The Malaysia-based Genting Group has torn down the entrance to the former Miami Herald building and a two-story parking garage next door as they prep to build their mixed-use mega-development set for the site.
Genting plans a five-star hotel, luxury condos, restaurants, retail and an 800-foot promenade along 14 bayfront acres. The initial proposal called for an $3.8 billion casino, but that has been significantly scaled back. State legislators have yet to grant Genting a gambling license for Downtown Miami, according to the South Florida Business Journal.
Last month, Genting moved into the Omni Offices building at 1501 Biscayne Boulevard next door to the construction site, as previously reported.
Genting paid $236 million for the former Herald site. The newspaper moved from its former downtown location to Doral in May. [South Florida Business Journal] — Mark Maurer
The Criscitos has been selling South Florida luxury and commercial real estate for over a decade and has sold over $1 billion dollars of property. They work as a multi-lingual team speaking english, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. They carved out a niche as a leading boutique real estate company with two distinct divisions -residential and commercial- both personally overseeing by Marcela and Anthony Criscito.
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Venezuela leads Latin real estate splurge
The latest industry report reiterates what top residential realty brokers have been saying: Latin American buyers are essential to the local market.
Florida Realtors’ “2013 Profile of International Home Buyers in Florida” states 69% of international buyers in Miami are from Latin America or the Caribbean.
“They are major players,” said Lynda Fernandez, senior vice president of public relations for the Miami Association of Realtors.
Of the top six international markets for Miami-Dade residential realty, five are Latin American, she said.
Venezuela, which accounts for 22% of international buyers, leads the list. Argentina follows with 11%, then Brazil with 10% and Peru 9%. Canada and Colombia tie for fifth place with 6%.
The Miami-Miami Beach metropolitan area is the top destination in Florida for international realty buyers, according to the statewide report compiled during July and August and covering the previous 12 months.
Venezuelan buyers were especially drawn to the area. Their purchases, realtors said, were almost evenly split between single-family detached houses and condominiums or apartments, while about 6% bought commercial property.
Many chose property in central city or urban areas, as well as resort areas, according to the report, and the majority bought for rental or investment purposes, with fewer than 10% wanting vacation homes.
They paid median rates between $300,000 and $399,000, according to the report. About 33% of buyers bought homes worth more than $500,000. The mean price was $493,500.
Their investment was a significant driver in the local economy, market watchers say.
“Latin Americans real estate buyers were crucial in the market recovery and now continue to strengthen the vibrant Miami real estate market,” Ms. Fernandez said.
Sources:
http://www.miamitodaynews.com/2013/10/09/venezuela-leads-latin-real-estate-splurge/
Written by Samantha Joseph on October 9, 2013
Florida Realtors’ “2013 Profile of International Home Buyers in Florida” states 69% of international buyers in Miami are from Latin America or the Caribbean.
“They are major players,” said Lynda Fernandez, senior vice president of public relations for the Miami Association of Realtors.
Of the top six international markets for Miami-Dade residential realty, five are Latin American, she said.
Venezuela, which accounts for 22% of international buyers, leads the list. Argentina follows with 11%, then Brazil with 10% and Peru 9%. Canada and Colombia tie for fifth place with 6%.
The Miami-Miami Beach metropolitan area is the top destination in Florida for international realty buyers, according to the statewide report compiled during July and August and covering the previous 12 months.
Venezuelan buyers were especially drawn to the area. Their purchases, realtors said, were almost evenly split between single-family detached houses and condominiums or apartments, while about 6% bought commercial property.
Many chose property in central city or urban areas, as well as resort areas, according to the report, and the majority bought for rental or investment purposes, with fewer than 10% wanting vacation homes.
They paid median rates between $300,000 and $399,000, according to the report. About 33% of buyers bought homes worth more than $500,000. The mean price was $493,500.
Their investment was a significant driver in the local economy, market watchers say.
“Latin Americans real estate buyers were crucial in the market recovery and now continue to strengthen the vibrant Miami real estate market,” Ms. Fernandez said.
Sources:
http://www.miamitodaynews.com/2013/10/09/venezuela-leads-latin-real-estate-splurge/
Written by Samantha Joseph on October 9, 2013
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
South Florida home prices and sales rose in September
Juiced by foreign buyers and investors, South Florida’s housing market registered strong gains in September.
The latest price and sales increases — mirroring a string of similar results in prior months — underscore a solid housing recovery for a region hard-hit by the real estate crash.
The median price of a single-family home in Miami-Dade County jumped 18.4 percent in September to $225,000 from $190,000 a year earlier, while the median condo price rose 21.3 percent year over year to $181,875 from $150,000, according to the Miami Association of Realtors.
In Broward, the median price for a single-family home jumped 31.7 percent in September to $270,000 from $205,000 a year earlier, and was up 18 percent to $104,999 from $89,000 for condos and townhouses year over year, according to the Greater Fort Lauderdale Realtors.
Sales of Miami-Dade single-family homes rose by 21.8 percent with 1,108 closings in September, up from 910 a year earlier, while Miami-Dade condo sales increased 4.6 percent to 1,352 closings from 1,292 a year earlier.
Miami-Dade — ground zero during the real estate bust — has now chalked up 27 consecutive months of year-over-year price increases for condominiums and 22 months of year-over-year price increases for single-family homes.
The housing market kept humming in Broward County, as well.
Sales of Broward single-family homes rose 13.4 percent in September to 1,211 from 1,068 a year earlier, and condo sales rose 6.6 percent to 1,252 units from 1,174 a year earlier.
“Everything is still trending up,” said Stephen B. McWilliam, president and broker at Florida StateRealty Group in Fort Lauderdale and immediate past president of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Realtors.
Cash continues to be king: 71 percent of Miami-Dade condo closings in September were cash deals.
“It’s putting a lot of strain on buyers with 5 percent or 10 percent down. They can’t have choices,” said Michael Davalos, an agent with Coldwell Banker in Miami Beach who just helped a buyer nail a deal on a foreclosed house after a protracted search.
Eric Schneider, a first-time homebuyer who was looking to put down 20 percent, said he made several offers in the past eight months that didn’t pan out before he finally clinched a foreclosed property in the Richmond Heights neighborhood. “Certainly, at times, there’s been a lot of competition,” said Schneider, who works in healthcare.
Inventory remained relatively tight in both counties during September, although the supply of Miami-Dade condos listed for sale jumped 20.5 percent to 8,970 units from 7,442 units a year earlier. That amounted to a 6.3-month supply, up from a 5.6-month supply in September 2012. Meanwhile, condos newly listed in Miami-Dade in September totaled 2,727, up from 2,212 a year earlier.
“It’s moving toward a more balanced market for condominiums,” said Lynda Fernandez, a spokeswoman for the Miami Realtors.
The inventory of Miami-Dade single-family homes rose 4.8 percent in September from a year earlier. With homes selling at a rapid clip, that amounted to just a 4.9-month supply in September, or 4.9 times the number of homes sold, down from a 5.6-month of supply a year earlier.
A supply of less than six months is typically regarded as a sellers’ market, in which sellers can call the shots and prices rise at a brisk pace.
Single-family homes in Miami-Dade took a median of 41 days to sell, compared with 42 days a year earlier.
In Broward, amid tight inventory and robust demand, the median period to sell a home was 27 days, down from 42 days in September 2012.
The number of homes listed for sale on the Multiple Listing Service in Broward in September was 4,737, up 0.9 percent from 4,693 a year earlier. That is just a 3.8-month supply, or 3.8 times as many homes on the market as were sold in a month, down from a 4.2-month supply a year earlier.
The inventory of condos for sale rose 9 percent to 6,430 from 5,901. But with units selling quickly, the supply inched up to 4.6 months in September from 4.4 months a year earlier. That is still a very tight supply.
Condos in Broward sold at a median pace of 36 days in September, down from 38 days a year earlier.
“We certainly have a shortage of inventory, which is leading to price increases,” said Philip Vias, a broker associate with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Realty in Fort Lauderdale. Homebuyers are motivated, he said, as “they have seen the prices go up and the interest rates are so low.” It’s a great time to buy.”
While the year-over-year gains remain strong, both Miami-Dade and Broward sales softened from the peak summer month of August.
The median prices for both single-family homes and condos in Miami-Dade were down 4.3 percent in September from August. The volume of condo sales dropped 15 percent month-to-month, while single-family home sales were down 8.4 percent from August to September. “We think that year-over-year comparisons are more meaningful. There are fluctuations month-to-month,” Miami Realtors’ Fernandez said.
Compared with August, the median price of a Broward single-family home in September was essentially flat, while the median price of a condo fell 11 percent. Sales of condos were down 17 percent from 1,513 closings in August, and single-family home sales dropped 13 percent month to month, from 1,396 closings in August. Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/10/21/v-fullstory/3702589/broward-existing-home-prices-and.html
The latest price and sales increases — mirroring a string of similar results in prior months — underscore a solid housing recovery for a region hard-hit by the real estate crash.
The median price of a single-family home in Miami-Dade County jumped 18.4 percent in September to $225,000 from $190,000 a year earlier, while the median condo price rose 21.3 percent year over year to $181,875 from $150,000, according to the Miami Association of Realtors.
In Broward, the median price for a single-family home jumped 31.7 percent in September to $270,000 from $205,000 a year earlier, and was up 18 percent to $104,999 from $89,000 for condos and townhouses year over year, according to the Greater Fort Lauderdale Realtors.
Sales of Miami-Dade single-family homes rose by 21.8 percent with 1,108 closings in September, up from 910 a year earlier, while Miami-Dade condo sales increased 4.6 percent to 1,352 closings from 1,292 a year earlier.
Miami-Dade — ground zero during the real estate bust — has now chalked up 27 consecutive months of year-over-year price increases for condominiums and 22 months of year-over-year price increases for single-family homes.
The housing market kept humming in Broward County, as well.
Sales of Broward single-family homes rose 13.4 percent in September to 1,211 from 1,068 a year earlier, and condo sales rose 6.6 percent to 1,252 units from 1,174 a year earlier.
“Everything is still trending up,” said Stephen B. McWilliam, president and broker at Florida StateRealty Group in Fort Lauderdale and immediate past president of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Realtors.
Cash continues to be king: 71 percent of Miami-Dade condo closings in September were cash deals.
“It’s putting a lot of strain on buyers with 5 percent or 10 percent down. They can’t have choices,” said Michael Davalos, an agent with Coldwell Banker in Miami Beach who just helped a buyer nail a deal on a foreclosed house after a protracted search.
Eric Schneider, a first-time homebuyer who was looking to put down 20 percent, said he made several offers in the past eight months that didn’t pan out before he finally clinched a foreclosed property in the Richmond Heights neighborhood. “Certainly, at times, there’s been a lot of competition,” said Schneider, who works in healthcare.
Inventory remained relatively tight in both counties during September, although the supply of Miami-Dade condos listed for sale jumped 20.5 percent to 8,970 units from 7,442 units a year earlier. That amounted to a 6.3-month supply, up from a 5.6-month supply in September 2012. Meanwhile, condos newly listed in Miami-Dade in September totaled 2,727, up from 2,212 a year earlier.
“It’s moving toward a more balanced market for condominiums,” said Lynda Fernandez, a spokeswoman for the Miami Realtors.
The inventory of Miami-Dade single-family homes rose 4.8 percent in September from a year earlier. With homes selling at a rapid clip, that amounted to just a 4.9-month supply in September, or 4.9 times the number of homes sold, down from a 5.6-month of supply a year earlier.
A supply of less than six months is typically regarded as a sellers’ market, in which sellers can call the shots and prices rise at a brisk pace.
Single-family homes in Miami-Dade took a median of 41 days to sell, compared with 42 days a year earlier.
In Broward, amid tight inventory and robust demand, the median period to sell a home was 27 days, down from 42 days in September 2012.
The number of homes listed for sale on the Multiple Listing Service in Broward in September was 4,737, up 0.9 percent from 4,693 a year earlier. That is just a 3.8-month supply, or 3.8 times as many homes on the market as were sold in a month, down from a 4.2-month supply a year earlier.
The inventory of condos for sale rose 9 percent to 6,430 from 5,901. But with units selling quickly, the supply inched up to 4.6 months in September from 4.4 months a year earlier. That is still a very tight supply.
Condos in Broward sold at a median pace of 36 days in September, down from 38 days a year earlier.
“We certainly have a shortage of inventory, which is leading to price increases,” said Philip Vias, a broker associate with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Realty in Fort Lauderdale. Homebuyers are motivated, he said, as “they have seen the prices go up and the interest rates are so low.” It’s a great time to buy.”
While the year-over-year gains remain strong, both Miami-Dade and Broward sales softened from the peak summer month of August.
The median prices for both single-family homes and condos in Miami-Dade were down 4.3 percent in September from August. The volume of condo sales dropped 15 percent month-to-month, while single-family home sales were down 8.4 percent from August to September. “We think that year-over-year comparisons are more meaningful. There are fluctuations month-to-month,” Miami Realtors’ Fernandez said.
Compared with August, the median price of a Broward single-family home in September was essentially flat, while the median price of a condo fell 11 percent. Sales of condos were down 17 percent from 1,513 closings in August, and single-family home sales dropped 13 percent month to month, from 1,396 closings in August. Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/10/21/v-fullstory/3702589/broward-existing-home-prices-and.html
By Martha Brannigan
mbrannigan@MiamiHerald.com
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Will Rising Rents Send Industrial Users North of Miami?
As a new social season begins on Miami Beach, renowned chefs, restaurateurs, real estate developers and hoteliers continue to invest in the city; bringing their businesses and brands here as Miami Beach ups its game, attracting an increased number of global (and U.S.) residents who are putting down stakes - and visitors who are curious about this city by the sea that is buzzed about everywhere. Brand Miami Beach has truly become an IT destination. And the numbers tell the story: Over a dozen celebrity chefs call Miami Beach home; 50 new restaurants and 13 new hotels have opened or are slated to open this year and luxury condo buildings are going up every few months. Miami Beach is a lightning rod - a beacon - and just when you thought it couldn't get any sexier or hotter, the culinary, real estate and arts scenes - among others - continues to explode. As the 2013-14 season opens, "New" is the code word all over the city.
"Year on year Miami Beach is becoming a global city, a force to be reckoned with in the real estate, hotel, restaurant and entertainment businesses," says Jeff Lehman, Chair, Miami Beach Visitor and Convention Authority (MBVCA). "No longer just a beach town, Miami Beach has evolved into a complex, urbane, chic city that is attracting the best-of-the-best around the world. Becoming more erudite and refined, this city is maturing before the world's eyes."
Miami Beach never disappoints. It is a city full of surprises, an evolving scene, a plethora of hotel, restaurant and event offerings and of course, Art Basel.... Season 2013-14 will be no different as globally recognized hotel brands - Marriott, Hyatt; celebrities, new restaurants by award-winning chefs - Michael Mina 74, Lure Fishbar; European imports - Laduree - and ultra luxe condo towers open their doors and/or put down roots on Miami Beach. The city's popularity and appeal has businesses and celebs flocking from Las Vegas, Chicago, New York and Paris.
Below is an overview of What's Hot, What's New on Miami Beach, Season 2013-14:
As a new social season begins on Miami Beach, renowned chefs, restaurateurs, real estate developers and hoteliers continue to invest in the city; bringing their businesses and brands here as Miami Beach ups its game, attracting an increased number of global (and U.S.) residents who are putting down stakes - and visitors who are curious about this city by the sea that is buzzed about everywhere. Brand Miami Beach has truly become an IT destination. And the numbers tell the story: Over a dozen celebrity chefs call Miami Beach home; 50 new restaurants and 13 new hotels have opened or are slated to open this year and luxury condo buildings are going up every few months. Miami Beach is a lightning rod - a beacon - and just when you thought it couldn't get any sexier or hotter, the culinary, real estate and arts scenes - among others - continues to explode. As the 2013-14 season opens, "New" is the code word all over the city.
"Year on year Miami Beach is becoming a global city, a force to be reckoned with in the real estate, hotel, restaurant and entertainment businesses," says Jeff Lehman, Chair, Miami Beach Visitor and Convention Authority (MBVCA). "No longer just a beach town, Miami Beach has evolved into a complex, urbane, chic city that is attracting the best-of-the-best around the world. Becoming more erudite and refined, this city is maturing before the world's eyes."
Miami Beach never disappoints. It is a city full of surprises, an evolving scene, a plethora of hotel, restaurant and event offerings and of course, Art Basel.... Season 2013-14 will be no different as globally recognized hotel brands - Marriott, Hyatt; celebrities, new restaurants by award-winning chefs - Michael Mina 74, Lure Fishbar; European imports - Laduree - and ultra luxe condo towers open their doors and/or put down roots on Miami Beach. The city's popularity and appeal has businesses and celebs flocking from Las Vegas, Chicago, New York and Paris.
Below is an overview of What's Hot, What's New on Miami Beach, Season 2013-14:
MIAMI—PortMiami is preparing for the giant cargo ships that will start traversing a deeper, wider Panama Canal in 2015. How will the increased number of containers affect the industrial market in South Florida? And how competitive will Miami be with other ports in Florida and the United States?
GlobeSt.com caught up with, Edward W. Easton, chairman of The Easton Group in Miami, to get some answers. With four decades of experience in commercial real estate and a solid focus on the industrial market, he has some clear thoughts on where we're headed.
GlobeSt.com: Just how massive are the preparations for the expansion of the Panama Canal?
Easton: The upgrades are major, about $2 billion in total. The PortMiami paid $43 million for four super-sized cranes that can handle cargo ships that each carry up to 18,000 containers versus 8,000 today.
Local government is spending $550 million on a tunnel that will enable tractor-trailers to go from the port directly to Interstate 95. Government entities are spending $122 million to deepen the PortMiami channel to 50 feet; that will make the port only one of three on the East Coast at that depth and the only one south of Norfolk, VA. The Florida East Coast Railway connector to the port is coming back on line.
GlobeSt.com: What’s the likely impact on South Florida of these massive improvements?
Easton: We should see at least a 3% improvement in the local industrial economy. There will be more industrial park tenants as more goods pass through the port and are distributed in in the northeast corridor of the United States or shipped to Latin America.
The Asia Pacific region accounts for 35% of port trade now and that should double once the canal and port are enlarged. As a result, existing companies will expand and new companies will open here to hold that cargo until it’s distributed.
GlobeSt.com: How will the increased activity affect the industrial market?
Easton: Initially, rents will go up from the current average of about $7 per square foot. Once we get to a full position from the current 94% occupancy rate, developers will start construction. However, the rents on these new buildings will be higher because of higher land and operating costs. I predict we will see rents of $9 per square foot within three years.
GlobeSt.com: Will higher rents send companies looking for cheaper space?
Easton: No. Tenants won’t move out of Miami-Dade County because any savings from lower rents would be more than offset by higher trucking costs. Plus, Port Everglades and Port of Palm Beach don’t have the infrastructure.
Just as important, the international market operates here, not in Broward and Palm Beach. Companies in Latin and South America are comfortable doing business in Miami for language and cultural reasons.
Source: http://www.globest.com/news/12_713/miami/industrial/Will-Rising-Rents-Send-Industrial-Users-North-of-Miami-338636.html
By Jennifer LeClaire | Miami
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Zaha Hadid's One Thousand Museum: A Futuristic Skyscraper In Downtown Miami
here are the massive, feature-laden, but ever-so-surprisingly-normal looking unit floor plans for starchitect Zaha Hadid's downtown Miami condo tower One Thousand Museum, thanks to an anonymous Curbed tipster. The building consists of half floor and full floor units, and, towards the bottom, two-level half floor townhouses.
The full floor units, about 11,000 square feet each, on levels 51-58, come in two flavors, one with most of the living space pushed towards the front of the unit, depriving the master bedroom of a water view, and the other with the living space shifted slightly more to the side for the sake of the master bedroom's water view. The half floor units are about 5,400 square feet, and the townhouses are 8,600 square feet. Balconies are spacious, luxe amenities like media rooms, midnight kitchens, store-sized closets, lofts, libraries, and big service rooms come standard. The lower floors include two-level townhouses with double height living and family areas and private elevators.
Source: http://miami.curbed.com/archives/2013/03/20/one-thousand-museum-floor-plans.php
Source: http://miami.curbed.com/archives/2013/03/20/one-thousand-museum-floor-plans.php
Super tall condo coming to Brickell
A New York developer who made headlines in Manhattan with plans to erect a super skyscraper is now planning to launch a very tall condominium on Brickell Avenue.
Kevin Maloney, founder and CEO of Property Markets Group, said the developer will start taking reservations next week for Echo Brickell, a luxury condominium at 1451 Brickell that will rise about 750 feet — or 60 stories — and include up to 250 units.
Maloney and Ryan Shear, managing partner of PMG in South Florida, held a focus group Thursday at International Sales Group, which will market the pre-construction project. They gathered some of Miami’s top real-estate brokers to sound out what the market wants in what would become the tallest residential building in Miami to date.
“The caché of this building is certainly the height and the view,” said Maloney, who separately expects to break ground in July on Echo Aventura, a 190-unit bayfront condo that launched sales last fall.
Uruguayan architect Carlos Ott is handling the conceptual design of the Echo Brickell building, which will feature larger units than typically seen on Brickell. Penthouses will likely span more than 7,000 square feet.
With Miami’s latest condominium boom gaining steam, Maloney said competition was keen for the 1451 Brickell site, which sits on the east side of the avenue and currently houses the sales center for the Brickell House project. Newgard Development Group is building the 46-story Brickell House at 1330 Brickell Bay Drive a few blocks away.
PMG recently signed a contract to purchase the Echo Brickell land from an investor who holds it through a corporation, 1451 Brickell Inc.
“We like the site. There is a ton of stuff coming out in Brickell,” said Shear. “We will be able to tell buyers you have an unobstructed bay view.”
Shear said the site is zoned for 48 stories, but the developer can buy rights to build much taller under the Miami 21 zoning code. Maloney said the building will be thinner as a result and lose some of its efficiency, but the height — and views — will lend it more pizazz.
The tallest building in Miami is the Four Seasons Hotel at 1441 Brickell Avenue next to the Echo Brickell site. The Four Seasons, which was completed a decade ago, rises 64 floors and 789 feet, according to Emporis, a firm that provides data on buildings.
Southeast Financial Center ranks No. 2, and No. 3 is 900 Biscayne, currently the tallest residential building.
To be sure, records are made to be broken. Among other things, Tibor Hollo’s One Bayfront Plaza, approved years ago for 100 South Biscayne Boulevard, is planned for 1,010 feet, but the timing of that mixed-use project remains uncertain. The building now on the site is full of tenants.
PMG envisions Echo Brickell will have high ceilings — 10, 12 and 14 feet — with the more expensive, upper floor units getting the most spacious heights.
If all goes well, PMG expects to break ground in the first quarter of 2014.
Craig Studnicky, principal of ISG, which is in charge of pre-construction sales, expects the project will appeal particularly to affluent Latin American families.
Maloney, a tall and lean fellow who competes in triathlons and commutes between New York and Miami piloting his own plane, seems to have an affinity for tall and lean projects.
PMG is a partner with JDS Development in a project to build a tall, thin tower at 107 West 57th Street. along one of midtown Manhattan’s major east-west streets. The joint venture last year bought the Steinway piano building next door at 109 West 57th, and plans to use the air rights of that historic structure to go higher at the 107 location. Just how high is subject to negotiation.
“We are committed to keeping the Steinway building and the landlord committments,” said Maloney, whose firm has done scores of projects since it was founded in 1991. The developers, he added, want to keep the Steinway name on the building. The landmark structure includes an ornate rotunda that has served as an elegant showroom for Steinway pianos for decades.
At the Brickell site, PMG plans to feature a swimming pool that covers an entire floor about halfway up the building, with a gym and spa above it. The developers plan to offer various options for units, which will be move-in ready.
The Echo Brickell project comes as Miami’s downtown and Brickell area alone has some 23 other towers in various stages of planning and development, according to Peter Zalewski, principal of Condo Vultures. Eight buildings are under construction in the downtown and Brickell area.
But developers and Realtors insist that the market isn’t heading for another bubble because both the financing and the buyers are more solid than in the last go-round.
Maloney said there is little opportunity for flipping pre-construction contracts, a speculative practice that added froth to the last market. And buyers putting up hefty deposits aren’t apt to renege on deals like the investors who put down 20 percent did when the bottom fell out of the market last time.
PMG plans to employ the buyer-financed model that has recently defined the Miami condo market: Buyers will be required to deposit 20 percent of the purchase price at contract signing. Another 10 percent is due at groundbreaking; 10 percent more, when pool level is reached, and 10 percent when the building is topped off. The 50 percent balance is due at closing.
Shear said an appealing touch for buyers is the developer will pay interest on the deposits. Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/04/02/3320065/miami-dade-property-appraiser.html
Kevin Maloney, founder and CEO of Property Markets Group, said the developer will start taking reservations next week for Echo Brickell, a luxury condominium at 1451 Brickell that will rise about 750 feet — or 60 stories — and include up to 250 units.
Maloney and Ryan Shear, managing partner of PMG in South Florida, held a focus group Thursday at International Sales Group, which will market the pre-construction project. They gathered some of Miami’s top real-estate brokers to sound out what the market wants in what would become the tallest residential building in Miami to date.
“The caché of this building is certainly the height and the view,” said Maloney, who separately expects to break ground in July on Echo Aventura, a 190-unit bayfront condo that launched sales last fall.
Uruguayan architect Carlos Ott is handling the conceptual design of the Echo Brickell building, which will feature larger units than typically seen on Brickell. Penthouses will likely span more than 7,000 square feet.
With Miami’s latest condominium boom gaining steam, Maloney said competition was keen for the 1451 Brickell site, which sits on the east side of the avenue and currently houses the sales center for the Brickell House project. Newgard Development Group is building the 46-story Brickell House at 1330 Brickell Bay Drive a few blocks away.
PMG recently signed a contract to purchase the Echo Brickell land from an investor who holds it through a corporation, 1451 Brickell Inc.
“We like the site. There is a ton of stuff coming out in Brickell,” said Shear. “We will be able to tell buyers you have an unobstructed bay view.”
Shear said the site is zoned for 48 stories, but the developer can buy rights to build much taller under the Miami 21 zoning code. Maloney said the building will be thinner as a result and lose some of its efficiency, but the height — and views — will lend it more pizazz.
The tallest building in Miami is the Four Seasons Hotel at 1441 Brickell Avenue next to the Echo Brickell site. The Four Seasons, which was completed a decade ago, rises 64 floors and 789 feet, according to Emporis, a firm that provides data on buildings.
Southeast Financial Center ranks No. 2, and No. 3 is 900 Biscayne, currently the tallest residential building.
To be sure, records are made to be broken. Among other things, Tibor Hollo’s One Bayfront Plaza, approved years ago for 100 South Biscayne Boulevard, is planned for 1,010 feet, but the timing of that mixed-use project remains uncertain. The building now on the site is full of tenants.
PMG envisions Echo Brickell will have high ceilings — 10, 12 and 14 feet — with the more expensive, upper floor units getting the most spacious heights.
If all goes well, PMG expects to break ground in the first quarter of 2014.
Craig Studnicky, principal of ISG, which is in charge of pre-construction sales, expects the project will appeal particularly to affluent Latin American families.
Maloney, a tall and lean fellow who competes in triathlons and commutes between New York and Miami piloting his own plane, seems to have an affinity for tall and lean projects.
PMG is a partner with JDS Development in a project to build a tall, thin tower at 107 West 57th Street. along one of midtown Manhattan’s major east-west streets. The joint venture last year bought the Steinway piano building next door at 109 West 57th, and plans to use the air rights of that historic structure to go higher at the 107 location. Just how high is subject to negotiation.
“We are committed to keeping the Steinway building and the landlord committments,” said Maloney, whose firm has done scores of projects since it was founded in 1991. The developers, he added, want to keep the Steinway name on the building. The landmark structure includes an ornate rotunda that has served as an elegant showroom for Steinway pianos for decades.
At the Brickell site, PMG plans to feature a swimming pool that covers an entire floor about halfway up the building, with a gym and spa above it. The developers plan to offer various options for units, which will be move-in ready.
The Echo Brickell project comes as Miami’s downtown and Brickell area alone has some 23 other towers in various stages of planning and development, according to Peter Zalewski, principal of Condo Vultures. Eight buildings are under construction in the downtown and Brickell area.
But developers and Realtors insist that the market isn’t heading for another bubble because both the financing and the buyers are more solid than in the last go-round.
Maloney said there is little opportunity for flipping pre-construction contracts, a speculative practice that added froth to the last market. And buyers putting up hefty deposits aren’t apt to renege on deals like the investors who put down 20 percent did when the bottom fell out of the market last time.
PMG plans to employ the buyer-financed model that has recently defined the Miami condo market: Buyers will be required to deposit 20 percent of the purchase price at contract signing. Another 10 percent is due at groundbreaking; 10 percent more, when pool level is reached, and 10 percent when the building is topped off. The 50 percent balance is due at closing.
Shear said an appealing touch for buyers is the developer will pay interest on the deposits. Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/04/02/3320065/miami-dade-property-appraiser.html
By Martha Brannigan
mbrannigan@MiamiHerald.com
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Hadid condo could reshape downtown Miami skyline
The world’s only female superstar architect, Zaha Hadid, unveiled an undulating, spider-like design for a new luxury condo tower on Biscayne Boulevard — her first residential project in the United States — that boldly looks to raise the design ante for Miami’s skyline.
The developers of the proposed 1000 Museum, Gregg Covin and Louis Birdman, also hope to capitalize on the location and the big design name to break through the price ceiling for a downtown Miami condo. They are angling for a stratospheric minimum of $4 million for the cheapest units, and a Miami Beach-like $30 million and up for penthouses. That means pricing would start at about $900 per square foot, an amount that’s already roughly double the price of the typical new downtown condo.
The 61-story tower would squeeze in among the so-called Four Horsemen high-rise condos across from Biscayne Bay and the emergent Museum Park, taking over a prime spot now occupied by a gas station, which Covin and Birdman have a contract to buy. The pawn shop property behind it on Northeast Second Avenue is not, for now, part of the $300 million project.
The futuristic design by Hadid’s London-based firm features an interlacing concrete exoskeleton, a bulging midsection and a set of rib-like lower balconies that has prompted comparisons by some local bloggers to a spider, a bug and an alien spaceship.
“We love Miami, and we feel we can create a beautiful addition to the skyline that will define the skyline in a new way,’’ Zaha Hadid Architects director Patrik Schumacher said. “I think it will have a new kind of appeal.’’
The Iraqi-born, London-schooled Hadid, whose firm has also designed a swooping new Miami Beach city parking garage, is known for flowing, curvaceous buildings that sometimes appear to melt. In the past decade, she has gone from experimental-minded iconoclast to sought-after designer, achieving the kind of popular recognition usually reserved for celebrity male architects like Frank Gehry. Her well-publicized struggles to be taken seriously in the notoriously male-dominated profession also made her a kind of feminist icon.
She has a residence on South Beach and was known to have long been seeking a signature local project. Previously, her only Miami work was a sculptural installation in the atrium of a Design District building.
Hadid is the third winner of the Pritzker Prize, often called architecture’s Nobel, currently working on a Miami condo project. Sir Norman Foster of Britain is designing a tower next to the Saxony Hotel in Miami Beach, while the Swiss firm of Herzog & de Meuron, also responsible for the new downtown art museum and the instantly famed 1111 Lincoln Road parking garage on South Beach, is designing a tower in Sunny Isles Beach.
The firm of a fourth Pritzker laureate, Rem Koolhaas’s Office of Metropolitan Architecture, for whom Hadid previously worked, has designed three companion buildings for the Saxony project, including the renovation of a smaller hotel, and is on a team vying for the redevelopment of the Miami Beach Convention Center.
The fact that Hadid and other eminent architects are designing exceptional buildings in Miami reflects a growing maturity and sophistication about design from developers and civic institutions, said Wolfsonian/FIU museum director Cathy Leff.
It also means the city can finally lay aside its longstanding inferiority complex, she hinted.
“It’s a sign of confidence in our present,’’ Leff, a Hadid friend, said. “We were always the city of the future. We no longer have to define ourselves that way. We are a city of now and it should be defined by the best designers.’’
Hadid’s hiring for the 1000 Museum tower had been previously announced, but Friday provided the first public look at her firm’s design. Such is the interest among followers of design that leaked images and commentary had already been posted on local blogs.
Schumacher said putting the structural support on the tower’s exterior and varying its width not only creates a striking appearance, but also has the practical benefit of allowing roomier units in the tower, which is relatively slender because of the lot’s small footprint.
“It’s good to have the structure on the outside,’’ Schumacher said. “It’s a fusion of technical issues and technical expression, of aesthetic expression. It gives an identity ot the project, which changes character as you move from the bottom to the middle to the top. It adds variety, rather than have endless, monotonous repetition of the same from the bottom to the top.’’
That last is, of course, a reference to the typical stacked-balconies-on-a-podium design of Miami condo towers, including 1000 Museum’s four companions, all by noted Miami architects. Ten Museum, next door to the planned new tower, was also developed by Covin.
But the developers and their architects deliberately set out to shatter that mold, Schumacher said.
Although the tower does sit on a multi-level garage, retail and amenities podium, the exoskeleton’s legs reach all the way to the bottom, tying the building to the street, Schumacher said. Designed under the city’s new Miami 21 code, the tower also will avoid some of the much-cricitized pitfalls of its four companions, built under a previous code, he said. Critics have compared their rear facades on Northwest Second, dedicated entirely to service facilities, to the back of a refrigerator.
1000 Museum, by contrast, “will have a nice presence all around,’’ Schumacher promised. “It doesn’t have a back side.’’
He said the building would be “pushed forward’’ on the lot to urbanely meet Biscayne Boulevard and the planned new park across the street, where new art and science museums are under construction.
The 700-foot tower would be the tallest of the ensemble facing the park. Like most recently announced high-rise residential projects, the 1000 Museum developers are aiming the project at the very top of the luxury market, which means principally foreign buyers with ready cash. The units would be large, between 4,500 square feet and 9,000 square feet.
Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/03/18/v-fullstory/3292714/hadid-condo-could-reshape-downtown.html BY ANDRES VIGLUCCI aviglucci@MiamiHerald.com
The 700-foot tower would be the tallest of the ensemble facing the park. Like most recently announced high-rise residential projects, the 1000 Museum developers are aiming the project at the very top of the luxury market, which means principally foreign buyers with ready cash. The units would be large, between 4,500 square feet and 9,000 square feet.
Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/03/18/v-fullstory/3292714/hadid-condo-could-reshape-downtown.html BY ANDRES VIGLUCCI aviglucci@MiamiHerald.com
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