Five Unanswered Questions About the New Beckham Stadium Proposal

Soccer star and professional attractive person David Beckham spent a small portion of Thursday’s carnival-esqe city commission meeting complaining that anonymous Miamians haven’t been smiling at him as often lately. Only one woman publicly flashed him on Thursday! Poor Becks. Many Miami residents are, rightfully, skeptical about Beckham’s latest proposal in his never-ending, five-year quest to build…

David Beckham’s Miami Stadium Morphs Into $1B Project; Related Group CEO Called Offer ‘Unconscionable’

Nearly five years after David Beckham announced he would be putting a Major League Soccer team in Miami, his investment group is back at the negotiating table trying to get a stadium built. A new plan calls for a $1B stadium and retail complex at the current site of the Melreese Country Club, a city-owned property that is contaminated with arsenic. Miami city commissioners will vote Wednesday on the…

Competitive bidding process proposed for Melreese site

As David Beckham and the Mas brothers seek approval to redevelop the Melreese Country Club into a mixed-use soccer complex, Avison Young’s Michael Fay wants to level the playing field. Fay, managing director and principal of Avison Young’s Miami office, is proposing to set up a competitive bidding process for the 131-acre site, he told The Real Deal. Fay sent a letter on Tuesday to Miami Mayor Francis…

Marathon Boat Yard Marine Center in the Florida Keys sells for $6M

A boatyard and marina in the Florida Keys was just scooped up by a company tied to the Tulsa, Oklahoma-based baked goods producer, Bama Companies, for $5.75 million. Marathon Boat Yard Marine Center at 2059 Overseas Highway sold to Silent Hunter Boat Yard, LLC, which is led by Bama’s CEO Paula Marshall and her family office’s accountant Matt Alley, records show. The family-owned and operated…

Video: Real Capital Analytics SVP Jim Costello Provide an Update on the Office Market

Jim Costello, Senior Vice President at Real Capital Analytics, appears on The Commercial Real Estate Show to discuss the state of the office market in the U.S. He discusses segmentation in the office market, with deal volume down more in the central business district (CBD) market that in the suburban markets, which he submits is due to the CBD markets being priced to perfection, i.e. very fully priced. He…

The Modernization of Coconut Grove: First Office Projects in 30 Years

Coconut Grove welcomed the first settlers in the late 1800s and became an independent city by 1919. The City of Miami annexed the lush and culturally rich enclave in 1925, triggering its continuous growth. Coconut Grove—considered the oldest neighborhood in Miami—has always been a sought-after tourist destination due to its deep-rooted history, trendy shopping and entertainment venues and the…

Coconut Grove to Welcome Luxury Hotel

The Cipriani family is bringing the first Mr. C hotel to Florida—the 100-room hotel dubbed Mr. C Coconut Grove is currently under construction in Miami’s oldest neighborhood, Coconut Grove. The developer and owner, Main Highway Partners, plans to deliver the project in late 2018. Mr. C Hotels, founded by brothers Ignazio and Maggio Cipriani, will operate the property. At 2988 McFarlane Road…

6 Key Metrics About the Miami Commercial Real Estate Market

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

Alone together: Study says open-plan offices might make us anti-social

The fact that you can see all of your co-workers doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to talk to any of them. According to a new study by Harvard University, open-plan offices might actually deter employees from working together. Instead, workers are more likely to communicate by instant messaging and email, the New York Post reported. But there’s a caveat: The study only looked at two Fortune…

It takes guts to keep developers off city golf course’s turf

“No guts, no glory” is something ex-soccer star David Beckham understands. Miami commissioners should too when it’s time to preserve the city’s patrimony of greenery. Mr. Beckham is the front man allied with local executive Jorge Mas to develop a mixed-use project far larger than Brickell City Centre at the city’s only golf course. A soccer team is the bauble dangled before the commission and the public…

Pressure builds for rail service as only choice for the South Dade Transitway

Miami-Dade commissioners haven’t yet decided what upgrades the county will make to the South Dade Transitway, but according to Commissioner Dennis Moss, anything but rail would be a disservice to residents. At the commission’s July 12 Chairman’s Policy Council meeting, Mr. Moss argued for his resolution directing the mayor’s office to find funding to alter a current study by Aecom Technical…

Ocean Bank Provides $60M Loan for Miami Retail Center

Ocean Bank has come through with $60 million in financing for a longtime client. The bank provided Kendall Village Associates, an entity of Berkowitz Development Group Inc., a loan to refinance the 256,000-square-foot Kendall Village Center mixed-use retail property in Miami. Kendall Village made its debut in 2000 and underwent renovations in 2005. The center consists of 13 buildings and, along with an…

Miami Attorney Sues City Over No-Bid David Beckham Proposal for Melreese Country Club

Before David Beckham’s group abruptly ditched plans for a stadium in Overtown, one of the biggest roadblocks to that proposal was an ongoing lawsuit by a local activist who claimed the city broke the rules by agreeing to sell the group public land without bidding for other offers. Now Beckham is facing exactly that same challenge over his new plan to lease the city-owned Melreese Country Club for his…

Deal outlines development and parking at Coconut Grove Playhouse

The city’s Off-Street Parking Board has approved a memorandum of understanding with Miami-Dade County for a new parking garage and related development next door to the Coconut Grove Playhouse. The unanimous vote by the parking board came July 11. County officials are moving forward with the plan to restore the front of the historic theater, build a new 300-seat theater and ancillary uses on…

County to vote on new civil courthouse site beside 1928 version

Miami-Dade may soon have a set construction site for a new civil courthouse, as commissioners are to vote next week on a parcel just west of the crumbling one on Flagler Street. Commissioners at the Chairman’s Policy Council on July 12 unanimously forwarded to a full commission vote a resolution to build the new courthouse between West Flagler and Northwest First streets. The parcel was acquired…

Coral Gables clears way for developments in its ‘long neglected’ North Gables

“Long neglected” north Coral Gables could be seeing new development in coming years. At their July meeting, city commissioners unanimously passed three ordinances on first hearing to amend the city’s land use map to allow for mixed-use development and also approve a proposed Planned Area Development (PAD) for a project called “Regency on the Park.” The first two ordinances expanded the…

Scott Robins and Philip Levine sell Sunset Harbour retail portfolio for $69 million

Developer Scott Robins and Florida gubernatorial candidate Philip Levine sold a retail portfolio in Miami Beach’s Sunset Harbour neighborhood for $68.75 million to Asana Partners, a real estate investment firm, sources told The Real Deal. Robins and the former Miami Beach mayor sold the seven-building, 61,400-square-foot portfolio 1787, 1919, 1928 Purdy Avenue…

Contrarian investors across US find bargains amid “retail apocalypse”

With predictions of a “retail apocalypse” growing by the day, and as more stores close and companies file for bankruptcy, some investors see now as the perfect time to buy ailing shopping centers at distressed prices. Brian Kosoy, the CEO of the Sterling Organization, a private equity firm, started a new fund to invest in grocery-anchored shopping centers, street retail and other shopping centers across…

Renderings revealed: First phase of the Magic City Innovation District

The first phase of the Magic City Innovation District is underway and is expected to be turned over to tenants as early as September, according to developer Tony Cho. The first phase of the 17.7-acre development calls for gut-renovating the majority of the 21 existing commercial buildings in the Little Haiti and Little River neighborhoods of Miami. Spaces will range from 300 square feet…

Will Real Estate Developers Seize On “Opportunity Zones” Tax Incentives?

A short drive from downtown Miami, colorful murals highlight the Haitian diaspora and pink and yellow island-themed buildings dot Second Avenue in Little Haiti. Among the traditional Creole eateries, some millennial-focused restaurants have emerged, advertising craft beer and featuring organic rotisserie chicken and jalapeno jam on their menus. The slow transformation has not gone unnoticed.

Retail sales rise nationwide in Q2, indicating strong economic outlook

Nationwide retail sales were up in the second quarter year over year, a positive sign for the overall economy, though department store revenue continued the drop. From April to June, retail sales in the U.S. grew by 5.9 percent compared to the same period in 2017, the U.S. Commerce Department reported Monday, , according to the Wall Street Journal. June sales rose 0.5 percent from May figures. The news…

Think Hotel Group closes $22 million loan for Clinton Hotel in South Beach

Think Hotel Group just received a $22 million loan from Blue Vista Finance for the recently renovated Clinton Hotel in South Beach. The hospitality firm recently completed an 18-month, multimillion-dollar renovation of the 88-key hotel at 825 Washington Avenue, including a full restoration of the lobby’s layout using the original 1930’s Spanish tile, a fully renovated pool and courtyard, as well as full…

Jorge Pérez blasts Beckham/Mas brothers soccer complex proposal

Related Group founder Jorge Pérez is speaking out against the proposed $1 billion plan to redevelop the city of Miami’s Melreese Golf Course into the home of Miami’s Major League Soccer team. But he isn’t interested in bidding on the property, Pérez told The Real Deal. Miami’s condo king compared the deal to the Miami Marlins stadium debacle, citing the lack of community input and low rent…

Codina Partners lands $150M refi for Downtown Doral and 2020 Salzedo

Codina Partners just closed on a $150 million refinance deal for two of its commercial projects in Doral and Coral Gables. The firm scored $20 million for its luxury office tower project 2020 Salzedo from Florida Community Bank, and $127 million for its office and retail portfolio at Downtown Doral from an undisclosed life insurance company, according to a spokesperson for the developer. The two…

Link Real Estate, Jameson and Forte Capital group sell retail property in Wynwood

A company tied to San Francisco investment firm RRE Investments paid $9.15 million for a retail property in Wynwood. 151 NW 24th St Partners LLC, led by general partners Dan Arev of Link Real Estate and Chaim Cahane of Forte Capital Management and equity partner Joe Serure of Jameson Realty Group, sold the redeveloped building at 151 Northwest 24th Street, according to Dwntwn Realty Advisors…

Green venture capital firm buys luxury condo at Muse in Sunny Isles

A green venture capital firm just purchased a unit at the newly completed Muse Residences in Sunny Isles Beach for $6 million. Boca Raton-based PMA Venture Capital Group, led by George Pagoumian, bought unit 3601 at the luxury tower in Sunny Isles at 17100 Collins Avenue, which began recording sales in June. Kevin Maloney’s Property Markets Group and Claudio Stivelman and Marc Schmulian’s S2…

Blockchain will streamline project development tasks: panel

While a lot of the buzz surrounding the real estate industry’s emerging use of blockchain has centered on authenticating property transactions involving cryptocurrencies, the technology has the capability of completely streamlining development, according to a panel of Miami entrepreneurs developing applications for the building community. For instance, architecture and engineering firms can…

Apartment investor pays $3.02 million for Miami site zoned for 150 units

An affiliate of rental housing investor CFH Group paid $3.02 million for a Miami site zoned for as many as 150 residential units near Jackson Memorial Hospital. The 39,900-square-foot site is at 1430, 1460 and 1490 Northwest 20th Street in Miami’s Allapattah community, just west of the city’s Wynwood area. The sellers were Ramiro Chavez and Magali Chavez. The buyer, Allapattah Investors…

Miami condo developer courts affluent Turks repelled by Turkish politics

Real estate investors have a new reason to avoid Turkey, and that could be good news for a Miami condo developer. The Turkish developer behind a 389-unit condo development in Miami may sell more units to wealthy Turks discouraged by the June reelection of Turkey’s authoritarian president. Veteran developer Bekir Okan expects the reelection of Recep Tayyip Erdogan to inspire capital outflow…

Legal fight pits historic preservation against climate-change preparation

An owner of property in a Miami Beach neighborhood prone to flooding has taken legal action to overturn the city’s designation of the area as historic. The property owner, a company called Ytech, has petitioned a judge to undo the designation for the Tatum Waterway neighborhood, claiming it hinders efforts to respond to rising sea levels. Ytech owns nine buildings in the Tatum Waterway…

WeWork goes vegetarian refusing to pay for meat under new company policy

This is not a drill: WeWork–and anyone eating on the company’s dime–is going vegetarian. The co-working giant valued at about $20 billion is removing all meat options from its internal menu and telling employees to leave any meals with meat off their expense reports because they will no longer be footing the bill, according to Bloomberg. Co-founder Miguel McKelvey informed WeWork’s 6,000 staff…

Miami judge rejects dismissal of Aimco suit against Airbnb over sublet apartments

A Miami judge refused to dismiss a suit filed against Airbnb by Aimco, a leading landlord that wants the home-sharing platform to stop listing its apartments in Miami and Miami Beach as vacation rentals. The judge rejected Airbnb’s argument that the company is not liable for listing information that hosts put on its online platform, claiming immunity under the 1996 Communications Decency Act. That…

Jeffrey Miller buys Beacon College Prep site in Opa-locka for $8.45 million

Jeffrey Miller’s Beacon College Prep Inc. just bought a charter school it operates in Opa-locka for $8.45 million. The deal for the school at 13400 Northwest 28th Avenue comes on the heels of the nonprofit’s application to expand to serve grades sixth through eight. In June, Miller submitted a proposal with Miami-Dade County to issue $11.9 million in revenue bonds from its Industrial Development Authority…

NFL player Elvis Dumervil picks up North Miami apartment building

NFL linebacker turned investor Elvis Dumervil just picked up a multifamily building in North Miami for $6.73 million, property records show. The 66-unit apartment building at 12300 Northeast 4th Avenue traded hands for about $102,000 per unit. The seller, Kina Investment Inc., is a Panamanian company led by Ettore Nardi. His company is tied to a Coral Gables-based property management firm…

Jeff Berkowitz scores $60 million refi for Kendall shopping center

Jeff Berkowitz’s Kendall Village Associates just closed on a $60 million loan from Ocean Bank for the refinancing of a 256,000 square-foot mixed-use shopping center in Kendall. The Kendall Village Center at 8705 Southwest 124th Avenue, along with an adjacent parcel, totals 27.4 acres and 13 buildings. Tenants include Regal Cinema, Old Navy, GAP, Chuck E. Cheese, Jared Jewelry, Pier 1 Imports, Duffy’s Sports…

Miami City Leaders Postpone Decision on David Beckham Soccer Stadium

Rendering of the privately funded $1 billion development called Miami Freedom Park proposed by David Beckham and Jorge Mas at Melreese Country Club near Miami International Airport. English soccer star David Beckham will have to wait six more days to learn whether Miami voters can decide the fate of his 25,000-seat stadium and mixed-use development on a city-owned golf course.

Situations when directors breach fiduciary duties

There are many different corporations in Florida. These corporations are set up to run businesses and ultimately make money for the shareholders of the corporation. However, since not all shareholders can effectively make decisions for the corporation, the shareholders of the corporation will select directors and officers to run the corporation. This means that the shareholders, who have invested their…

How Could Higher Tariffs Affect American Manufacturers?

The U.S. has recently been implementing significant changes in its trade policy. Among these changes, the U.S. is raising tariffs on a number of goods imported from China, which accounted for around $50 billion in 2017. On Tuesday, the U.S. announced an additional round of tariff hikes on imports from China.1 In this article, I restricted attention to imports from China affected by the tariff hike…

Beckham group will have to wait another week for city commission vote on Melreese stadium proposal

A whirlwind week for the Mas brothers and David Beckham – which included accusations of backroom deals with city officials and intentionally withholding details – ended with a game delay. The Mas-Beckham group is seeking a referendum on the November ballot asking Miami residents to approve or deny a no-bid lease agreement that would allow the group to redevelop the city-owned Melreese…

LGBTQ-oriented Axel Hotels to open first US location in South Beach

Axel Hotels, which focuses on the LGBTQ community, is opening its first location in the U.S. in South Beach. Axelbeach Miami will open at the former site of Hall South Beach at 1500 Collins Avenue by the end of the year, said Axel Hotels founder and president Juan Julià. It will mark the Barcelona-based company’s eighth flagged property and the only one outside Europe. “We’ve been looking for different…”

Miami-Dade committee backs Flagler site for new downtown courthouse

Six Miami-Dade County Commissioners are recommending that a 25,000-square-foot park on Flagler Street be the sole site for a new Miami-Dade Civic Courthouse. The unanimous vote came Tuesday morning during a chairman’s policy council meeting held in county chambers. The site item will come before the full 13-member county commission on July 24. County officials have been attempting to…

Leading South Florida Development Lender Bank of the Ozarks stock falls despite strong earnings, as growth could slow

Bank of the Ozarks stock fell Thursday morning after the Arkansas bank suggested during a conference call that its real estate lending growth could slow down, following its release of strong earnings late Wednesday. The Little Rock-based bank’s CEO, George Gleason, said during the call that pricing is getting more competitive for real estate lending and the flow of quality deals has slowed. The remarks are…

Optimum boosts financing for Ocean Drive hotel project in South Beach

Ricardo Tabet’s Optimum Development USA just secured $52 million in financing for the renovation and expansion of the former Park Central Hotel on Ocean Drive in Miami Beach. BB&T is providing the financing, which takes over a previous $40 million loan and adds a new $12 million mortgage. Optimum has been working on the redevelopment since at least 2014, when it broke ground on the project…

Freshwater Group buys apartment complex in Miami Beach

The Freshwater Group is adding a batch of Miami Beach apartment buildings to its South Florida portfolio. Freshwater Group partner Joseph Sayegh said the firm is under contract to buy a rental complex consisting of three adjacent, two-story buildings at 7710, 7720 and 7700 Abbott Avenue for $5.6 million. The rental project features 36 units and is currently owned by City M Abbot LLC…

Philip Levine roomed with Craig Robins in college. The rest is history.

Gubernatorial candidate and real estate investor Philip Levine built his fortune thanks in part to a well-known Miami real estate family. Levine, a former mayor of Miami Beach and one of the leading Democrats running for governor of Florida, met Design District developer Craig Robins at the University of Michigan where they were roommates. In the mid-1990s, Robins’ father Jerry Robins agreed…

On the waterfront, prices are dropping

It might be difficult to fathom, but the price of living next to a body of water is becoming more affordable, a new report has found. Since 2012, when waterfront premiums reached a high of 54 percent in the second quarter, costs have dropped to a 36 percent premium in the first quarter of this year, according to Bloomberg. Citing a Zillow report, the current premium is even lower than the 1996 average of 41…

Trammell Crow, AvalonBay to Develop 350-Unit Multifamily Community Near Miami

Trammell Crow Residential, in partnership with AvalonBay Communities Inc., has unveiled plans to develop a 350-unit apartment community located at the corner of N.W. 36th Street and N.W. 79th Avenue in Doral, roughly 16 miles northwest of Miami. The residences will be part of a horizontally integrated mixed-use development that will feature 80,000 square feet of retail, which is under development…

Everything You Need to Know About David Beckham’s Latest $1 Billion Stadium Pitch

If it feels like you’ve already spent a full college education watching David Beckham and his partners flail around for a place to build a soccer stadium, you are not hallucinating. Miami is now living through Year Five of Beck’s never-ending Major League Soccer drama. This season promises a new location, new political plotting, and the ever-more-likely prospect of a really bad name for the franchise. Beck’s…

Beckham’s New Economic Projections for His Stadium Are Probably Nonsense

For the last 24 hours, Miami officials have been furiously pushing the latest pitch from David Beckham and financier Jorge Mas for a new soccer stadium at Melreese Country Club, largely by insisting the deal would pour millions into city coffers. City Manager Emilio Gonzalez repeatedly estimated that $44 million per year in new taxes could result, prompting reporters to ask: Where the hell are those numbers…

A Trendy Miami Neighborhood Is Getting … Jai Alai?

Miami’s trendy, and largely residential, Edgewater neighborhood could soon be home to a new gambling facility with poker and jai alai. Operators of Miami’s Magic City Casino won state approval last week to run “summer jai alai” on a site at 3030 Biscayne Blvd. Edgewater lies just north of downtown Miami and borders Biscayne Bay. Recent luxury condo developments there include Elysee, Paraiso Bay and…

Beckham’s New Stadium Site Sits on Toxic Waste That Could Cost Millions to Move

Ever since retired soccer star David Beckham and his new partners, Jorge and Jose Mas, abruptly abandoned their Overtown stadium plans and pivoted to the Melreese Country Club near Miami International Airport, skeptics have piled on about potential hangups: the traffic, the loss of a city-owned golf course, the last-minute proposal that could hand the Mas brothers a profit bonanza. But virtually everyone…

Common Co-Living Lands In Miami

In this emerging format of multifamily development, residents have their own private rooms but share kitchens and other areas; it is related to a dorm or hostel, but with stylish furniture, group yoga classes and rents commensurate with an upscale experience. Common, a New York-based company that operates 20 co-living sites in major cities, is expanding into Miami with two brand-new developments in…

TA Realty Sells $35 Million Miami Office Campus

TA Realty has completed the sale of Kendall Summit Office Park, a six-building campus totaling 173,661 square feet in Miami. COFE Properties acquired the asset for $34.8 million. Cushman & Wakefield brokered the transaction and arranged $26 million in acquisition financing. The non-recourse loan bears a low interest rate and it will fund future property improvements and leasing expenses. Located…

Video: Profiling the Richest People in United States Real Estate

This video profiles the top five richest people in U.S. real estate, according to Forbes magazine. Among those profiled (spoiler alert) are Richard LeFrak, John Sobrato, Miami Dolphins owner Steven Ross, Stephen Schwarzman, and Donald Bren. The richest of these owners over 115 million square feet of real estate.

What Does The Heat Up In Big Industrial Transactions Portend?

It came out that Brookfield Asset Management Inc. is putting IDI Logistics, one of the world’s leading investors and developers of logistics real estate, on the block, according to Bloomberg News. While the asking price has not been disclosed, IDI Logistics, which was acquired by Brookfield for $1.1 billion in 2014, is expected to fetch about $5 billion. Last year, Brookfield also sold Glazeley, a 33 million-sq.-ft.

South Florida Office Investors Pick Up Sales Pace in Second Quarter

PGIM Inc.’s $248.5 million sale of the Sabadell Financial Center at 1111 Brickell Avenue. in Miami to a joint venture of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Parkway Property Investments was the biggest office sale of the second quarter. South Florida’s sluggish office sales increased dramatically in the second quarter, fueled in part by the second-highest price paid for an office property in the market since 2012.

Planning and Zoning discuss Coconut Grove Playhouse

There is a meeting tonight, Monday, July 9, where the Coconut Grove Playhouse will be discussed. The Planning Board will hear from the County who will ask for zoning approvals to start the project. There are lawsuits pertaining to the Playhouse so no matter what the Planning & Zoning Board decides tonight, nothing will probably proceed. In December, the City Commission discussed the Coconut…

Nick Miceli: Plans six more South Florida TD Bank locations in year

Nick Miceli celebrated two decades with TD Bank in November by moving from his native New Jersey to the Sunshine State, where as Metro Florida regional president he plans to expand the company while preparing for its future. “I was attracted to the growth I’ve seen in the South Florida market, specifically Miami, and there is a tremendous amount of opportunity,” he said, adding the bank is building…

Appraisers find David Beckham’s soccer site rent should double offering price

Two property appraisal firms reached similar conclusions regarding the proposed redevelopment of the Melreese Golf Course, stating the highest and best use would include higher density mixed-use with retail and office components. David Beckham’s group wants to turn more than half of the site into a commercial office tech campus, along with a hotel and conference center, retail and entertainment…

Coral Gables bars bike and scooter leasing, takes a spin with Spin

An emergency ordinance to ban shared scooters and bikes passed unanimously on Tuesday at the Coral Gables commission meeting. This ordinance does not stop the city from entering into an official agreement with a shared mobility company. Mayor Raul Valdes-Fauli called for the emergency ordinance, citing numerous citizen complaints of dockless scooters and bikes left on private property and in city…

David Beckham’s MLS stadium set for key city vote

The revised plan would see the controversial arena replace Miami’s Melreese Country Club David Beckham’s five-year push to bring a new professional MLS soccer team and stadium to Miami could be drawing to a close as the city prepares to vote on a plan to turn Melreese Country Club into a $1 billion mixed-use complex known as Freedom Park.

New looks at downtown Miami’s upcoming YotelPad project

As developers prepare to break ground on Miami’s 31-story YotelPad project, newly released renderings provide the best glimpse yet of the unusual combination hotel and residential concept. Slated to rise at 227 NE 2nd Street, the downtown development represents the first East Coast location for Yotel—a company fast making a name for itself with design-focused, millennial-friendly micro lodging.

Atlantic Pacific Communities and Miami-Dade County to begin working on deal for affordable and workforce housing in Overtown

A proposal to build 360 affordable and workforce housing apartments in Overtown near Miami Worldcenter and Brightline’s MiamiCentral development is gaining traction. Miami-Dade commissioners on Tuesday unanimously approved negotiating a deal with Atlantic Pacific Communities to develop a $172.8 million mixed-use project with a total of 600 residential units on a 90,000-square-foot parking lot at…

Afin Developer Group wins approval for new Cambria Hotel in North Miami Beach

The Afin Developer Group won approval from the North Miami Beach Planning and Zoning Board for a 129-room Cambria Hotel at 163rd Street and 19th Avenue. The new plan is for a smaller hotel than originally approved in 2015. The development will now span seven stories and 170,425 square feet, with 18,227 square feet of retail. Afin’s original plan had called for a 231,045 square-foot, 11-story development…

Century Homebuilders plans apartment complex near Merrick Park

Century Homebuilders Group and a Colombia-based real estate fund, Pactia USA, are teaming up to build an apartment complex near the Shops at Merrick Park in Coral Gables. Property records show the partnership bought two vacant parcels of land on the southeast corner of Bird Road and Southwest 42nd Avenue for $6.3 million. Century Laguna, an affiliate of Century Homebuilders, was the seller. Century…

Cervera Real Estate Ventures buys Hialeah shopping center, plans renovations

Cervera R.E. Ventures is entering Hialeah’s hot commercial market. The company just paid $11.3 million for a shopping center at 3800 West 12th Avenue, with plans to reposition and renovate the property, President Javier Cervera Jr. said. It’s the company’s first acquisition in the city. The seller is an affiliate of Leon Medical Centers. Records show W 12th Ave Investment, led by Michael Shealy, bought the…

Wall Street has more money than ever to buy single-family rentals

Investors are raising billions of dollars from bond buyers, pension funds and even wealthy individuals for the single-family home rental market. “We’re seeing a wider variety of investors coming into this asset class: sovereign-wealth funds, insurance companies, hedge funds, pensions, asset managers,” Sandeep Bordia, head of research and analytics for Amherst Capital Management LLC, told the Wall Street…

Miami is Going Small with Micro Units and Co-Living

Micro-sized apartments and co-living spaces are on their way to Miami, filling a desperate need for more affordable housing. With a median income hovering around 20 percent lower than the national average and with almost 50 percent of all Miami residents overwhelmed by housing costs, developers are looking for creative ways to make living near the city center affordable, especially for…

FECI plans Fort Lauderdale Brightline office tower

Florida East Coast Industries is planning to build a Fort Lauderdale Brightline office and retail tower, amid demand for new office development. FECI aims to build 101 Fort Lauderdale, a 14-story building at 101 Northwest Third Street Street in downtown Fort Lauderdale. It will feature 175,000 square feet of office space across 7 floors and 15,000 square feet of ground-floor retail and amenities.

Renderings revealed: Beckham’s Miami Freedom Park, YotelPad, more

David Beckham’s group just released a rendering of its proposed mixed-use soccer complex. The Miami City Commission will vote this week on whether to place the proposal on a November referendum. Beckham’s partner Jorge Mas calls the project Miami Freedom Park. The entire development includes a 25,000-seat stadium, 110 acres of green space, 400,000 square feet of office space…

Elion Partners picks up warehouse in northwest Miami-Dade

Elion Partners just picked up a warehouse in northwest Miami-Dade for $7.23 million, property records show. The 59,135-square-foot warehouse at 2875 Northwest 77th Avenue traded for about $120 per square foot. The seller is a family-owned distribution company called South Dade Automotive. It operated out of the building before selling its business in 2015 to U.S. AutoForce, a Wisconsin-based…

Coastal Construction sued over alleged unpaid work at Porsche Design Tower

A subcontractor that worked on Porsche Design Tower in Sunny Isles Beach is alleging Coastal Construction owes the firm at least $1.42 million in unpaid work and supplies. Zarrella Construction, a Davie-based subcontractor, filed the suit in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court last month. Coastal allegedly failed to fully pay Zarrella for its work framing, insulating, drywalling and painting of Porsche Design, a 132…

The current state of CocoWalk

This is the current state of CocoWalk this week, they are well on their way to constructing their new office building. They’ve been quite efficient in the demolition, I had pictured Miley Cyrus on a wrecking ball or something and heavy equipment taking over Virginia Street, but they managed to get the structure down with the heavy equipment inside rather than outside the structure.

Electric Car Charging Operators Offering To Install Chargers In Buildings For Free

A recent survey of 500 Tesla drivers found that owners of the Model X earn an average salary of $503K, while owners of the Model S earn about $267K. For a landlord or business owner, that is just the sort of well-heeled person you want renting your unit or perusing the goods in your store while she waits for her car to charge up. Courtesy of Brickell Energy Developers can add EV charging stations to…

Report: Billionaire developer Jeffrey Soffer triggers prosecution of fake “sultan”

The Miami Herald reported that billionaire real estate developer Jeffrey Soffer triggered an investigation that led to the prosecution of a Colombian-born con man who pretended to be a rich Saudi “sultan” and a diplomat. Soffer initially believed Anthony Gignac when he posed as a Saudi prince and expressed interest in paying $440 million for 30 percent ownership of one of Soffer’s hotels, according…

Average June rents reached record high nationwide, as Manhattan again led the way

The national average apartment rent ticked up nearly 3 percent in June compared to the year before, reaching a record $1,405 a month thanks to sharp growth in smaller markets. Manhattan cemented its standing as the nation’s most expensive place to rent with a 1.5 percent increase over last year, to $4,116. San Francisco was a distant second at $3,561 a month. Manhattan’s rent bump…

Miami-based firm pays $14m for affordable housing sites on Stock Island

Miami-based Integra Investments paid more than $14 million to acquire land for the development of affordable housing on Stock Island, a working-class community located next to Key West. From December to April, Integra acquired nine acres on Stock Island for the development of more than 250 residential units. The acquired land on Stock Island is located at three addresses: 6325 First Street, 6125…

Co-working space operator URBIN buys Coral Gables office building for $12.5M

A co-working space operator called URBIN acquired an office building in Coral Gables for $12.5 million. URBIN bought the 52,719-square-foot office building at 299 Alhambra Circle for about $237 per square foot, according to Rishi Kapoor, CEO of Coral Gables-based Location Ventures. The five-story office building was sold by Coral Gables Financial Center, managed by Shawn Khosravi, who also is an investor…

Developer envisions new mixed-use project for Wynwood

The conceptual plan calls for a mix of retail, office, residential, and hospitality uses The transformation of Miami’s vibrant Wynwood neighborhood is poised to take another step forward thanks to a new mixed-use development in the works for the Wynwood Gateway Complex at the intersection of Northwest 2th Avenue and 29th Street. According to property owner and developer Metro 1, the acre…

Mall landlords tighten screws on non-anchor tenants

The exodus of anchor tenants from America’s malls has landlords rethinking a lease clause that is popular with smaller tenants. Owners have traditionally granted smaller tenants co-tenancy clauses, allowing the businesses to exit a lease if a major anchor store like Macy’s or J.C. Penney departs the mall. But that may be changing. The steady exodus of anchor tenants at malls nationwide in recent years has…

Reality TV producer and real estate investor buys Aventura office building for $13.5 million

Reality TV’s the TurnAround King just paid $13.5 million for an office building in Aventura. Property records show Grant Cardone, who produces and stars in his TV show, paid about $540 per foot for the Northern Trust Bank building at 18901 Northeast 29th Avenue. Guarapo Aventura LLC, led by real estate investor Matthew Lvoff, sold the 25,000-square-foot building to Cardone’s 10X HQ LLC.

Magic City Casino owners win state approval for Edgewater casino and jai-alai

After winning a long legal battle with the state, the owners of Magic City Casino can move forward with their plans to build a casino in Miami’s Edgewater neighborhood. Florida’s Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering just approved a necessary permit that would allow the Magic City owners to feature jai-alai sport games at the facility, according to the Miami Herald. For years, the Havenick family has…

Lennar buys 32 acres in south Miami-Dade

Lennar just paid $9.5 million for about 32 acres near Homestead, adding to the string of acquisitions the Miami-based homebuilder has made recently in south Miami-Dade County. Records show a company tied to iStar Financial sold the three parcels at 11406 Southwest 248th Street, near the Florida Turnpike, for about $29,000 per acre. IStar’s SFI Palm Tree Farms LLC purchased the lots in 2012 through…

Healthy amenity: Ritz Residences Miami Beach offers medical concierge service for buyers

Forget about the yoga studio, spa service and fitness center, the latest condominium amenity is just what the doctor ordered. The developer of the Ritz-Carlton Residences Miami Beach, is partnering with South Beach Diet founder Dr. Arthur Agatston to offer buyers a yearlong membership to a medical concierge service. When buyers close on their units later this year, they’ll be provided access to the…

South Florida to Amazon: Come for the Lifestyle and Location, Not the ‘Corporate Welfare’

Business development leaders in South Florida are insisting they won’t be offering massive financial incentives to land Amazon’s second headquarters. “We are not going to do that, and we don’t think we need to,” said Bob Swindell, chief executive officer of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance. Local officials still won’t say what they are offering Amazon to come to the region as part of the internet giant’s…

Metro 1 Development Seeks JV Partnership to Co-Develop Mixed-Use Property on Prime Wynwood Gateway Site

Tony Cho, CEO of Metro 1, South Florida’s leading real estate brokerage, management and development firm, is seeking joint venture hospitality partner(s) to co-develop an innovative mixed-use hospitality, office, retail and/or residential project on the Wynwood Gateway site located at the intersection of Northwest 2nd Avenue and 29th Street. The approximately one-acre property is comprised of a…

ASB Acquires 302,000 SF Hialeah Industrial Property Near Miami Airport for $24.3 Million

ASB Real Estate Investments has acquired a 302,000-square-foot industrial property in Hialeah for $24.3 million. The warehouse is located at 215 S.E. 10th Avenue, roughly 12 miles northwest of Miami and roughly two miles from Miami International Airport. The facility includes 23,000 square feet of office space and is fully leased on a long-term basis to Synergy Custom Fixtures, a custom counters and fixture…

Hellmann Trades Miami-Area HQ for $43 Million

The $43.1 million sale was brokered of the Hellmann Worldwide Logistics facility, a 240,666-square-foot property in Doral. Industrial Logistics Properties Trust, managed by The RMR Group, acquired the industrial asset from Hellmann Worldwide Logistics. Located at 10450 N.W. 41st Street, the building has served as Hellmann’s North American headquarters since its construction in 1996. As a…

National Real Estate Investor Lists Miami Among Eight Busiest Cities for Hotel Development

Strong local economies keep hotel developers coming back to cities like New York, Dallas and Miami. In these markets, developers are building both a large number of new rooms and a high overall number of new projects. “A lot of the construction is in ‘upscale,’ … a lot don’t have extensive food and beverage,” says Bobby Bowers, senior vice president of operations for STR Inc., a provider of hotel market…

Partnership buys Coral Way apartments near Brickell for $13M

CFH Group principal Tom Cabrerizo and Maurice Cayon of Cayon Development Group just picked up an apartment complex on Coral Way near Brickell for $12.8 million, property records show. Dalton Properties Inc., led by Alfredo Sesana and Paul Garcia, sold the 88-unit complex at 2110 Southwest Third Avenue for about $145,700 per apartment. The two eight-story buildings were completed in 1994 on…

ASB Real Estate Acquires Miami Industrial Facility

ASB Real Estate Investments has acquired a 10.5-acre industrial property in Miami’s submarket of Hialeah, for $24.3 million. The facility is 100 percent leased on a long-term basis to Synergy Custom Fixtures, a custom counters and fixtures manufacturer. Terreno Realty Corp. sold the asset on behalf of the Allegiance Real Estate Fund, its $6.9 billion core vehicle. This comes off the heels of its $20.3 million sale…

Why is it so difficult to live where you work? : Housing costs and home ownership in economic centers

In some areas of the U.S., housing has become so expensive that people find it difficult or impossible to afford housing anywhere near where they work. The recent focus on the homeless population in Los Angeles highlights the most extreme form of this situation: Many of the homeless in that area are not only employed, but also are experiencing homelessness for the first time. Unaffordable housing and…

South Florida office market cools off in the first half of 2018: report

South Florida’s once-booming office market is slowing down, according to a recent report by JLL. After numerous consecutive quarters of growth, net absorption went into the red in all three counties as supply surpassed demand in the second quarter. Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties also saw vacancy rates rise, signaling a slowdown in the market. In Miami-Dade, net absorption was negative…

Gables Residential sells apartment complex near Aventura to RREEF for $149M

Gables Residential just sold the 400-unit mixed-use apartment complex, Gables Aventura, to RREEF Property Trust, an arm of Deutsche Bank asset management. RREEF affiliate RAR2 20080 West Dixie Highway LLC paid about $372,500 per unit for the apartment and townhome community at 19920 West Dixie Highway in the Ojus neighborhood, near Aventura, according to property records. Atlanta…

These are the top real estate law firms in South Florida

Greenberg Traurig land-use attorney Iris Escarra works on the front line of real estate law in Miami-Dade County, and these days, she’s busy. Very busy. With much of Miami’s prime land already built on, many developers are looking to buy and repurpose lots with vertical projects that combine retail below and offices and residences above, sometimes with a hotel and public transit access, too. That gives…

Submarkets with the Most Exceptional Class B Rent Growth in South Florida

It’s no secret that Class B (3-Star) rent growth has outperformed Class A (4- and 5-Star) rent growth recently in South Florida. This is primarily due to construction, as virtually all new supply this cycle has consisted of luxury inventory and it competes primarily with existing Class A product, suppressing rent growth in those assets. On the other hand, value-add renovations and other improvements in the…

A notice of claim of construction defect is suit

Construction is big business in South Florida, with its booming commercial real estate market. Occasionally, the rush to complete a project or development – or perhaps faulty engineering or design – can result in construction defects. When a construction defect is discovered in Florida, the typical procedure under state law is to file a notice of construction defect with the general contractor of the project. This is…

A look at South Florida’s new class of real estate tech disruptors

Resistance to change in the real estate industry is fading away as new technologies become ingrained in the day-to-day business of buying, selling and developing properties. The creators and backers of new real estate tech say they hope to change things in the same way that disruptive new services have revolutionized other aspects of modern life, such as Amazon changing the way we shop and…

South Florida is coming off its EB-5 addiction

A program that was once described as the “crack cocaine of real estate financing” no longer seems to hold the same addiction for South Florida’s developers. In 2014 and 2015, Rodrigo Azpurua’s Riviera Point Development Group financed two projects entirely with capital raised from the EB-5 program, which gives foreign investors a green card in exchange for investing in job-creating U.S. projects. At the…

A little Arkansas bank is funding much of SoFla’s condo boom. What could go wrong?

Overlooking a small lake in a quiet area of Mid Beach, The Ritz-Carlton Residences, Miami Beach was pegged as an upscale European oasis in South Florida. Ophir Sternberg, a native of Israel who moved to Miami in 2009, tapped Italian architect Piero Lissoni to design the project, where homes would range in price from $2 million to $40 million. It was Lissoni’s first U.S. venture, and Sternberg hoped to use…

Developer Yair Levy pays $15 million for building in downtown Miami

Developer and New York investor Yair Levy made his first real estate purchase in South Florida, and he doesn’t plan to stop at one. Levy’s Time Century Holdings paid $14.5 million for the Metro Mall building, a development site in the heart of downtown Miami’s jewelry district, at 1 Northeast First Street. Levy plans to renovate the 225,000-square-foot building, according to a press release. The building…

Apartment investors buy former defunct condo development in Cutler Bay

A group led by Bankers Healthcare Group CEO Robert Castro paid $14.2 million for a converted apartment complex in Cutler Bay. Southwood Apartments, a 144-unit complex at 19800 Southwest 110th Court, was operating as a condo project until about a year ago, according to a press release. CMG Capital affiliate BMC Southwood LLC sold the property to Courtyards at Cutler Bay LLC for about…

Little Havana nursing home and rehab center scores $23M loan to expand

Victoria Nursing and Rehabilitation Center just secured a $23.2 million loan from Ocean Bank to purchase additional space at its Little Havana location and expand the facility by 48 beds. Victoria Nursing and Rehabilitation Center used the loan to purchase three stories of an eight-story office condominium building and the parking garage at 955 Northwest Third Street in Miami, according to a press release.

Metro Mall Building to Become Part of Miami’s Jewelry District

An investor-developer banned from selling condominiums and co-ops in the state of New York plans to renovate the vacant Metro Mall building in downtown Miami and turn it into a gem worthy of the city’s Jewelry District. Yair Levy’s Time Century Holdings bought the 225,000-square-foot property at 1 NE 1st St. for $14.5 million from a group tied to Aaron Realty Corp of Miami. The site, once a Richards…

Multifamily Investors Are Getting Used to ‘Normal’

U.S. housing construction remains low, and still trails population growth, said John Affleck, CoStar’s director of analytics. “Ongoing deliveries of highly-amenitized, high-rent product will limit rent growth at the high end of the market, but older and more suburban product will continue to outperform.” It may sound like bad news for the apartment sector: rent growth may stay relatively flat in the…

Casino giant Genting Group gears up for hotel/county bus terminal combo

Construction related to a mixed-use development encompassing the Omni bus terminal, Adrienne Arsht Center Metromover station and a planned hotel and retail center should begin before December, according to county transportation spokesperson Karla Damian. Resorts World Miami, a subsidiary of Malaysian casino giant Genting Group, is to build a temporary bus station east of the current Omni…

Related Group’s affordable housing group wins Liberty Square

The second phase of a large mixed-use affordable housing project set in the heart of the Liberty City neighborhood of Miami is ready to start, and the developer is working to earn necessary approvals. Related Urban Development Group, Related Group’s affordable-housing affiliate, presented plans for Liberty Square Rising Phase 2 to the city’s Urban Development Review Board. The board recommended…

Southeast Fisheries Science Center all at sea as move decision awaited

Since two resolutions urging the US Department of Commerce and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to retain the Southeast Fisheries Science Center on Virginia Key have been adopted, no official decision has yet been made about the facility’s location. NOAA has been considering moving the facility to St. Petersburg. The building on Virginia Key is reportedly out of date…

Surfside’s ‘Arte’ condos top out

The 16-unit luxury development is the first U.S. building by the renowned Italian architect Construction on a new mid-rise condo development in Miami’s Surfside neighborhood hit a milestone last week as crews topped-off the 12-story ‘Arte’ project at 8955 Collins Avenue. The upcoming oceanfront residences come from Italian architect Antonio Citterio in collaboration with local architect Kobi Karp.

Co-living firm Common moves into Miami

Co-living operator Common is coming to Miami. The company is partnering with developer and broker Carlos Fausto Miranda to open its first location in South Florida, founder and CEO Brad Hargreaves said. Miranda, president of Fausto Commercial, will build 65 rooms in two new buildings near the intersection of Southwest Fifth Avenue and Southwest Seventh Street, in what’s considered East…

Miami Beach to negotiate convention center hotel deal with Jackie Soffer and David Martin

Miami Beach officials will soon begin hammering out a deal with the development team led by Jackie Soffer and David Martin to build a new convention center hotel. On Monday, the city commission voted unanimously to let city manager Jimmy Morales negotiate the proposed terms with Miami Beach Connect, the development entity created by the powerhouse builders proposing an 185-foot-tall…

AccorHotels to buy half of Sam Nazarian’s SBE Entertainment

Hotelier Sam Nazarian has a new partner from across the pond. Paris-based AccorHotels plans to buy a 50 percent stake in Nazarian’s SBE Entertainment Group for $125 million, according to Hotel Business. Nazarian would continue to own the other 50 percent of the company and also run the company as CEO. AccorHotel’s stake was held in part by Cain International. AccorHotels is using the merger as a means…

Riviera Point secures $16.5 million loan for Radisson Red hotel near Miami airport

Riviera Point Development Group just secured a $16.5 million construction loan from Centennial Bank to help finance construction of a Radisson Red hotel near Miami International Airport. In all, Riviera Point will spend $34.5 million on construction of the 155-key hotel at 3401 Northwest 25th Street. The developer, led by Rodrigo Azpurua, broke ground on the project in December and recently topped out…

Miami Faces an Underwater Future

In Miami, the rising sea is already an ineluctable part of daily life. Everyone is affected—whether storm flooding forces a small-business owner to shut down for a few days (at tremendous cost), or daily tides hinder students commuting to school, or the retreating coastline forces people to abandon their homes. There are other, less obvious, but equally troubling impacts. People’s increased contact with…

Freshwater Group buys apartment complex in Hialeah for $10M

New York investment firm Freshwater Group just picked another apartment complex in Hialeah, this time paying $10.4 million for the property. The 76-unit complex at 1105 and 1085 West 76 Street sold for about $137,000 per unit. It was built in 1968, and includes studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments. The seller, Mikon Financial Services, Inc., is led by Juan Carlos Capote, Richard Capote…

Don King KO’d His Plan for ‘Mini-Madison Square Garden’ in Florida, So Why Won’t He Sell the Land?

Nineteen years ago this summer, boxing promoter Don King vowed in typically flamboyant fashion to turn a long-shuttered jai alai fronton in Palm Beach County, FL into a “mini-Madison Square Garden.” The 53-acre site at 1415 45th St. in the tiny town of Mangonia Park is adjacent to the northernmost Tri-Rail commuter train station…

Redland Florida Industrial Agricultural Land Sold

A commercial broker has just sold ten acres located at 21250 SW 167th Avenue in Redland, Florida. The property is located in un-incorporated Miami-Dade County and has dual-zoning: industrial / agricultural. The final sales price was $1,550,000 or about $155,000 per acre. The buyer and new owner is Gabriel Serrano with Aeroservicios USA who will use the property for outside storage. The financing…

Home builder DR Horton pays $6 million for 20 vacant acres near Florida City

DR Horton bought 20 vacant acres just east of the Florida Keys Outlet Marketplace in Florida City. Home builder DR Horton Inc. bought 20 acres of vacant land near Florida City for $6 million. The seller, Newport Development Partners, had acquired the land in 2015 for $1.3 million. The 20-acre property is at the southeast corner of Southwest 336 Street and Southwest 172 Avenue,  just east of the Florida Keys…

City of Homestead may demolish its “field of dreams” baseball stadium

The city of Homestead may demolish its deteriorating baseball stadium, built nearly 30 years ago to serve as a spring training site for Major League Baseball teams. The city government has solicited bids to demolish the pink stadium, formally known as the Homestead Sports Complex, which hasn’t been used for decades. Dennis Maytan, director of parks and public works in Homestead, told the Miami…

Boutique hotel and coworking space headed to Little Havana

The historic Jazz Age building will be the first U.S. location of the Selina brand Little Havana’s historic Tower Hotel building is just months away from reopening as the first U.S. location of Selina, a fast-growing combination lodging and coworking company with a strong presence in Latin America. The renovation will open a new chapter for the old 1920s-era building at 1450 SW 7th Street that previously…

Miami Beach’s short-term rental fines challenged on constitutional grounds

A Miami Beach property owner is accusing the city of engaging in discriminatory practices when it comes to cracking down on short-term rentals. Natalie Nichols filed a civil rights lawsuit in Miami-Dade Circuit Court on Wednesday, alleging the city’s practice of levying five-figure fines on some residents who list their properties on Airbnb and other home-sharing websites violates the Florida Constitution.

Foreign dollars continue to pour into US commercial market: report

Foreign investment in U.S. commercial real estate remained strong last year, despite a major pullback from Chinese companies that have been hampered by capital controls its government has imposed. Despite those restrictions, Chinese investors made up the biggest share of foreign buyers in the U.S. at 20 percent, according to a new report from the National Association of Realtors.

MV Group sells Design District building for $10M

Developer Manny Varas just sold a newly-built property in the Design District for $10.1 million, a considerable markdown from its listed price. Perpetual Love Acquisitions LLC, a Delaware company, closed on the Mediterranean-style, three-story building at 4136 North Miami Avenue, said Dwntwn Realty Advisors’ Tony Arellano and David Spitz, who represented the seller. The 16,900-square-foot building…

Hellmann Worldwide Logistics sells Doral HQ for $43M

Hellmann Worldwide Logistics just sold its North American headquarters in Doral to Industrial Logistics Properties Trust for $43.1 million. The industrial real estate investment trust paid about $180 per square foot for the 240,700-square-foot property at 10450 NW 41st Street. Hellmann Worldwide, which is one of the largest full-service logistics companies in the world, said it…

Invicta watch exec buys industrial site in Hollywood

A company tied to Invicta Watch Group’s president and chief executive Eyal Lalo just bought land in Hollywood and scored construction financing to build a planned industrial facility, property records show. The 6.4-acre site at 3080 Sheridan Street traded for $7.5 million, or about $27 per square foot. It sits near the Sheridan Street Tri-Rail Station and I-95. City National Bank is providing the $7.5 million…

Is Slowing Lease Activity in Miami the Harbinger of a Weakening Market?

Absorption of industrial space fell by 42 percent year-over-year in Miami last year, the most significant drop of the cycle. Since leasing in the industrial sector had been going well in South Florida, is this the harbinger of slowing demand, or simply a timing issue? Developers finally caught up with surging industrial demand and delivered 3.3 million square feet in 2017, a record number for the cycle and…

Video: Green Street Advisors CEO Craig Leupold Expects Increased M&A, Privatization Activity

In a recent interview, Craig Leupold, the CEO of Green Street Advisors, a company providing real estate data and analytics for improved decision-making with insights to help investors understand, forecast, and capitalize on changing market conditions, shares views on commercial property valuation, interest rate expectations, and activism. He describes his firm’s evolving approach to valuation with the…

The Closing: Arnaud Karsenti

What drives developer Arnaud Karsenti? For one, this bit of wisdom: Anything worth having must be earned. His persistence during the recession is a case in point. The 40-year-old founder of 13th Floor Investments launched his Miami-based private real estate investment and development firm in 2008, focusing on distressed assets amid the downturn. When the market improved, the company turned to…

$220 Million racetrack and private club planned for Opa-Locka airport

Developers are planning a $220 million racetrack and private club at Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport. Neil Gehani and Jay Pollak expect to open the Concours Club by May 2019, complete with more than 2 miles of racetrack and a slew of high-end amenities. They’re offering 40 founding members at $350,000 each with no annual dues. Those members would then be able to invite others to buy up to…

Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables is getting a $25 million makeover

In an effort to stay competitive, the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables is undergoing a $25 million renovation. The interiors of the 92-year-old historic hotel, built by Coral Gables founder George Merrick and hotelier John McEntee Bowman, are being renovated, as is the 18-hole golf course, designed by Donald Ross. The funding will come in part from the city, which recently voted to allow the hotel to use half…

Kendall Office Park Trades for $13 Million Loss

TA Realty took a $13.25 million loss on the Kendall Summit Office Park after buying the campus in Kendall, FL near the peak of the last real estate cycle. The 173,661-square-foot campus, built between 1984 and 1989 at 11400-11440 N. Kendall Drive, is now 27 percent vacant. Current tenants include BB&T, Keller Williams and Quest Diagnostics.

Okan Tower Will Redefine Downtown Miami As Florida’s Tallest Skyscraper

Miami is a booming international city. Soon, it will be blooming too. Okan Tower, a 70-story flower-shaped architectural wonder will anchor the city’s surging skyline, ultimately unfolding as the tallest skyscraper in Florida. When completed, the versatile mix-used tower will soar 890 feet over downtown Miami (eclipsing the 868-foot-tall Panorama Tower), comprising a 294-room branded Hilton Hotel…

Turkish Billionaire Developing Florida’s Tallest Skyscraper Says More Are Coming

Developer Bekir Okan made his billions in Turkey, but he is spending some of that fortune in Miami, where he is developing the $300M Okan Tower, which was inspired by the shape of a tulip. At 890 feet tall, it will eclipse Florida’s current tallest tower, the 868-foot Panorama Tower, which opened this month. Bisnow caught up with Okan via email to discuss his project and future plans in Miami. Bisnow: Tell me…

TA Realty sells Kendall office park to Cofe Properties for $34 million

TA Realty Cofe Properties just bought a six-building office park in Kendall for $34.75 million from TA Realty. The Miami-based commercial real estate firm paid about $200 per square foot for the 174,000-square-foot property known as the Kendall Summit Office Park for $200 per square foot at 11400, 11410, 11420, 11430, and 11440 North Kendall Drive. It secured a $26 million non…

South Florida’s Commercial Market Post Gains Across All Sectors

According to the new 1Q 2018 The Quarterly Report – South Florida Commercial Real Estate released this week by data firm Vizzda and the MIAMI Association of Realtors, South Florida’s multifamily real estate transactions jumped 8.5 percent year-over-year in 1Q 2018 and per-unit multifamily prices increased in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. “Increasing population, job growth and rising…

Miami’s Multifamily Market Sees Prolonged Sales Activity for First Time in Years

Driven by the delivery of new product, the Miami multifamily market is experiencing a period of increased transaction activity. Always in high demand, but generally a thinly traded market, Miami has seen a significantly higher volume of market-rate multifamily sales in the last two years. While Miami-Dade County has maintained strong fundamentals overall, its sales volume has historically trailed nearby…

Square Mile antes up $217M office loan for 1111 Brickell

Square Mile Capital Management originated a $217million loan secured by 1111 Brickell, a 30-story 522,000 s/f office building in the Brickell submarket of Miami, Florida. KKR and Parkway Property Investments, acquired the asset and will complete an extensive capital improvement plan to solidify the property’s position as a best-in-class office building. The financing includes proceeds to fund the…

Selina hotel brand plans expansion into Miami market

Selina, a hospitality brand that combines co-living, co-working, hotel and hostel, has tapped Miami as its first major U.S. expansion city.
The company is looking to acquire and redevelop up to 2,000 beds in Miami, said Steven Ohayan, vice president of business development. It’s starting with the former Tower Hotel property in Little Havana’s neighborhood. Selina plans to open that property, a 62-key hotel…

How hot can South Florida’s industrial market get?

Industrial properties may not be the sexiest parcels in commercial real estate, but they’re certainly making buyers salivate these days. Increasingly, investors are willing to go to greater and greater lengths to land these properties, outbidding others even when it means accepting lower returns, commercial brokers said. As land availability continues to shrink and rents…

Elit Breaks Ground on Miami-Area Retail Development

Elit has begun work on a retail center in Miramar, Fla., dubbed The Grove at Miramar. The company already secured several tenants for the $15 million, four-building project. GD Construction is the general contractor of the retail plaza, which is slated for completion in July 2019. The Miami-area retail center will be situated on the southeastern corner of Miramar Boulevard and South Flamingo Road…

Value-Add Rental Properties in South Florida Sell for $90M

A Denver-based real estate firm that already owns six multifamily properties in South Florida picked up two more, paying $90 million for the Sundance Village Apartments in Miami and the Gardens at Nova (pictured, right) in Davie, FL. Grand Peaks Properties acquired the two communities from Poinciana Properties Inc. of Coral Gables, FL for more than $202,000 per unit. Poinciana marketed the two rentals as…

Downtown Miami Office Supply Trends

Office construction has finally returned to Downtown Miami after several stagnant years, with most of it in the form of mixed-use projects. Few pure office towers of significant size broke ground in recent years, at least not within the urban core. The majority of office construction this cycle has occurred out in the suburbs — and this is true for all three of South Florida’s counties. While new office space…

Experts Round-Up: How Retail Centers Need to Adapt to Successfully Engage Millennials

The millennial generation is quickly becoming an important demographic in the economy as they begin to graduate from their respective scholarly institutions, get jobs, and contribute more into the workforce while progressing their careers. According to Pew Research Center in 2017 Millennials already comprised 35% of the labor force with some estimates stating that the percentage…

South Grove’s historic Marjory Stoneman Douglas cottage added to list of threatened sites

A preservation group included the tiny cottage in its annual list of most endangered Florida properties The former Coconut Grove home of notable environmentalist, writer, and women’s suffrage advocate Marjory Stoneman Douglas was singled out as a threatened historic property by the nonprofit Florida Trust for Historic Preservation in its annual “11 to Save” list. Built in 1926, the modest 900-square-foot…

New Design District condos with stylish rooftop terraces ready to open

Say hello to the new One Bay Residences One Bay Residences, a collection of 38 contemporary townhouse condominiums is now complete and ready to welcome its first residents. Available in both single floor and multi-story layouts, the development at 455 NE 39th Street in Miami’s Design District is the first of its kind in the neighborhood and offers a niche alternative to the area’s many new high…

Duke Realty drops $180M at Hialeah industrial park

Hialeah’s industrial market just got hotter. Duke Realty just dropped $180 million at Flagler Global Logistics’ 8 million-square-foot industrial park on the northwest corner of Northwest 154th Street and and Northwest 97th Avenue. Countyline Corporate Park is being developed by Flagler Global Logistics, a subsidiary of Florida East Coast Industries. Flagler assembled the 95-acre site in 2005 for a…

Finvarb Group taps Thompson Hotels for its South Beach hotel project

Thompson Hotels is looking to make a return to South Florida with an eight-story hotel project proposed by the Finvarb Group near the Miami Beach Convention Center. Denver-based Two Roads Hospitality and the Finvarb Group announced that they would launch the 150-room hotel at 1685 Washington Avenue under the Thompson Hotels brand. Thompson Hotels last had a presence in Miami Beach in…

Affordable housing investor picks up apartment complex in North Miami

Affordable Housing Development Services just picked up an apartment community in North Miami for $13 million. The complex at 14560 Northeast Sixth Avenue consists of 82 apartments and a 15,000-square-foot commercial building leased to a child care facility and pre-school. The deal breaks down to about $110,000 per unit. Ocean King Apartments LLC is the seller. The company is led by Allen…

Apartment rental prices across US slow after years of steady growth: report

Tenants can rejoice. Landlords? Not so much. Apartment building owners across the country may be seeing the end of record rent growth, according to new nationwide data. Prices on multifamily rents ticked up just 2.3 percent in the second quarter year-over-year, the smallest increase since 2010, according to RealPage Inc. The findings were reported in the Wall Street Journal, and attributed in part to the…

Wynwood Leaders Say Zoning Was Key To Neighborhood’s Evolution

In just 10 years, Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood has transformed from a grungy industrial area to a trendy arts center and tourist draw, and is now maturing with its first major office and residential components. That is because property owners and developers banded together to develop key zoning changes, they said Wednesday during Bisnow’s Evolution of Wynwood event. Panelists noted that…

ASB pays $24M for 10.5-acre industrial property in Hialeah

ASB Real Estate Investments just paid $24.3 million for a warehouse in Hialeah that’s fully leased to the furniture manufacturer, Synergy Custom Fixtures. Terreno Realty Corporation, a publicly traded real estate investment trust based in San Francisco, sold the 302,000-square-foot warehouse at 215 Southeast 10th Avenue for about $81 per square foot. Synergy Custom Fixtures signed a long-term lease…

Beckham partner Jorge Mas teases plan for mega soccer complex in Miami

David Beckham’s partner Jorge Mas is presenting a plan for a major mixed-use soccer complex in the city of Miami, and is expected to go public with the proposal at a Miami City Commission meeting next month. Beckham and his partners officially announced the Major League Soccer team earlier this year, but the stadium plans – including the location – have been up in the air for years. Mas, a MasTec…

36th Street Rail Crossing To Be Eliminated As FDOT Plans To Reconfigure Intersection

Transportation planners are considering closure of the north-south railway crossing at Northeast 36 Street, city records show. (The east-west crossing may be staying open). Instead, a new crossing will be opened at Northeast 42 Street, in order to improve access to the Design District. Company policy of the Florida East Coast Railroad requires that two crossings be…

Now playing on Flagler: umpteenth Groundhog Day remake

Showing, now and seemingly forever, on downtown’s main thoroughfare is the Flagler Street version of the film Groundhog Day. Every few years Miami’s Downtown Development Authority cites tremendous progress on the remaking of Flagler Street in a wonderful new design that’s going to serve downtown better than ever before. We’ve been reporting that at least as far back as 1993. A quarter of a…

Prime Biscayne Property’s 13-story Edgewater hotel gains development review OK

A new hotel is planned for the Edgewater neighborhood of Miami. Prime Biscayne Property LLC has submitted plans to construct a 13-story mixed-use hotel at 3047 Biscayne Blvd., at the southeast corner of the intersection with Northeast 31st Street. The city’s Urban Development Review Board voted June 20 to recommend approval of the project with conditions. No official name was revealed, nor…
Pla…

City looks to design firm to craft true Virginia Key flex park

The City of Miami’s so-called flex park on Virginia Key is in line for a major redesign, with the ultimate goal of building a world-class waterfront destination with regional importance for a flexible public open space. A proposed contract with a design firm is on today’s (6/28) city commission agenda. Commissioners are to consider a resolution accepting a proposal from Civitas Inc. to…

Plans for Brickell’s dual-flag hotels underscore the impact of Underline

The Underline, a planned 10-mile linear park and urban trail, is barely off the drawing board but is already being touted as a neighboring asset for a major mixed-use project proposed in Brickell. C-F Brickell LLC plans to construct a dual-branded hotel with 264 rooms, about 25,000 square feet of retail stores, and a rooftop terrace and bar. The property is at 110 SW Seventh St., 721 SW First Court and 115 SW…

WeWork “cracked the code,” but has it hit a ceiling?: panel

At first, landlords didn’t want to lease to WeWork. Now, the company is in Class A office buildings across the globe. And in the future, it could end up partnering with landlords. “Partnering with WeWork is something we’ve thought about,” said Columbia Property Trust CEO Nelson Mills, explaining that it would be beyond simply leasing space to the co-working company. “Certainly, the industry has been…

Renderings revealed: Mr. C hotel, 100 Las Olas & Fairchild Coconut Grove

The Cipriani family just released new renderings of its Mr. C luxury hotel in Coconut Grove. Arquitectonica and the Martin Brudnizki Design Studio designed the 98-room hotel, which is under construction at 2988 McFarlane Road. It will feature nautical-themed interiors and a ballroom on the top floor with views of the Biscayne Bay. The hotel’s facade is propped up by stilts, inspired by…

The American Dream Miami: More Entertainment, Less Retail

The massive American Dream Miami project won final approval from the Miami-Dade commission last week – and it’s now looking like more of a theme park than a mall. The $4b project will now have a much larger entertainment component than originally planned, with the amount of retail space reduced, according to the WSJ. Originally, the proposal included 3.5 million square feet of retail, with 1.5…

Related Group and Rockpoint launch $2B multifamily division

The Related Group is making another push into multifamily real estate. Related and Rockpoint Group are launching a new division within Related focused on acquiring value-add multifamily properties in Florida and throughout the Sun Belt, the companies announced on Tuesday. Together, they plan to spend more than $2 billion over the next several years. Miami-based Related and Boston-based…

Too little too late: Internet sales tax ruling can’t stop brick-and-mortar retail apocalypse

Retail trade groups claimed a big victory for their brick-and-mortar store constituency when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states can collect sales tax from internet retailers. Even President Trump notched it as a win. But retail experts question how much the change will really help or even affect traditional brick and mortar retailers, which have been losing out to e-commerce businesses for a host of…

South Florida Multifamily Transactions, Prices Rise in 1Q; 1Q 2018 Vizzda/MIAMI Realtors Commercial Report Released

South Florida multifamily real estate transactions jumped 8.5 percent year-over-year in 1Q 2018 and per-unit multifamily prices increased in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, according to the new 1Q 2018 The Quarterly Report – South Florida Commercial Real Estate released by data firm Vizzda (Visual Data) and the MIAMI Association of Realtors Commercial (MIAMI Commercial). “Increasing…”

Miami Mold Specialist in Expansion Mode, Acquires New Building in South Beach

Prominent indoor environmental services company, Miami Mold Specialist, recently announced the acquisition of prime commercial real estate in South Florida. This new commercial property will be used as Miami Mold Specialists new headquarters, with remodeling and renovations already getting underway. The new headquarters will allow for Miami Mold Specialists to efficiently and effectively expand…

Miami Beach food hall unveils tenants and opening date, other restaurant news

Terranova Corp. unveiled a roster of tenants to open at The Lincoln Eatery, a food hall planned for Lincoln Lane in Miami Beach. The 9,600-square-foot hall, at 723 North Lincoln Lane, is set to open in December, according to a spokesperson. Tenants include Necessary Purveyor, a sandwich shop with 136 square feet; Fresh Garden Bowls with 191 square feet; Chill’N nitrogen ice cream with 300 square feet…

ASB Real Estate Acquires Miami Industrial Facility

ASB Real Estate Investments has acquired a 10.5-acre industrial property in Miami’s submarket of Hialeah, for $24.3 million. The facility is 100 percent leased on a long-term basis to Synergy Custom Fixtures, a custom counters and fixtures manufacturer. Terreno Realty Corp. sold the asset on behalf of the Allegiance Real Estate Fund, its $6.9 billion core vehicle. This comes off the heels of its $20.3 million sale…

Video: Cory Sylvester of Union RealTime Provides Self-Storage Industry Forecast

Cory Sylvester, Principal with Union RealTime, which provides a data service called Advocate for the self-storage industry, appears on a commercial real estate talk show to discuss how the self-storage industry is performing and what investors in self-storage properties might expect as the market continues to evolve.

Tariff Increases and the Potential Economic Effects

Changes to U.S. trade policy have sparked questions about what the economic effects might be. A recent Economic Synopses looked at other countries that increased tariffs to see what might happen. Economist Fernando Leibovici and Senior Research Associate Jonas Crews identified 16 times over the period 1980-2006 when a country increased import tariffs by at least 3.5 percentage points in a year.

Proposed zoning rules in Coconut Grove would restrict the size of new single-family homes

A movement to curtail the infiltration of boxy, zero-lot line modern houses in Coconut Grove could lead to more stringent rules for single-family home development in the neighborhood. The Miami Planning and Zoning Board voted 8-1 last week to recommend approval of a rewrite of zoning overlays that govern what can be built in Coconut Grove. The proposed regulations will go before the Miami City…

UK billionaire Mike Ashley buys Walgreens property near 1 Hotel South Beach

Mike Ashley, the British billionaire founder and CEO of Sports Direct, just closed on a Walgreens-leased property on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach. Ashley, who also owns Newcastle United Football Club, paid $8 million for 50 percent of the fee simple ownership of the land and 100 percent of the leasehold interest in the property at 2300 Collins Avenue, across the street from 1 Hotel & Homes South…

Doral church buys former building that was home for Univision’s “Escándalo TV”

A Doral church is giving new life to an office building previously home to Univision’s Telefutura operations. Iglesia Doral Jesus Worship Center paid $9.5 million for the nearly 80,000-square-foot building at 1900 Northwest 89th Place, more than two years after the property hit the market for $12.75 million. The church financed the deal with a $6.4 million mortgage from West Palm Beach-based Flagler Bank.

Grass River, Downstream Realty Partners buy Wilton Manors shopping center

Grass River Property and Downstream Realty Partners are expanding their portfolio in Wilton Manors. Property records show the partnership paid $21 million, or about $270 per square foot, for a 78,600-square-foot shopping center at 2200 and 2292 Wilton Drive, with plans to renovate the property. Grass River and Downstream Realty scored a $22.8 million loan from Two Harbors Investment…

MiamiCentral Office Buildings Listed for Sale

Florida East Coast Industries, a company with ties to railroad magnate Henry Flagler, is marketing for sale the first two buildings at the transit-oriented MiamiCentral development in downtown Miami. The listing includes 2 MiamiCentral at 700 NW MiamiCentral Avenue and 3 MiamiCentral at 161 NW 6th Street. The 5-Star buildings collectively consist of 285,000 square feet of offices and 35,000 square feet of….

Brightline may extend passenger train service to both Orlando and Tampa

Brightline, the company that plans to extend its passenger train service in South Florida to Orlando, may expand into Tampa, too.
Gov. Rick Scott announced Friday that state officials will consider proposals by private companies to launch a passenger train service along Interstate 4 between Tampa and Orlando. Brightline has submitted a bid to build a rail line in the I-4 corridor on land leased…

Condo association in Brickell tower says developer overcharged for shared facilities

A condominium association in Brickell is suing its shared services provider, Mast Capital, alleging the developer unexpectedly and excessively raised the amount the condo owners had to contribute. The Mayfield Condominium Association also claimed Mast Capital — which owns the hotel portion of the building — overcharged for some of these expenses, which include maintenance for some of the…

White House wants to shake up housing finance

The White House on Thursday unveiled a plan to release Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from government control and turn them into private companies. Under the proposal, which still needs congressional approval, the two mortgage giants would lose their federal charters. Other private companies would be able to compete with them in the business of repackaging mortgages, stamping them with…

As redevelopment becomes all the rage in downtown Miami, nightclubs are turning into collateral damage

E11even is one of three clubs on Northeast 11th Street that have faced multiple noise complaints from neighbors. For more than 15 years, in the wee hours before sunrise on Sundays, the thumping bass emanating from the speakers inside the cavernous Club Space lured hundreds of electronic dance music aficionados onto Northeast 11th Street in downtown Miami. It’s a scene that real estate developers…

Apartment Construction Booming Across the Southern U.S.

The 816-unit Park Line Miami apartment towers at 250 NW 1st St. in Miami. The project is slated to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2019. Due to impressive in-migration as well as demographic growth and booming economies, southern metros have attracted an impressive share of apartment…

Joint venture buys 30-story office building

Miami’s commercial real estate market has been hot for several years now, but the risks are real. The recent sale of a large office building helps illustrate the potential upside and downside. The 30-story tower at 1111 Brickell Avenue recently sold to a joint venture involving real estate giants KKR and Parkway Property Investments for an undisclosed amount. When it last changed hands in 2013, it sold for…

The country’s largest shopping mall is coming to Miami

The mall isn’t dead—it’s simply become a theme park At a time when brick-and-mortar shopping centers across the country are struggling to stay afloat, the developers of American Dream Miami are moving forward with a plan to bring the nation’s largest and most expensive megamall to South Florida. Slated for a 174-acre site of mostly vacant farmland along the Florida Turnpike in Miami Lakes…

Miami-Dade county doubles down on cars with Kendall Parkway highway expansion

Transit advocates have sarcastically dubbed controversial proposal as “another sexy highway” On Wednesday Miami-Dade officials voted in favor of a hotly debated plan to build a new multilane highway through the Everglades to serve the county’s West Kendall community.
Commissioners approved the project by a 9-2 margin despite testimony from opponents claiming the $650 million undertaking would…

Hialeah construction company execs charged with defrauding affordable housing fund

The president and vice president of a Hialeah-based construction company face federal charges for allegedly defrauding Miami-Dade County’s low-income housing fund. Javier Estepa and Diego Alejandro Estepa Vazquez of Aaron Construction Company, were charged in a four-count indictment on Thursday over their alleged involvement in a scheme to gain contracts with Miami-Dade Public Housing…

Miami board approves two mixed-use hotel projects in Edgewater and Brickell

With a few minor modifications, a pair of mixed-use hotel proposals in Edgewater and Brickell received a seal of approval from Miami’s Urban Development Review Board. Both projects went before the board on Thursday to request design waivers. The board first heard from Miguel Diaz de la Portilla and Kobi Karp, the attorney and architect, respectfully, for Prime Biscayne Property LLC, which submitted…

Miami Beach Convention Center hotel by group led by Jackie Soffer and David Martin would cost at least $348M to build

The development group led by Jackie Soffer and David Martin would build a compact, sleek convention center hotel in Miami Beach that incorporates environmentally conscious design elements aimed to mitigate the impacts of climate change. The price tag would be between $348 million to $362 million with 65 percent financed with construction loans and the remainder through equity from the…

Miami board approves design for second phase of apartments at Liberty Square redevelopment

The reimagining of Miami-Dade’s oldest public housing apartment complex will feature six new three-story buildings with 204 apartments, a hidden parking lot and a small park and playground. Miami’s Urban Development Review Board on Wednesday approved the second residential phase of Liberty Square Rising, an ambitious redevelopment project by Related Urban, the Related Group’s…

Elysee condo tower goes vertical after massive concrete pour

Crews delivered 5,000 tons of the building material in just 20 hours After breaking ground in December, Miami’s striking Elysee condo tower has begun its 57-story vertical climb along the Bay of Biscayne. The start of above-ground construction comes after crews completed a nearly twice-around-the-clock, 20-hour concrete pour to create the future skyscraper’s base. No fewer than 260 truckloads…

Spider lists Edgewater site for $7M after axing condo project

Spider Investments just listed the site of Spark, a canceled condo project in Edgewater, for $7 million. The developer, led by Andres Goldenberg and Alejandro Eskenazi, is one of a handful in South Florida to list the sites of their now-defunct projects, including the former Flagler 626 property in Fort Lauderdale’s Flagler Village and the Boulevard 57 site in Miami. Spider launched sales for Spark, a 27…

East End Capital scores $30M financing for Wynwood Arcade, nearby warehouses

More retailers and restaurants are coming to Wynwood. East End Capital just scored $30 million in financing for the build-out of tenant spaces at its Wynwood Arcade development, as well as for some surrounding warehouses that the developer assembled between 2014 and 2016. The warehouses along Northwest 24th and 25th streets recently signed on taco and tequila restaurant Bartaco and the…

Miami Office Tower Fetches Area’s Second-Highest Sales Price Since 2012

The recent sale of Sabadell Financial Center in downtown Miami for $248.5 million ($475 per square foot) cements the transaction as the second-highest price paid for a South Florida office property in the last six years, CoStar data shows. Global investment firm KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co LP) and Orlando-based office landlord Parkway Property Investments LLC bought the 30-story tower at…

Good News: Disclosure of Cash Buyers for Lux Real Estate Effective in Curtailing Money Laundering; Bad News: Homes Sales Cut by 70%

The Department of Treasury’s crackdown on potential money laundering involving all-cash buyers of real estate that began in 2016 deflated the value of luxury homes sold in the nation’s largest markets by more than 4 percent. It also reduced the number of all-cash sales by 70%, according to a new authoritative analysis by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the University of Miami.

Parkway Properties, KKR pay $250M for former Sabadell Financial Center: sources

A partnership between Parkway Properties and investment giant KKR just paid $250 million for the former Sabadell Financial Center in Miami, sources told The Real Deal. The seller was Prudential Real Estate Investors, which bought the property in 2013 for $184.3 million, property records show. The deal marks one of the priciest office-building trades in Greater Downtown Miami since the Southeast…

KKR, Parkway Acquire 30-Story Sabadell Financial Center in Miami’s Brickell District for $250M

KKR and Parkway Property Investments LLC have acquired Sabadell Financial Center, a 30-story office tower located at 1111 Brickell Avenue in Miami’s Brickell submarket. PGIM Real Estate Investors sold the asset for $250 million after acquiring the building in 2013 for $184.3 million, according to The Real Deal. Square Mile Capital Management LLC originated acquisition financing on behalf of the new…

KKR, Parkway Properties Buy 522 KSF Miami Office Tower

The 522,000-square-foot office tower at 1111 Brickell Ave. in Miami’s vibrant Brickell submarket has changed hands. In a joint venture, affiliates of KKR and Parkway Property Investments purchased the Class A building from PGIM Real Estate. Also known as Sabadell Financial Center, 1111 Brickell made its debut in the city’s central business district in 2000 as part of a mixed-use development that…

KKR, Parkway Venture Acquires Miami Office Tower

A joint venture of KKR and Parkway Property Investments has acquired the 30-story office tower at 1111 Brickell. The joint venture purchased the 522,000-square-foot office building from New Jersey-based PGIM Real Estate. No purchase price was disclosed. Square Mile Capital Management LLC of New York City originated the financing for the deal. PGIM acquired the property, which was built in…

Half of Biltmore’s rent to restore historic hotel

The Coral Gables City Commission voted unanimously last week to allow the Biltmore Hotel Limited Partnership to redirect 50% of annual rent payments to the city to the building’s historic preservation, paying up to half of the historic monument’s improvement costs. The city attorney and the city manager are to meet with Biltmore officials to draft the five-year agreement. City staff and the historic preservation…

New Flagler ‘Festival Street’ design adds $10 million to cost

Prospects for the Flagler Street renovation – which has dragged on several years – are suddenly brighter, as leaders of Miami-Dade County, Miami, and the Downtown Development Authority pledged to pump more money into the project. In February, the downtown authority, which has steered the project since its inception, agreed to consider suggestions by Moishe Mana, an investor who has…

Wells Fargo Grants $103M Financing for Miami Transit Oriented Development

Florida East Coast Industries has received $103 million in financing from Wells Fargo for MiamiCentral, a new transit-oriented development in Miami that will be the first of its kind in the area. The development consists of 2 MiamiCentral, a 10-story, 190,000-square-foot Class A tower which is scheduled for completion this month; and 3 MiamiCentral, a 130,000-square-foot mixed-use building…

Video: Reis Economist Predicts Self Storage CAP Rates to Rise 1.25% in Next 12 Months

Barbara Denham, Economist with REIS, a firm that provides structured and quality assured commercial real estate data including 30 years of commercial real estate market research and economic analyses. discusses how a 1.25% increase in CAP rates (capitalization ratio) could impact the self-storage property market, what is means for valuation and overall property performance. The conversation, basically a…

One pact on plan to narrow Biscayne Boulevard, but studies still due

The city’s Off-Street Parking Board has approved a new more detailed agreement between the Miami Parking Authority and the Downtown Development Authority for the Biscayne Green Project. But the plan to transform Biscayne Boulevard into something other than a busy downtown street hugging vast surface parking lots may still be a couple of studies down the road. At the direction of…

5-point solution targets Brickell Bridge Gridlock

The Coast Guard says it’s willing to test an altered schedule for opening the Brickell Avenue Bridge if others deliver on four key changes to the clogged roadway crossing the Miami River. On May 29, James Wolfe of the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) wrote to the Coast Guard requesting changes to scheduled bridge openings. They include trimming the morning operating curfew by 30 minutes…

Clock ticks to replace Miami-Dade civil courthouse

Miami-Dade has a timeline to build a civil courthouse to replace the crumbling one on Flagler Street, with work to start in July 2020, according to a memo from Mayor Carlos Giménez. Commissioners this month voted to cancel a public-private partnership solicitation for the tower, seek a new hybrid partnership and provide a timeline for their consideration June 19. Commissioners on Tuesday accepted…

Gubernatorial candidate Philip Levine discloses real estate assets worth $109 million

Florida gubernatorial candidate Philip Levine is worth a cool $133 million. In an effort to open a blind trust for his assets, the former Miami Beach mayor, on Monday, issued a financial disclosure revealing all of his holdings and net worth. The filings show Levine’s real estate assets total more than $109 million, according to the Miami Herald. The portfolio is made up of properties throughout Miami, Miami…

Miami-Dade County’s Office Market Fueled by Solid Local Economic Fundamentals

Driven by population and job growth, Miami-Dade County is one of the strongest and most sought-after commercial real estate markets in the Southeast. As of February 2018, the county’s unemployment rate stood at 4.7 percent, which, while only a 10-basis point decline from the rate in February 2017, represents continued positive movement. The metro’s economic stability and growing employment…

Marsha Soffer sues Ritz-Carlton, Miami Beach developer over delays

A member of the Soffer family is suing the development group behind The Ritz-Carlton Residences, Miami Beach over the condominium project’s construction delays, and is looking to get her deposit back. It’s the fourth lawsuit filed by buyers in the last four months, all seeking a refund of deposits due to delays. Marsha Soffer, the daughter of billionaire Turnberry Associates developer Donald Soffer…

Grand Peaks pays $66 million for apartment complex near FIU

Grand Peaks Properties paid $65.6 million for an apartment complex near Florida International University in Sweetwater, property records show. Real estate investors Manuel and Jorge Larrieu and Nitza Gonzalez sold Sundance Village, a 304-unit property at 11325 Northwest Seventh Street, for about $216,000 per apartment. They paid $7.2 million for the complex in 1997, and hired Larry Stockton of…

Celebrity Chef Samuelsson To Open A Restaurant In Overtown

Miami is trying to rebuild a neighborhood that was once a vibrant center for black culture, and a celebrity chef is contributing what he does best: food. Marcus Samuelsson has bought a former pool hall in Miami’s Overtown neighborhood and plans to open a restaurant there later this year. A redevelopment board is already pouring tens of millions of dollars into Overtown, but Samuelsson is the first…

Miami Industrial Market’s Future Hinges On Infill And Demand For Single-User Properties

After several years of strong absorption in leasing and robust sales volume, there’s no question that Miami’s industrial real estate market is the desired location for national tenants and institutional investors alike. But many insiders are questioning if sustaining that level of growth is possible and if there are still profitable transactions to be found. The answer is a resounding yes. There is little indication that…

$22.8M Sale Negotiated for Leasehold Interest in Industrial Property Near Miami Airport

HFF has arranged the $22.8 million sale of the leasehold interest in a two-building, 211,852-square-foot industrial property located roughly one mile from Miami International Airport. Manuel de Zárraga, Tracey Goo and Luis Castillo of HFF arranged the transaction on behalf of the seller, iStar Inc., and procured the buyer, the Dayan family from Brazil. Safety, Income & Growth Inc., managed by iStar…

Boutique ‘Mr. C’ hotel headed to Coconut Grove

The brand has existing locations in Los Angeles and New York A previously unnamed, five-story hotel under construction in Coconut Grove will be operated by the Cipriani family’s boutique Mr. C brand. Under construction since last year, the project is being developed by the Fort family and Arquitectonica founding principal Bernardo Fort-Brescia. It is located on a narrow lot next to the group’s renovation…

Plan to build Cuban museum on waterfront site behind AmericanAirlines Arena scrubbed

A proposal to build a Cuban Exile History Museum on the waterfront site behind the AmericanAirlines Area has been abandoned.
In its place, property could become what it was originally intended for more than 20 years ago: a waterfront park. The Miami-Dade County Commission was slated to vote this week to lease the land and build a privately funded Cuban museum, but the proposal was pulled…

Climate change already hitting home prices

The risk of climate change appears to be having an impact on housing prices. Average home prices in areas that face low risks of flooding, hurricanes and wildfires outpaced areas that had a greater risk of climate change between 2007 and 2017, according to figures from Attom Data Solutions reported by Bloomberg. Average home prices in areas at high risk were worth less last year than they were a…

Commercial Office Lease Negotiation – A Pro-Tenant Checklist

This Article provides you with tips to create a concise and effective negotiation checklist and the key points you should consider when negotiating a lease in a multi-tenant office building. This Article also highlights key provisions you should pay close attention to often found in office leases. At initial glance, a 20, 30 and sometimes 40 page commercial office lease agreement may seem daunting.

Trump administration may expose more wetlands to real estate development

The Trump administration is preparing to limit the definition of federally protected waterways in the Clean Water Act, an action that could expose many wetlands to real estate development. Scott Pruitt, the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, has completed a proposal to implement President Trump’s executive order limiting the definition of federally protected waterways. Trump…

Report: Flawed load-bearing design likely contributed to FIU bridge collapse

A newly installed FIU pedestrian bridge collapsed March 15, killing six people. The unusual pedestrian bridge at Florida International University had an undetected design flaw that probably contributed to its collapse in March, the Miami Herald reported, citing a review by three independent structural engineers. At the newspaper’s request, the engineers reviewed nearly 2,000 pages of mathematical…

Group led by Jackie Soffer, David Martin is sole bidder for Miami Beach Convention Center hotel

A group led by developers Jackie Soffer of Turnberry Associates and David Martin of Terra is the sole bidder to submit a proposal for a Miami Beach Convention Center hotel. Miami Beach Connect, which includes Bernardo Fort-Brescia’s Arquitectonica, Craig Robins’ Dacra, Meyer-Davis and Coastal Tishman, will go before the city’s evaluation committee meeting next Thursday, a spokesperson for the team…

Why savvy investors are using Alaska to avoid property tax deduction caps

To get around a provision in the new tax law limiting federal deductions for state and local taxes to $10,000, investors in states like New York are turning to Alaska. Property owners have been establishing LLCs in no-tax states like Alaska or Delaware to get around the cap, according to Bloomberg. They then transfer parts of that LLC into several non-grantor trusts, which are treated as independent taxpayers…

Congress Passes New Banking Legislation to Reduce Regulatory Burden

Last month, President Donald Trump signed into law “The Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act.” Billed as significant regulatory relief for banks by some—and not enough regulatory relief by others—the new law calibrates a massive piece of banking legislation enacted after the 2007-08 financial crisis. That law is the Dodd-Frank Act (the Act). The Reason for Dodd-Frank…

Fireman Derek’s Pie Shop Opening in Coconut Grove

I was at Fireman Derek’s Pie Shop the other day in Wynwood. The reason I bring them up is that they are coming to the Grove. Now this is something special, the pies are so rich, I don’t think you can eat them every day. On Thursday, we had a green mint chocolate chip cheesecake along with Mocha Latte’s, which were the best Mocha Latte’s that I’ve had in a long time. But back to the pie – you could…

Miami Riverside Center redevelopment plan gets a new look

The updated layout places new emphasis on public space and river access Miami-based Adler Group has released an updated version of its plan to transform a prime piece of downtown riverfront real estate into a mixed-use, multi-building development. Slated to replace the city-owned administrative building known as Miami Riverside Complex, the project at at 444 SW Second Avenue calls for three to four…

Rotem Rosen’s new firm to buy dev site in Miami’s A&E District for $30M

MRR Development, a new firm led by Rotem Rosen, Jerry Rotonda and billionaire Anand Mahindra, is in contract to pay $30 million for a development site in Miami’s Arts & Entertainment District. The firm is buying the majority of the city block between 18th and 19th streets and Northeast Second Avenue and Northeast Second Court. With bonuses, the 1.42-acre site allows for a mixed-use project of up to 1.9…

Fed hikes interest rates again, raises outlook for more increases in 2018

The Federal Reserve announced it will raise interest rates a quarter percentage point on Wednesday, and signaled that it could raise interest rates at least twice more this year. Most Federal Reserve officials now expect at least four rate increases this year, up from a previous projection in March of three rate increases, according to the Wall Street Journal. Most officials also expect the Fed will have..

Miami board to vote on Finvarb and Cho’s mixed-use Brickell hotel, other projects

Miami’s Urban Development Review Board will review proposals for two new mixed-use hotels in Miami’s Edgewater and Brickell neighborhoods and the second phase of Liberty Square, an affordable housing development, at its upcoming meeting on June 20. Mixed-use hotel at 3047 Biscayne Boulevard in Edgewater. Kobi Karp Architecture & Design submitted plans for 3047 Biscayne Boulevard…

EastGroup Breaks Ground On 850,000-SF, Class A Industrial Park

EastGroup Properties Inc. has officially broken ground on Gateway Commerce Park, becoming the most prominent Class A industrial project in Miami Gardens. Spanning 61 acres, the park marks EastGroup’s entrance into the premier Miami-Dade market. Gateway Commerce Park will offer tenants the flexibility to lease spaces ranging from 30,000 square feet to a full 200,000-square-foot building…

Adler unveils ambitious plan for Miami’s riverfront

The Adler company has quite an ambitious plan to transform the downtown riverfront in Miami, and is moving toward a major redevelopment of prime real estate on the Miami River. On Monday, Adler representatives shared information on a plan that could bring a new hotel to the river, along with about 37,000 square feet of retail stores, framed by three to four towers. The Adler team met with the…

Brazilian investor sues developer of Parque Towers in Sunny Isles over construction delays

A Brazilian biotech executive is suing the developers of Parque Towers in Sunny Isles Beach over construction delays at the planned luxury condo project. A British Virgin Islands company tied to Luis Boaventura of Brazil filed a lawsuit in a Miami-Dade County Circuit Court last month, alleging breach of contract. Boaventura, a director at the biotechnology and pharmaceutical company STEQ America, is seeking…

Fed hikes interest rates again, raises outlook for more increases in 2018

The Federal Reserve announced it will raise interest rates a quarter percentage point on Wednesday, and signaled that it could raise interest rates at least twice more this year. Most Federal Reserve officials now expect at least four rate increases this year, up from a previous projection in March of three rate increases, according to the Wall Street Journal. Most officials also expect the Fed will…

Miami board to vote on Finvarb and Cho’s mixed-use Brickell hotel, other projects

Miami’s Urban Development Review Board will review proposals for two new mixed-use hotels in Miami’s Edgewater and Brickell neighborhoods and the second phase of Liberty Square, an affordable housing development, at its upcoming meeting on June 20. Kobi Karp Architecture & Design submitted plans for 3047 Biscayne Boulevard, which is…

Arquitectonica’s Bernardo Fort-Brescia talks “Miami Vice,” breaking into new markets

Punctuating a montage of palm trees, flamingos and bikini-clad citizens is a building with a hole in the middle of it— missed in a blink. But this seconds-long cameo in the opening credits of “Miami Vice” helped make the condominium’s architect a household name. Since designing the Atlantis, Arquitectonica has worked on more than 240 projects in the U.S. alone…

Construction firm sues Miami developer alleging it lost out on more than $1M on two affordable housing projects

A Doral-based company was squeezed out of renovating an apartment complex and building a new multifamily project by a non-profit affordable housing developer, according to a recently filed lawsuit in Miami-Dade Circuit Court. As a result, Edgewater Construction Group alleges it lost out on more than $1 million in construction profits. Edgewater is suing Tacolcy Economic Development Corp. and its…

Related Group Secures $53 million in Financing for Wynwood Apts

The Related Group secured more than $53 million in financing for The Bradley Wynwood, a mixed-use project in Miami’s burgeoning Wynwood neighborhood. Santander Bank provided a $33.2 million construction loan, and Greenstreet Real Estate Partners contributed $20 million in preferred equity, according to Holliday Fenoglio Fowler (HFF) LP, which arranged the financing on behalf of the borrower.

Two Affordable Housing Projects – One in Liberty City – Coming From A|P Communities

Atlantic|Pacific Communities — a fourth-generation real estate company with offices in Florida, Georgia, Texas and California — has received Low-Income Housing Tax Credits from the Florida Housing Finance Corp. for two South Florida projects. Sailboat Bend II will be a 110-unit affordable housing development for seniors age 55 and over on the New River in Fort Lauderdale. Residences at Dr. King…

Why Multi-Story Industrial Assets Might Be in the Future for Dense U.S. Cities

Multi-story warehouses are already common in Asia, but the concept is now taking off in supply-constrained American cities. Four multilevel projects are currently under construction or will soon break ground in Seattle, San Francisco and New York City, and many more planned projects will be announced in the coming months, according to Rob Kossar, vice chairman and head of the Northeast industrial…

SeaVee Boats set to replace five sites, add 100 jobs

SeaVee Boats is probably two to three weeks away from receiving the final necessary building permits from Miami-Dade County to begin construction of its new facility, according to Ariel Pared, one of the three original business partners who bought SeaVee Boats in 1994. The county’s Industrial Development Authority fully financed the project. SeaVee Boats will consolidate all five of its facilities around Miami…

Jungle Island to jump-start transit link to Miami Beach

As part of a proposed lease extension for city-owned land on Watson Island, Jungle Island has committed to fund purchase of a City of Miami trolley – which could become the first piece of a long-awaited public transportation link between the city and Miami Beach. The trolley was one of many commitments made Friday at a special meeting of the Miami City Commission. After nearly four hours of debate…

Miami River developments increasing after $26 million deal

The Miami River has seen a flurry of attempts to revitalize the area. The mixed-use River Landing under construction has spurred interest and activity seeking new opportunities along the corridor that had been historically neglected, and a transaction last month continues this trend. In a $26 million deal, Mast Capital bought 6.3 vacant acres in April. The site is to be developed into Miami River Walk, a total of…

Brazilian Investor Pays $22.8M for Leasehold Interest in Warehouse, Offices in Miami

In a sign that foreign investment remains strong in South Florida, a Brazilian buyer paid $22.75 million, or more than $100 per square foot, for the leasehold interest in a warehouse and office property located near Miami International Airport. The Dayan family of Brazil bought 3630 NW 25th Street and 3500 NW 24th Street in Miami from iStar Inc. The buyer will get the rental income from the existing tenant…

3 MiamiCentral Office Project Nearing Full Lease-Up

Viacom Inc. is preparing to move its MTV Latin America headquarters into 24,000 square feet at 3 MiamiCentral, bringing the transit-oriented office building in downtown Miami to near full occupancy. The media titan plans to employ about 150 people on the top floor of the 12-story building at 161 NW 6th St. The 95,000-square-foot property, adjacent to the new Brightline commuter train station in Miami…

I.CON 2018 Special Report: Experts Unveil Industrial’s Big Disruptors

Mark Eppli, Ph. D., professor of Finance & Bell Chair, Real Estate, at Marquette University (left) and Gary Anderson, Prologis’ CEO for Europe and AsiaThe state of global industrial development and the potential economic, political and technological disruptors that investors and developers should be on the lookout for on a global scale were the highlights addressed during the I.CON 2018 keynote…

How E-Commerce Growth Benefits the Industrial Sector

Christopher Kelly, Abbe FranchotE-commerce hit brick-and-mortar stores heavily and, at the same time, boosted the industrial sector. According to Amherst Capital Management’s 2018 Market Outlook, strong warehouse demand coming from e-commerce tenants is most likely to exceed supply this year. As expected, construction is picking up, with metros such as Chicago and Atlanta leading the…

USDOT Identifies 26 Projects To Receive $1.5 Billion: PortMiami Among Grant Beneficiaries

The Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure on Tuesday released a list of 26 projects selected by the U.S. Department of Transportation to receive a total of approximately $1.5 billion in grants. Among the awards are a proposed $25.5 million to go to the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority for the Packer Avenue Marine Terminal capacity and warehouse relocation project; $7 million to…

Romero Britto sues to break Lincoln Road lease, citing raucous atmosphere

Nearly three years after signing a lease for a new gallery space at 532 Lincoln Road, global artist Romero Britto wants out, citing a raucous atmosphere, according to a lawsuit against his landlord, Denison Corporation, an entity controlled by the family of Bob Quittner. But Britto’s efforts to break a 10-year lease with Denison hit a snag when Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Thomas Rebull rejected an…

Greenstreet joins Related and Block Capital’s Wynwood project as equity partner

The Related Group and Block Capital Group secured more than $53 million for the Bradley, a mixed-use project they’re building in Wynwood. The developers closed on a $33.18 million construction loan from Santander Bank and received $20 million in preferred equity from Greenstreet Real Estate Partners, according to HFF. HFF’s Scott Wadler and Jesse Wright arranged the financing. The Bradley…

Brazil’s Dayan family pays $23M for industrial property near Miami airport

One of Brazil’s wealthiest families just paid $22.75 million for the leasehold interest in an industrial property near Miami International Airport. IStar sold the 212,000-square-foot property at 3630 NW 25th Street, 3500 NW 24th Street, and 2401 Northwest 36th Avenue to the Dayan family, which has a controlling interest in Bazilian-based Banco Daycoval S.A. The family paid about $107 per…

Turnberry and Simon, Owners of Top-Grossing Aventura Mall, Complete $1.75 Billion Refinancing

Turnberry Associates and Simon Properties completed a $1.75 billion refinancing of Aventura Mall in Aventura, Florida, widely considered one of the three largest malls in U.S. at 2.7 million square feet. JPMorgan Chase Bank, Wells Fargo Bank, Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley Bank and provided the financing, with a potential single-borrower single asset securitized transaction contemplated in the near…

Video: RealPage VP Jay Parson on U.S. multifamily property outlook

In this video, RealPage Vice-President Jay Parsons, whose company provides property management software solutions, discusses multifamily property sector performance. Parson discusses rent growth, how the job market is impacting the sector, supply and demand trends, multifamily property property class outlook, new multifamily construction trends and costs of construction trends, cycle outlook…

Ex-mayor voted on issues involving Dezer family real estate investments while his wife worked for them

George Vallejo, who recently resigned as mayor of North Miami Beach, told prosecutors that his wife secretly worked for the Dezer family while he voted on issues involving their real estate investments, Miami New Times reported. Vallejo, 51, resigned as the city’s mayor after pleading guilty in April to using campaign donations…

Autonomous Vehicles, Hyperloop to Amplify Disruption in Built Environment

Dave CluteDave Clute is the chief marketing officer of CohesionIB, an intelligent building management platform. With 35 years of experience in architectural engineering, Clute brings a unique perspective to the commercial real estate and technology sectors. At Realcomm in Las Vegas, he shared insights around the impact of technology on transportation and parking demands.What’s your take…

Economy Watch: More Buildings Enter Planning Stage in May

Source: Dodge Data & Analytics Dodge Momentum Index, May 2018The Dodge Momentum Index inched upward in May, moving 1.8 percent higher to 167.8 (2000 = 100) from the revised April reading of 164.9, Dodge Data & Analytics reported on Thursday, June 7. The index is a monthly measure of the first report for nonresidential building projects in planning, which typically lead construction spending…

La Piaggia closes after settling with Murano at Portofino

Six months after curing building code violations and reopening its doors, La Piaggia is officially closed for business, The Real Deal has learned. This time, a landlord dispute ended the popular restaurant’s run in Miami Beach’s South-of-Fifth neighborhood, according to residents of Murano at Portofino, the condo tower at 1000 South Pointe Drive where La Piaggia was located. The unit owners, who…

Flower distributor takes 93,000 SF at Clarion’s Doral warehouse campus

Colour Republic owner Remi Davalos and the Westpointe Business Park
The closing of another large-scale lease is a sign that Miami-Dade County’s industrial market is in full bloom this year. Colour Republic, a wholesale flower seller and distributor, just agreed to lease 93,000 square feet of warehouse space at Clarion Partners’ Westpointe Business Park in Doral, marking the 12th-biggest lease inked in 2016. Commercial brokerage Transwestern announced the deal Tuesday.

South-of-Fifth revamped apartment building lists for $22 million

A 27-unit apartment building in Miami Beach’s South-of-Fifth neighborhood that can be used as short-term rentals — or converted to condos — just hit the market for $22 million. The mid-century modern, three-story building at 250 Collins Avenue was built in 1959 and was recently fully renovated, Gary Hennes, broker at Gary Hennes Realtors, told The Real Deal. Hennes is listing the building with agent…

Aria on the Bay and neighboring apartment building settle lawsuit

Aria on the Bay and a neighboring apartment building have settled a lawsuit tied to construction of the Miami condo tower. Bay Parc Plaza Apartments, at 1756 North Bayshore Drive, sued Bayshore Plaza I LLC (an entity controlled by the Melo family) and L&R Structural Corp.  in October over claims of “dangerous” construction debris, including…

Investment group files plans for boutique condo project in Edgewater

Despite warning signs of overbuilding in Miami’s condo market, developers are still filing plans for new projects in the burgeoning Edgewater neighborhood. In the latest round of projects up for city review, an investment group has sent in plans to build a boutique 34-unit residential tower in Edgewater called Ellipsis. Designed by Kobi Karp, the project would stand 13 stories tall at 708 Northeast 26th…

Sea-level rise at center of heated debate over future of North Beach’s historic designation

Property owners and business advocates used sea-level rise as an argument against designating North Beach neighborhoods historic during a contentious special Miami Beach City Commission meeting on Monday. Advocates and critics of the proposed historic districts hurled insults and accusations at each other during the four-hour workshop.

Canadian investors buy MiMo building with plans for micro condos

Micro condos may be headed to Biscayne Boulevard, close to the MiMo district. Canadian investors just paid $3.725 million for a 23-unit apartment building — plus air rights — at 5201 Biscayne Boulevard, with plans to add additional stories and convert the building into micro condos, broker Ness Ohayon told The Real Deal. Ohayon, owner and CEO of Witt Realty Group, which is part of Keller Williams…

Related-led partnership closes on Wynwood development site for $12 million

With design approvals already in hand, the Related Group appears to be steaming forward with its planned Wynwood 29 mixed-use tower. The developer just closed its purchase of the land it needs to build the project for $12 million. County records show a Related-controlled company bought roughly 1.2 acres at the intersection of Northwest First Avenue and Northwest 28th Street. The seller was…

Gables commercial building sells for $3 million

Brokerage firm Avison Young announced the sale of a mixed-use building in the commercial heart of Coral Gables for $3 million. Michael T. Fay, the Miami-based principal and managing director of Avison Young, and associate Myles Stepner represented the seller. The 4,818-square-foot building at 178 Giralda Avenue in the central business district of Coral Gables sold for $623 per square foot. Fernando…

Miami residents to vote on Jungle Island lease extension, redevelopment

Jungle Island’s proposed lease extension and hotel development will go to city of Miami voters in August. The Miami City Commission on Friday unanimously approved putting the referendum on the August ballot. ESJ Capital Partners is leasing the land at 1111 Parrot Jungle Trail. The hotel would be limited to 300 rooms and 130 feet tall. The proposed lease extension protects the city from delays by giving…

Prudential sues South Beach club Ora for nearly $5 million

After missing a settlement payment of $43,000, a former commercial tenant of the boutique condo-hotel Boulan South Beach is now facing a demand for nearly $5 million by an affiliate of Prudential Financial, according to a recently filed lawsuit in Miami-Dade Circuit Court. The lawsuit centers around the ground-floor space of 2000 Collins Avenue in Miami Beach that until April housed Ora nightclub.

Turnberry and Simon score $1.75 billion refinancing for Aventura Mall

Turnberry Associates and Simon Property Group just closed on a $1.75 billion refinancing of Aventura Mall. The financing was provided by JPMorgan Chase Bank, Wells Fargo Bank, Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley Bank and closed on Thursday, according to a release. The loan will be used to pay off a $1.2 billion commercial mortgage-backed securities loan that the joint venture between Turnberry…

Sorbillo Pizzeria will open its first location in the Southeastern U.S. in Miami Beach’s South-of-Fifth, other restaurant news

Sorbillo Pizzeria will open its first location in the Southeastern U.S. in Miami Beach’s South-of-Fifth neighborhood in September, The Real Deal has learned. The restaurant signed a lease at 100 Collins Avenue, said Noah Fox of Koniver Stern Group, who represented Myles Chefetz, the owner of the property. The 2,500-square-foot space, next door to Chefetz’s Prime Fish, most recently housed Craft Social…

Michael Simkins sells warehouse in northwest Miami-Dade to financial technology firm

Michael Simkins just sold a warehouse in northwest Miami-Dade for $5.25 million to a California financial technology company that specializes in administering EB-5 projects. NES Financial, a San Francisco-based company that provides back office services for complex financial transactions, bought the property at 6955 Northwest 52nd Street from Simkins. Simkins, the president and CEO of Innovate…

Bulk investor lists units near University of Miami for $11 million

An Alaskan investor is looking to sell a bulk condo deal near the University of Miami for $11.2 million, or about $287,000 per unit. Property records show 4831 LLC, a company controlled by Albert Siefert of Alaska, paid about $9 million for the condos at Gables Court, at 6811 Southwest 44th Street in Miami, in 2013. The units, a combination of two- and three-bedroom apartments averaging…

South Florida’s Innermost Suburbs Benefit from Affordable Housing Shortage

It is no secret that South Florida has an affordable housing problem. With new households forming faster than affordable housing units can be built, existing affordable properties have seen strong demand. While rent growth has slowed dramatically for newly constructed communities, affordable properties in the innermost suburbs are now seeing some of the highest rent growth of the cycle. The areas…

Economy Watch: Technology, Taxes to Significantly Impact Economy

According to the 2018 Akerman U.S. Real Estate Sector survey, which major law firm Akerman LLP released on June 6, the most active real estate market segment is multifamily, according to 63 percent of the survey’s respondents. That marks a significant reversal from 2017, when 43 percent of CRE executives predicted single-family homebuilding would outpace multifamily development.Akerman findings…

CRE Tech, Innovation in the Age of Acceleration

Bob Sulentic and Jim YoungAs evinced by Realcomm’s central theme—navigating the age of acceleration—it is crucial for real estate professionals to keep pace with the technological advancements that are rapidly transforming the industry. Now in its 20th year, the conference brought together innovators in commercial and corporate real estate, technology, automation and innovation.In the two…

Viacom to move to MiamiCentral, other leasing news

Florida East Coast Industries announced that Viacom Inc. recently signed a lease for 24,000 square feet on the 12th floor of 3 MiamiCentral, bringing the building to 95 percent occupancy. Viacom’s MTV Latin America plans to move its headquarters to the downtown Miami development. The Confederation of North Central America and Caribbean Association…

J. Milton plans resi tower with 500-plus units in Miami’s A&E District

It could get crowded in Miami’s Arts and Entertainment District. Developer J. Milton and Associates wants to build a residential project with a maximum of 550 units and ground floor commercial space on a 1.7-acre site sandwiched between the Filling Station Lofts apartment building and the Canvas condo tower, both of which are being developed by NR Investments. Art Luxury Rentals LLC, which is…

Best Strategies for Landing the Perfect Anchor Retail Tenant

There are many areas to consider when strategizing which anchor tenant is the best fit for a new project. For developers trying to secure an anchor tenant, quality is key.  If tenants lack significant credit, the next thing to consider is the number of other stores, their performance in similar markets and how well the proposed anchor will complement existing tenants and the surrounding area…

Boosting ROI With the Right Balance of Smart Tech

In today’s competitive market, integrating “smart” devices and high-tech building management systems is essential to attracting and retaining renters. Research shows that “smart” apartments appeal to “smart” renters regardless of age: 86 percent of Millennials surveyed by Schlage say they’re willing to pay more for an apartment equipped with automated or remotely controlled devices; and 65 percent of…

Office Owners Elevate Their Amenity Game

Amenities have been critical to the hospitality sector for decades, with hotel owners often having only one night to impress their guests and maintain a good reputation. But as technology has advanced to offer consumers constant connectivity and mobility, the office sector has had to boost its offerings, as well, to compete with today’s seemingly endless alternatives of where and how to work. With the…

Rents Remain Strong Despite Growth Decrease

Multifamily rents have again risen $4 to $1,381, up $14 over the last three months. Although this has produced a 1.1 percent year-to-date increase through May, the growth is showing to be much weaker than usual in the current cycle. The year-over-year increase has hit its lowest point over the last seven years, falling by 2 percent and down 70 basis points. Despite the decrease, rents continue to grow in…

Melo closes $85M construction loan for Art Plaza apartments

Melo Group closed on an $85 million construction loan for two apartment towers north of downtown Miami. Ocean Bank is providing the financing for Art Plaza, two 34-story buildings with 667 multifamily units under construction at 58 Northeast 14th Street, in Miami’s Arts & Entertainment District. The development is slated to open in mid 2019, according to a press release. Art Plaza will include 577 two…

153,000 SF Tenant Inks Deal At Gratigny Industrial Park

The 10-year lease deal is valued at $12,000,000. “We have been encouraging FPD for some time to consolidate into one facility, but timing and finding the right available facility proved challenging,” explained Cook. “Ultimately, we called Easton & Associates, which had a building that fit FPD’s needs, but it wasn’t available. We pressed Jim Armstrong, the listing agent, to contact the building owners…”

Amazon’s major Miami fulfillment hub nearly done

Construction of the 855,000-square-foot Amazon fulfillment center at the Carrie Meek International Business Park is nearing completion. The Amazon center is the first of three phases. The second is a 280,000-square-foot industrial building. The final phase is a 5,000-square-foot headquarters for the Carrie Meek Foundation. The project will total more than 1 million square feet. All the buildings…

Miami Apartment Developer Secures $85M Construction Loan

Melo Group said it has secured an $85 million construction loan from Ocean Bank to build the Art Plaza Apartments, a planned 667-unit, transit-oriented development in downtown Miami. Art Plaza, at 58 NE 14th St., will feature two 34-story towers with ground-floor retail and restaurants. Amenities will include a resort-style swimming pool, a fitness center, a social room and security-controlled remote access.

Residents to vote on incorporating new city between Aventura and North Miami Beach

A section of Northeast Miami-Dade with more than $1 billion of real estate could become its own city if residents vote in favor of it during a special election in November. Miami-Dade commissioners approved the election on Tuesday, according to the Miami Herald. It would give the 20,000 residents in the area, which includes Highland Lakes, Skylake and the previously incorporated Ojus, a say in the proposed…

All rise: Miami-Dade commission restarts bidding process to build new courthouse

It’s a do-over. The Miami-Dade County Commission will restart the bidding process for developers interested in building a new civil courthouse in downtown Miami. Commissioners on Tuesday approved a resolution sponsored by commissioner Sally Heyman to allow a partnership led by Florida East Coast Industries to continue bidding on its proposal to build a new courthouse alongside the old circa…

Construction company sues Jockey Club III over allegedly unpaid bill

Another legal battle is brewing at the Jockey Club condo complex in northeast Miami-Dade. North Bay Village-based AG Contractors Corp. last month sued Jockey Club III Association in Miami-Dade Circuit Court for nonpayment of construction services that commenced in 2016. During that time, Jockey Club III’s condo board and the associations for the other two towers at 11111 Biscayne Boulevard have…

Melo closes $85M construction loan for Art Plaza apartments

Melo Group closed on an $85 million construction loan for two apartment towers north of downtown Miami. Ocean Bank is providing the financing for Art Plaza, two 34-story buildings with 667 multifamily units under construction at 58 Northeast 14th Street, in Miami’s Arts & Entertainment District. The development is slated to open in mid 2019, according to a press release. Art Plaza will include 577 two…

Special meeting targets Jungle Island lease on Watson Island

Miami city commissioners will be playing a version of Beat the Clock on June 8 when they hold a special meeting to get a property lease before voters on the August primary election ballot. It involves Jungle Island and plan to build a hotel as part of a multi-million-dollar redevelopment of the animal theme park on city-owned Watson Island. The special meeting begins at 10:30 a.m. at City Hall. City…

Bird Square Plaza Lands $10 Million Refi

Su Investment Corp. has secured $10 million to refinance Bird Square Plaza, a Fresco y Más-anchored shopping center in Miami. CBRE’s Capital Markets Debt & Structured Finance practice arranged the non-recourse, 20-year term loan through a correspondent life insurance company. The loan includes a low interest rate and the ability to advance future funds at various times throughout the loan term.

Ocean Bank Lends $85M for Development of Miami Resi Towers

Ocean Bank provided Miami-based real estate developer Melo Group with a $85 million loan to aid in development of Art Plaza Apartments, a multifamily complex currently under construction just north of Downtown Miami, according to a press release Tuesday announcing the deal. The planned development includes two, 34-story towers and 667 multifamily units at 58 Northeast 14th Street in…

Miami Logistics Park Bolsters Occupancy

Cushman & Wakefield has negotiated a 68,787-square-foot lease expansion at Airport North Logistics Park (ALP), a master-planned industrial complex encompassing 900,000 square feet of Class A space in Medley, Fla. Neutralogistics currently occupies 105,920 square feet at Building 1 and will be expanding into Building 2. The deal brings the property to 75 percent occupancy. Located at 8501-8503…

50K SF Industrial Lease for AAR Aircraft Arranged in Miami

A South Florida industrial team has secured a long-term lease for 50,000 square feet at Miami International Commerce Center (MICC), a 3.5 million-square-foot industrial park in Doral, Fla. The company worked on behalf of the landlord, PS Business Parks Inc., while NKF represented the tenant. AAR Aircraft Services relocated its headquarters at 7850 N.W. 25th St., just a few miles from Miami International…

In Miami, Signs Of A Condo Glut

While the housing market around the country is still benefiting from demand outweighing supply, the opposite is happening in Miami. “We are beginning to see the effects of market corrections,” Miami-Dade County property appraiser Pedro Garcia wrote in a May 31 report. The market downturn is evident primarily with condominiums and high-value, single-family residential properties in…

Key Biscayne drops suit of Miami over Virginia Key

A 3-year-old lawsuit between the Village of Key Biscayne and the City of Miami about uses on Virginia Key is history. On May 11, an attorney for Key Biscayne filed in circuit court a Notice of Voluntary Dismissal without Prejudice in the case of Village of Key Biscayne vs. City of Miami and the National Marine Manufacturer’s Association Inc. The dismissal of the lingering litigation has left players on both…

Gold Medal Awards to six, Tibor Hollo named Lifetime Achiever

Three accomplished individuals and three prominent organizations accepted Gold Medal honors highlighting their outstanding contributions to Greater Miami at Miami Today’s Gold Medal Awards dinner. During the star-studded May 24 ceremony at Jungle Island that also marked Miami Today’s 35th anniversary, longtime development leader Tibor Hollo, the founder of Florida East Coast Realty…

Federal Reserve Bank focuses on Miami’s economy

Florida’s construction business is booming, while job prospects continue to decline in information, the most recent statewide employment index from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta shows. Statewide construction employment, which averaged 17.4% growth in the first quarter of 2018, has remained steady since rebounding from a fourth-quarter dip last year. Between January and March, about 16,800…

Baskir Capital buys Fogo de Chao building in Miami Beach’s South of Fifth

Baskir Capital Management just paid $15.25 million for a retail building in Miami Beach’s South-of-Fifth neighborhood, leased to the Brazilian steakhouse Fogo de Chao. The New York-based private equity firm bought the building at 836 First Street from a partnership controlled by restaurateur Myles Chefetz, Lyle Stern, Nelson Fox and Durfee Day, said Noah Fox of Koniver Stern Group. The seller was…

Despite Record New Development, Miami’s Office Vacancy Remains Low

According to Transwestern, Miami-Dade County’s office market continued to reflect near record-low vacancy in first quarter 2018, posting at 12.3 percent. Consistently low vacancy over the past several quarters has prompted the highest levels of new construction since 2010, with 811,731 square feet under construction as of first quarter. “Though construction activity in Miami-Dade has increased dramatically…

Logistics Company Relocates From Hialeah To Doral, Inking 44,000 SF Lease

Transwestern’s South Florida industrial team announced it negotiated a new lease for 44,160 square feet on behalf of Esquire Logisitics Inc., a leading provider of warehouse logistics, air freight, and white-glove shipping. The tenant will relocate from Miami-Dade County’s Hialeah submarket to Miami International Commerce Center (MICC), a 3.5 million-square-foot industrial park at 8272 NW 21st St. in Doral.

South Florida is coming off its EB-5 addiction

A program that was once described as the “crack cocaine of real estate financing” no longer seems to hold the same addiction for South Florida’s developers. In 2014 and 2015, Rodrigo Azpurua’s Riviera Point Development Group financed two projects entirely with capital raised from the EB-5 program, which gives foreign investors a green card in exchange for investing in job-creating U.S. projects. At the…

Prestige Builders Group seeks rezoning to build 212 apartments in Hialeah

An affiliate of Miami Lakes-based Prestige Builders Group proposed a development at 7755 West 4th Avenue in Hialeah that would replace an industrial property in Hialeah with 212 apartments. The affiliate of Prestige Builders, Hialeah 7.65 LLC, applied to Hialeah’s municipal government to build a nine-building apartment complex on the site of a 62-year-old industrial building. The developer paid…

Owner of nearly 70 acres in West Kendall proposes major mixed-use development

The owner of a 69.85-acre site in southwest Miami-Dade County proposed a major development on the vacant land that would include apartments, hotel rooms, retail stores and office space. KTC SW 88th Street LLC filed a pre-application with the county government to develop the southwest corner of Southwest 88th Street and Southwest 158th Avenue in West Kendall, near West Kendall Baptist…

Retail’s revolving door

Simon Property Group is dedicating much of its focus to outlet malls like Chicago Premium Outlets in Aurora, Illinois, pictured. The onslaught of retail bankruptcies and store closings in the past year has mall owners in a mad dash to fill hundreds of vacant spaces. The mall owner with the largest holdings nationwide, Simon Property Group (SPG), is no exception. During a 12-month span, dozens of…

Renderings revealed: One Thousand Museum, 5000 North Ocean, more

The Zaha Hadid-designed One Thousand Museum is bringing back the heliport. The helicopter-friendly condo building will be the only residential tower on the East Coast to have a heliport, according to the developers. The development team, led by Gregg Covin, Louis Birdman and Kevin Venger, topped out the 62-story tower earlier this year. Prices at the 83-unit tower range from $5.5…

Cipriani to open first hotel in the Southeastern US in Coconut Grove: sources

The Cipriani family is bringing its Italian luxury brand to Miami’s Coconut Grove, sources told The Real Deal. The famed family will operate the 98-room hotel, which is currently under construction, at 3401 and 3405 Main Highway, adjacent and behind the Engle Building. The property, at the corner of MacFarlane Road and Main Highway, would be the first Cipriani hotel in the Southeastern U.S. In Miami, the…

Florida’s only private, residential helipad set to debut at One Thousand Museum

One Thousand Museum is Zaha Hadid’s final residential tower in the Western Hemisphere. Magic City residents just keep getting more and more forms of transportation. First, the Brightline train opened its doors May 19 to commuters traveling between Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties. Then, Brightline named Lyft as its exclusive ride share partner. Lime, the bike-sharing service…

Miami-Dade’s taxable property values rise in 2017 at a slower pace to $289B

Miami-Dade County’s taxable property values rose 6 percent to $288.86 billion in 2017, despite the condo market slowdown. The county’s property appraiser, Pedro J. Garcia, released the June 1 estimates, showing that property values are growing at a slower pace than in previous years. Garcia said in a release that the oversupply of condos put downward pressure on condo values, but that the short supply…

Hotel development ramps up in South Florida amid rising demand

Hotel construction is up in South Florida with a number of properties slated to come online this year, amid heightened demand following last year’s hurricanes. Nearly 4,200 new hotel rooms and 2.8 million square feet of space will be completed within the next two years in the tri-county area, according to Lodging Econometrics data analyzed by Colliers International South Florida. Of the total, 3,158 keys will…

South Florida’s residential construction booms in April, commercial plummets

For residential construction and commercial construction, South Florida was the tale of two markets in April. Residential construction in South Florida boomed, while commercial construction dropped off significantly in April compared to April 2017, according to a new report by Dodge Data & Analytics. Commercial construction starts decreased 42 percent in April to $316.2 million, while residential construction…

Sears to close another 72 US stores

Sears Holdings Corporation is set to close another 72 stores as the company attempts to stave off plummeting sales. While the retail giant has struggled to retain customers who are increasingly heading online to Amazon or seeking out Walmart stores, it has already closed hundreds of stores. With about a half-dozen stores in New York City, it is unclear which stores will shutter but the company is expected…

Concord Wilshire Sells Stake in Diplomat Resort in South Florida

A partnership that includes Concord Wilshire Cos. says it has sold the majority of its interest in the Diplomat Golf Resort & Spa in Hallandale Beach, FL for $43.25 million to a firm headed by developer Ari Pearl. The property at 501 Diplomat Pky has an 18-hole golf course, a 31,000-square-foot spa, a 48-slip marina, 10 clay tennis courts and a 60-key, AAA Five Diamond hotel. Concord Wilshire…

Louis Birdman, partners sell 127-acre Diplomat property in Hallandale for $43M

A partnership led by Louis Birdman sold the 127-acre Diplomat Golf & Tennis Club in Hallandale Beach to a company controlled by Ari Pearl for $43.25 million, property records show. Diplomat Golf Course Venture LLC, which includes Birdman, and Mike Meyers and Nate Sirang of California-based Concord Wilshire Companies, sold the property at 501 Diplomat Parkway to Maltese Diplomat Owner LLC…

The indestructible tenant?

It’s been called the “e-pocalypse”: the closing of so many brick-and-mortar stores because customers would rather get what they need with a click. But not every retailer seems to be swept up in the destruction. Discount retailers, which sell everything from spaghetti sauce and shampoo to sweatshirts — sometimes for as little as $1 — are not turning off the lights for good, like department stores and others.

Who Will Bankroll the $4B American Dream Miami?

American Dream Miami will rise in northwestern Miami-Dade County, with the first phase expected to open in 2023. Now that American Dream Miami has the blessing of county commissioners, the question becomes: How will the developer pay for the $4 billion behemoth? Triple Five Worldwide officials are revealing little about financing for the 5 million-square-foot planned mega…

Video: Jeremy Cohen of Hartman Simons discusses retail property legal trends

In this video from America’s Commercial Real Estate Show, Jeremy Cohen of leading commercial real estate law firm Hartman Simons discusses commercial real estate legal trends in retail properties. Among the topics that are discussed are the ICSC RECon 2018, new trends in retail and mixed-use development, changes in leases and lease clauses, parking related challenges, and trends in retail…

National Rents See Slow Season Start,Most Renter Mega-Hubs Up, Hollywood in Top 5

The national average rent was $1,381 in May 2018, having increased by 2 percent year over year, and by 0.3 percent ($4) month over month, according to data from Yardi Matrix. Rents increased in 79 percent of the nation’s biggest 250 cities in May, were unchanged in 17 percent of cities, and dropped in 4 percent of cities compared to May 2017. The top 25 fastest growing rents in the country are in small…