Church of Scientology “disconnects” with its Coral Gables location for $6 million
After about three years on the market, the Church of Scientology has cut ties with its 120 Giralda Avenue Coral Gables location of more than 40 years and sold the building for $5.8 million, or nearly $360 per square foot. The buyer is 120 Giralda LLC, according to a press release. The entity is controlled by Marc and Barry Schwarzberg of Boca Raton. Patrick Kelly of RESF, who represented the buyers, said they mostly invest in multifamily properties in Broward County and in…
Miami commission votes to sever its ties with Island Gardens developer Mehmet Bayraktar
In a blockbuster decision, the Miami City Commission wants to kill the deal with Flagstone Property Group to build a $1 billion mixed-use project on Watson Island.
During a special meeting on Tuesday, commissioners voted 5-0 to declare the developer in default of a ground lease allowing Flagstone to build two hotels and a luxury mall with roughly 221,000-square-foot retail and restaurant space that would complement a megayacht marina completed in 2015. The long-delayed…
Miami commissioner gives David Beckham’s stadium deal the green light
Few hurdles remain Miami-Dade County commissioner Audrey Edmonson has given David Beckham’s Overtown stadium deal (aerial view of site) the green light by sponsoring the legislation that’d allow the county to sell Beckham the final three-acres needed to build his 25,000-seat MLS stadium (with no parking), according to the Miami Herald. The $9 million deal goes before the commission on June 6 but the blessing of Edmonson, who represents Overtown, was seen as one of the last…
Ronny Finvarb snags $27.6 million construction loan for new South Beach Kimpton hotel
Ronny Finvarb has nabbed a $27.56 million construction loan for his new Kimpton hotel on Alton Road in Miami Beach, The Real Deal has learned. Finvarb, principal of the Finvarb Group, told TRD that TotalBank is the lead lender, with participating lenders Floridian Community Bank and Apollo Bank. The financing has not yet cleared records. Site work has already begun on the future hotel at 1750 Alton Road (birdseye), which will be called the Kimpton Hotel Palomar South Beach…
Details of proposed Chinatown development in North Miami revealed
Plans for North Miami’s proposed Chinatown are moving forward, and property values are expected to rise in the area, city officials said last week. The latest version of the proposed Chinatown will feature two gateways to the district, on the north and south, that will have a Chinese design, though the elements are still considered conceptual, said Ben Benmoshe, urban designer with Keith and Schnars, an engineering consulting firm that is working on the master plan for the project designer.
Prologis Building Major Retail As Industrial Park Complement
One of the world’s largest warehouse developers is building mixed-use to complement an industrial property outside of Miami. Prologis has plans to add nearly 500K SF of retail, restaurants and entertainment space at its Beacon Lakes Industrial Park, including a Topgolf, an indoor golfing entertainment venue, according to the Wall Street Journal. This is what Prologis views as the next step in the evolution of massive industrial parks. “There is no doubt that the market for labor in our…”
Miami Today Opines: Rail cuts put SMART transit plan into the DUMB column
As Miami-Dade strives to add six transit legs in a so-called SMART plan, it’s a DUMB move to cut service on its newest rail line, the one that carries airport passengers. The county last week cut weekend Orange Line runs in half less than five years after it opened the half-billion-dollar, 2.4-mile link to Miami International Airport – our only significant gain from a 15-year-old transit sales tax. At the same time, the system reduced late-night and early-morning hours of Metrorail and…
Here’s What the House Has In Mind For Revamping The National Flood Insurance Program
A much-anticipated House subcommittee proposal on flood insurance promises to reauthorize the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) for five years beyond its September 30 expiration date. The proposal would introduce reforms to put the NFIP on stronger financial footing; provide aid for those unable to afford coverage; improve flood mapping, mitigation efforts and claims handling; and encourage greater private insurer participation in the market. Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wis.)…
Industrial Park’s Owner Bringing In Restaurants, Retail As Amenities For Workers
Office developers have in the past turned to restaurants, entertainment venues, fitness centers and shops as standard enticements for companies hoping to lure workers. Now one of the world’s largest industrial property owners is bringing in a developer to add these amenities to its giant industrial park just outside Miami to cater to its tenants and freshen up the utilitarian concept of the big-box warehouse complex. Prologis Inc. has plans to add about 495,000 square feet of retail to its…
Federal Reserve: Banks tightening commercial real estate loan standards
Loan officers at U.S. banks reported tightening their lending standards for commercial real estate loans over the last year, the Federal Reserve said on Monday in a report that could heighten concerns about the outlook for commercial real estate. Officials at the U.S. central bank, including Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren, have warned that a run-up in commercial real estate prices could amplify any future economic downturn. On Monday, the Fed said in a quarterly report that standards…
Overtown Skeptical of David Beckham’s New Soccer Stadium Plan
David Beckham’s crew said just about everything right last night. They’d pay for their new stadium entirely with their own money. Minority and locally owned contractors would have first dibs on the construction, and then the team would create at least 50 full-time jobs. They’d offset a lack of parking with new public transit options. It all sounded great. But in a jam-packed YWCA room without any air conditioning, the skepticism from many Overtown and Spring Garden residents…
Property Owners Gaining New Tools To Fight ADA Lawsuits
Help may be on the way for property owners sued for alleged violations of Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). As covered in a prior post, over the last couple of years, Florida has seen a big increase in lawsuits alleging ADA violations. These cases are often filed by “serial” filers – plaintiffs that have each filed dozens or even hundreds of these kinds of lawsuits. The growing number of these lawsuits in Florida has been covered extensively by the national…
Doral is the fastest-growing large city in Florida
Doral (demographics)was the fastest-growing large city in Florida during the current decade and eleventh-fastest in the nation in the period, according to new US Census data analyzed by the FIU Metropolitan Center. Miami was the state’s eighth-fastest growing city in the same six-year span, with a population growth of 13.1% – almost 53,000 people, the study found. Miami-Dade County’s (demographics) total population grew 8.2% during the period, yet during the single year from 2015…
Warren Buffett just confirmed the death of retail as we know it
Warren Buffett says that in 10 years, the retail industry will look nothing like it does now. “The department store is online now,” the billionaire investor said Saturday at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, as Business Insider’s Bob Bryan reported. “I have no illusion that 10 years from now will look the same as today, and there will be a few things along the way that surprise us,” he said. “The world has evolved, and it’s going to keep evolving, but the speed is increasing.”
Miami-Dade county’s hotel industry rebounds across the board
Miami-Dade’s hotel industry rebounded across the board in April from April 2016, showing gains in every category in what has been a mostly down year, the STR Trend Report shows. Notably, the biggest gain was in total revenue, just a tick under $280 million for the month and nearly $21 million more than April 2016. That 7.9% revenue gain was tempered by the fact that the county in April had 427 operating hotels and 55,354 rooms, up from 408 hotels and 52,922 rooms in April 2016.
Mall REITs lead broad-based selloff of real estate-related stocks
Real estate-related stocks were the biggest decliners on the S&P 500 on Monday, led by mall REITS, on continued concerns about weak traffic and the onslaught on bricks-and-mortar stores from juggernaut Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, -0.22% The sector has struggled this year as a record number of retailers have filed for bankruptcy protection, while others have announced store closures. Retailers like Macy’s Inc. M, +2.26% which reports first-quarter earnings this week, and Sears Holdings Corp.
Sherwood’s Bistro & Bar Begins the Transformation of Little Haiti’s North End
Sherwood’s Bistro & Bar, a new place on Northeast Second Avenue and 83rd Street at 8281 NE 2nd Avenue, gets its name from Sherwood Forest. That is not only Robin Hood’s merry hangout, but also a subdivision of the Village of El Portal. And like the nearby community that bears its name, Sherwood’s is charming, slightly idiosyncratic, and steeped in the area where it’s located. The partnership that started the place includes Barclay Graebner, a Miami Shores resident who opened…
Trump’s Miami golf resort loses effort to lower taxes
The Trump National Doral Miami (aerial) a golf resort owned by the President Donald J. Trump’s company, has failed in its effort to lower its Miami-Dade County property taxes. But the resort could decide to fight another round to make its taxes lower again. Trump has been successful at lowering his property taxes in the past. In both 2014 and 2015, Trump Endeavor 12 LLC, the entity that owns the 666-acre resort, filed Value Adjustment Board (VAB) challenges for its property taxes.
Miami-Dade’s taxable property values rise 8.2% to $272B
Driven by new construction, the estimated combined value of properties in Miami-Dade County exceeds $272 billion so far this year, up 8.2 percent from 2016, according to the county’s Property Appraiser Pedro J. Garcia. Garcia’s office just released the June 1st estimates of taxable values, which include more than $8 billion of new construction throughout the county – a combined assessed value of more than $1 billion. Brickell City Centre…
MiamiCentral and Brightline get aerial easement boost
Not only is MiamiCentral and its Brightline passenger rail service designed to help unclog congested roadways, but the elevated train station also serves to keep street traffic downtown on the move. In order for All Aboard Florida to build its elevated transportation hub, and make direct connections to Miami-Dade County’s Metrorail and Metromover trains at Government Center Station, air rights needed to be secured. One of the last air space right-of-ways – or aerial easements – was approved…
Florida Sales Tax on Commercial Rents Reduced
The State of Florida has imposed a sales tax on commercial rents since 1969. Currently, the tax is imposed at the rate of 6 percent in every county except Miami-Dade which fixes the rate at 7 percent by reason of an add-on at the county option. Florida is the only state in the United States to impose a sales tax on rents. There has been a movement to repeal this tax for several years, but it should be noted that Florida’s general revenue stream is very heavily reliant on sales tax…
Miami-Dade real estate resales top $1 billion for month
Sales volume for Miami-Dade real estate resales – which do not include new condos – topped $1 billion in April, the Miami Association of Realtors reported last week. The total of $1.01 billion was on 2,303 total residential sales, the association reported, down 4.8% from sales volume in April 2016. That would produce a mean sales figure of $438,000-plus for all resales. The association said that said that in sales, median single-family home prices in the county were $320,000 and median…
Changes To Trade Agreements Could Shake Industrial Real Estate Markets
Since taking office, President Trump has pushed on a lot of fronts to renegotiate trade deals. One of his first actions in January was signing an executive action to pull the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). In late March signed two more executive orders involving trade. The first focused on tougher enforcement of existing…
What do I need to put in my purchase and sale agreement?
If you are buying or selling a business in Miami, you will need to draft a contract to ensure that your sale is protected. The most important thing to remember when drafting a purchase and sale agreement is to include enough detail to protect you from business disputes that may arise in the future. Both parties signing the contract must be aware of exactly what they are agreeing to. All parties involved must be correctly listed on the contract, with their full names, business affiliations and…
Should Miami-Dade’s Urban Boundary Move Closer To The Everglades? Time For Another Fight
A new task force will study one of the most contentious issues facing Miami-Dade: the imaginary line separating the county’s housing developments and shopping centers from the Everglades. Mayor Carlos Gimenez recently formed a panel to study pockets of land just outside the official Urban Development Boundary, the line that forms the western and southern frontiers between permissive building rules and low-growth restrictions. On the one side of the UDB: suburban housing…