Wynwood board approves three new office developments
A Chicago developer that lured global conglomerates to the Windy City’s trendy West Loop neighborhood is looking to replicate its success in Wynwood. Sterling Bay Projects is proposing a 10-story mixed-use office building on the west side of Wynwood on Northwest Fifth Avenue between 26th and 27th streets. The new development, 545 Wyn, was among three projects to receive favorable…
Brightline developer still in the running to build new Miami-Dade courthouse
An unsolicited proposal by the developer of the Brightline express train to build a new downtown Miami courthouse is still hanging on, in spite of a recommendation by Miami-Dade County’s mayor to kill it. After four hours of discussion, the Miami-Dade County Commission unanimously voted on Tuesday to hold onto New Flagler Courthouse Development Partners’ proposal to build a new courthouse just…
Miami Dade College may run Olympia Theater, get housing
Miami commissioners are looking to Miami Dade College to run the vintage 1926 Olympia Theater downtown. Ken Russell’s resolution for the city manager to explore the idea is on tap at today’s (4/12) commission meeting. Commissioners are pursuing multiple ways to add affordable housing, and the proposal would address that too. The city owns the aging and grandiose Olympia Theater at the Gusman…
Wealthy cities like LA, Miami and New York are attracting wealthier new residents
Pricey American cities are starting to attract more residents who can afford those prices. Research from economist Issi Romem has found that new residents coming into cities like New York, Miami and Los Angeles are making significantly more money than residents who are leaving, according to the Wall Street Journal. The trend is strongest in San Francisco, where the people moving to the city and nearby…
Key Biscayne-Miami lawsuit over Virginia Key nears end
A three-year-old lawsuit between the Village of Key Biscayne and the City of Miami about land uses on Virginia Key may finally be over: a settlement is on today’s (4/12) Miami City Commission agenda. A 15-page settlement draft basically limits the size and frequency of events at city-owned Miami Marine Stadium and the historic basin it fronts. Years of litigation between Key Biscayne, the City of Miami…
Watson Island may get more parking space from city
A parking study will begin soon on city-owned Watson Island, after recent action by the Off-Street Parking Board. Officials with the Miami Parking Authority, under the direction of the board, have considered a study of the parking needs on the barrier island for several years.
The island between the mainland and Miami Beach is home to several users that have leases with the City of Miami, including Jungle…
A $700 billion investor predicts long-term rates to stay low
Robert Tipp is the chief investment strategist of PGIM Fixed Income, the $709 billion global fixed income asset manager within Prudential Financial. He expects the long end of the yield curve to stay low even as the Fed continues to hike rates. In this interview with Business Insider’s Sara Silverstein, Tipp explains why this will happen and the impact it will have on investors’ portfolios. Following is a transcript…
Miami-Dade County civil courthouse back at square one
After a five-hour-long discussion about how to move forward with plans for a new Miami-Dade County civil courthouse, commissioners Tuesday delayed substantive decisions until May. “In essence, we are right where we started,” said Commissioner Esteban Bovo Jr. “We will keep both locations and both processes and report back on May 1.” The existing courthouse at 73 W Flagler Street was built almost 100…
One million dollars headed to Coconut Grove Village West for improvements
Commissioner Ken Russell announced that more than $1 million in funding will be going into the Village West to improve housing, jobs, health and education for local residents. He will announce this formally, Wednesday, April 11 at 10:30 am at Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church, 3515 Douglas Road. The funding, directed by Ken from various local and federal programs, aims to begin to make up for…
Miami Developer Avra Jain’s Blueprint For Tackling Affordable Housing: Developers Build For Free
Avra Jain almost singlehandedly revitalized Biscayne Boulevard and helped activate the Miami River, but these days, she is fired up about affordable housing.After more than a decade as a bond trader on Wall Street, Jain made her mark in Miami by rehabbing several neglected historic hotels in the Miami Modern district, most notably the storied Vagabond. As these art deco gems along Biscayne…
Diverging Diamond highway interchanges due for fall debut
It’s a delicate balance overseeing several small projects in the grand scheme of State Road 836 improvements for the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority (MDX). As a result of shifting priorities, MDX expects to debut its diverging diamond highway interchanges (DDI) on Northwest 27th and 57th avenues in late summer or early fall.The two interchanges constitute pieces of a $799 million modification for…
Miami Today Opines: Don’t buy a pig in a poke in secretive courthouse proposal
A mayor’s plea to scuttle an expensive, unsolicited and secretive bid for a new county courthouse is, for government, absolutely blistering. Rightly so. Mayor Carlos Giménez trained all his guns on the offer tied to the owner of the Brightline rail line that is to link Miami to Orlando. He wrote that accepting the unsolicited offer while the county is already calling for qualified candidates to do the job as the…
Industry Veterans Jonathan Roth, Justin Kennedy, Toby Cobb Start Portfolio Lender
Three commercial real estate finance executives have launched 3650 REIT, a Coconut Grove, FL-based private portfolio lender. The new company name comes from the number of days in a 10-year loan, one of its two primary products. “If you’re our borrower, we have a relationship with you for 3,650 days,” co-founder Jonathan Roth told CoStar News. “We really want to communicate that we’re a…
Video: Metro Forecasting Models CEO David Farmer on Highest and Best Use for Land and Development
Commercial Real Estate Show host Michael Bull interviewed David Farmer, CEO of Metro Forecasting Models, at the Realtors Land Institute Conference & Expo. Metro Forecasting Models claims the most accurate solution for population, housing and commercial demand forecasting with a model used by local governments and private industry for over 35 years. They cover a set of highest and best use of…
If flying cars ever become a thing, Miami Worldcenter will be ready
Jetsons-style living might become a reality sooner than we think. At Paramount Miami Worldcenter, developer Dan Kodsi is working to make the luxury high-rise compatible for passenger drones – a.k.a. flying cars. He’s modifying the rooftop’s design to fit a 5,000-square-foot skyport on top of the 60-story, 530-unit tower. Residents would be able to land on top of the building in vertical takeoff and…
At the Realtors Land Institute Conference & Exposition the host of America’s Commercial Real Estate Show interviews James Murret, President at the Appraisal Institute. Their discussion covers a number of topics including the role of appraisals, site due diligence, commercial appraisals, rate increases for commercial mortgages, appraisal forecasting, purchaser and appraiser transactions.
Why investors are betting big on real estate in outer space
Real estate in outer space is next frontier — at least according to investors who’ve poured nearly $8 billion into space startups since 2015. For a taste of what these firm do, consider Houston-based startup Orion Span that’s touting space travel for an all-time low of about $791,666 per night where guests take a 12-day trip, which works out to a $9.5 million in total, to make-believe they’re real…
Developer tries to revive Miami riverfront project that a 2007 court ruling sank
A developer plans to build an apartment building on a riverfront site in Miami more than a decade after a state court stopped residential development on the same site. Belinda Meruelo of Miami Beach, who owns the 9.44-acre development site, has applied for a rezoning and comprehensive-plan amendment for the land in the 1500 block of Northwest 24th Avenue. Meruelo plans to build a new street…
Home Depot Homestead among biggest “seriously” delinquent loans in South Florida
Surprise! The biggest “seriously” delinquent commercial real estate loans in South Florida are for retail properties, a newly released report reveals. At the top of the list is a $37.5 million mortgage for the Burlington-leased building at 10101 Southern Boulevard in West Palm Beach, according to the Trepp report, which shows the largest delinquent loans behind properties in the biggest markets across the,,,
South Florida Office Sales Drop Sharply to Start 2018
Office investment sales and the cumulative value across South Florida plunged during the first quarter of 2018, but real estate observers say the numbers aren’t as ominous as they appear. Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties posted 123 sales from January through March for a total value of $442.7 million, according to CoStar Market Analytics. That’s down from 276 sales for $543 million in…
Tenants of Hialeah mobile home get 6-month eviction letter
Longtime homeowners of a Hialeah mobile park are being evicted by new property owners Two Delaware-based limited liability companies have given residents of Sunny Gardens mobile home park in Hialeah a six month eviction notice, according to Local10 News. The 10-acre property off of Okeechobee Road and West 16th Street is currently under the management of Pure Vida Apartments…
Arena Capital sells two retail buildings in Hialeah
Miami-based Arena Capital just sold two of its retail buildings in Hialeah for a total of $7.65 million. The retail buildings at 990 West 49th Street and 970 West 49th Street are adjacent to each other and span a total of 9,700 square feet – meaning the trade breaks down to about $790 per square foot. Records show Arena Capital paid about $3 million for the three parcels in 2015. Mark Meland and Bryan…
Rockwood and Thor sell Wynwood development site for $6M
Rockwood Capital and Thor Equities sold a development site in Wynwood for $5.85 million, according to property records. Thor Weck Owner LLC sold the 14,750-square-foot parking lot at 285, 275 and 269 Northwest 27th Terrace to RRR Wynwood LLC, a company controlled by Martin Miculitzki. It can be developed into single-story retail or an eight-story hotel with up to 98 keys, according to the…
Terra and Related boost construction loan for Park Grove
Terra and the Related Group just closed on $112.1 million in construction financing for their luxury condo development in Coconut Grove. The joint venture, 2701 Bayshore One Park Grove, had previously secured $16 million in financing from Fifth Third Bank in 2015 and 2016 for One Park Grove. This latest round is from Bank of the Ozarks, for $112.1 million, a spokesperson for Terra confirmed, as did…
Investor flips portfolio of 52 South Florida rental homes for $14M
A real estate investor just flipped a portfolio of rental homes for a 44 percent gain – in about a week. Joshua Wagschal sold the portfolio of 52 single-family homes and one four-unit multifamily building, most of which are in Broward County, for $14 million, according to a source close to the deal. Last week, Wagschal paid $7.8 million to buy the portfolio from European real estate development and…
Real estate funds just raised the most cash in a Q1 since 2008
New York’s real estate industry has plenty to worry about in early 2018, from rising interest rates to trade wars and a potential cyclical downturn. But strong private fundraising is an indicator that it might not get so bad after all. A staggering $33 billion in new private real estate funds closed globally between January and March, according to research firm Preqin — the largest first-quarter volume in a…
South Florida Office Sales Down Sharply to Start 2018
Office investment sales and the cumulative value across South Florida plunged during the first quarter of 2018, but real estate observers say the numbers aren’t as ominous as they appear. Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties posted 123 sales from January through March for a total value of $442.7 million, according to CoStar Market Analytics. That’s down from 276 sales for $543 million…
Dr. Mark Dotzour, the Chief Economist and Director of Research for the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University which conducts research on financial, socioeconomic, public policy, trade, legal, land use and local market analysis issues related to real estate, while at the the Realtors Land Institute Conference & Expo, is interviewed by Michael Bull for this episode America’s Commercial Real Estate Show.
Sale-leaseback activity up 40% to $75 billion
Sale-leaseback deal activity exploded in 2017 as corporations look to cash in on demand for fully-occupied real estate, particularly in manufacturing and healthcare. Sales of single-tenant, owner-occupied buildings grew 40 percent to $74.8 billion in 2017, according to Real Capital Analytics. The data only includes deals valued at $2.5 million or more. “On the deals that we are doing right now I’m seeing…”
Philips International buys mobile home park in Hialeah
A mobile home park in Hialeah just sold for $6.6 million to New York City-based Philips International, property records show. The trade of the 6.5-acre Holiday Acres Mobile Home Park, at 1401 West 29th Street, comes on the heels of the sale of its neighboring 10-acre Sunny Gardens Mobile Home Park at 2901 W 16 Avenue, which sold a month ago for $12 million to an unknown buyer. Records show two…
North Beach’s version of Wynwood Yard to have more than 40 retail and restaurant concepts
North Beach Yard, Miami Beach’s proposed version of the hip Wynwood Yard in Miami, could have up to two dozen food and beverage operators and 20 retailers according to plans submitted to the city. Since winning a five-year lease with the city to develop a public lot at 81st Street and Collins Avenue into an outdoor gathering space with a music component, portable restaurants and pop-up shops…
Lennar Launches Second Multifamily Venture Fund
The multifamily segment of Lennar Corp. (NYSE: LEN and LEN.B) completed the closing of a second Lennar Multifamily Venture II for the development, construction and property management of class-A multifamily assets. After its initial first close, Venture II will have approximately $500 million of equity commitments. The total includes a $255 million co-investment commitment by Lennar comprised…