Madison Marquette Acquires Two Office Buildings in Miami’s Coconut Grove for $47.7M

Madison Marquette, a real estate investor, developer and operator, has acquired two office buildings in Miami’s Coconut Grove neighborhood for $47.7 million. The properties include the 80,380-square-foot Continental Plaza, located at 3250 Mary Street and the 57,155-square-foot Bayview Executive Plaza, situated at 3225 Aviation Avenue less than a mile from Continental Plaza. MetLife provided…

Madison Marquette pays $47M for Coconut Grove office buildings

A Washington, D.C. commercial real estate firm purchased its first properties in Miami. Madison Marquette, an investor, developer and operator of mixed-use real estate, paid a combined $47.4 million for the office buildings at 3250 Mary Street and 3225 Aviation Avenue in Coconut Grove, property records show. The deals closed in late December. Allegra Holding sold both buildings to affiliates…

Senior living developer buys dev site in south Miami-Dade

Royal Senior Care closed on the site of a planned senior living development in south Miami-Dade, next to a Jackson Health System hospital. Property records show RSC Coral Reef PropCo LLC paid $7.55 million for the 12.9-acre site on 97th Avenue behind Southwest 152nd Street. The seller is HTA-Miami Dade Land LLC, an affiliate of Healthcare Trust of America, a medical office real estate investment…

Miami board votes to repeal Special Area Plans

Special Area Plans have enabled developers to build massive projects in the city of Miami like Brickell City Centre, River Landing Shops and Residences, Mana Wynwood, the Miami Produce Center, and Magic City Innovation District. SAPs have also antagonized neighborhood activists who fear that such massive developments destroy the character of low-rise neighborhoods and speed up…

R&B Realty Breaks Ground on Miami Office Tower

Rose & Berg Realty Group has broken ground on The Gateway at Wynwood, a 12-story Class A office building in Miami’s Wynwood district. The upcoming project at 2916 N. Miami Ave. is scheduled for completion in the second half of 2021. The property will comprise about 195,000 leasable square feet of office space, about 26,000 square feet of street-level retail, a private rooftop terrace and a garage.

Video: Futurist Author Daniel Burrus Discusses Predicting the Future of Commercial Real Estate

In this 2 part video series, Daniel Burrus, Technology Futurist, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Anticipatory Organization, business advisor, and public speaker in the areas of business strategy and innovation joins America’s Commercial Real Estate Show to talk about how to recognize inevitable trends and foresee disruption, and to share some of his predictions for the commercial real estate…

South Beach Business Improvement District advances

A special district aimed at improving the safety and appeal of Ocean Drive and Collins Avenue is inching toward reality.  At last week’s meeting, Miami Beach commissioners gave their preliminary approval to the proposed South Beach Business Improvement District (BID). If it clears all hurdles, it could result in a tax fund of over $2 million a year for the next 10 years to improve Ocean Drive and Collins Avenue.

Legislature moves to drain funding pool for pro stadiums

A proposal is once again in play to eliminate an untouched pool of state money set aside in 2014 to help build and renovate professional sports stadiums. The House Workforce Development & Tourism Subcommittee on Tuesday quickly backed the proposal, which would repeal a funding program that spells out steps for state dollars to become available for stadium construction and renovation. Without…

Miami-Dade targets five 2020 transportation milestones

Work to improve mobility in Miami-Dade is ongoing, and according to Transportation Director Alice Bravo, travelers here can already expect the county to reach five major milestones before the year is over. “First things first, we’ll be completing the delivery of all the new railcars for Metrorail by spring,” she said. “By then, we’ll have received the next 120 CNG buses [the county bought, which will] bring us…

Transit Alliance Miami wants to audit county’s Smart Plan

With a final vote on Transit Alliance Miami’s redesign of the Metrobus network expected by June, the nonprofit has set its sights on auditing the Strategic Miami Area Rapid Transit (Smart) Plan. Miami-Dade adopted the Smart Plan in 2016 to advance six commuting corridors, select transit modes and seek matching state and federal funds to install them. They sold it as way to keep a promise made…

Miami Beach officials cool to downtown Miami transit link plan

While Miami-Dade County may soon firm up a Miami Beach to downtown transit link, Miami Beach officials aren’t sold yet. At last week’s Beach commission meeting, county transportation head Alice Bravo shared a preferred Beach Corridor plan based on a study by engineering firm Parsons: elevated rubber-tire vehicles – either an automated people mover or monorail – along the MacArthur…

Lucky’s Market plans to close nearly all Florida stores

The popular grocery chain Lucky’s Market is closing almost all of its Florida stores, a month after Kroger announced that it would pull back its investment in the company. Lucky’s plans to close 20 stores in Florida, including its stores in Coral Springs, Oakland Park and Plantation by Feb. 12, according to the Sun Sentinel. The company’s West Melbourne store is the only store that will remain open in the Sunshine…

Investor buys Sunny Isles apartments

An investor bought an apartment building on the non-oceanfront side of Sunny Isles Beach for $7.56 million. Bella Apartments LLC, managed by Riad Belarbi of Miami, sold the apartments at 225 179th Drive to Arcadia Real Estate FL LLC. The 17-unit building sold for $444,705 per unit, records show. The 41,105-square-foot building sits on a 15,000-square-foot lot. The property last sold for $5.7 million…

Real estate fundraising hits lowest level since 2013

As high-yielding real estate deals become harder to come by, institutional investors are starting to become more selective — making it harder for private equity real estate funds to raise capital. Real estate funds closed in the fourth quarter of 2019 totaled $18 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing…

Grove Isle tennis club lawsuit aims volley against developer’s new project

The Markers Grove Isle Grove Isle Tennis Owners Association is launching a volley at The Markers Grove Isle, a proposed five-building luxury project swirling with controversy. A recently filed lawsuit alleges that construction of the new waterfront condominium complex in the ritzy enclave of Grove Isle is going to end tennis amenities for unit owners of three existing residential towers. It’s the latest legal…

Decrease in Florida Sales Tax on Commercial Rent

Effective as of January 1, 2020, the Florida state sales tax rate applicable to the lease of commercial real property has decreased from 5.7% to 5.5%.  Therefore, the state will levy a 5.5% sales tax on all rent collected from commercial properties in Florida. This new state sales tax rate, however, does not impact county surtax rates.  Because individual counties may impose a discretionary sales surtax, the surtax rate…

International Produce Trade Remains Critical To Miami

Despite the Miami region’s abundant production, the heart of South Florida’s fruit and vegetable industry revolves around trade with Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia, and Europe. Three major ports serve the greater Miami area, including PortMiami, Port Everglades, and the Port of Palm Beach. Most of Miami’s produce businesses use all three ports to import and export fresh produce.The closest U.S. port…

Falcone’s mega projects make progress

As SFBW celebrates its fifth anniversary, this occasional series will look at past story subjects. Developer Art Falcone, Falcone Group and Encore Capital Management had myriad major projects when profiled in SFBW’s July 2016 cover story. (The original article is available at SFBWmag.com.) Falcone recently spoke with SFBW to update progress on them. Miami Worldcenter The $4 billion project in downtown…

Beyond The Bio: 16 Questions With Black Salmon CEO Jorge Escobar

He left it behind to delve into commercial real estate, and now he is at the helm of Black Salmon, a Miami-based CRE investment firm with a $450M nationwide portfolio of office, senior housing, industrial and hospitality properties. The tennis-obsessed exec has retained much of his banking DNA, though, and continues to work with a select group of high net worth individuals and family offices in Latin America…

Miami CRE Moves To Capitalize On The Super Bowl

For the first time in a decade, the Super Bowl will be played in Miami — well, just outside of it, in Miami Gardens, at Hard Rock Stadium, owned by billionaire developer Stephen Ross — and hotels, retailers and even luxury condo developers are trying to score a victory for business while the show is in town. The San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs will battle it out during the game Feb. 2, and…

This “living concrete” could revolutionize real estate on earth, and in space

Researchers and their “living concrete” Could this be the building block of real estate life on Mars? Researchers at the University of Colorado have turned light-eating bacteria into the world’s tiniest construction workers, utilizing their power to create “living concrete.” Their breakthrough process uses the bacteria in the same way binders are used in traditional concrete-making. The living concrete can…

Opportunity Zone investigation won’t derail developer investment, experts say

The Treasury Department’s investigation into the Opportunity Zones program will weed out the bad apples but won’t derail the federal tax incentive initiative, investors and developers say. Instead, the probe could provide a way for companies with Opportunity Zone funds to promote the social impact of their investments, and could push to strengthen reporting requirements on those investments.

Miami board OKs self-storage development freeze

Miami’s Planning, Zoning & Appeals Board backed two proposed ordinances that will put the brakes on new storage facilities in the city of Miami. The first rule, banning storage facilities near mixed-used residential areas zoned T5 and T6, passed unanimously during the board’s meeting on Wednesday. A second piece of legislation, a 270-day moratorium on any new storage facilities throughout the city, barely…

Ivy Realty Sells Miami Office Building for $30.4M

Greenwich, Conn.-based Ivy Realty has sold the Waterford Centre at Blue Lagoon office building in Miami for $30.4 million. An affiliate of Coral Gables-based Patton Real Estate Group bought the six-story property for $332 per square foot. The 91,431-square-foot office building is located on four acres at 6205 Blue Lagoon Drive. Miguel Alcivar, Dominic Montazemi, Scott O’Donnell and Mike Davis of…

Ivy Realty Sells Miami Office Building

Ivy Realty has sold Waterford Centre at Blue Lagoon, a 91,431-square-foot office building in Miami’s Waterford Business District. Patton Real Estate Group acquired the Class A asset for $30.4 million.Cushman & Wakefield and Kapp Morrison assisted the seller in the disposition. The property last traded in 2014, when Ivy Realty purchased it for $21.6 million from New Boston Fund, according to Yardi…

David Edelstein sells Wynwood site to AMLI for $35 Million

David Edelstein and a rendering of the Wynwood site Developer David Edelstein sold an assemblage in Wynwood to multifamily giant AMLI Residential, The Real Deal has learned. Edelstein of New York-based TriStar Capital sold the “45 Winwood” development site to AMLI for $35 million. Together, the properties are zoned for 669,600 sf and 321 residential units. The assemblage, at 45 Northwest 24th Street…

Latigo Group scores $50M loan for Miami Gardens apartments

The Center at Miami Gardens apartments (Credit: iStock) The Latigo Group scored a $50 million construction loan for its apartment project that will be part of a major mixed-use development in Miami Gardens. The Los Angeles-based real estate firm scored the loan from 3650 REIT to construct its 259-unit project at 19279 Northwest 27th Avenue in Miami Gardens. Called the Center at Miami Gardens, the…

3650 REIT Provides $50M Construction Loan for Multifamily Community in Miami Gardens

3650 REIT has provided a $50 million construction loan for the development of the Center at Miami Gardens, a 259-unit multifamily property to be located at 19279 NW 27th Ave. in Miami Gardens. Located 18 miles northwest of Miami and less than three miles from Interstate 95, the Center at Miami Gardens will feature three residential buildings and a clubhouse. Los Angeles-based multifamily…

3650 REIT Provides $50M Construction Loan for Miami Multifamily Property

Los Angeles-based real estate investor and developer The Latigo Group (TLG) has nabbed $50 million from real estate investment trust 3650 REIT, to help fund the construction of the Center at Miami Gardens, a four-building multifamily property in Miami Gardens, Commercial Observer can first report. The loan funds the construction of the 10-acre residential development, which is part of a broader…

Harbor Group’s 13K-unit apartment purchase is one of largest ever

Two years ago, Harbor Group International acquired a 9,600-unit apartment portfolio, paying $1.8 billion for properties across the East Coast and in Chicago. Now, the Virginia-based real estate investment firm has gone even bigger. Harbor has closed on one of the largest apartment portfolio deals ever, paying $1.85 billion for 13,243 units, most of them across the South and Southwest. The portfolio…

Comras looks to sell Five Guys property on Washington Ave

Michael Comras and 1500 Washington Avenue (Credit: Google Maps) Michael Comras is looking to sell a retail property on Miami Beach’s Washington Avenue. The Comras Company is listing a 7,116-square-foot building at 1500 Washington Avenue that is anchored by the popular fast casual restaurant Five Guys. The property is hitting the market for $9.9 million or $1,391 per square foot, according to a…

Miami Office Building Trades Hands for $30M

JB Waterford, an affiliate of Coral Gables-based Patton Real Estate Group, has acquired Waterford Centre at Blue Lagoon, a 91,431-square-foot office building in Miami’s Waterford Business District Park. The sales price was $30.4 million. Located at 6205 Blue Lagoon Drive, Waterford Centre at Blue Lagoon is a six-story, institutional-grade office building developed in 1999 on a four-acre site in Miami’s…

Miami Office Report – Fall 2019

Miami’s maturing market dynamics and solid office sector are underpinned by a diversifying economy, a steady wave of company expansions and relocations, and a robust development pipeline. Lured by Florida’s favorable business environment, finance firms and hedge funds from high-tax markets are moving to Miami—Wall Street giant Icahn Enterprises, relocating from New York, is just one…

AT&T Looking To Sell Miami Beach Building as Part of a 13-Building Office Portfolio In Huge Sale-Leaseback Deal

AT&T is looking to monetize a substantial chunk of its office assets. The telecommunications giant is in talks with multiple potential buyers for a 13-property portfolio of office buildings it owns and occupies across nine cities, CoStar reports. The properties, collectively dubbed by AT&T as the Central Office Portfolio… 6800 Harding Avenue in Miami Beach, 68K SF…  AT&T has been selling off properties or…

MMG buys two strip malls in southwest Miami-Dade

MMG Equity Partners paid $12.7 million for two shopping centers in southwest Miami-Dade County. MMG closed on Naranja Plaza at 27000 to 27100 South Dixie Highway for $7.1 million, or $139 per square foot. It also purchased Westlake Plaza, at 10969 Southwest 40th Street, for $5.6 million, or $128 per square foot, according to a press release. The real estate investment company financed the deals…

Metrorail leg to north could depend on state, federal funds

Whether Metrorail rolls northward could depend on state and federal fund pledges, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Giménez says. His office last year drafted a request for proposals (RFP) for 9.5 miles through Miami Gardens known as the North Corridor in the county Smart Plan, he said in a Jan. 7 memo. But the RFP for the “design, construction, financing, operation and maintenance” of a transit mode for the…

Miami needs to patch up its commission mess on live TV

When Miamians elected five commissioners, we presumed they aimed to do their best for the city. We still believe that. But they’re making it mighty hard for us to see that motivation.  At their meeting last week they bickered like five kids in a ballgame. When they didn’t get their ways about who got to bat first, they took their bat, ball and gloves and went home without playing.  They accomplished not one…

New EB-5 rules targeting abuse may be eased

EB-5, the federal visa program that helped fund development projects like the massive Hudson Yards in New York, has been fading recently and on the ropes, a result of fraud and its own popularity. But it still has supporters, and they are now looking to U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, Chuck Schumer and other powerful elected officials to help ease newly-passed rules, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The CRE Issues To Watch As Florida’s Legislature Convenes

Florida’s state legislature convened for its 2020 session Tuesday, charged with passing laws and an estimated $91.4B state budget over the course of the next 60 days. In his annual State of the State speech to kick off the legislative session, Gov. Ron DeSantis touched on everything from raising teacher pay to reducing barriers for occupational licensing. DeSantis said he would like to see people who…

1,700-ton concrete pour set for Missoni Baia condo tower

Rendering of Missoni Baia with a concrete truck and Vlad Doronin (Credit: Getty Images and iStock) Two months after scoring a construction loan, the developers of Missoni Baia will begin a 12-hour, 1,700-ton concrete pour for the condo tower’s base. The concrete pour starts at 7 a.m. on Wednesday and will end at 7 p.m. Nearly 300 trucks working in groups of 30 or 40 will deliver and pour roughly…

Sapir claims employee stole trade secrets

The Sapir Organization’s Alex Sapir (Credit: Getty Images and iStock) The Sapir Organization has a leak problem – and not the kind you find in shoddy condo buildings. A legal assistant employed by one of Sapir’s subsidiaries has allegedly been hoarding trade secrets that competitors could use to undercut Alex Sapir’s real estate empire, a new lawsuit claims. Patricia Lemanski, who’s worked for Sapir’s…

Here’s why open-air strip centers are outperforming enclosed malls

Town & Country Crossing in Town & Country, MO; The Crossroads in Royal Palm Beach, FL; and Mission Bay Plaze in Boca Raton, FL While mall landlords have struggled to stay ahead of a challenging retail environment, owners of a less glamorous type of American shopping center have maintained modest growth. And now, even foreign investors are interested. Real estate investment trusts that own open-air…

Telefonica sold its Doral data center for $44M

Telefonica sold its data center in Doral for $44 million, amid booming demand for such real estate. Telefonica sold the 153,000-square-foot property at 11300 Northwest 25th Street for $288 per square foot, records show. Daytona US Partnership LP, which lists its address in Madrid, Spain, bought the property. Telefonica is a Spanish multinational telecommunications company, also headquartered…

Brightline launches leasing of apartment towers at MiamiCentral

Brightline’s apartment towers have arrived at Virgin MiamiCentral. Park-Line Miami, at 100 Northwest Sixth Street in Overtown, is part of the mixed-use development that is home to MiamiCentral. The project adds two 30-story towers with a combined 816 luxury apartments to the project, and the Greater Downtown Miami multifamily market overall. Leasing begins this month with rents starting at $1,900 a…

Ambitious Rival Florida Airport Targets A Prime Slice Of Miami’s Freighter Traffic

Freighter operators moving cargo on intra-Americas routes have a new option as Airglades International Airport (AIA) targets their traffic. The airport has announced plans for a “state-of-the-art logistics complex in southern Florida to dramatically reshape the efficient flow of perishable goods from Latin American producers to North American consumer markets”. The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)…

Lionheart and Jeffrey Dagowitz sell Seagull Hotel Miami Beach for $120M

In the biggest hotel sale in Miami Beach so far this year, partners Lionheart Capital and Actium Development Co. sold the Seagull Hotel Miami Beach for $120 million, The Real Deal has learned. JHG Holdings Miami Owner LLC, a joint venture between Lionheart, led by Ophir Sternberg, and hotelier Jeffrey Dagowitz’s Actium, sold the waterfront hotel at 100 21st Street to BHI Miami Limited, according to sources.

South Beach hotels hit the market for $24M

Susan Gale and the South Beach hotels A Miami Beach investor is looking to sell two boutique hotels he owns in South Beach. Scott Weinberg of Azco Realty owns Hotel La Flora at 1238 Collins Avenue and Hotel Impala at 1228 Collins Avenue, property records show. Both are now on the market with Susan Gale of One Sotheby’s International Realty for a combined $23.5 million, or $490,000 per room…

Greystar sells The Mile apartments for $40M

Greystar Real Estate Partners sold the luxury apartment development The Mile near Coral Gables for $40 million. Charleston, South Carolina-based Greystar sold the 120-unit building at 3622 Southwest 22nd Street in Miami for $333,333 per unit, records show. Miami-based Acumen Real Estate purchased the property. Cushman & Wakefield’s Robert Given, Troy Ballard, Zachary Sackley, Calum Weaver…

The obscure reason banks will finally embrace Opportunity Zones

A rendering of the Tampa Bay Rays’ plans for a new ballpark in Tampa’s historic Ybor City (Credit: iStock, WJCT) Banks may soon have the incentive they need to sink huge amounts of money into Opportunity Zones, the controversial Trump administration tax abatement program that has seen tepid investment levels to date. The federal government plans to give commercial banks credit for issuing loans…

Can Coral Gables absorb all the new development underway?

At the corner of Malaga Avenue and Ponce de Leon Boulevard, work crews recently topped off a Class A office building and an apartment tower that make up the first phase of the Plaza Coral Gables, the largest commercial project in the city’s history. Agave Holdings, a commercial real estate firm that includes the family behind the Jose Cuervo spirits brand, is making a $600 million gamble that Coral…

South Florida developers venture statewide for opportunity

High prices and the scarcity of raw land are prompting some prominent South Florida developers to do projects elsewhere in the state. One example is Noah Breakstone’s BTI Partners, a Fort Lauderdale-based company that is one of Florida’s leading real estate developers and land investors. Since 2011, BTI Partners and institutional partners were able to assemble a portfolio of nearly 8,000 acres of land…

Unholy real estate strategy: Catholic churches shuffle properties to shield billions from sex abuse victims, report says

Catholic church dioceses across the country are moving around their real estate portfolios and using Chapter 11 bankruptcy to protect assets in sex abuse lawsuits. Over the last decade and a half, the U.S. Catholic Church has shielded more than $2 billion worth of assets from people who were abused by clergy, according to a Bloomberg Businessweek report. In some cases, that has significantly reduced…

Ivy Realty sells Blue Lagoon office building for $30M

Ivy Realty sold an office building in the Blue Lagoon office park near Miami International Airport for $30.2 million, almost doubling its last sales price. Montvale, New Jersey-based Ivy Realty sold the 129,444-square-foot office building at 6205 Blue Lagoon Drive for $233 per square foot, records show. JB Waterford LLC, which is tied to William Holly of Coral Gables, purchased the property. The building, known…

Presidente Supermarkets owner lists Little Havana assemblage for $22M

The owners of Presidente Supermarkets are looking to sell a 2.5-acre assemblage of land in booming East Little Havana, The Real Deal has learned. Property records show Eight & First LLC owns the site at 702 West Flagler Street, which hit the market for $22 million. The company is controlled by Ana V. and Pedro O. Rodriguez, who own the grocery store chain. The development site is on the market with…

TM Real Estate parts with Miami Gardens office building

TM Real Estate sold an office building in Miami Gardens that houses the Youth and Family center nonprofit. The Coral Gables-based investment group sold the 72,407-square-foot office building at 111 Northwest 183rd Street for $6.1 million, or $84 per square foot, records show. Washington Square GP Management, which is managed by Zachary Preminger of Palmetto, Florida, bought the property.

Airbnb hosts score 34K bookings for Super Bowl LIV — more than for Art Basel

Airbnb hosts gear up for Super Bowl LIV Airbnb is gearing up to host more visitors in South Florida during Super Bowl weekend than during Art Basel. Airbnb hosts have already picked up more than 34,000 bookings for the weekend of Super Bowl LIV, Jan. 30 to Feb. 2. That tops Art Basel weekend of Dec. 5-8, when the short-term rental company racked up 26,000 bookings, according to Airbnb…

Title fraud is on the rise. Here’s why it won’t stop anytime soon.

When family members of Lycienne Prince Barber were about to sell their dead relative’s two duplexes in Biscayne Park, they made a startling discovery. During the prerequisite title and lien searches on the properties, they found that a 55-year-old man named Hencile Dorsey, whom Prince Barber’s relatives never met, had filed two warranty deeds transferring ownership of the properties to his own…

Apeiron at The Jockey Club partners fight over failed $20M deal: lawsuit

The partnership behind the Apeiron at the Jockey Club project is in tatters, amid allegations of double-crosses, a loan-to-own scheme and the sabotage of a $20 million deal, according to a recently filed lawsuit in Miami-Dade Circuit Court. Apeiron Holdings Miami and Apeiron Miami, two shell corporations controlled by developers Muyad “Mo” Abbas and Michael Bedner, are suing partners Asaf Horesh…

These will be the best multifamily markets in 2020

Multifamily vacancy nationwide is expected to rise slightly as developers keep up the rapid pace of building set over the last few years. Vacancy is expected to rise 20 basis points to 4.5 percent, according to a CBRE’s 2020 market outlook report. Rent growth is expected to slow to 2.4 percent for the year, below the 2.6 percent long-term average. Developers are expected to deliver an estimated 280,000…

Eight Predictions For The Industrial Sector In 2020

New project deliveries, continued cannabis legalization, a decline in manufacturing, faster e-commerce deliveries and the upcoming presidential election will all have an impact on the U.S. industrial sector in 2020, experts say. Here are eight predictions for the industrial sector in the new year: The rush to cannabis production will likely accelerate in 2020, as more states…

Luxury athletic resort to take over Bloomingdale’s space at The Falls

Life Time Fitness will be bulking up the Bloomingdale’s space at The Falls, as malls around the country try to adapt to the changing retail environment. The company plans to break ground on a 140,000-square-foot luxury athletic resort after Bloomingdale’s closes its doors later this month, a spokesperson for Simon Property Group confirmed. Simon owns the mall at 8888 Southwest 136th Street in Miami.

$76 million opens door for Gateway at Wynwood

On a corner where Midtown Miami meets the Wynwood Arts District, a family-owned realty group based in New York has secured a $76 million construction loan to build the Gateway at Wynwood project with 220,000 square feet of offices and 25,900 square feet of retail. Developers say the site at 2916 N Miami Ave. is ready for foundation work and construction to advance, with a projected opening in the…

Berkadia Arranges $76M Construction Loan for Mixed-Use Complex in Miami’s Wynwood District

Berkadia has secured a $76 million bridge loan for the construction of Gateway at Wynwood, an approximately 230,000-square-foot office and retail complex at 2916 N Miami Avenue in Miami’s Wynwood district. Charles Foschini of Berkadia arranged the financing through Miami-based 3650 REIT on behalf of the borrower and developer, New York-based Rose & Berg Realty Group LLC. Designed by architect…

Miami investor buys Opa-locka apartments for $8 million

An apartment community in Opa-locka sold for $8.2 million, amid growing interest from investors in the financially troubled city. Ingram Park Apartments LLC sold the 118-unit complex at 14255 to 14460 Northwest 22nd Avenue for $70,000 per unit, records show. SteelBlock, LLC, which is managed by Ignacio Murman, a former executive with Miami-based Black Salmon Capital, bought the property. Steel Block…

Architect Kobi Karp buys Miami Ad School in Wynwood

Miami architect Kobi Karp bought the Miami Ad School campus in Wynwood, but doesn’t yet have plans to move his firm from Edgewater. Karp, who owns Kobi Karp Architecture & Interior Design, paid $6.7 million for the advertising school’s parcels at 588 and 570 Northwest 29th Street, as well as 571 and 565 Northwest 28th Street, property records reveal. They total 1.1 acres of land and 14,000…

Related, PMG slapped with suits alleging faulty construction, false advertising

The luxury South Beach condominium One Ocean is among the Related Group’s signature projects of the most recent cycle. Completed in 2016, the 50 units in the eight-story boutique building sold at an average of between $2.1 million and more than $5.1 million each, or from less than $1,030 to nearly $1,700 per square foot. Martin Franklin, executive chairman and co-founder of consumer products…

Florida Commercial Real Estate News Roundup 2019

2019 was a fruitful year in Florida’s commercial real estate market. New, major developments broke ground and finished in several locations. Meanwhile, domestic and international investors contributed to the market, and overall the financial data in Florida’s CRE is positive. Analysts continue their bullish outlook on the commercial real estate market here with positive predictions…

On Miami’s menu for food trucks: red tape

More speed bumps could be rolling out for food trucks wishing to operate in the City of Miami.  The city commission is to vote on first reading today (1/9) on adding requirements for food trucks operating on private land in the city.  The legislation, sponsored by Commissioner Ken Russell, would add more requirements for food trucks present in the same location more than three times a week…

Palmetto Bay hospital zoning battle in court

A zoning battle between the Village of Palmetto Bay and a developer intent on building a 200-bed hospital has devolved to several lawsuits, with a hearing scheduled for the end of the month.  Luxcom Builders acquired a property on the northeast corner of Southwest 152nd Street and 67th Avenue from Florida Power & Light for $33 million and then proposed a hospital on a 71-acre campus. But…

In Melreese talks, safeguard public interest, not dollar sign

As Miami awaits terms due in May to lease Melreese Golf Course for mega-complex Miami Freedom Park, officials should use the precious months to probe why they’re caught up in this mess and what the city should achieve from it. Emphasis has been on how much money the city can get from the Mas brothers and soccer promoter David Beckham for its largest green space, not on whether the city should…

BellSouth sells 1M square feet of land for $25M

Qualcon Real Estate Fund purchased commercial properties with over 1 million square feet of land in South Florida from defunct BellSouth Telecommunications for $25 million. The firm, led by developers Thomas Conway and Kevin Levine, along with Andy Stone and Petra Capital Management… The properties… 9500 Southwest 180th Street, Palmetto Bay; 8038 Northeast Second Avenue, Little River…

R&B Realty’s Miami Spec Project Moves Forward

R&B Realty Group has bagged a $76 million bridge loan for the construction of a speculative Class A office building in Miami’s hot Wynwood neighborhood. The project, Gateway at Wynwood, is slated to open in the second half of 2021, providing around 220,000 square feet of office accommodation plus 25,900 square feet of ground-floor retail space. Balance-sheet lender 3650 REIT originated…

Miami Developer Bob Zangrillo faces new charges for website scams

Miami real estate developer Bob Zangrillo, embroiled in the college admissions scandal, is facing new charges for allegedly co-owning scam websites that purportedly provide services for government agencies. The Federal Trade Commission alleges Zangrillo was an officer, chaired and co-owned a company, On Point Global, that operates websites offering to conduct government transactions such as…

Pier 1 Imports to close 450 stores across US

Pier 1 Imports is the latest retailer to shutter hundreds of stores nationwide amid plunging sales. The home goods retailer said it plans to close almost half of its stores in the U.S., according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Monday. Texas-based Pier 1 also will close some distribution centers, slash corporate expenses and lay off corporate employees. “Fiscal third-quarter sales and margins…”

These real estate players – some Miami based – have raised a bundle for Biden

Scott Rechler is a self-described “longtime Biden supporter.” But the RXR Realty CEO is one of dozens of real estate powerhouses who have raised big money for the former vice president’s 2020 presidential campaign. In a Friday news dump on Dec. 27, Joe Biden’s team released a list of 259 “volunteer fundraisers” — individuals who had raised at least $25,000 for the campaign. In addition to the world…

Amid supply surge, 2 hotels near MIA sell for $21M

Sunburst Hospitality Corp. sold two hotels near Miami International Airport for a combined $20.6 million, amid a surge of supply in the county. Miami-based Demand Hospitality, led by Nitun Patel, bought the Sleep Inn Miami Airport for $10.3 million. The 119-room hotel at 105 Fairways Drive in Miami Springs was built in 1999. The price pencils out to $86,555 per key…

Pebb Capital & Lease Florida Open New Hampton Inn by Hilton in Miami Beach, Florida

Pebb Capital – a diversified, multi-strategy real estate and private equity investment firm – in a partnership with LeaseFlorida, today announced the opening of Hampton Inn at The Continental in Miami Beach, Florida. The new 100-key hotel features a wide range of amenities in one of the U.S.’ leading tourism destinations. This news follows the partnerships acquisition of the historically-designated…

Centerline snags 90-acre dev site in south Miami-Dade

Centerline Capital Advisors paid $6.75 million for 90 acres in south Miami-Dade County that could be redeveloped into a home community. Sunrise, Florida-based Centerline bought the property at 17101 Southwest 200th Street for $75,000 per acre, records show. Francis Dirico of Key Largo sold the property. The property is close to the Redlands and south of the Zoo Miami. It was previously home t…

Apeiron at The Jockey Club partners fight over failed $20M deal: lawsuit

The partnership behind the Apeiron at the Jockey Club project is in tatters, amid allegations of double-crosses, a loan-to-own scheme and the sabotage of a $20 million deal, according to a recently filed lawsuit in Miami-Dade Circuit Court. Apeiron Holdings Miami and Apeiron Miami, two shell corporations controlled by developers Muyad “Mo” Abbas and Michael Bedner, are suing partners Asaf Horesh, Z…

Co-working will outlive WeWork

WeWork’s valuation has collapsed, and now the company is selling off acquisitions. Knotel is grappling with nearly 1 million square feet of vacancies. WeWork and other co-working companies are slashing their workforces. With headlines like that, you might think the whole sector is in trouble. But flexible office space isn’t going anywhere — and will likely continue expanding. The number of co-working…

Gateway at Wynwood scores $76M loan

More large-scale office and retail development is coming soon to Miami’s artsy neighborhood. New York-based Rose & Berg Realty Group snagged a $76 million loan to build the Class A office and retail complex Gateway at Wynwood from Miami-based 3650 REIT. Berkadia Commercial Mortgage, led by Charles Foschini, brokered the loan. The Kobi Karp-designed property at 2916 North Miami Avenue will…

Local industrial players work the angles as Blackstone moves in

Malcolm Butters’ firm has been building industrial properties in South Florida for about 30 years. But the last three or four of those years have been nothing like what came before. Companies such as Butters Construction have been forced to adapt to changes within an industrial market that has seen a massive influx of institutional capital from the likes of Blackstone and Prologis. Thanks to the rise of…

Videos: Deloitte Real Estate Leader Jim Berry Discusses their 2020 Outlook: Cybersecurity, AI, Sector Performance, Digitization, and Tenant Experience

Jim Berry, United States Real Estate Leader at Deloitte, appears on America’s Commercial Real Estate Show to discuss his firm’s (Deloitte’s) 2020 Commercial Real Estate Outlook report. Among the topics discussed are how the internet of things (IoT) has increased cybersecurity demands and commercial real estate sector performance. Additional discussion is given to how organizations are looking to use smart…

Former Shoma headquarters goes for $13M

The former headquarters of Shoma Development sold for $12.8 million. Doral Commons, a four-story, 59,727-square-foot office building in Doral, sold for $214 per square foot, records show. A company managed by Coral Gables real estate investor William Holly bought the property at 8550 Northwest 33rd Street. Bonbon Realty LLC, managed by Arnold Wax, was the seller. The property traded at a slight…

Multi-use redevelopment of Wynwood industrial sites OK’d

A set of interconnected buildings is designed to bring a mix of residential, retail and office uses to a block in Wynwood, along with major murals and other art treatments and a large courtyard. With a current title of Dorsey, the major mixed-use project is proposed by developer Weck 29th LLC for land at 2562/268/286 NW 29th Street and 2801 NW Third Avenue. The City of Miami’s Urban Development…

Sterling Building on Lincoln Road scores hotel approval

Sam Herzberg’s proposal to add a hotel to the 91-year-old Sterling Building on Lincoln Road cleared another hurdle. The Miami Beach Planning Board last week approved the 144-room project by a 6-1 vote. The hotel is one of two currently in the planning stages for the popular pedestrian mall. City leaders and Lincoln Road business owners say the hotels will attract more visitors and supplement the…

Forbes Profiles the Top South Florida Commercial Deals Of 2019

RREEF America, an affiliate of Deutsche Bank, paid $178 million for a three-building and warehouse complex at 5801 and 6301 East 10th Avenue. Totaling 1.6 million square feet, Centergate at Gratigny features two new distribution facilities with 602,657 square feet and a 978,164-square-foot warehouse. The anchor tenant is Bullet Line, a supplier of low-price promotional products, and other tenants…

How Miami-based players are making the most of Opportunity Zones

SIX13 Call it a case of lowered expectations. At one time, former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci saw auspicious possibilities in the Opportunity Zone program enacted as part of Trump’s sweeping 2017 tax law. Believing the initiative had $100 billion in investment potential, he set up a fund to raise $3 billion from mom-and-pop investors who wanted to cash in on the…

At the desk of: Gil Dezer

Ride the elevator along with swimsuit-clad hotel guests to the 31st floor of Trump International Beach Resort and you’ll find the headquarters of Dezer Development. Hidden within the full-floor suite at 18001 Collins Avenue in Sunny Isles Beach is a winding staircase that leads to the adjoining lairs of Gil Dezer, 44, and his father Michael Dezer, 78. With a large patio from which he can watch his towers…

Melreese golf course deal for major development targeted for May

After debate over a Melreese golf course deal still being negotiated boiled over in November, Miami commissioners have let talks simmer, awaiting a May update from lawyers. Attorneys retained for ongoing negotiations with Miami Freedom Park laid out issues in December. Ex-commissioner Marc Sarnoff, one of the city’s lawyers for the deal, said commissioners could hear a direct report in May and…

Joia Beach to open at Jungle Island and other restaurant news

Chris Paciello and Mio Danilovic of Liquid Hospitality will open Joia Beach at Jungle Island on Watson Island in January. The European-style concept, with its own beach, will be open for lunch and dinner. Joia Beach is opening as part of a partnership with Jungle Island, Danilovic said. The restaurant will span about 4,000 square feet and the beach will take up nearly 2 acres of land that was previously…

Will Moishe Mana’s downtown dream ever become a reality?

Moishe Mana sits down at the head of a conference table in his Wynwood office and immediately slips off his Louis Vuitton shoes, leaving his bare feet to just brush the tile floor. “It is crazy, you know. Like I was in Colombia now, I was walking barefoot on the beach for three days,” said Mana, who has a habit of smiling while he talks. “I need to take the shoes off everywhere I go.” Mana is a…

Aspira sells Homestead charter school, the third they’ve sold in third South Florida

Homestead school and Achikam Yogev Aspira of Florida sold its third South Florida charter school for $5.1 million. Investors Mario and Ramon Castellanos’ company, 216 Corner LLC, bought the Aspira Leadership & College Preparatory Academy at 13330 Southwest 288th Street in Homestead. The 26,596-square-foot charter school sits on a 3.52-acre property. It sold for $192 per square foot. The buyer…

Leasehold, Tenant, and Build-Out Improvements in CRE

Three terms which are similar, but different There’s an old song, made most popular by an Ella Fitzgerald/Louis Armstrong duet, in which the singers lament the differences in how they each pronounce the same words differently. One says “to-may-to,” while the other says “to-mah-to.” As they compare their words, the two must decide if they’re going to overlook their differences or call the whole thing…

Florida State Sales Tax on Commercial Leasing – Reduced to 6.5% for Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties as of January 1, 2020

Effective January 1, 2020, the Florida state tax imposed rate per Florida Statutes section 212.031 on the total rent charged for renting, leasing, letting, or granting a license to use real estate property in the State of Florida is decreased from 5.7% to 5.5%.  This includes lease rent collected from retail spaces, offices, warehouses, and self-storage units or warehouse office combinations. The reduction only…

The latest threat to US landlords? Cities are arming tenants with lawyers

New York State’s Attorney General Letitia James joins a press conference to support rent controlled tenants who have been threatened with eviction (Credit: Getty Images) Half a dozen U.S. cities plan to provide tenants free legal counsel in eviction cases in an effort to reduce evictions and prevent homelessness. The programs are expected to be costly and challenging to implement, but advocates…

Unsettling news for landlords: Online retailers killed it this holiday season

Americans spent more money than ever this holiday season — but shoppers are increasingly doing so online. Overall retail spending jumped 3.4 percent over the holidays, according to a recent report from Mastercard. But the biggest gains came from shopping on e-commerce platforms, as online purchases made up 14.6 percent of the sales. That’s an increase of 18.8 percent over last year. It’s…

South Florida’s top real estate news of 2019

South Florida’s place in the real estate big leagues was cemented in 2019, as uber-wealthy hedge funders and other investors from high-tax states poured millions of dollars into luxury properties. Palm Beach gleaned many of the benefits, with sky-high record sales. At the same time, major players from New York, the Kushners and Michael Shvo — set their sights on South Florida, with big development…

Here are South Florida’s largest industrial sales of 2019

Long an afterthought to the high-rise condos overlooking Biscayne Bay and swanky office buildings in Brickell, industrial has now become the sexiest asset class in Miami. Institutional investors like Blackstone are scooping up industrial properties across the area, especially near Miami International Airport, due to the rise of e-commerce. While 2019 marked a year…

Miami Beach seeks to fix floor area ratio controversy involving Galbut and Martin’s Park on Fifth project

Looking to short circuit an unwanted precedent for future development on Miami Beach, city officials are proposing legislation that would make it clear that a project’s floor area ratio includes elevator shafts and stairwells. The Miami Beach Planning Board last week recommended that the city commission approve the new ordinance. It was drafted as a direct response to a recent Miami Beach Board…

Fort Lauderdale Wawa sells for $7M

Stuart Lazier and the Wawa in Fort Lauderdale Real estate investors are buying into Wawa’s subs and relatively reasonably priced gasoline. Toronto-based Northbridge Investment Management sold a building leased to Wawa in Fort Lauderdale for $7.28 million. The buyer is Promociones 96 Inc, which is tied to Juan Petrizzo of Boca Raton. The building at 2620 West Broward Boulevard is within Riverbend…

Miller Construction Completes Two Industrial Buildings Totaling 318,043 SF in Miami Central Commons

Miller Construction Co. has completed two buildings for Orlando-based Foundry Commercial, creating 318,043 square feet of industrial space within the Miami Central Commons business park. Located at 2301 NW 107th Ave. in Doral, 11 miles northwest of Miami, Building 1 contains showroom space and Building 2 contains industrial space. Foundry Commercial purchased the business park in 2017 and…

Infinity sells Ocean Drive building to Apple Core for $33M

New York-based Apple Core Holdings paid $32.5 million for an Ocean Drive building in Miami Beach, The Real Deal has learned. Infinity Real Estate sold the roughly 19,000-square-foot building at 1200 Ocean Drive, across from the beachfront Lummus Park, said Infinity partner David Berg. The company acquired the property from Goldman Properties in 2016 for $15.25 million. Apple Core Holdings…

Maurice Gusman heirs sue city of Miami to regain ownership of Olympia Theater

Olympia Theater (Credit: Getty Images) The city of Miami’s ownership of the Olympia Theater in downtown Miami is facing a legal challenge by the heirs of Maurice Gusman, the late philanthropist who deeded the historic property to the city 44 years ago. In a civil lawsuit filed last month in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, a defunct non-profit entity known as The Maurice Gusman Center for the…

Here are South Florida’s largest office sales of 2019

The long-term success of Florida East Coast Industries’ high-speed Virgin Trains USA remains in question, but one thing is certain — office tenants are flocking to properties nearby. As a result, the company was able to sell the office portion of its MiamiCentral station for $159.4 million in the largest office sale of 2019 in South Florida. Institutional investors and real estate investment trusts are still coming to…

Richard LeFrak touts Solé Mia’s progress from landfill to paradise: ULI symposium

Richard LeFrak and Solé Mia Richard LeFrak recounted the moment roughly nine years ago when he received a call gauging his interest in 184 acres of waterfront land fronting Biscayne Boulevard in North Miami. “It’s a [former] landfill and it’s kind of had a checkered past,” LeFrak recalled the unnamed individual on the line telling him. “I asked what’s the minimum bid? He said $21 million. That’s all I had…

Closed Morningside Park pool could reopen elsewhere

A new Morningside Park swimming pool seems all but certain to be built away from its historic but long-closed waterfront site. But new features could be coming to mitigate the park’s vulnerability to flooding. At Miami’s Climate Resilience Committee meeting Dec. 2, the Office of Capital Improvements updated members on plans for Morningside Park, reiterating a preference to build the pool inland in…

Big deadline nears for opportunity zones

With the deadline to receive full benefits less than a week off and a new, voluminous document from the IRS further detailing regulations, opportunity zones – Census-designated areas targeted for tax-incentivized development – remain a hot subject. In essence, the federal opportunity zones program is meant to spur improvements to low-income neighborhoods by rewarding investors who spend money…

Palmetto Bay grand plan reduces scale with new team

Palmetto Bay has resumed talks with real estate firm NAI Miami, the second-ranked proposer on a project to redevelop the village’s downtown area, after its first choice abruptly pulled out of negotiations. Village council members voted unanimously Nov. 4 to reconsider a proposal from NAI and terminate dialogue with first-ranked i3 Interests LLC, whose unsolicited $72 million project proposal in 2018…

Top-tier malls feeling pain of changing consumer behavior

Top-tier malls are no longer immune from the perils facing the broader retail sector. Landlords behind some malls in prime locations across America are now signaling slower income growth as they grapple with a shifting consumer landscape and internet competition, the Wall Street Journal reports. Several malls have lowered their 2019 guidance on net income, for example. Some…

Adam Neumann could reap $2B from WeWork golden parachute

Adam Neumann’s golden parachute could be the gift that keeps on giving. According to the Financial Times, the WeWork co-founder owns millions of “profit interests” in the co-working firm, which means that if WeWork goes public, Neumann’s $1.7 billion package could grow in value to more than $2 billion. In the event of an IPO, Neumann’s interests would would convert into stock with a value…

Here are South Florida’s largest retail sales of 2019

Compilation of the top five properties (Credit: Google Maps) Despite doomsday predictions about retail, and national stores like Toys R’ Us declaring bankruptcy, retail in South Florida appears to be alive and well. Institutional investors and real estate investment trusts continue to acquire retail centers across the region. Here are the largest retail sales of 2019: InvenTrust picks up Costco-anchored…

Analysts still baffled by Brookfield’s big bet on malls

Brookfield Asset Management’s massive investment in malls is looking worse than ever to some observers. Since its nearly $15 billion acquisition of General Growth Properties in 2018, Brookfield Property Real Estate Investment Trust, a publicly traded vehicle formed after the purchase, has seen its shares decline by 13 percent, the Wall Street Journal reported. The second-largest mall…

WeWork’s rescue package may be in trouble

SoftBank Group is trying to borrow $3 billion from Japan’s three largest banks as part of its effort to save WeWork and it’s not going well. Talks have stalled amid the lenders’ concern over credit risk and reports that the banks have hit internal limits, Reuters reported. The three banks involved are Mizuho Financial Group, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group.

Lebron James’ Unknwn business partner allegedly skipped out on Miami Design District construction bill

Frankie Walker Jr., a childhood friend of Lebron James who co-owns the Unknwn men’s store in Wynwood with the NBA superstar, is accused of skipping out on a construction bill for more than $300,000 connected to an unrelated retail venture in the Miami Design District. The contractor, Miami-based design and construction firm Twenty Two Group, reduced the debt by more…

These were South Florida’s biggest industrial leases of 2019

It was a strong year for industrial leases in South Florida, with the largest — for a Home Depot distribution center in Hialeah — topping 1 million square feet. Land prices jumped as much as 30 percent in Miami-Dade and Broward counties in 2019, year-over-year, to more than $1 million an acre, said Steve Wasserman, executive managing director of Colliers International South Florida. Rental rates for new…

Porn king scores Wynwood development site

A porn mogul paid $4.2 million for a development site in Wynwood, The Real Deal has learned. Showcase Acquisitions LLC, a company led by Kris Hinson, co-founder of porn site Bang Bus closed on the property at 2210 Northwest Miami Court, according to sources. The 13,345-square-foot corner lot is in the southeast quadrant of Wynwood. Investor Philip Knoll put the property on the market with…

Apartment-hotel brand – with one in Miami – raises $100M with backing from Softbank, GGV Capital

Domio CEO Jay Roberts (Credit: Domio) Apartment-hotel brand Domio just closed a $100 million funding round and is attracting big investors including SoftBank, GGV Capital and Lehman Brothers–spinoff Tenaya Capital. The funding was split equally between equity and debt, according to the announcement. The equity round was led by GGV Capital, a global venture capital firm that manages $6.2 billion…

South Beach building near Joe’s Stone Crab hits market for $45M

An office building in the South-of-Fifth neighborhood of Miami Beach hit the market for $45 million. Property records show Yantra 119 LLC, led by Giulio Rangoni and Cinzia Zanella, own the six-story, 43,140-square-foot building at 119 Washington Avenue. The property is on the market with Amit Egan Datwani of The Global Consulting…

No more excuses: New Opp Zone rules should open the door to big money

Despite being hyped the Next Big Thing in real estate, investor interest in Opportunity Zones hasn’t materialized as fund managers, developers and government officials had hoped. But on Thursday, the IRS and Treasury released the final set of regulations for the federal program, providing investors and developers more certainty over the rules and regulations that govern how real estate money can be…

MDH Partners buys Liberty City warehouse

An Atlanta-based industrial investment group paid $8.9 million for a warehouse west of Little Haiti in Liberty City. MDH Partners’ affiliate MDH F1 Miami NW 74 LLC closed on the 102,000-square-foot building at 1350 Northwest 74th Street in Miami. Property records show G&G Real Estate Investments LC sold the building. The deal is the first for MDH in Miami. The investment and development firm…

The Dorsey project in Wynwood wins design approval

The latest mixed-use project in Wynwood spearheaded by the Related Group won a nod from the Miami Urban Development Review Board, despite one board member’s sharp criticism that new buildings in the city’s hottest neighborhood lack pizazz. The board on Wednesday voted 7-0 to approve five design waivers for The Dorsey, a proposed 12-story apartment building with a parking garage…

Mazel tov! Kosher market-anchored shopping center trades for $16M

IMC Equity snagged a retail center anchored by a Kosher supermarket in Cooper City for $16.36 million. The North Miami-based firm, led by Yoram Izhak, purchased the 56,968-square-foot Stirling Town Center for $287 per square foot, records show. Stirling Retail 26 LLC, led by Yaniv Sananes of Golden Beach, sold the shopping center. The property is at 8631-8861 Stirling Road in Cooper City, adjacent to…

All rise: Miami-Dade commissioners approve $267M downtown Miami courthouse project

The Miami-Dade County Commission on Tuesday unanimously approved a deal with Plenary Group to build a new $267 million civil courthouse in downtown Miami. The proposed 23-story building will replace the 1928-era courthouse at 73 West Flagler Street that was the site of a trial of Chicago mobster Al Capone. Amid a packed audience of local judges and attorneys, county commissioners moved…

Chick-fil-A, Old Navy to Join $425M River Landing Project in Miami

UrbanX Group has inked new lease agreements with fast casual restaurant Chick-fil-A and clothing retailer Old Navy to occupy a total of 19,000 square feet along the Miami River. The tenants will join River Landing Shops & Residences, the 8.1-acre mixed-use development currently under construction. Chick-fil-A and Old Navy are both scheduled to open in spring 2020 and join already signed tenants Publix…

Moishe Mana’s Downtown Miami Buying Binge Grows To $375 Million

With his recent acquisition of City National Bank’s former headquarters for $25 million, billionaire Moishe Mana has now spent $375 million assembling properties in downtown Miami. This week, the Israeli-born real estate mogul closed on an existing 139,448-square-foot office building at 25 West Flagler Street and three adjacent parcels totaling 29,000 square feet. Located between West Flagler Street…

Aztec Arranges $142M Loan for Melo Group’s 667-Unit Art Plaza Community in Miami

Aztec Group Inc. has arranged $142 million in agency debt financing for the developer Melo Group’s new Art Plaza development in Miami. Berkadia’s Miami office will act as seller-servicer for the Freddie Mac loan. The 10-year loan features full-term interest-only payment and a fixed interest rate under 3.5 percent. Aztec’s Peter Mekras arranged the financing on behalf of Melo, which is using the loan to refinance…

Rieber Developments Tops Off Aventura Medical Office Building

Ivory 214, a 10-story medical office building in Aventura, Fla., topped off six months after Shalev Development Group secured a $36 million construction loan via BridgeInvest. Rieber Developments expects to deliver the project in the second quarter of 2020. Located at 2820 NE 214th St., the property is part of the Aventura Medical District. The development will include 34,000 square feet of office space…

Grails Sports Bar buys its Wynwood building

Grails Sports Bar in Wynwood paid $6.4 million to purchase its building. The bar, owned by Oscar Ortega, Hector Acevedo, Eddie Fuentes, and Manuel Picon, paid $877 per square foot for the building and about $563 per square foot for the land at 2800 North Miami Avenue, according to the brokers involved in the sale. Grails is owned by the same people behind Cocktail Cartel and Grails’ sister restaurant…

Prologis Signs New Tenant at Miami Industrial Park

SPR Global Storage & Logistics has signed a new, long-term lease for an 80,000-square-foot cold storage facility at the Beacon at 97th Avenue industrial park in Doral, Fla. Transwestern Commercial Services negotiated the deal on behalf of the tenant, while JLL assisted landlord Prologis. Located at 2000 NW 97th Ave. in Miami’s Airport submarket, the industrial park consists of Class A warehouse…

South Florida’s biggest office leases of 2019

South Florida’s office leasing market this year was spurred by tenants seeking to relocate to better spaces, often in more eco-friendly buildings. “The trend we’re seeing in the marketplace is that tenants are seeking new office space that allows them to hire, retain and motivate the workforce, as well as to better reflect their image,” said Stephen Rutchik, executive managing director at Colliers…

All-free Miami-Dade transit is answer, Xavier Suarez says

Among attempts to regain riders on Miami-Dade transit, some, like contactless payment and monthly discounts, are here now. Others, like Transit Alliance’s redesign of the Metrobus route network, are near. But Commissioner Xavier Suarez says one solution gaining steam around the US, at which city trolleys here excel, could add widespread ridership: make it free. “It is time for Miami-Dade County to…

Miami’s scooter pilot program walks a tightrope

The City of Miami’s scooter pilot program has once again been extended, this time to mid-February, with its long-term future still up in the air. Chairman Ken Russell, the district commissioner for the scooter pilot, again asked his fellow commissioners to extend the pilot while the administration hashes out a solicitation for proposals. While the legislation had originally called for a four-month extension,

Predictions For South Florida CRE In 2020

So 2019 is drawing to a close, having given the world of commercial real estate things we expected — like a booming industrial market — and things we didn’t (WeWork and opportunity zones were among the greatest flops of the decade). Bisnow asked some South Florida real estate pros what 2020 may bring. Here are their thoughts: Jeff Gordon, vice president, JLL: “We have a number of interesting new…”

What It Took To Build Zaha Hadid’s Miami Tower

Architect and developer Louis Birdman has worked on about 80 condominium projects around the country, but few are as high-profile as 1000 Museum, the downtown Miami condo designed by famed architect Zaha Hadid, known for projects such as the London Olympic Aquatic Centre and the Guangzhou Opera House. One Thousand Museum, sometimes called the Scorpion Tower, was the only…

Moishe Mana plans 11-building tech center along Flagler

Moishe Mana and the Mana Group plan a large-scale tech center, anchored by Flagler Street, for downtown Miami, representatives told the Downtown Development Authority on Friday. Mana Tech, said Paul Lambert, managing principal of Lambert Advisory, will bring tech and venture capital companies into the city’s core “very much at the direction of Moishe Mana. Flagler Street will be the center, and…

Atlantic Sapphire building ‘largest aquaculture facility in world’ in the Redlands

Atlantic Sapphire, an indoor salmon farming company founded in Norway nearly a decade ago, is on track to finish the first of three construction phases on a sprawling facility in Miami-Dade’s Redland by July. Once completed, it will be “the largest aquaculture facility in the world.” That’s according to CFO José Prado, who told county commissioners Tuesday that the company aims to increase its…

China’s largest co-working firm eyes a New York IPO

China’s largest co-working company, Ucommune, has filed plans for an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange. The offering could take place as early as next month, the Wall Street Journal reported. It will represent a test of investor sentiment following WeWork’s IPO debacle this fall — was WeWork’s failure a symptom of problems specific to the company, or is the co-working business…

Moishe Mana buys City National Bank building in downtown Miami

Moishe Mana paid $25 million for the City National Bank building on Flagler Street in downtown Miami, adding to his property empire. John Crotty of Avison Young Seller City National Bank was previously based out of the the 12-story, 140,000-square-foot building at 25 West Flagler Street. It was on the market with John Crotty, Michael Fay, David Duckworth, Brian de la Fé and others at Avison Young.

Sustainable Hospitality Brand, Shepherd Eco, Launches in Wynwood

Lucky Shepherd announces the launch of its Shepherd Eco sustainable hospitality brand with a flagship location in Wynwood, Miami. The project, developed by Shepherd Atma and Hoar Program Management (HPM), with Touzet Studio as architect and Gensler as interior design, is slated to open late 2022. Shepherd Eco offers extraordinary, one-of-a-kind experiences – thoughtfully designed and curated…

Experts Round-Up: Top Retail Property Trends to Expect in 2020

A new decade awaits us in 2020, and with it the inevitable, constant evolution of the retail industry market. As one of the most competitive markets in the world, change and adaptation are truly the only constants. The rise in use of technology coupled with metadata metrics for analyzing consumer habits have inspired retailers to adapt and not only stay on top of trends, but ahead of…

Top 25 South Florida Retail Shopping Center Transactions of 2019

2019 is going down as another successful year South Florida’s commercial real estate market. Across the board of primary stats: vacancy levels, asking rates, and absorption, things have been positive as the decade is coming to a close. One of the most significant contributors to the upbeat sentiment in South Florida retail, particularly, is with the shopping center transactions. Compared to 2018’s retail…

Judge says Parque Towers developer mismarketed condo size

When Josh and Michelle Kurzban saw brochures for Parque Towers in Sunny Isles Beach and put down a deposit in 2015, they were expecting to upgrade to a new 2,500-square-foot condo. Four years later, a Miami-Dade Circuit judge ruled that the developer, J. Milton & Associates, mismarketed the size of Kurzban’s unit by almost 25 percent. The ruling, delivered last week, could have significant…

These were South Florida’s biggest retail leases of 2019

Some of the top retail leases in 2019 (Credit: Google Maps) South Florida’s retail leasing market is in transition, as the sector struggles nationwide amid the growing strength of e-commerce. Many stores are rethinking their brick-and-mortar strategies, which means less retail and more restaurants and service uses, said Dave Preston, executive managing director at Colliers International South Florida.

Video: CCIM Chief Economist K.C. Conway Discusses Commercial Real Estate Vectors 2020

As the economic expansion continues into the year 2020, we all wonder what can be expected to drive the commercial real estate industry going into the future? In this two part video series, CCIM Chief Economist K.C. Conway joins the show host to offer views on the economic cycle, trends to watch within sectors, and other factors set to likely affect commercial real estate in the new year. He discusses election…

A Primer from the Fed on Negative Interest Rates

The European Central Bank (ECB) in recent months cut its key deposit facility rate—or the interest rate that European banks earn when they deposit excess reserves at the ECB—to negative 0.5% with the intent of stimulating growth. The figure below presents this rate alongside the deposit rate U.S. banks earn at the Federal Reserve. In the U.S., this rate is referred to as the IOER (interest on excess…)

PortMiami Welcomes Largest Container Ship To Dock In Florida

The largest container ship to ever call on a Florida port sailed into PortMiami early Wednesday morning. Officials from the county, including Mayor Carlos Gimenez and others, welcomed the CMA CGM Magellan into the port. The 167-foot wide vessel can hold between 120,000 and 146,000 pallets. Gimenez and Tourism and Ports Committee chairwoman Rebeca Sosa spoke on the county’s commitment…

Eco-friendly Wynwood hotel planned for Art by God site

A new eco-friendly hotel is expected to break ground on the site of the Art by God store in Wynwood. Lucky Shepherd, co-founded by Shepherd Atma and Hoar Program Management, will build Shepherd Eco Wynwood at 60 Northeast 27th Street, joining a number of other hotels that have been proposed in the neighborhood. Christine Menedis and Naveen Trehan co-founded Pooler, Georgia-based…

WeWork’s Claure on dumping Adam Neumann, renegotiating leases

Marcelo Claure thinks Adam Neumann is misunderstood and that the prospects for WeWork remain strong. The new executive chairman of WeWork spoke to the New York Times for his first interview since SoftBank effectively took over the company. He said he still values Neumann’s opinion a lot and meets with him frequently outside of the office, but he also recounted telling Neumann he needed to…

Blackstone plans to build new Medley warehouse

Blackstone has now acquired 18 acres in Medley where it will build a new warehouse, according to the seller. In its latest deal, the New York-based private equity firm acquired a 2.2-acre property at 9800 Northwest 87th Avenue for $3.3 million from Miami-based Fordome Investment Group. The purchase adds to its growing industrial portfolio in South Florida. The property sold for a…

Meet the financial backers behind WeWork’s rise and fall

It was only after WeWork pulled its IPO and Adam Neumann’s ouster that one of the company’s board members took a stance. Former Goldman Sachs partner Mark Schwartz (Credit: Goldman Sachs) In early October, former Goldman Sachs partner Mark Schwartz told WeWork’s board members: No more fantasizing — it was time to save the company. “I’ve stayed silent too long,” he said, according to…

Ugo Colombo pays off $236M construction loan for Brickell Flatiron

Ugo Colombo’s CMC Group paid off its construction for Brickell Flatiron, less than two months after the condo tower was completed. The $236 million in construction debt was issued by Bank OZK, Goldman Sachs’ Broad Street, and RFR Realty in 2017. It broke down to a $138.5 million mortgage and a $97.5 million mezzanine loan. Brickell Flatiron, a 64-story, 527-unit tower at 1000 Brickell Plaza, is one…

What apocalypse? Expo showed few signs of retail’s struggles

And it’s a wrap on one of the largest retail real estate conventions in the country. Attendance at the New York Deal Making conference, put on every December by the International Council of Shopping Centers, was on pace to surpass the usual 10,000 people, an ICSC representative said. Final figures were not immediately available. As of noon Thursday the three-day West Side event had 9,178…

Galbut sells 50% stake in Mondrian South Beach

Russell Galbut is continuing to sell off part of his hotel portfolio. Galbut’s Crescent Heights sold 50 percent of its Mondrian South Beach condo-hotel to investor Michael S. Liebowitz for an undisclosed amount. Galbut, himself, will retain 50 percent ownership, and Menin Hospitality will continue to manage and operate the property, according to a press release. Menin helped develop the 335-key…

WeWork tries to escape leases — and eviction

After word of mass layoffs and a shift toward austerity, the inevitable is happening: WeWork is quietly trying to back out of leases. Executives at the embattled co-working company have been negotiating with landlords to find a way out of agreements it signed in up to 100 buildings around the world, The Information reported. Meanwhile in New York, Chestnut Holdings is trying to boot WeWork from…

Melo Group grabs more land north of downtown Miami for $28M

The Melo Group just picked up another site in Miami’s Arts & Entertainment District near Edgewater. Melo paid $28 million for the 1.6-acre block between 18th and 19th streets on the west side of Biscayne Boulevard, according to a spokesperson. The land is zoned for a transit-oriented, mixed-use residential development with up to 800 units and street-level retail. Property records show the seller is…

Miami may seek $250M for affordable home-buying program

The Miami City Commission is looking to seek $250 million in loans and grants to create an affordable home ownership program with at least 2,500 residential units. Proposed by commissioner Joe Carollo, the pilot program would use the funds to build more than 600 two-bedroom condos and 1,900 one-bedroom condos in all five of Miami’s city commission districts. The money would also be used to…

Melo Group lands $142M refi for Art Plaza

The Melo Group closed on $142 million in refinancing for Art Plaza in downtown Miami’s Arts & Entertainment District. The loan comes a year after Melo closed on a similar, $142 million refinancing of Square Station, a two-tower, 710-unit apartment development at 1424 Northeast Miami Place. The latest refinancing is for Art Plaza, a 667-unit apartment project at 58 Northeast 14th Street with 15,000 …

Terra plans massive multifamily project in northwest Miami-Dade

Industrial builder and operator Prologis sold a site in northwest Miami-Dade to Terra for $52 million, as development continues heading west. Terra plans to turn the 70-acre site, along Northwest 170th Street between I-75 and the Florida Turnpike, into a multifamily project with 1,369 apartments. Terra financed the land purchase with a $43 million loan from Synovus, according to a press release. Terra…

Miami may be closer to banning Special Area Plans

In Miami, property owners who control more than 9 acres of land can apply for a wide array of zoning changes. They’re called Special Area Plans, or SAPs, and the legislation has allowed for massive, planned projects like Brickell City Centre, River Landing Shops & Residences, the redevelopment of the Miami Design District, and the expansion of the Miami Jewish Home. It has also allowed for future mega…

Billionaire hotelier buys Overtown store for $6 million

The billionaire, one-time developer of Baha Mar in the Bahamas is adding to his collection of properties in Miami’s Wynwood and Overtown. A trust tied to Sarkis Izmirlian paid $6.6 million for an Overtown convenience store with a lot totaling 25,906 square feet at 295 Northwest 20th Street, records show. The sale equates to $254 per square foot…

As Miami Condo Market Cools, Developers Move North, And To Smaller Projects

Most real estate experts in South Florida agree that the condominium market has cooled — at least for big, new, luxury product. The heavy supply, plus a strong dollar, has thinned the buyer pool for the thousands of high-end units coming to market. But developers aren’t calling off the cranes. Condo builders are instead moving north, creating smaller projects, courting domestic buyers and…

Coworking Firm CoSuite Leases Entire Floor at Miami Tower

CoSuite has signed a long-term lease for 14,280 square feet at 800 Brickell Avenue in Miami, where it will occupy the entire fourth floor. Avison Young represented the tenant and was retained by Gatsby Enterprises and partner MasterMind Properties, the office building’s new ownership, to handle leasing. The two companies acquired the 15-story property for $125.5 million a few months ago. Located…

Miami (#10), Hialeah (#17) Make NREI’s 25 Dynamic American Cities Lists

Weighing factors including population growth, median age, higher education degrees, job growth and more than a dozen other factors, website Point2Homes.com generated a list of the most dynamic American cities. According to the site, which is a division of Yardi Systems Inc. that covers real estate market trends and new and develops original studies on many real estate topics, the methodology involved…

What you need to know about investing in healthcare real estate

In fragmentation, there is real estate opportunity. And that makes healthcare one of the most interesting spaces for private equity real estate investors, generating billions of dollars in trades over the past year, according to top players and advisers in the space. “As we are reaching the end of the cycle, people are seeing healthcare as a safe place to invest capital and find enhanced yield in healthcare as…

Video: Crowdfunding Law Firm Trowbridge Sidoti’s Managing Parter Gene Trowbridge Discusses Real Estate Syndication

Syndication and crowdfunding are becoming an increasingly popular way to fund commercial real estate purchases. Join the host of America’s Commercial Real Estate Show and its guest, Gene Trowbridge, author of “It’s A Whole New Business” and Managing Partner of the crowdfunding law firm Trowbridge Sidoti, as they discuss syndication regulations, examples of successful uses and a few tips to…

The 10 Biggest South Florida Office Sales And Leases Of The Decade

As we close out 2019, it’s not just the end of a year, but the end of a decade. Bisnow took a peek back at how South Florida’s real estate market has changed since 2010, when we were in the midst of the Great Recession. The research team at Newmark Knight Frank rounded up the top 10 office sales and leases of the decade. Looking at the data, Newmark Knight Frank Executive Managing Director Steve…

84 more hotels in the wings for Miami-Dade market

A new wave of 84 announced hotels could catapult 16,135 more hotel rooms into the Miami-Dade market within four years, adding more than 27% to hotel capacity at a time the industry is also feeling the growth of short-term rental services operators like Airbnb. In the first 10 months of this year the market added nine hotels and 894 additional rooms, with a total now of 58,175 rooms in the county…

Brickell Financial District tower upgrade wins OK

The city’s Urban Development Review Board is recommending approval of a renovation plan that would change the look of a tower that has stood in the southern Brickell Financial District for more than a decade. One Broadway, a mixed-use residential building reaching 36 stories at 1451 S Miami Avenue is “undergoing significant renovation,” according to owner Park Place at Brickell LLC. Luis Lamar…

Yardi Matrix Special Report: Coworking Grows Steadily, NYC Leads the Way, Miami Among Top Markets

In October, Yardi Matrix released its latest special report, “Shared Space: Coworking’s Rapid Growth Set to be Tested.” According to the findings, the coworking segment continued its growth in 2019, despite industry headlines being dominated by the struggles of The We Company. However, this rapid expansion is set to be put to the test in the near future, as some may now believe that the entire…

Dezer wins height approval for Sunny Isles’ tallest condo tower

The Federal Aviation Administration approved the height for what would be the tallest tower in Sunny Isles Beach. Dezer Development could build up to 743 feet above ground, or 749 feet above sea level, on the property at 18401 Collins Avenue. Dezer owns the Days Hotel by Wyndham Thunderbird Beach Resort on the site. Property records show Dezer Hotel Management Ltd. paid $6.78 million for the…

IMC Equity snags Hialeah warehouse from Cofe Properties

Yoram Izhak’s IMC Equity Group snagged another property from Cofe Properties. The North Miami-based firm purchased the 44,312-square-foot warehouse at 1490 West 49th Place in Hialeah for $5.9 million, or $133 per square foot, records show. The warehouse was built in 1966 and has five floors. Just two months ago, IMC Equity Group bought two industrial buildings in Plantation from Miami…

They paved paradise to sell a parking lot; lot sales surge

“They paved paradise to put up a parking lot,” Joni Mitchell famously sang. However, in hot real estate markets, we’re well past that. Developers, desperate for prime land upon which to build, are increasingly eyeing parking lots, and that has caused trading activity of such assets to soar. In 2016, for example, there were over 200 sales of parking lots, according to CoStar Group data cited by the New…

Lennar sells off part of its Via Ventura community

Lennar sold part of its property in the Via Ventura community near Aventura for $9.1 million. The Miami-based homebuilder sold a lake in the community it is developing at 20890 San Simeon Way to the San Simeon Community District. The district is designed to provide financing for community infrastructure, facilities and services. A community development district is a special purpose government…

Northwest Dade property owner seeking to fill lake gets denied — again

Lake that Lake Sana Developments wants to partially fill A property owner on a quest to partially fill an 85-acre lake in unincorporated northwest Miami-Dade for future development suffered another setback recently. Last month, a panel of three Miami-Dade Circuit Court judges denied Lake Sana Developments’ petition to overturn a vote by the county’s Community Council 8. The council’s vote denied…

Rethinking the Benefits of Opportunity Zone Investment

Longer holding requirements, the continual drip of federal guidelines, and a lack of tax savings have left many would-be investors sitting out of tax-sheltering opportunity zones. A year after the U.S. Treasury released its first set of guidelines, tax breaks for redeploying capital-gains profits into real estate and business ventures in low-income neighborhoods have generated a fraction of the anticipated $100…

Florida Zoning Appeals Law: Miami Beach “Ban” on Short-Term Rentals Ruled Illegal

In recent years, online platforms like Airbnb and HomeAway have made it easier for property owners to enter into the short-term rental market, which allows property owners to generate supplemental income and defray the cost of maintaining their real estate. The emergence of this “industry,” however, has faced resistance from neighboring property owners and local governments over concerns…

AquaBlue Group owner lists South Beach apartments for $14 million

A company tied to AquaBlue Group owner Philippe Harari is looking to sell a South Beach apartment complex for $13.9 million. Greenview Courtyard, at 2021–2035 Meridian Avenue, across from the Miami Beach Golf Club, includes three buildings with a total of 30 units. The price breaks down to about $463,000 per apartment. Harari’s Greenview Courtyard Inc. paid $2 million for the property in 2002…

The Art Basel Crowd Discovers Allapattah

Miami Art Week’s center of gravity moves every couple of years—pulled at one moment by the gritty muraled walls of Wynwood, at another by the gleaming shops of the Design District. But during this year’s festivities, a new neighborhood that’s been overlooked by the artistic glitterati is seeing a flurry of activity. Allapattah, nestled just west of Wynwood and north of Little Havana along the Miami River…

CitizenM scores $48M loan to build Brickell hotel

CitizenM scored a $48.3 million construction loan to build a new hotel at the former site of Perricone’s Marketplace & Cafe in Brickell. The hotelier secured the loan from Manufacturers and Traders Trust Co. for the 252-key hotel at 955 South Miami Avenue in Miami. The Netherlands-based hotel chain is also planning to build hotels in Miami Beach, on the corner of Alton and Lincoln roads, as well as in…

Breather bloodbath: Flex-office startup fires 17% of staff

Breather, an on-demand workspace company, fired almost a fifth of its staff Thursday. The Montreal-based firm, which provides office space across 10 different cities and has more than 100 employees, laid off at least 18 staffers, The Real Deal has learned. In a post on LinkedIn, Breather’s director of research, Anja Jamrozik Otto shared that she and others were leaving the company. A person familiar…

Diesel family dishes on Wynwood condo project

Amid the annual hoopla of Miami Art Week, the top dogs at Diesel provided a sneak peek of their Wynwood condo project, which joins a wave of luxury retailers breaking into South Florida real estate development. The Italian fashion brand’s founder Renzo Rosso and his son Andrea Rosso held court inside the Diesel Wynwood 28 sales gallery Wednesday morning, answering questions about the 143-unit…

Len Blavatnik teams with Vlad Doronin on Aman-branded towers in Faena District

Billionaires Len Blavatnik and Vlad Doronin are partnering to build the first Aman-branded development in the Miami area. Blavatnik’s Access Industries and Doronin’s OKO Group plan to build two towers on the site of the former Versailles Hotel at 3425 Collins Avenue in Miami Beach, according to a press release. The hotel and branded condos will be part of the Faena District. Doronin is also…

Anatomy gym to open in Coconut Grove

Rendering of Regatta Harbour Luxury gym concept Anatomy will open in Coconut Grove next year. Anatomy inked a lease for 14,500 square feet at Regatta Harbour, The Real Deal has learned. Treo Group is developing the mixed-use project at 3385 Pan American Drive. Anatomy will be located in ground-floor retail space on the south side of the development. Anatomy has two other locations in the…

Diamonds aren’t forever: Seybold Building jeweler claims owner won’t relocate his store

The front entrance of the Seybold building at 36 NE First Street. A jeweler at the Seybold Building in downtown Miami claims the landlord is about to put the store out of business as a result of an ongoing renovation project. Nemaro Jewelers, which is four years into a 15-year lease, is suing Seybold owner Flagler Street Associates in Miami-Dade Circuit Court for allegedly breaching the lease agreement. The…

Sonder inks lease for flagship Wynwood hotel

The hospitality market in Wynwood is heating up. Sonder, a San Francisco-based startup that leases apartments and rents them out on a short-term basis, signed a lease for a new hotel development near the Wynwood Walls, The Real Deal has learned. The short-term rental operator will manage the 72-key project at 111 Northwest 26th Street in the artsy Miami neighborhood. Andres Klein, founder and…

CitizenM, Miami Worldcenter Associates Break Ground on 351-Room Downtown Hotel

Netherlands-based hotel chain citizenM and developer Miami Worldcenter Associates have broken ground on a new citizenM hotel in downtown Miami. The hotel will be part of a $4 billion mixed-use development called Miami Worldcenter. Owner, operator and developer citizenM and master developer of the mixed-use campus Miami Worldcenter Associates will make the 700 NE 2nd Avenue property into…

‘Aggressive’ Turkish Billionaire’s First U.S. Project, The Tallest Tower In Florida, To Break Ground Soon

Billionaire developer Bekir Okan doesn’t speak English and has never built a project in the U.S. before — his universities and developments are primarily in Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. Nevertheless, right out of the gate, he intends to spearhead the tallest building in Florida. The 70-story, 890-foot, $300M Okan Tower at 555 North Miami Avenue is expected to take four years to build. Last…

Video: National Apartment Association’s Paula Munger Provides Multifamily Update, Discusses Rent Control Effects

Paula Munger, Assistant Vice President of Industry Research with the National Apartment Association, joins America’s Commercial Real Estate Show to discuss some current trends in the multifamily property market. Also discussed are some of the more important legislative issues for apartment properties today, in particular rent control. Also discussed is data they have on their site that display metrics for…

During Art Basel, Attention Shifts From Wynwood To Allapattah

It’s time for Art Basel, America’s premier contemporary art fair, which means that collectors and celebrities will be flying in from everywhere and fanning out all over Miami for parties and gallery shows. Billionaire developer Jorge M. Pérez, the chairman and CEO of Related Group and a serious arts patron, is opening a new, 28K SF art museum this week — and it’s not in Wynwood, which has been…

Stock of Sapir Corp – owner of several Miami commercial properties – drops in Tel Aviv

The NoMo SoHo hotel owned by the Sapir Corp. saw its net operating income fall in the third quarter, dragging down the company’s overall performance in the third quarter. In the last week, Alex Sapir’s real estate company, which trades on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, saw its stock price fall by about 18 percent from its pre-earnings price of 508 shekels on Nov. 28 to 414.9 shekels as of Wednesday.

Len Blavatnik teams with Vlad Doronin on Aman-branded towers in Faena District

Billionaires Len Blavatnik and Vlad Doronin are partnering to build the first Aman-branded development in the Miami area. Blavatnik’s Access Industries and Doronin’s OKO Group plan to build two towers on the site of the former Versailles Hotel at 3425 Collins Avenue in Miami Beach, according to a press release. The hotel and branded condos will be part of the Faena District. Doronin is also…

Suit aims to wrest control of historic Olympia Theater from Miami

With the historic Olympia Theater in the heart of downtown seemingly in limbo, the City of Miami is facing a lawsuit over its handling of the property. Last month, The Maurice Gusman Cultural Center for the Performing Arts Inc., a dissolved Florida not-for-profit corporation, sued the City of Miami for its ownership of the Olympia Theater at 174 E Flagler Street. The theater is managed by the not-for-profit…

Tri-Rail into downtown Miami awaits Brightline’s action

Thousands of would-be downtown commuters wait anxiously to learn when Tri-Rail trains will roll into Miami Central station, and they aren’t alone. The South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, Tri-Rail’s parent, must wait for Florida East Coat Railway, which owns the Brightline commuter service, to have its Positive Train Control (PTC) system certified by the federal government before it can move…

31-story Courtyard by Marriott coming to hot Omni area

Courtyard by Marriott is still coming to the Omni neighborhood of Miami, with a revised plan for a new high-rise hotel with meeting spaces, ballrooms and more. One Miami Biscayne Bay and Art District Hotel LLC, affiliated with Mandala Holdings, proposes the new tower at 511 NE 15th Street. The property is about a half block from the Adrienne Arsht Center Metromover Station, and adjacent to the…

Miami River boat showroom OK’d, restaurant leaves bad taste

The Miami River Commission on Monday approved in concept the plans of Puntallana LLC to put a six-story commercial building and an ancillary restaurant on a riverfront parcel at 301 and 311 NW South River Drive in the Riverside section of Little Havana. The small lot has an irregular shape and is now underutilized, said a petition by Steven Wernick of Wernick & Co., attorney for Arturo Ortega, Puntallana…

Gil Dezer, Related complete Residences by Armani/Casa

Rendering of Residences by Armani/Casa, Jorge Pérez and Gil Dezer Residences by Armani/Casa in Sunny Isles Beach scored its temporary certificate of occupancy, and closings are expected to begin this week, The Real Deal has learned. Gil Dezer, CEO of Dezer Development, said the 308-unit luxury condominium tower at 18975 Collins Avenue received its TCO on Friday, and closings are scheduled to begin…

Miami River Commission approves yacht building and restaurant

Rendering of planned marine facility and restaurant The Miami River Commission on Monday backed a proposal to build a six-story marine facility and an adjacent 90-seat restaurant on properties once owned by a Cuban exile accused of plotting to assassinate Fidel Castro. But Carlos Salas, president of the Spring Garden Civic Association, said he intends to appeal the decision for the proposed…

Gulfstream Park bets on $20M renovation

Gulfstream Park and Stronach Group CEO Craig Fravel South Florida’s thoroughbred horse racing venue is betting on $20 million in renovations. The Stronach Group plans to modernize Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach with a new open-air dining terrace overlooking the racetrack. The terrace will feature luxury boxes with private televisions. The renovations will also include a new infield scoreboard…

RedSky and partner to sell several properties amid “uncertainty” over valuations

The investment firm backing most of Williamsburg’s prime retail real estate said it will look to sell several properties over the next two to three months. And the company has taken on a more active role managing the portfolio amid concerns that it could be difficult to cash out at projected values. JZ Capital Partners changed course on Wednesday and announced it would not take a significant…

Jorge Pérez on our urban evolution

For its fifth anniversary celebration, SFBW held a “CEO Connect” event with Jorge Pérez, the founder, chairman and CEO of the Related Group, who was on the cover of the first issue of the magazine in September 2014. For three decades, his commitment to building better cities and identifying emerging trends has made him one of the world’s top names in real estate. In 2005, Time magazine named him…

Bal Harbour Shops owner explains why retailers want bigger flagship stores more than ever

You could call Matthew Whitman Lazenby a member of retail royalty. His late grandfather Stanley Whitman was a pioneer in South Florida real estate, buying swaths of land along Collins Avenue in Miami Beach and other coastal areas. Fifty-four years ago, Whitman opened Bal Harbour Shops, which Lazenby now oversees as owner and manager general of Whitman Family Development. The high-end shopping…

Miami Developers: Who will be the winners and losers of the next recession?

Miami’s condo doomsday prognosticator, Peter Zalewski, has been waiting for this moment for almost a decade. The fast-talking former business journalist turned consultant with a penchant for electronic cigarettes and condo sales numbers has predicted the crash of Miami’s high-end condo market for years. Zalewski projects that, driven by an oversupply of expensive condo buildings in Miami Beach…

Spec home builder Todd Glaser on doing home showings via yacht

Todd Glaser’s passion for luxury homes took root early. As a teenage waiter at the Regency Hotel in Bal Harbour, where a new condo now stands, he would often work private dinners held at the homes of wealthy friends of the hotel’s owner, Lou Brandt. “At 16, my friends and I got into all these gorgeous, unbelievable mansions,” Glaser said. “When I walked into one of the elegant courtyards, it was mesmerizing.

A-Rod is coming for NYC and SoFla real estate

Alex Rodriguez has seen both his professional and personal life covered exhaustively in newspapers across the country for decades now. But since retiring as the Yankees’ star third baseman in 2016 — and, according to Forbes, pocketing over $480 million during his 22-year, pro-baseball career — he’s become even busier. He’s now juggling regular media appearances with color commenting baseball games…

Luxury resort chain Aman Resorts just announced that it’s coming to Miami, party city a departure from its current US presence

The global luxury resort chain known for its wellness offerings is opening a hotel with private branded residences in Miami Beach’s Faena District sometime in 2023, the company announced Wednesday. Aman currently has only two US locations: Amangani in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and Amangiri in Utah. Now, it’s expanding to major cities, building a location in New York City that’s expected to open in late…

The Amenity War Is Spreading To Industrial Space

Gyms, cafés and food trucks aren’t just for office buildings and apartments anymore. They’re beginning to show up in warehouses, too. “We see a lot more amenities in the buildings, much more like an office building,” Ware Malcomb Executive Vice President Jay Todisco said at Bisnow’s Southeast Logistics & Industrial Summit Tuesday at the Westin Buckhead Atlanta. “Those things all affect the yield of an…

HGreg parks $75M in Nissan dealership in Palmetto Bay

HGreg acquired a Nissan dealership from AutoNation in Palmetto Bay for $75 million, marking the largest car dealership sale in South Florida this year. The dealership, HGreg Nissan Kendall, includes a 71,500-square-foot building and sits on 14.25 acres at 17305 South Dixie Highway. The property sold for $5.26 million per acre. HGreg Nissan Kendall employs nearly 100 people at the location and sells…

Private equity firm picks up Hialeah Gardens trucking facility

A 51.8-acre truck parking facility in Hialeah Gardens sold for $8.1 million. Timber Hill Group bought the property at 15545 Northwest 122nd Avenue for $156,370 per acre, records show. F&M Parking, which is led by Felix Rodriguez of Sunny Isles, sold the facility. The property consists of 14 parcels and more than 1,300 parking spaces for trucks and trailers. It is 100 percent rented, according to…

ULI Offers Some Climate Change Solutions For Miami’s Waterfront

To protect commercial properties along the waterfront in downtown Miami and by the Miami River, city officials and the real estate industry should implement natural lines of defenses, consider using less ground floor space for commercial uses, embrace transit-oriented, mixed-use projects and identify funding resources for large-scale flood mitigation projects similar to the Thames Barrier…

LeBron James Is Opening A Flagship Clothing Store In Wynwood

Basketball star LeBron James will open UNKNWN, a clothing boutique with a courtyard for events, in Miami’s artsy Wynwood neighborhood on Dec. 5. The launch coincides with the weeklong Art Basel art fair that draws celebrities and art collectors from around the world. The 10K SF store is at 261 Northwest 26th Street, right in the heart of Wynwood. James’ partners in the venture include…

Video: Moody’s Analytics Reis Senior Economist Barbara Denham Delivers Office Property Market Update

Barbara Denham, Senior Economist with Moody’s Analytics Reis, appears in this episode to discuss office property market performance, future forecasts for office properties, and strategies for the commercial office real estate market. Ms. Denham comments that the office market is “fine not hitting out of the ball park.”  Net absorption was 6.8 million square feet, above that of the prior two quarters…

How the election may affect the commercial real estate industry

The presidential election has the country riveted and divided on several fronts. When it comes to the real estate front, the upcoming election is likely to affect the commercial  real estate and residential real estate industry. The economy is still in one of the slowest recovery periods of the past five decades and this has economists scrambling to analyze the outlook for the economy in the long-term.

Edgewater Paraiso District 32-story tower advances

The growing Edgewater neighborhood in the City of Miami is getting another mixed-use residential tower to be called Paraiso Place at 452 NE 31st Street. Metro Edgewater LLC proposes to construct the 32-story building with 279 multi-family residential units, 4,063 square feet of ground floor commercial-retail and parking levels for 300 vehicles. The city’s Urban Development Review Board on Nov. 20…

Sports Entertainment Provides a Promising Future for Retail Real Estate

The future of food and beverage retail is…sports? To hear from “The Future of Restaurants & Entertainment” panel at the ICSC Southeast Conference & Deal Making event, sports-centric concepts are a solid bet for retail real estate owners to pursue going forward. Produced by the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), the event was held Nov. 13-15 at the newly renovated Georgia World Congress…

Suntex Marinas is trying to evict Monty’s from Miami Beach property

Monty’s Raw Bar A South Beach landlord is trying to evict Monty’s, alleging it has health code violations, unpaid rent and dated menu items. Monty’s Sunset Miami Beach claims the landlord is just being crabby and is trying to find a way to take over the lease of the property, according to the Daily Business Review. “To me this is all just a ruse to bully and intimidate and unlawfully malign the quality…

MMG Equity Partners Lands Miami-Dade Retail-Office Plaza for $16 Million

Real estate investor MMG Equity Partners scooped up a shopping and office plaza in a busy south Miami-Dade County neighborhood for $16 million. Pinecrest-based MMG bought the Centre at Cutler Bay from Cutler Center Holdings LLC on Oct. 24. The transaction breaks down to $126 per square foot. The seller is affiliated with Coral Gables-based luxury real estate company Boschetti Realty Group…

North Miami Beach Retail Property Trades for $1.5 Million

This is a 6,525-square-foot, one-story retail property constructed in 1962 that sits on an 18,525-square-foot lot, according to the Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser’s Office..Address: 357 NE 167th Street in North Miami Beach. Property type: This is a 6,525-square-foot, one-story retail property constructed in 1962 that sits on an 18,525-square-foot lot, according to the Miami-Dade County Property…

Bruce Eichner and eyes next Miami project as slashes listing on his Continuum penthouse

Developer Ian Bruce Eichner has slashed the price of his Continuum South Beach penthouse as he mulls his next project in Miami. Eichner cut the price of the 11,031-square-foot, seven-bedroom unit to $39.9 million. That’s 20 percent below the original $50 million ask. Eloy Carmenate and Mick Duchon of Douglas Elliman have the listing. “You put an apartment on the market with a price, which would have…

Brickell Construction sues for $1.2M in work at project near Midtown Miami

The owner of an unfinished office building with ground-floor retail near Midtown Miami allegedly hasn’t paid $1.2 million in construction and labor, according to a recently filed lawsuit. But a lawyer for the developer, Set Midtown, claims the project suffered numerous delays and defects resulting from shoddy work by Brickell Construction Group. Brickell Construction Group is suing Set Midtown for breach…

New Retailers Signed for Doral Square Shopping Center

Miami-based real estate developer Terra has signed several new retailers for Doral Square, a 150,000-square-foot retail center in Doral, about 17 miles west of Miami. The new development will include anchors 24 Hour Fitness and Marshalls and will be built on the southeast corner of Doral Boulevard and 87th Avenue, near Carnival Cruise Lines’ offices and Trump National Doral Resort. Doral Square is over 42…

The Importance Of Due Diligence In CRE

Doing your homework is part of the deal. When most of us were in elementary school, little did we realize that each time a teacher or a parent lectured us on the importance of doing homework, they were actually preparing us for … commercial real estate. Due diligence — really, just an adult word for homework — is an essential part of the commercial transaction process. And just like the educational…

Is Co-Living The Next Big Thing in South Florida Multi-Family Real Estate?

A recent real estate trend is performing better than expected It seems as if everything today is ripe for sharing. From car rides to parking to workspaces, what was once considered private and personal is now open to a communal way of thinking. With this in mind, it really isn’t surprising that co-living is a recent trend in the multi-family housing market. As recently as 2017, some predicted it to be a…

Doral Will Have A New Shopping And Industrial Center Along NW 79th Avenue

Doral will have a new shopping and industrial center, “District 79”, as it will be called. This new development was unanimously approved by the City of Doral Council after taking into consideration that it will bring benefits for the health, safety, economy, and well-being of our residents and visitors. We were informed of this by Maggie Santos, Communications and Protocol Manager for the City of Doral. She…

Photos: Apple New Two-Level Aventura Store

Foster & Partners collaborated with the design team at Apple to create a new two-level store at Aventura Mall. The undulating, vaulted roof is designed to be reminiscent of the city’s nautical and architectural roots while the spaces are art deco-inspired. “This store is very ‘Miami’ to me—its special trees, the light and the new roof. It is also quintessentially Apple, marrying the outdoor lifestyle with a sense…

Judge tosses out Craig Robins’ claim that Ugo Colombo bribed juror in private jet case

The latest allegations in a decade-long war between two of Miami’s top developers over a shared private jet didn’t fly with a Miami judge. Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Michael Hanzman tossed out Craig Robins’ Dacra Development’s claim that Ugo Colombo and his CMC Group bribed a member of a jury — including promising a luxury condo — tied to their dispute over the $22 million private jet. In a…

Related, Block Capital sign deal with short-term rental operator Domio

Gustavo Miculitzki, Jon Paul Perez, and Jay Roberts with a rendering of the project Short-term rental operator Domio is claiming its territory in Wynwood. The firm signed a deal to take over the residential component of the Related Group and Block Capital Group’s 175-unit project, The Real Deal has learned. Domio signed a lease for the apartments at The Bradley, a mixed-use project under construction…

Businesses are quietly closing in Miami Beach’s Sunset Harbour

The big Miami Beach real estate story this week was the bombshell announcement that Purdy Lounge will close its doors for the final time in February. In a much quieter fashion, a number of other Sunset Harbour businesses have closed or are winding down. Blue Dahlia, Soul Tavern, Pubbelly Noodle. All closed. Due Baci “closed for the summer” and has not reopened. La Moderna has been “taking a well…

Miami Beach Retail Center Scores $26 Million Refi

An affiliate of Saber Real Estate Advisors has received a $26.2 million conduit loan to refinance 1824 Alton, a Class A, 109,961-square-foot retail center in Miami Beach, Fla. Working on behalf of the borrower, Cushman & Wakefield placed the 10-year, fixed-interest rate financing with Starwood Mortgage Capital. The five-story shopping center is at 1824 Alton Road, near the intersection of Alton Road…

Another lawsuit hits the Grove Isle project

According to The Real Deal, Grove Isle Associates is facing another lawsuit, regarding their expansion plans. A private owner is suing. The new project is called The Makers Grove Isle, it’s a semi-circle, horse shoe shaped condo that will be at the northern end of the island. It’s where the hotel and spa were. Originally a tall tower was to be built on the spot, but after other lawsuits and complaints, the five-story…

Latvian investor buys North Bay Village shopping center

A wealthy Latvian family paid $6.5 million for a shopping center in North Bay Village. Lexi Commons LLC, managed by real estate agent Val Zevel and Ilmax LLC, purchased the 19,438-square-foot retail space at 1700 John F Kennedy Causeway. Records show Ilmax LLC is controlled by Leonids and Maksims Esterkins, who are real estate investors from Latvia. The strip center, called the Shoppes at the Lexi…

Terra, Mr. C unveil plans for luxury condo in Coconut Grove

The Cipriani family’s next project will be a luxury condo tower in Coconut Grove. Less than a year after opening its Mr. C Miami hotel in the Grove, the Ciprianis are working with David Martin’s Terra to launch a Mr. C branded mixed-use condo project nearby at 2655 South Bayshore Drive, according to a press release. Arquitectonica’s Raymond Fort is designing the building and Meyer Davis is handling…

Green Companies snags offices in Kendall

The Green Companies purchased a four-story Class A office building in Kendall for $13.2 million. The Green Companies bought the 63,206-square-foot building at 11731 Mills Drive in Miami for $209 per square foot, records show. The seller is Nuveen, a subsidiary of TIAA. The property is 84.6 percent occupied by two tenants, Everglades University and VITAS Healthcare, according to a release.

Ilhan Omar’s $1T housing plan aims to create 12M affordable units

Bernie Sanders has one. So does Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Now, Representative Ilhan Omar has added her own housing plan to the field of left-leaning elected officials who have proposed dramatic expansions of how government funds housing. The Minnesota Democrat is calling for $1 trillion to be invested into affordable housing and public housing across the country, which she says will create 12 million…

Don Peebles to re-open the Bath Club in Miami Beach

Don Peebles and a rendering of the project Developer Don Peebles is planning to relaunch the historic Bath Club as a social membership club, nearly 20 years after first purchasing the Miami Beach property. Peebles is spending between $5 million and $7 million on renovating the property at 5937 Collins Avenue, he said. It’s expected to open in the first quarter of 2020. The Peebles Corp. is self-financing the…

Here’s what the EB-5 rule changes mean for real estate

The EB-5 program’s new federal regulations take effect today, and will double the minimum dollar amount that all foreign visa-seekers must plow into development projects. The rules are designed to clamp down on abuse, to modernize the 30-year-old federal program and to keep up with inflation. EB-5 allows foreign investors get U.S. green cards in exchange for investing in American businesses and…

Developer: Condominium Is ‘A Toxic Word’ In South Florida

Developers in South Florida are saying that the market for new condo development is either hibernating or forever changed. “We’re all not selling very well. I’m not going to lie to you,” said Gil Dezer, the president of Dezer Development, known for building luxury towers with name brands, including six Trump-branded buildings in Sunny Isles Beach, north of Miami Beach. A 308-unit luxury tower…

SPV Realty sues city of Miami to force vote on Eastside Ridge

Eastside Ridge rendering Accusing members of the Miami Planning, Zoning & Appeals Board of intentionally delaying a vote… SPV Realty is suing the city to force the board to make a decision on the controversial Little Haiti project. The NYC-based developer alleges the planning board refuses…application to change the zoning on nearly 22 acres at 5045 Northeast Second Avenue, according to the lawsuit…

Miami Jewish federation sells affordable housing for $60.5M

The Greater Miami Jewish Federation sold two affordable housing properties in Miami-Dade for a combined $60.5 million. Property records show the nonprofit sold the Federation Gardens building at 10911 Southwest 112th Avenue in Kendall to Federation Gardens Preservation L.P. for $36.5 million. It also sold the Federation Towers at 757 West Avenue in Miami Beach to the same buyer for $24…