ubranica Management just scored a loan for a hotel project, but they didn’t go to a bank for the financing. Instead, they got the cash from Miami Beach’s largest developer. Urbanica scored a $9 million construction loan from a company tied to Russell Galbut that will be used to finish constructing its third hotel in Miami Beach. Despite being the company’s third hotel in Miami Beach, the new hotel will be…

Urbanica Acquires Land in Miami Beach for $40M, Plans 200-Room Beachfront Hotel

Hotel developer Urbanica has acquired a one-acre plot of land in Miami Beach for $40 million from China City Construction (CCC). Urbanica plans to develop a 200-room, beachfront hotel on the site. The plot is the last undeveloped beachfront lot in North Beach, located between the Deauville Beach Resort and Sterling Condominium buildings on Collins Avenue. Urbanica expects to break ground…

Miami commission wants contract for Beckham stadium deal by October

In spite of pleas from the mayor for more time, on Thursday the Miami City Commission approved a resolution to vote on a contract in late October that will enable a development team to construct a gigantic $1 billion stadium complex on top of a city-owned golf course. The commission wants to vote on the contract by either Oct. 24 or Oct. 31. Miami Freedom Park LLC, led by MasTec chairman Jorge…

Michael Shvo’s South Beach hotel plan could cost him $500M

Between buying the Raleigh Hotel, pending deals to purchase two neighboring boutique hotels and proposing a new residential tower, Michael Shvo and his partners are already looking at a $250 million investment – and that amount could double. “We will invest $500 million over the next year,” Shvo said, speaking at the annual Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce real estate luncheon on Thursday.

A piece bordering the $4 billion Miami Worldcenter megaproject just hit the market

A development site bordering the $4 billion Miami Worldcenter megaproject just hit the market. Colliers International South Florida’s Urban Core Division’s Mika Mattingly, Jack Lowell and Cecilia Estevez have been tapped to sell the 24,000-square-foot development site known as World Center Link at 33–45–55 Northeast 6th Street. The developers are asking $16.5 million for the site, which allows for up to…

Showdown in Miami? Spaghetti Western star loses Brickell upzoning battle for former Cocaine Cowboy property

A former Spaghetti Western star has lost his final battle with the Miami City Commission. The commission upheld Mayor Francis Suarez’s veto that prevents developer Francisco Martinez-Celeiro from securing the rezoning of the former Babylon Apartments on Brickell Bay Drive to allow for a 24-story residential building. The scene at the commission meeting on Thursday played in a dramatic fashion…

Developers land $162M loan for downtown Miami co-living tower

Kevin Maloney’s Property Markets Group and Greybrook Realty Partners closed on a $161.5 million loan for a rental tower they’re planning in downtown Miami. The partners broke ground on the project, a 49-story, 646-unit building at 400 Biscayne Boulevard, in June. Centennial Bank and Square Mile Capital are the lenders, according to a press release. 400 Biscayne will be part of new apartment brand…

JPMorgan buys Amazon-leased warehouse next to Miami International Airport

South Florida Logistics Center Fueled by growth in the e-commerce sector, South Florida’s industrial market isn’t showing signs of slowing down. And when Amazon is the tenant, it’s a seller’s market for a company looking to unload that property. Florida East Coast Industries subsidiary Flagler Global Logistics sold its… The building and parking lot at 3200 Northwest 67th Avenue in Miami sold for $33 million.

Jeffrey Soffer wants to expand the Fontainebleau Miami Beach

Nearly 15 years after his family acquired and renovated the Fontainebleau Miami Beach, Jeffrey Soffer wants to expand his trophy resort. Soffer is seeking to add a new building that will house more ballrooms and a 500-space parking garage. According to a recent memo sent to Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber and city commissioners, the addition would be developed on five parcels Soffer affiliate…

Miami Getting First New Office Tower In A Decade

When 830 Brickell opens in 2021, it will be the first new office tower in Miami in almost a decade. Developers are starting to introduce more office product into the market after years of focus on residential and mixed-use. The optimism is fueled by a recent rise in occupancy and rents. Almost 2M SF of office space is expected to be completed over the next two years, The Wall Street Journal…

This real estate investor loves Toys “R” Us’ liquidation sale; just purchased in Doral

Benderson Development bought another former Toys “R” Us property in South Florida. The University Park, Florida-based real estate investment company purchased the parcel to a Toys “R” Us and Babies “R” Us in Doral for $5.3 million from Pacific Equities Capital Management, The Real Deal has learned. The 20,270-square-foot property at 1635 Northwest 107 Avenue is part of a two-parcel former…

Under-construction Turnberry Ocean Club condo tower scores $460M refi

Jeffrey Soffer’s Fontainebleau Development secured a massive refinance of its Turnberry Ocean Club, a 54-story condo tower under construction in Sunny Isles Beach. JPMorgan Chase and Mack Real Estate Credit Strategies are the lenders on the $460 million loan, which closed Tuesday, according to Commercial Observer. It is a five-year, floating-rate loan. In June 2017, nearly a year after breaking ground…

Amid growing demand for university housing, Adam America buys multifamily complex near FIU

Developers are increasingly seeking to build new upscale student living next to Florida International University as demand for that kind of housing grows. Now, Adam America Real Estate has acquired a 36-unit multifamily development near the campus in Sweetwater for $20 million. The New York-based real estate investment firm paid $555,555 per unit for the properties at 10726 Southwest 7 Street, records…

FPL buys 109 acres near Homestead for natural gas facility

Florida Power and Light bought 109 acres near Homestead for $9.8 million where its affiliate natural gas company plans to build a nitrogen gas plant. FPL, a subsidiary of NextEra Energy, bought the two parcels in south Miami-Dade County for nearly $90,000 per acre from Marie Charbonneaux Trust, records show. The property sits just off the Florida Turnpike at Southwest…

Miami strives to get operator for Virginia Key marinas

With the November election looming, the Miami City Commission is set to once again address the future of the city’s property in Virginia Key, with two related items included in the agenda for today’s (9/12) commission meeting. One resolution is to have the commission approve the city manager’s recommendation that Virginia Key LLC as top-ranked proposer be granted a lease of the city-owned Virginia…

Pocket park could be early piece of Underline

A formal city-county agreement that will allow improvements to kick-start full construction of the first phase of the 10-mile Underline comes before a county committee for a recommendation this week. The Parks Recreation and Cultural Affairs Committee is being asked to bless a master maintenance agreement that would allow the county or its designee to build improvements in the city’s rights-of-way to…

Massive change is coming to Government Center

Change is coming to Government Center, a 20-acre area encompassing 16 county-owned properties in downtown Miami, and the document that will guide its transformation is due to be delivered to Miami-Dade lawmakers by early January. That “visioning study” will mark the latest step in a process that began last July, when the county created the new Government Center Rapid Transit Zone.

Bizarre case of deed fraud complicated Anbang’s $5.8B hotel – included Intercontinental in Miami – portfolio deal

It might have been one of the biggest heists of all time. Anbang has sold its U.S. hotel portfolio to the highest bidder at a price north of $5.8 billion, but a last-minute wrench was thrown into the deal when the Chinese insurance conglomerate discovered six of the properties’ deeds were fraudulently transferred to limited liability companies, the Wall Street Journal reported. …

W South Beach owner gobbles up more land for Wynwood resi project

TriStar Capital’s David Edelstein paid $6.5 million to add a chunk of land to his growing assemblage along a booming stretch of Wynwood, The Real Deal has learned. The New York and Miami Beach developer acquired the nearly 22,000-square-foot site at 97 and 101 Northwest 24th Street. Property records show the seller is Abby LLC, led by Larry Hellring. Ari Dispenza of Central Commercial Real Estate brokered…

Opa-Locka warehouse near Amazon distribution center sells amid rising demand

The owner of Ameriworld, an e-commerce fulfillment company, sold a four-building industrial warehouse in Opa-Locka amid rising demand for affordable industrial space in Miami. Property records show Alermar II LC, a company owned by Ameriworld CEO Julian Rubio, sold the property for $8 million. The 2.56-acre site includes the 68,000-square-foot warehouse at 14900 Northwest 22nd Court.

Related Group moves forward with Gallery on the River project

Jorge Pérez’s Related Group plans to build a new 160-unit apartment building right along the Miami River. The project, known as The Gallery on the River, will sit at 401 Northwest North River Drive and will cost $44.5 million, according to a memo filed with the Miami-Dade County. The resolution was pushed forward by the county commissioners at a Miami-Dade Housing, Social Services & Economic…

HOA buys clubhouse in southwest Miami-Dade from Lennar

Lennar Corp. sold the clubhouse at its Lennar at Sorrento at Venetian Parc for $6.9 million to the community’s homeowners association. The Miami-based homebuilder sold the clubhouse at the intersection of Southwest 175th Street and Southwest 153rd Street in southwest Miami-Dade, records show. The Venetian Parc Homeowners Association took out a $7.2 million loan from U.S. Century Bank to acquire…

Florida hemp industry awaits final regulations

State officials are finishing up the rules to launch a hemp industry in Florida after legalization on a national level. The industry could be significant in South Florida, where the semitropical climate allows hemp to grow throughout the year. Already, hemp products and derivatives, such as CBD, are popping up in mainstream retailers. Hemp is experiencing a major comeback story in the United States…

WeWork’s plunging valuation could spell concern for other real estate startups

Since the start of 2019, WeWork’s lofty $47 billion has been a fixture of fascination — how could an unprofitable startup be worth more than 15 times its revenue? Believers of that stratospheric valuation got a reality check this week when reports emerged that WeWork’s parent company was considering halving its valuation to around $20 billion for its impending public offering. For other real estate tech…

How A Year-Old, New York-Based Hotel Brand Is Taking Miami By Storm

A trendy, year-old hotel brand, Life House, will open a 52-room property at Collins Park on Miami Beach with a soft launch this month. That’s to be followed in quick succession by four more Miami locations, and 25 locations nationwide, by year’s end. How can a new company move so fast? Life House is technically a management company that doesn’t own the real estate, but partners with…

Video: FinTech Company aXpire’s CEO Gary Markham Discusses its Choice of Downtown Miami for its HQ

Gary R Markham, CEO of aXpire Fund Solutions, a FinTech/FundTech application solutions provider to hedge funds and a wide range of asset managers and administrators, discusses its choice of downtown Miami for its headquarters. He notes that Miami provides access to lots of talent, particularly with the amount of migration into Miami. In this Miami Downtown Development Authority published video…

Why An Inspector Should Be Your Next Construction Project Manager

The construction management field is booming. The Bureau of Labor and Statistics predicted an eleven percent growth in this job market over the next 10 years. With economic growth comes more commercial construction and the need for a construction project manager to keep everything on-track. Construction project managers are key to completing a project in the most accurate and efficient way possible…

Allied Partners buys Walgreens in Miami Beach for $33M

Investor Sam Herzberg sold a Walgreens-leased property on the corner of Collins Avenue and Fifth Street in Miami Beach to Allied Partners for $33 million. Property records show Herzberg’s D&R Design District LLC sold the two-story 22,875-square-foot building at 509 Collins Avenue. Walgreens has more than 14 years left on its triple-net lease with rare rental increases, according to ..

The We Company considers delaying IPO and slashing valuation to $20B: report

The We Company is planning to halve its valuation and discussed delaying its initial public offering until next year, as a tornado of criticism has been hurled at the company in recent weeks. At a meeting in Tokyo last week, co-founder and chief executive Adam Neumann met with the company’s largest investor, SoftBank, to discuss the immediate future of the office-space startup, according to…

Video: Watch Dorian’s Cone of Uncertainty Evolve as it Moved Near Florida

In this quick clip sure to be fascinating for all in the Miami area, whether owners of commercial property or not, one is able to watch the probability cone, aka the cone of uncertainty, for Hurricane Dorian change over time as the storm progressed through the Atlantic. For those of us that lived through it, oh-yeah-there-I-thought-we-were-going-to-get-it moments are sure to be recalled. Fortunately, the…

Six Retailers Sign Leases on Miami Beach’s Lincoln Road

The Lincoln Road Business Improvement District (BID) has executed six leases with retailers and restaurants to occupy space on Lincoln Road, Miami Beach’s high street for upscale retail, restaurants and entertainment. Brandy Melville, a women’s clothing shop catering toward Gen Z shoppers, opened its 2,500-square-foot shop at 730 Lincoln Road in late August. Located at 810 Lincoln Road, Pele Soccer…

Hurricane Dorian spared South Florida but will still cost developers and contractors

Most general contractors are back to work in South Florida, after securing and shutting down their job sites last week in anticipation of Hurricane Dorian’s arrival. While South Florida escaped the storm’s wrath, developers and contractors saw their costs rise as the days ticked by. The once-Category 5 storm, now a Category 2, devastated the northern Bahamas in recent days, but its core stayed offshore…

Codina Partners, USAA Break Ground on 147,768 SF Industrial Building in Metro Miami

Codina Partners and USAA Real Estate have broken ground on Building F, a 147,768-square-foot industrial building within Beacon Industrial Park in Hialeah. Codina and USAA are the owners and developers of Beacon Logistics Park, which will comprise more than 1.3 million square feet of industrial space when complete. The campus is located at NW 145th Place and NW 107th Avenue, 23 miles…

Winner Announced for $260M Miami-Dade Courthouse Bid

The courthouse, which will be built on Flagler Street next to the existing 1928 facility, will provide more than 600,000 square feet of space and services for the Eleventh Judicial Court of Florida, the Clerk of Courts and other related court partners and agencies. The project will include construction of more than 46 jury courtrooms and shell space for an additional four jury courtrooms; a parking area with secure…

Video: Seacoast Commerce Bank Senior VP Melanie Brown Discusses Financing for Real Estate

Melanie Brown, Senior VP at Seacoast Commerce Bank, joins America’s Commercial Real Estate Show in Studio One to discuss how to best utilize SBA loans for real estate properties. She discusses how SBA financing in some cases can allow for 90% financing, thus offering more leverage. She also notes that the amortization periods tend to be longer, thus lowering debt service payments and perhaps allowing…

Florida bill would halt evictions during a state of emergency

Florida Rep. Michael Grieco wants to pass a bill that would halt eviction proceedings during a state of emergency, like a hurricane. The Miami Beach politician, a Democrat in District 113, submitted a request to draft such a bill following the eviction of a 75-year-old woman in South Beach late Friday night, just days before Hurricane Dorian was predicted to make landfall in South Florida. Miami-Dade…

Linkpoint Properties nabs Pasteur Medical Center in Hialeah for $5M

Linkpoint Properties bought the Pasteur Medical Center in Hialeah for $4.7 million, as more investors seek out commercial properties in the burgeoning Miami-Dade city. Linkpoint, led by led by Camilo Niño, Ricardo Uribe and Alex Sanchez, bought the 10,662-square-foot medical center at 4440 West 16th Avenue for $440 per square foot, according to a press release. The seller is Orion Group Realty.

Mayorga Organics to Open 33,000 SF Coffee Distribution Facility in Miami

Mayorga Organics, a producer of organic coffee, will open a 33,000-square-foot distribution facility in Miami. The new facility will work in conjunction with the company’s existing center in Rockville, Md., to distribute coffee along the East Coast. The facility, located across from Miami International Airport at 4101 NW 25th Street, is expected to be operational by Nov. 1 and open to the public by Dec. 1 of this year.

Task force to boost Palmetto Bay revamp

Palmetto Bay’s negotiations over a project that, if approved, will transform the village’s downtown into a modern city center will probably begin this month and include a new task force created to boost public input, Mayor Karyn Cunningham said. The five-member task force will enter talks alongside Village Manager Ed Silva with developer i3 Interests LLC, which sent an unsolicited proposal to the village in…

Shalala talks of role in Grove Playhouse restoration

At a Coconut Grove town hall meeting, Miami Commissioner Ken Russell and US Rep. Donna Shalala made slight mention of the now-closed Coconut Grove Playhouse, though the congresswoman said she would consider how she could weigh in on the future of the historic venue. She would be the second member of Congress to play a part in the ongoing struggle over the playhouse. Rep. Frederica…

Chart: USA’s Leading Economic Indicators Decline, but Remain Better than Others

As can be seen in the chart in this “best house in a bad neighborhood” tweet by Carl Quintanilla, the leading economic indicators for the United States have declined significantly, of late registering below 100. However, as indicated by the humorous comment accompanying it, it is not the worst, with Europe’s leading economic indicators having declined significantly more and ahead of that of the United States.

Close Call: Hurricane Dorian Passes, But Is CRE Ready For The Next Storm?

Now that the winds have slowed down and evacuations have stopped, South Floridians agree: unpredictable Dorian was the most annoying hurricane ever. The near-miss should nudge commercial property owners to get ready for the next storm. Insurance rates could see a bump following Dorian, said Ryan Cassidy, Franklin Street’s senior director of insurance services. “It’s like gas prices,” he said.

Shake-A-Leg for disabled seeks city-aided upgrade

Shake-A-Leg Miami – a water sports organization serving youth and adults with disabilities, including veterans – will celebrate its 30th anniversary next year, an occasion that also marks the expiration of its current management agreement with the city. The facility sits on prime city-owned waterfront property in Coconut Grove. Shake-A-Leg’s co-founder and president, Harry R. Horgan, hopes to negotiate…

Miami-Dade could double workforce, affordable housing

Miami-Dade is poised for a funding infusion that could more than double the county’s existing affordable and workforce housing over the next two decades through the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program. The federal housing department last month approved a countywide portfolio application to transform public housing development…

Brickell House condo association scores $41 million over failed parking garage

More than four years after unit owners at the Brickell House tower reported issues with a robotic car garage, the condo association received an award of over $40 million. A Miami-Dade County judge awarded the condo association $40.6 million last week from the development group, BrickellHouseHoldings, over issues stemming from the failed car garage. The amount comes in addition to a…

Plaza Coral Gables to top off two buildings

Two of the four vertical midrise buildings at the Plaza Coral Gables mixed-use development just south of Miracle Mile will top off this month, the developer said in a release. The two buildings have been under construction for a year, said Agave Ponce, the developer. Also set to take place before the end of September are the final concrete pour for 2811 Ponce, the class A office building facing Ponce…

Office construction in Miami hits a new record

Office development in Miami hit its highest level since 2009, thanks in part to tenants relocating from high-tax states. Over the next two years, 1.9 million square feet of office space is expected to be completed, according to data from CBRE. That rise in new office construction is due to demand from corporations looking to grow their Latin American business, and tenants relocating from high-tax…

As Hurricane Dorian barrels toward South Florida, developers and builders prepare

Across South Florida, developers and builders are securing tower cranes to blow with the wind like a weather vane, putting away debris that could become projectiles and emptying out dumpsters of loose materials as Hurricane Dorian barrels toward Florida’s coastline, projected to become a powerful Category 4 storm. As of Friday afternoon, the hurricane was a Category 3 storm with maximum…

Introducing ThorLogis, Thor Equities’ ambitious plan to break into logistics and e-commerce

The e-commerce industrial revolution has arrived for Thor Equities. After spending years as a champion of brick-and-mortar stores, the firm is launching a new business called ThorLogis that plans to spend $900 million on purchasing and developing logistics properties, according to the Wall Street Journal. It is already at work on two sites in Red Hook, Brooklyn and the Netherlands. Thor bought the site…

Sergio Rok adds to downtown Miami portfolio

Sergio Rok acquired a building near his family-owned company’s home base in downtown Miami. Property records show that Camillus House Inc. sold the building at 275 Northeast First Street to Downtown Realty Investments LLP, which is tied to Rok Acquisitions, for $5 million. Camillus House, a nonprofit, received the property as a co-beneficiary of an estate gift. It will use the proceeds from the sale to…

Homebuilder DR Horton pays $12M for 25 acres in Florida City

Homebuilder D.R. Horton paid $11.5 million for 25.4-acres in Florida City as homebuilders continue to push south and buy land in southern Miami-Dade County. Arlington, Texas-based D.R. Horton bought the property at 612 Northeast 4th Street in Florida City for $452,756 per acre, records show. Florida City 70 Acres LLC, which is led by Alicio Pina, sold the property. Nearby, D.R. Horton has a…

Brickell Flatiron commercial space buyer seeks court-ordered discount on $22.5M sales price

Brickell Flatiron rendering Three years after agreeing to pay $22.5 million for Brickell Flatiron’s retail and restaurant space, a partnership between Avi Dishi and Haim Yehezkel wants a Miami-Dade Court to reduce the purchase price over allegations of an undisclosed revision of the construction plans. In a recent-filed lawsuit in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, Manhattan-based Dishi and Sons, and Brickell Flatiron…

Sunny Isles Beach gives initial approval to moratorium on west-side development

Sunny Isles Beach gave preliminary approval to a moratorium on real estate development in an area with low- and mid-rise buildings on the west side of Collins Avenue, across from a high-rise row of oceanfront condo towers. The one-year moratorium is the latest phase of a controversial political response to alleged flaws in the city’s comprehensive land-use plan and efforts to make the plan consistent with…

Owners of new Miami Design District school hired mayor’s law firm to represent them in zoning appeal

The owners of a new private school in the Miami Design District postponed the start of school because it does not have a temporary certificate of occupancy. Meanwhile, neighbors who are challenging the site’s recent zoning change are now alleging that the property owners’ law firm presents a conflict of interest for the city as they fight the appeal. In June, real estate investors David and Leila Centner…

Midtown 29 developers close $80 million refinance

Midtown 29 and Michael S. Morgan CEO of Morgan Group Morgan Group and Mesirow Financial closed on a $80 million refinance loan for their Midtown apartment tower next to the popular Cuban restaurant Enriqueta’s Sandwich Shop. Miami Midtown 29 LLC, a joint venture between Houston-based Morgan Group and Mesirow Financial, secured the financing from TIAA for Midtown 29 at 180…

South Florida by the numbers: We’re No. 1

“South Florida by the numbers” is a web feature that catalogs the most notable, quirky and surprising real estate statistics. As we approach the start of football season, it’s only natural to get excited about the thought of sitting in a crowded stadium as our team dominates on the field, with one hand pounding our chests in victory and the other holding a single finger in the sky to declare our…

Judge dismisses Bath Club lawsuit against association and two unit owners accused of conspiring against Peebles Corp.

In a blow to Peebles Corp., a Miami-Dade judge tossed out a lawsuit brought against two high-profile unit owners and the association at the Bath Club, the historic Miami Beach private club the developer acquired and redeveloped in the early 2000s. Miami Dade Circuit Judge Beatrice Butchko last month ruled in favor of defendants Mark Penn, Thomas Ireland, the condo and maintenance associations for The…

RREEF America buys Hialeah industrial property for $178M

An affiliate of Deutsche Bank bought the Centergate at Gratigny in Hialeah for $178 million, marking South Florida’s largest industrial sale of the year to date. RREEF America bought the three-building property at 5801 and 6301 East 10th Avenue from Newark, New Jersey-based PGIM, records show. Centergate at Gratigny totals 1.6 million square feet and has two newly constructed distribution buildings…

Florida’s Largest Industrial Deal

The industrial park comprises three buildings located at 5801 and 6301 E. 10th Ave. The Class A industrial property includes a 979,000-square-foot distribution and light assembly warehouse that was built in 1999 with varying clear span heights of 32 feet, 17 feet and 13 feet. The warehouse also offers 1.7 parking spaces for every 1,000 square feet, 140 trailer parking spots and a 7 percent overall office…

Russell Galbut closes on a missing piece of his Edgewater assemblage

Russell Galbut’s Crescent Heights closed on a corner piece of his assemblage in an Opportunity Zone in Miami’s Edgewater neighborhood, The Real Deal has learned. The Miami-based firm, which is planning a major mixed-use project on the land assemblage, paid $4.9 million for the 10,452-square-foot property at 2901 Northeast Second Avenue, according to a source familiar with the deal.

China City Construction site in North Beach sells to hotel developer for $40M

A Chinese company that once promised to build a luxury residential building on an oceanfront lot in Miami Beach has sold the site to a hotel developer for $40 million, The Real Deal has learned. CCCC Miami Beach LLC sold the nearly 1-acre plot at 6747 Collins Avenue to Urbanica Management LLC, according to brokers Miguel Pinto and Stefano Santoro of Apex Capital Realty. The deal closed on…

The Last Vacant Oceanfront Parcel In Miami Beach Just Sold

The last undeveloped parcel of oceanfront land in Miami Beach has traded hands. The 0.98-acre lot sold for $40M — just about $1K per SF — in an off-market deal. The property is located at 6747 Collins Ave., in between the Deauville Beach Resort and Sterling Condominiums in the neighborhood known as North Beach. Developer Don Peebles had bought the land for $4.6M in 2010 and…

Las Vegas Cuban Cuisine owner wants to build co-living in North Beach

The family that owns Las Vegas Cuban Cuisine, a group of popular Cuban restaurants, is looking to redevelop its location in North Beach into co-living. Las Vegas Beach Corp. filed plans for a 24,265-square-foot, 55-foot building at 6970 Collins Avenue. The project, designed by Antoniazzi Architecture, would have 21 co-living units with an average size of 546 square feet, plus 3,500 square feet of restaurant…

Virginia Key sports park plan faces two-year time out

It will be at least another two years before Miami-Dade County turns the old landfill on Virginia Key over to the City of Miami, which has plans to develop the site into a sports park. The city owns most of the barrier island, which connects the mainland with Key Biscayne via the Rickenbacker Causeway. Responsibility for the landfill rests with the county. Miami-Dade County’s expansive remediation plan…

After side issues, look at the crux of golf course giveaway

A three-day environmental scare last week nearly powered a below-par bid to plow under the only golf course in Miami city limits. Why did officials negotiating to lease Melreese Golf Course for what could be the city’s largest private development first close the course based on an environmental report and then three days later reopen it because nothing was really new? Was it caution to protect golfers…

CIM Group Breaks Ground on Mixed-Use Development in Wynwood

CIM Group has broken ground on a mixed-use development in Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood. The project will feature 27,000 square feet of street-level retail and studio space, about 60,000 square feet of office space, 257 apartment units and approximately 480 parking stalls. The yet-to-be-named project will span a city block from NE 22nd and NE 23rd streets, four miles north of downtown Miami.

Charts: U.S. Net Exports as a Percent of GDP, then by Trading Partner (as a Percent of GDP)

Above is a chart from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis of the net-exports-to-GDP ratio for the United States. Notably, it has been negative since the late 1970s, and for the last decade or two has been considerably less so that its most negative dip in 2005 or so. Economists have proposed various reasons for the persistence of the trade deficit. One involves sources of income the USA…

Trump disputes report that Doral golf resort has bedbugs

Donald Trump, and Trump National Doral Miami golf resort (Credit: Getty Images and iStock) President Trump disputed a resurfaced report that the Trump National Doral Miami golf resort has bedbugs after he proposed hosting next year’s Group of Seven summit at the property. Trump took to Twitter to respond to social media posts stemming from a 2016 lawsuit by New Jersey insurance executive…

Is Bob Zangrillo in or out of $1B Magic City project?

A post shared by bobzangrillo (@bobzangrillo) on Aug 10, 2019 at 8:41pm PDT Miami developer Robert Zangrillo appears to still be involved in the $1 billion Magic City Innovation District project in Little Haiti. Zangrillo is among the dozens of parents – including actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin – indicted earlier this year for their participation in the largest-ever college admissions…

Arison-developed Hamilton on the Bay hits the market in Edgewater

Carnival Cruise Line founder Ted Arison built Hamilton on the Bay, a waterfront residential building in Edgewater, in the early 1980s. Now, a company affiliated with the Arison family is looking to sell the 271-unit apartment building and surrounding land. The property, at 555 Northeast 34th Street, is on the market and expected to sell for more than $100 million, brokers say. A comparable sale in 2015 would…

Integra Investments, partner buy Miami Beach office building near Lincoln Road

Integra Investments and Constellation Group acquired an office building just off Lincoln Road for $10.1 million. Ivy Realty sold the 31,270-square-foot office building at 1674 Meridian Avenue, property records show. The building includes 5,505 square feet of retail space, according to a release. Ivy Realty, a commercial real estate investment firm based in Greenwich, Connecticut, paid nearly…

Integra Investments, Constellation Group Purchase Office Building in Miami Beach for $10.1M

Integra Investments and Constellation Group have purchased a 31,270-square-foot office building located at 1674 Meridian Ave. in Miami Beach for $10.1 million. The asset also includes 5,500 square feet of ground-level retail space. The partnership will market the office space to small- and medium-sized tenants. New ownership is planning a multimillion-dollar renovation that includes upgrading the lobby…

Bath Club association, Mark Penn and Thomas Ireland score court victory over Peebles

In a blow to Peebles Corp., a Miami-Dade judge tossed out a lawsuit brought against two high-profile unit owners and the association at the Bath Club, the historic Miami Beach private club the developer acquired and redeveloped in the early 2000s. Miami Dade Circuit Judge Beatrice Butchko last month ruled in favor of defendants Mark Penn, Thomas Ireland, the condo and maintenance associations for…

Video: Tower Capital Founder Adam Finkel Provides Commercial Property Financing Update

Adam Finkel, Principal and Co-Founder of Phoenix based Tower Capital, joins America’s Commercial Real Estate Show to discuss how interest rates, underwriting, and lender sentiment are affecting the commercial real estate market. The brief rise in rates, quickly followed by the recent drop, is discussed as relief for borrowers just as increases were anticipated.  The conversation moves on to underwriting…

Firm Adds 30 KSF at Miami-Area Business Park

Off Lease Only, an independent car dealership, has inked a 30,000-square-foot lease extension at AVE Aviation & Commerce Center, a 178-acre, master-planned business park in Opa-Locka, Fla. The 15-year lease for the company’s vehicle showroom and offices is in the 171,000-square-foot Building J of the mixed-use campus. AVE Aviation & Commerce Center is at 14350 NW 56th Court in the Miami…

The trade war keeps escalating. Here’s how it’ll impact real estate

For months, trade war tensions with China have been on the rise. The Chinese government said Friday morning it would implement a $75 billion retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods — a response to President Trump’s $300 billion tariff on Chinese goods. After the announcement, Trump said he would raise tariffs on Chinese goods by as much as 30 percent, according to the Wall Street Journal. As the back and…

Surge of hotel development leads to declines in occupancy, revenue in South Florida

South Florida hotel occupancy rates fell slightly in the first half of the year as the supply of rooms increased faster than bookings, recently released data shows. “It’s positive to see that more people traveled here … It’s just that hotel developers are building too many rooms, for now,” Paul Weimer, a Miami-based senior vice president of CBRE said. Research by hotel industry monitor STR shows the tri-county…

Lionheart Capital scores TCO for long-delayed Ritz-Carlton Residences, Miami Beach

Lionheart Capital secured a temporary certificate of occupancy for its long-delayed luxury condo project The Ritz-Carlton Residences, Miami Beach. The TCO from the city of Miami Beach means that closings can finally begin at the 111-unit, 15-villa luxury development at 4701 Meridian Avenue, where prices range from $2 million to over $40 million. The project is currently more than 70 percent presold…

New frontier? Developers look to Hialeah

Developer Avra Jain is looking to bring back the glory days of Hialeah, a working class, predominantly Hispanic city in central Miami-Dade, just southwest of Miami International Airport. Jain is planning a major adaptive re-use commercial development on about 6 acres of land in east Hialeah, she said during a panel hosted by CREW Miami at Four Seasons Hotel Miami earlier this week. Jain, who acquired the…

Long-suffering retailers took another serious beating in Q2

Ahead of new tariffs on Chinese goods set to hit everything from tracksuits to ski gloves, second quarter earnings reports from big retailers have been a mixed bag. Affordable, big box and discount brands like Target fared relatively well, while sales from higher-end companies such as Victoria’s Secret and Nordstrom disappointed yet again. Razor-thin profit margins call for creative tactics from the…

Atlantic | Pacific closes $140M portion of multifamily fund

Atlantic | Pacific Real Estate Group and Blue Arch Advisors closed a $140 million portion of a fund that invests in multifamily properties in the Southeast and Southwest U.S. The fund is looking to raise a total of $300 million, which will give it buying power of over $750 million. Investors in the fund include domestic and international institutional investors as well as high net worth individuals, according to a…

Cote NYC heads to Miami, Sushi Garage opening at CocoWalk, & other restaurant news

CocoWalk at Coconut Grove Cote | Miami Design District Cote, a high-end Korean barbecue steakhouse, is coming to Miami. The Michelin-starred restaurant will open in a 5,892-square-foot space at 3930 Northeast Second Avenue in the Design District, according to brokers Lyle Stern and Sara Wolfe of Koniver Stern Group. Wolfe brokered the deal. The restaurant is expected to open in the fall of…

Finvarb and Cho land construction loan for mixed-use hotel near Brickell City Centre

Co-developers Robert Finvarb and Tony Cho closed on a $67 million loan for a mixed-use hotel near Brickell City Centre, records show. C-F Brickell Owner LLC secured the financing from City National Bank to build on the assemblage of nearly 29,000 square feet of land at 115 Southwest Eighth Street in Miami. Last year, the Miami Urban Development Review Board approved plans for a 21-story, 264-key dual…

Inside the saga that led Regalia’s developers to lose ownership of their most prized units

A Miami-Dade judge ruled the developers of Regalia, a luxury condo tower in Sunny Isles Beach, must turn over 100 percent interest in the companies that own the remaining two – and most expensive – unsold units, The Real Deal has learned. The ruling is a blow to the developers who failed to sell the top-priced penthouse and beach house, each currently listed at more than $15 million, amid a…

BBX Capital, Altman sell Altis at Bonterra in Hialeah for $90M

BX Capital Real Estate and Altman Companies sold the 314-unit Altis at Bonterra apartment complex in Hialeah to AvalonBay Communities for $90 million. The joint venture sold the property at 3645 West 98th Street for $286,624 per unit, records show. The property spans 14 acres off of I-75 in the far western side of Miami-Dade County. Construction began in the first quarter of 2016 and…

Chart: Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers Illustrates Lack of Ammo to Combat a Recession

There has been considerable discussion of late, and for that matter in recent years, of the Fed’s dwindling reserve of firepower to help mitigate the next recession. It has been a while, but surely one will come at some point. They always have. Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers sums the situation up nicely with a recent tweet: There is little room for interest rate cuts. In every US recession since the…

$46 Million Sale of Contiguous Sites in Miami’s Wynwood District Arranged, Buyer Plans to Build Multifamily Units

Avison Young has arranged the $46 million sale of seven contiguous parcels in Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood. An affiliate of PMG Acquisitions LLC purchased the land and plans to build multifamily units up to six stories high above the existing single-story retail buildings. Six of the seven parcels have retail buildings already in place. The land is located at the corner of Second Avenue and 24th…

Chart: Another Perspective on the Inverted Yield Curve

Does the recent flattening of the #yieldcurve portend #recession? Not necessarily. The flattening of the real yield curve may simply reflect the fact real consumption growth is not expected to accelerate or decelerate from present growth rate of about 1% y/y. This is an interesting and unique (versus pundits at large) perspective on the inverted yield curve provided by Don Curren. His Twitter feed…

Challenges For Gulfstream Park: Retail Closings, Family Feud, Horse Deaths

Gulfstream Park, a horse racing track and casino just north of Miami in Hallandale Beach, Florida, underwent a $130M renovation 15 years ago, with an update of its racing and casino facilities and the development of a luxury shopping center component. But a recent spate of retail closings at the complex, plus a legal battle between its owners and the waning popularity of horse racing, raise questions about…

Here’s how toxic findings at Melreese could affect Beckham’s stadium project’s rent

David Beckham and Jorge Mas’ development group may now have to pay less in rent to the city of Miami after toxic contaminants like arsenic, barium and lead were found seeping under the soil at Melreese golf course, where they plan to build a $1 billion MLS stadium complex. Pollutants were found to be above the legal limit in a report this week by environmental…