Jan 02, 2020 - 0 Comments - Top Stories -

Miami Commercial Real Estate News January 2, 2020: Biggest News, Deals of 2019; Lincoln Road’s Sterling Building Scores Hotel Approval; More…

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…