Joint Venture Expands Beachfront Footprint with Acquisition of Two Hotels in Miami Beach for $139.9M

A joint venture between SHVO, Bilgili Group and Deutsche Finance Group (DFG) has acquired the Richmond Hotel at 1757 James Avenue, Richmond Apartments, and South Seas Hotel at 1751 Collins Avenue for a total of $139.9 million. The companies purchased South Seas Hotel from Majestic Hotel Corp. for $52 million. Along with direct access to the beach, the hotel offers amenities such as a swimming…

CCIM Economist KC Conway Provides Industrial Real Estate Update ~ Part 1 of 2

K.C. Conway, Chief Economist with CCIM and Director of the Alabama Center for Real Estate, joins America’s Commercial Real Estate Show host Michael in Studio One to discuss the industrial property market, including new supply coming online and the impact of tariffs industrial property holdings. In this part, he notes that much of the boom in industrial is related to the shift from retail to online…

Landlord Liable for Subtenants’ Trademark Infringement

If you asked most commercial landlords what keeps them up at night, they probably wouldn’t say that they worry about their tenants committing trademark infringement.  Granted, trademark infringement is not likely to be an issue for most tenants.  But when it does happen, the landlord might be on the hook.  In fact, in 2017, we wrote about that happening. Now it’s happened again.  Just last week…

General contractors are suffering under Trump’s new tariffs on Chinese goods

The trade war has created an uncertain environment for construction. (Credit: iStock and Getty Images) Anthony Rinaldi has learned first-hand what President Donald Trump’s trade war with China can mean for business. One of his eponymous firm’s current projects, backed by a Chinese-government-owned company, has recently stalled. He’s unsure when, or if, it will get back off the ground. Delays are,,,

Bridge Investment to pay $123 million for office properties in Medley and Doral

Offices at Flagler Station and Offices at Doral Square and Bridge Investment Group Executive Chairman Robert Morse Bridge Investment Group is buying two office properties in Medley and Doral for nearly $123 million, a source told The Real Deal. New York-based investment manager DRA Advisors is selling the 387,000-square-foot Offices at Flagler Station in Medley and the 141,000-square-foot…

Miami is Defying Nation’s Retail Woes With Thriving Malls, Shopping Centers

While there are mass retail closings around the country, in Miami, there is typically someone waiting on space to become available. Think about it: In Miami, there is actually a shortage of retail space. Uber luxury markets in Miami are performing extremely well with Bal Harbour Shops (owned by Whitman Family Development) being one of the top retail complexes in the country, followed closely by…

A rarity in Key Biscayne: commercial land hits the market for $21M

Listing broker Manny Chamizo and 12 Crandon Boulevard (Credit: Google Maps) The last piece of vacant commercial land in Key Biscayne is hitting the market for $20.6 million, The Real Deal has learned. The 1.4-acre property at 12 Crandon Boulevard, at the entrance to the Key Biscayne village center, is listed for sale with Manny Chamizo of One Sotheby’s International Realty. Property records show ES KB…

Epicure owner slices up Miami Beach space to sublease

Brian Carter, Ross Padfield and Filippo Incorvaia and the building Gone are the days of Epicure Gourmet Market & Café’s matzo ball soup, tuna sandwiches and baked goods. But Epicure owner Jason Starkman is working to redevelop the retail space in Miami Beach into smaller units that he can sublease, The Real Deal has learned. Starkman, who closed the Miami Beach institution in September 2017 following…

$300 Million Construction Loan Arranged for Office Tower in Miami

JLL has arranged a $300 million construction loan for the development of 830 Brickell, a 56-story, 1 million-square-foot office tower in Miami’s Brickell district. MSD Partners provided the four-year loan to the developers, a joint venture between OKO Group and Cain International. Located at 830 SE First Ave., 830 Brickell is slated for completion in early 2022. The property is situated next to a…

Miami Office Project Secures $300M Loan

JLL Capital Markets has facilitated a $300 million construction loan for 830 Brickell, a 1 million-square-foot office development in Miami’s financial district. Developed by a joint venture between OKO Group and Cain International, the project is expected to reach completion in the 1st quarter of ’22. MSD Partners originated the financing… Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill is the architect. Located at 830 SE 1st Avenue…

South Florida Retail Property Summary (Q2 2019)

Market Snapshot for South Florida Retail A summary of the highlights, trends, and current market activity of Q2 2019 for South Florida commercial real estate focusing on Miami-Dade County: Analysis derived and compiled from leasing data and transaction reports in order to better understand the overall health of the CRE market in Miami-Dade County. In…

Mega-yacht shiplift coming to renovated RMK Merrill-Stevens

RMK Merrill-Stevens, Florida’s first shipyard (founded in Jacksonville in 1885 and operating on the Miami River since 1923) will open its newly renovated and upgraded North Yard early next year. The company’s two boatyards straddle the river; the North Yard borders the Health District and the South Yard is near Marlins Stadium. The $30 million renovation, which included dramatic changes to both yards…

After years of study, premium Flagler transit a decade away

Three years after state transportation personnel began studying the project, premium transit on Flagler Street connecting downtown Miami to West Miami-Dade remains nearly a decade off. A Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) milestone timeline, whose dates are “tentative and subject to change,” shows construction starting in early 2025 after 14 prior steps. Members of the county’s…

As PortMiami rides high, more development deals on horizon

PortMiami, the world’s busiest cruise port in passengers by industry figures, is on course to maintain that distinction for the foreseeable future. Throughputs at the port in 2018 rose 4.7% from the year prior to roughly 5.59 million passengers, according to the port’s annual financial report. That number represents a new world record, said PortMiami spokesperson Andria Muniz-Amador. To meet future…

To Buy or Build a Commercial Property?

There’s few things more exciting than a growing business. But whether you’re starting a new venture or simply outgrowing your old space, you need to decide between buying or building a commercial property. Both options have their merits and downsides, so it’s important to look at all of the factors at play. A wrong decision here could significantly affect your business’ profitability down the line. Here’s a few…

Setai and other Miami Beach property owners sue city over stormwater fees

The Setai Miami Beach In the midst of near-daily rain storms and the semi-regular flooding in Miami Beach, a group of property owners in the city including the Setai hotel are alleging the way the city collects stormwater fees is illegal. The Nakash family, which owns The Setai Miami Beach, along with 24 other condo associations, multifamily owners and commercial property owners filed a lawsuit in…

Coral Springs investor buys apartment complex near North Miami Beach

A company tied to Coral Springs broker and investor Deepak Khosa paid $7 million for an apartment complex in northeast Miami-Dade. Club California LLC sold the California Club Apartments, a 64-unit complex at 750 Northeast 195th Street, to Khosa’s Miami Condo Holding Company LLC. The property traded hands for about $110,000 per unit. The complex was built in…

North Beach Yard is called off amid partnership split

The music has stopped for North Beach Yard. The entertainment and food venue that was supposed to replicate Wynwood Yard will not open, after Miami Beach City Manager Jimmy Morales informed commissioners he is terminating the lease agreement, according to RE Miami Beach. On June 6, Morales told commissioners that founders Della Heiman and Ken Lyon had not complied with several terms…

AIDS Healthcare Foundation sells three vacant lots in Miami Gardens

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation sold three vacant lots in Miami Gardens to ahs Residential for $9.5 million after buying the site a year ago. The nonprofit sold the 13.1-acre site near 2255 Northwest 167th Street for $725,190 per acre, records show. AIDS Healthcare Foundation is a Los Angeles-based global nonprofit provider of HIV prevention services, testing, and healthcare for HIV patients.

Financially troubled Hotel Astor in Miami Beach listed for sale

The financially troubled and now-closed Hotel Astor is on the market for $12 million. The 42-room, three-story hotel at 956 Washington Avenue was renovated in 2014 using $9 million raised from EB-5 investors. It closed nearly a year ago after the ground lessor, 1651 Astor LLC, filed a lawsuit to evict the hotel from the property. Manny Chamizo of One Sotheby’s International Realty was hired to sell the…

Miami Mixed-Use Project Scores $13 Million Loan

A joint venture of Coral Rock Development Group and Arena Capital Holdings has obtained $12.8 million in financing for the retail portion of Pura Vida Hialeah, a 9-acre mixed-use project in Hialeah, Fla., the first of its kind in the area in more than 20 years. BB&T Bank originated the construction loan. General contractor Bluewater Construction broke ground on the project in April and plans to…

Attracting Foreign Direct Investment to South Florida via Direct EB-5

The controversial idea of granting U.S. residency to those willing to invest in America became a reality with the enactment of the Immigration Act of 1990 and the creation of the EB-5 Immigrant Investor permanent visa category. In crafting the EB-5, Congress had a clear vision: to stimulate job creation in poor and rural parts of America by allowing qualified foreigners to privately invest in projects…

Bayside Marketplace is planning another high-rise entertainment venue with a view

The manager of Bayside Marketplace has another towering attraction in the works: a rotating set of high-rise observation capsules. The Miami Planning and Zoning Board has approved the 176-foot observation wheel, which would be smaller but comparable to the London Eye and the Wheel at ICON Park in Orlando. SkyViews America hopes to erect the observation wheel at Bayside before the Super Bowl…

Robuchon restaurants set Miami opening dates, new restaurants planned for MiMo & other restaurant news

Miami Design District L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon and Le Jardinier are both opening later this month, New York-based Invest Hospitality announced. Joël Robuchon, an award-winning French chef, died about a year ago. Le Jardinier will open on Aug. 16 in a 4,200-square-foot, 108-seat space, according to a release. The restaurant, at 151 Northeast 41 Street suite 235, will also…

Defunct Facchina sues to collect $4.3M for MiamiCentral office building work

2 MiamiCentral and 3 MiamiCentral When Shorenstein Properties purchased 2 MiamiCentral and 3 MiamiCentral in May for $159.4 million, the San Francisco REIT also allegedly inherited millions of dollars in construction debt from the previous owner. Florida East Coast Industries, the parent company of VirginTrains USA, sold the buildings at 600 Northwest First Avenue to Shorenstein. Last month…

“Rich people are going to get richer anyway”: HUD Secretary Ben Carson dismisses concerns that Opportunity Zones will only benefit rich people

Ben Carson is well aware of the complaints directed at federal Opportunity Zones, and how the tax incentive program meant to boost struggling communities may only end up benefiting rich investors and developers. On Friday, Carson, the Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, offered his frank assessment of that belief. “Some people have complained, and said, ‘This is…

Inside Stephen Ross’ massive empire of gyms, condos, coffee and more

The backlash over hosting a Trump fundraiser has been swift for developer Stephen Ross. Within 24 hours of word getting out, Equinox members and SoulCycle devotees have threatened to boycott both brands, which are owned by Ross’ Related Companies. (In San Francisco, some staged a protest.) Miami Dolphins receiver Kenny Stills publicly criticized the team owner for agreeing to host the event…

Overtown Opportunity Zone project snags $55M loan

Michael Tillman and Soleste Grand Central Michael Tillman’s PTM Partners and Estate Investments Group scored a $55 million loan from Bank OZK to build an 18-story apartment project in an Opportunity Zone in Overtown. The developers are building Soleste Grand Central, a 360-unit multifamily building at 218 Northwest Eighth Street in Miami near the MiamiCentral train station. The project will be a mix…

Related Group Bags $190M in Financing for 2 Luxury Resi Properties

Miami-based developer The Related Group has scored $190 million in financing for two luxury apartment developments in Tampa, Fla., Commercial Observer has learned. Deutsche Bank provided a $115 million floating-rate loan to refinance Manor Riverwalk, and SunTrust Commercial Real Estate lent $75 million on Town Westshore. Both transactions were negotiated by Newmark Knight Frank’s Dustin…

Lissette Calderon scores $24M construction loan for Allapattah apartments

Allapattah 17 and Lissette Calderon Developer Lissette Calderon scored a $24.4 million construction loan for a planned 192-unit apartment building in Allapattah. Calderon’s Neology Development Group is using the loan to build Allapattah 17, at 1569-1652 Northwest 17th Avenue. Calderon secured the loan from MidCap Financial, a subsidiary of Apollo Global Management, according to…

Hunt Real Estate Capital Refinances a Multifamily Property Located in Homestead

Hunt Real Estate Capital announced today it provided a Fannie Mae conventional multifamily loan in the amount of $10.5 million to refinance a multifamily property located in Homestead, Florida. Homestead Gardens I & II is a 148-unit, garden-style apartment community that consists of two locations, 15451 SW 288th Street near Leisure City, and 527 S. Flagler near the city center. Homestead…

Town explores land swap for ‘potato field’ property

The Town of Cutler Bay is looking to engage in a land swap with the owners of a parcel on Old Cutler Road and SW 212th Street, commonly known as the “potato field,” with that property being exchanged for the six-story building and adjacent property at 10720 Caribbean Boulevard where the current Town Hall is located. Mayor Tim Meerbott published an open letter to residents on Aug. 5 stating…

Westover picks up Green Briar West Apartments near Westchester for $55 million

Green Briar West Apartments (Credit: Google Maps) The Westover Companies bought a 331-unit apartment complex near Westchester for $55 million. King of Prussia, Pennsylvania-based Westover Companies bought the Green Briar West Apartments at 9615 Southwest 24th Street for $166,163 per unit. The seller is Green Briar West Corp., which is managed by Paul C. Green. Westover Companies secured a…

Summer Grove Apartments near Tamiami sells for $23 million

Summer Grove Apartments, a 116-unit multifamily property near Tamiami in western Miami-Dade County, sold for $22.5 million. Ralgo Coral Way LLC, a personal trust managed by Amy and Richard Gonzalez, bought the apartment complex at 10331 Southwest 24th Street for $193,534 per unit, records show. Caesuvest, a Florida company managed by Guillermo Hernández Roura, sold the property.

Miami mayor vetoes rezoning of Babylon apartment building

A week after the Miami City Commission approved plans to build a 24-story tower on the site of the former Babylon Apartments, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez has vetoed the decision. Meanwhile, land use attorney Jeffrey Bercow, who is representing the developer, former Spaghetti Western star Francisco Martinez-Celeiro, filed an ethics complaint accusing the mayor’s legal counsel of illegally lobbying…

Spaghetti Western star scores approval to build controversial Brickell tower

More than a year after a preservation effort failed to save Brickell’s Babylon Apartments from the wrecking ball, Miami’s elected officials handed the famed site’s owner another significant victory. The city commission voted 4-1 on Thursday to grant Babylon International’s request to upzone the property at 240 Southeast 14th Street from 12 stories to 24 stories. Commissioners Joe Carrollo, Willy Gort…

Morningside residents sue to stop Biscayne Boulevard project

Mattoni Group president Ricardo Caporal, 5125 Biscayne Boulevard before it was demolished in July 2017, rendering of redeveloped Bayside Motor Inn site designed by Urban Robot Associates, developer Avra Jain Two-and-a-half years ago, the city of Miami’s Historic and Environmental Preservation Board approved plans to demolish a 72-year-old Biscayne Boulevard motel and replace it with a…

Paving way for signature bridge, I-95, I-395, SR 836 revamp

As the Florida Department of Transportation’s massive design-build project encompassing three major Miami-Dade County roadways progresses, its effects will undoubtedly grow more noticeable. But spokesperson Oscar Gonzalez says everything possible is being done to reduce inconveniences to drivers. Primary activities began in January for the $802 million public-private project, whose funding is…

Bayside Ferris wheel no big deal, Miami Planning, Zoning and Appeals Board hears before approving

The proposed Bayside Ferris wheel would be a fifth the size of the London Eye, the quintessential amusement ride of its kind. That was one of the several tidbits shared by project zoning co-applicants Sky Views of America and Bayside last week to dampen any impression that the attraction would disrupt downtown’s skyline. In renderings by both the city and the applicants, the Ferris wheel could be…

Miami’s Urban Development Review Board gives thumbs-up to colorful Allapattah project

A colorful mixed-use apartment building is coming to the heart of Allapattah, bringing with it retail uses and office space. TCG Allapattah 16 LLC proposes 16 Allapattah, a new mixed-use 12-story building with 323 residential units, 13,133 square feet of retail uses, 6,947 square feet of offices, and a parking structure to accommodate 336 vehicles. Miami’s Urban Development Review Board has…

After many twin-tower launches, Melo hits a barrier

After years of launching successful twin-tower residential projects in Miami’s Arts and Entertainment District north of I-395, The Melo Group is experiencing a setback while trying to gain approval for twin towers in the heart of downtown, south of the freeway. Melo recently presented plans for a mixed-use project called Downtown 5th, at 53 NE Fifth St. No one on the city’s Urban Development…

Prestige Imports plans $2M “auto spa” in North Miami Beach

Brett David and a rendering of the auto spa Luxury car dealer Prestige Imports is adding another facility to its over 10-acre North Miami Beach campus: Prestige Auto Spa, a car wash, gas station, restaurant and retail project. The 17,000-square-foot auto spa, at 15180 Biscayne Boulevard, is set to open by the fall, CEO Brett David told The Real Deal. Juice & Java, a health food concept based in…

Lennar picks up land assemblage in Homestead

Lennar Corp. paid $22.1 million for roughly 85 acres in Homestead as it continues its strategy of buying land in south Miami-Dade County. The Miami-based homebuilder bought the property, west of Southwest 152nd Avenue, for about $260,000 per acre. Clifford Lincoln, a trustee of Keys Gate III, tied to Keys Gate Realty, is the seller. The property is zoned for 770 residences, which breaks down to 117…

Gas leak at Edgewater construction site shuts down portion of Biscayne Boulevard

A gas leak at an Edgewater construction site shut down a portion of Biscayne Boulevard on Monday afternoon. The leak occurred at 3400 Biscayne Boulevard in Miami, according to city of Miami Fire Rescue Captain Ignatius Carroll. It’s the site of the AC Hotel by Marriott, which is nearly completed. Carroll said the leak had been mitigated and Teco Peoples Gas was on the scene. The southbound lanes…

Here’s how much Michael Shvo and partners paid for their South Beach hotels

Bilgili Holdings and Deutsche Finance America closed on two South Beach hotels neighboring the Raleigh Hotel. After buying the Raleigh property for $103 million in February from Tommy Hilfiger and the Dogus Group, the Shvo group revealed… paid $87.85 million for the Richmond Hotel, at 1757 Collins Avenue, and $52 million for the South Seas at 1751 Collins Avenue, according…

Mixed-use projects in downtown Coral Gables will fuel population and commercial tenant growth: panel

A healthy office market coupled with a need for multifamily housing in Coral Gables is fueling a new wave of mixed-use development in the city’s downtown, according to a panel of major real estate players. While construction is booming, developers on a recent panel said the zoning and entitlement process can drag on for years, making building in the City Beautiful costlier and more time-consuming than…

Video: Real Capital Analytics SVP Jim Costello Provides an Investor’s View of the Retail Property Sector

Jim Costello, Senior Vice President at Real Capital Analytics, joins America’s Commercial Real Estate Show Host Michael Bull to talk about retail properties, touching on investor sentiment, cap rate trends, tenant performance, and investment strategies. They first note there have been lots of changes, with some great properties performing well while there is noted stress in others. Costello states that he…

Farewell Boom-Bust Cycle: Miami Office Market Ascends as the City Matures

For decades, the real estate market in Miami has been either boom or bust. Lately, the market has been on an impressive expansion cycle, with new office development following aggressive lease rate increases that in some areas have risen as much as 20 percent in total the past few years. As investors and users witness the growth in South Florida, the market has seen a significant amount of new…

Doral Residents Fight Expansion of “Mount Trashmore,” the Vomit-Inducing Medley Landfill

A few months ago, Jennifer Diaz rented a condo for her 64-year-old mother in Doral. She had heard there was a garbage dump nearby, but for the price, she thought it would be worth it. When she moved her mother in, neither of them expected to be next-door neighbors with “Mount Trashmore” — the Medley Landfill. Located at 9350 NW 89th Avenue, the landfill has been in operation since the 1980s. The…

Airbnb settles federal lawsuit against Miami Beach over business and resort tax disclosures

Airbnb has settled a federal lawsuit it brought against the city of Miami Beach, and both sides are claiming victory. The vacation​ rental tech company sued Miami Beach in late 2018, after the city commission passed new regulations. Those measures require Airbnb ​to ​display the resort tax account and business tax receipt numbers for each listing by their hosts within zones that allow short-term rentals. In its…

Revera Living buys Coral Gables office building for $8 million

Revera Living bought an office building on Ponce De Leon Road in Coral Gables for $8.1 million. Revera bought the three-story, 25,011-square-foot building at 1000 Ponce De Leon Road in Miami for $323 per square foot, records show. Nor Peru Capital 2, LLC, which is managed by Francisco Picasso of Coral Gables, sold the property. The office building was renovated in 2011 and was last purchased…

Mazel tov: Yeshiva school buys shuttered Aspira Raul Arnaldo Martinez charter school site in North Miami

The parent company of Yeshiva Elementary School paid $6.8 million for a shuttered charter school site in North Miami, The Real Deal has learned. Aspira of Florida sold the now-closed 53,685-square-foot Aspira Raul Arnaldo Martinez charter school at 13300 Memorial Highway for $126 per square foot, records show. The school in North Miami will be an extension of Yeshiva Elementary School’s…

Should You Consider Arbitration?

In my more than 40 years as a trial lawyer, I have seen arbitration go from being vilified because it divested the courts of jurisdiction over civil disputes to becoming the preferred form of dispute resolution in many commercial situations. For those who are unfamiliar with arbitration, it is simply another method for resolving disputes. An arbitration proceeding arises from a contract between two or…

BRW Floors Sells Industrial Warehouse in Medley for $9.7 Million

BRW Floors Inc. has sold a 69,834-square-foot industrial warehouse in Medley for $9.7 million. The facility includes 7,000 square feet of office space, 15 dock doors with room to add more, 24-foot ceilings and a 120-foot fenced and secured truck court. The warehouse is located at 12800 NW South River Drive, about 15 miles northwest of downtown Miami and next to U.S. Highway 27. Nick Wigoda…

Black Creek Group Picks Up Miami Industrial Asset

Black Creek Group has acquired a 69,834-square-foot warehouse in Medley, Fla. BRW Floors Inc., a hardwood flooring distribution company, sold the facility for $9.8 million. Newmark Knight Frank represented both parties in the transaction. According to Miami-Dade County records, the property last changed hands in 2011, when it traded for $4.7 million. Located at 12800 N.W.South River Drive…

Inc Mag: Poolside Co-Working Spaces and a Bustling Art Community: Your Ultimate Guide to Miami’s Hot Startup Scene

Wet labs for biomedical startups, an emerging “elder-tech” scene, and a pipeline to Latin America are just a few of the reasons Miami is heating up as a destination for founders. If you have 24 hours in this Art Deco metropolis, here are the insiders to meet, up and coming neighborhoods to check out, and some insider tips on where to grab that watermelon cucumber margarita. Startup Neighborhoods…

Exploring South Florida’s Flexible Office Sector

CGI Merchant Group-owned The Nexus Workspaces offers an alternative to traditional offices, striving since its launch in 2013 to provide small to medium-sized businesses the offices in which they can thrive. The company has locations in five cities in Florida, including Stuart, Vista Park, Wellington, Boca Raton and Boynton Beach. In an interview with Commercial Property Executive, CGI Founder & CEO…

MSD Partners Provides $300 Million Construction Loan for Miami Office Tower

MSD Partners has provided a $300-million construction loan for 830 Brickell, a 57-story, 724-foot tall office tower being built in Miami. The tower is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2022. Located at 888 Southeast Brickell Plaza, the tower will include 15,000 square feet of retail space, 490,000 square feet of office and a restaurant on the 53rd floor. WeWork has signed a lease for 146,000…

Is transit oriented development (TOD) the Solution for Gridlock-Ridden Miami?

It is widely known that one of the biggest issues a major city is facing nowadays is traffic congestion. According to a study by INRIX, the total cost of lost productivity caused by it hit the $87 billion mark in the U.S., in 2018. As a result, communities are constantly seeking innovative solutions and alternatives for curbing congestion. These include improving infrastructure and bringing people closer to…

Survey Finds Commercial Real Estate Development Is Flourishing In Florida

An annual survey from the National Association of Industrial and Office Parks has once again ranked Florida in the top five states for all commercial real estate development. Only Texas, New York, California and Tennessee ranked ahead of Florida in the survey conducted by an affiliate of the National Association of Industrial and Office Parks. But fifth is nothing to sneeze at, especially when looking at the…

Blavatnik-backed Ocean Terrace development agreement approved

Sandor Scher and Alex Blavatnik with a rendering of the project Alex Blavatnik and Sandor Scher got the green light to build more hotel rooms at their North Beach project in exchange for a park for the city. The Miami Beach City Commission unanimously approved a development agreement that will enable the Ocean Terrace developers to build 110 hotel rooms instead of 78 rooms. In exchange…

Miami Beach City Commission OKs $15M Ocean Terrace Project

The Miami Beach City Commission has approved a two-block development of its Ocean Terrace Streetscape Plan. The City entered a private-public partnership with Ocean Terrace Holdings LLC, which will be responsible for the design, construction and full execution of the five-acre public space. The redevelopment will take four years or fewer to complete and cost $15 million. What is today an…

Michael Shvo gets zoning for 200-foot South Beach tower

New York developer Michael Shvo has obtained the zoning to build a 200-foot-tall tower in South Beach, and now another hotelier wants to get in on the action. On Wednesday, the Miami Beach City Commission unanimously approved an ordinance that will allow ground floor additions up to 200 feet tall for properties more than 115,000 square feet in size that are located between 16th and 21st streets…

Trouble in the land of OZK: Why this important construction lender for Miami, NYC may be on shaky ground

As Bank of the Ozarks’ private jet lifted off from Little Rock, Arkansas, Dan Thomas geared up for another day of dealmaking. As vice chair of the bank, he oversaw one of the country’s largest construction lending operations and had become a financial messiah for major condo developers in New York, Los Angeles and Miami. Seated shoulder to shoulder with him that morning was his boss, George Gleason.

U.S. Office Vacancy Decreased in Q2 2019

The latest research from Los Angeles-based CBRE shows show the U.S. office vacancy rate decreased during Q2 2019, by 10 bps, to 12.2%, with the rate for suburban submarkets decreasing and the downtown rate going unchanged. Overall, the markets tracked by the firm registered a very healthy 60-bps drop for the past four quarters, as the office sector regained momentum. CBRE says the strong annual…

Construction starts in South Florida fall almost 40% in June

Construction starts in South Florida fell significantly in June amid continued signs that the commercial and residential real estate markets are slowing down after years of rapid growth on a national and local level. Total construction starts declined 39 percent on a yearly basis in South Florida to $1.01 billion, according to Dodge Data and Analytics. Construction of nonresidential properties fell to $400.4 million…

Photo: Checking in on the Waterfront Restaurant Complex Under Construction at the Four Ambassadors

As has been reported in Next Miami (Restaurant Complex Called Brickell Bay Boardwalk Proposed Behind Four Ambassadors) and Miami Condos Blog (Four Ambassadors’ Waterfront Restaurant Space To Be Redeveloped As ‘Brickell Bay Boardwalk’) on the waterfront behind the Four Ambassadors Condominium a waterfront restaurant complex is being built. In the embedded photo one can see that it is,,,

The Real Opportunity Zone Gold Rush Is Happening At Events, In Consultants’ Offices

Since the opportunity zone program was introduced, the flurry of investment activity that its architects foretold hasn’t materialized. In its place, an ecosystem of events, media, marketing and paid consultation has arisen and flourished — an industry based on talking about opportunity zones rather than investing in them. Opportunity zones, which began as a little-noticed section in the 2017 tax reform law…

Real Estate Investment Firm Founder Honored for Major Miami Hotel Deal

The National Association of Black Hotel Owners, Operators and Developers (NABHOOD), recently honored Raoul Thomas, the founder and CEO of the CGI Merchant Group for his part in the successful opening of The Gabriel Miami, a new Miami hotel. Thomas partnered with Hilton to open the downtown Miami hotel—now part of Hilton’s ‘Curio Collection’ of one-of-a-kind boutique hotels.

Miami Tops The Nation For Retail Rent Growth

Miami-area retail rents increased almost 2% from Q1 to Q2 this year, a pace of rent growth that leads the nation, according to Colliers International’s most recent market reports for South Florida, released last week. Miami’s retail rents now average just under $37 per SF. Roughly 460K SF of retail space was leased last quarter in Miami-Dade County. The largest lease, 30K SF, was to Pinstripes, a bowling…

Resident sues to stop Magic City Innovation District project

Rendering of Magic City Innovation District A resident of the city of Miami filed an appeal against the city tied to the approval of the Magic City Innovation District project in Little Haiti. William Perry, a renter affiliated with the Family Action Network Movement (FANM), is suing the city, alleging that the Miami City Commission denied his client intervenor status “based upon his status as a renter in…”

Little Haiti Activist Sues to Stop Massive, Controversial Magic City Development

Miami officials seem hellbent on paving over one of the city’s last vibrant immigrant communities. Activists in Little Haiti for years have been pushing back against plans to build the Magic City Innovation District — a 17-acre luxury living and shopping complex that is unlike anything else in the working-class neighborhood of Little Haiti. But despite residents’ consistent complaints about the project, the City…

PortMiami To Receive $8 Million Federal Grant For Infrastructure Improvements

Millions of dollars to improve PortMiami is on its way from Washington. The PortMiami project will rebuild aging bays and create new capacity for loading and unloading cargo containers. The port is getting an $8 million federal grant to rebuild aging bulkheads at the Seaboard Marine terminal. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao made the announcement Thursday in Washington as part of a plan…

Industrial Land Trades in Miami Gardens’ Sunshine State Park

A 40,000 square feet industrial lot at 16555 NW 13th Avenue in Miami Gardens, Florida, has sold for $1,000,000, $25.00 per square foot of land. The seller, William C Webb Jr Foundation Inc, had acquired the property a couple of years prior in a transaction with affiliated parties. Property taxes in 2019 were $18,062.39 on an assessed value of $704,200. A single story…

Thomas Neary buys Brownsville Opportunity Zone apartment complex

Jacob Serure and St. George Apartments An investment group led by Thomas Neary paid $7.56 million for an apartment complex in a Brownsville Opportunity Zone. The group paid about $90,000 per unit for the 84-unit St. George Apartments at 5200 Northwest 26th Avenue, according to broker Jacob Serure. Serure’s SRE Commercial Group at Investment Brokers Realty brokered the deal. Property…

Michael Dell’s firm lends $300M to Brickell office tower project

Vlad Doronin, a rendering of 830 Brickell, and Michael Dell UPDATED, July 31, 4 p.m.: Russian developer Vlad Doronin closed on the largest office construction loan in South Florida this year for a new tower in Brickell. MSD Partners, the private investment firm of Dell Technologies billionaire Michael Dell, is the lender for the $300 million loan, according to a spokesperson for Doronin’s OKO Group.

Kushner and Block Capital pay $32M for Wynwood sites of mixed-use projects

Rendering of the Wynwood development, Charlie Kushner and Laurent Morali Kushner Companies and its local partner Block Capital Group paid $32 million for an assemblage in Wynwood, marking Kushner’s second acquisition in Miami… Kushner and Block Capital are planning to build two mixed-use developments on 1.5 acres at 127 Northwest 27th Street and 129 Northwest 26th Street, according to…

Video: Real Capital Analytics SVP Jim Costello Discusses Investing in Office 2019

Jim Costello, Senior Vice President at Real Capital Analytics, appears on this commercial property related show to discuss the office property sector, including performance, capitalization rates, and suburban markets. He notes that there are mixed signls in the office market. Activity grew in May as it fell for other sectors, including sectors considered more “hot” in this market. At the same time, there…

Lawsuit accuses Aventura condo board of election violations

Turnberry Village North Tower For Harry Catton and two unit owners at the Turnberry Village North condominium in Aventura, their two-year effort to force new elections for the building’s board of directors has been a futile exercise – even with the assistance of state regulators, according to a recently filed petition in Miami-Dade Circuit Court. The trio are seeking a court-appointed receiver to take…

South Florida investors are still wary of investing in Opportunity Zones: report

Miami Innovation District Months after the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service released the latest round of regulations for Opportunity Zones, South Florida investors and developers are still wary enough about the rules to prevent them from investing. A report by Bilzin Sumberg and the Urban Land Institute found that only 28 percent of respondents surveyed said that they intend to invest…

Notable Retail Leases Signed in South Florida Q2 2019

South Florida Retail Leases 2019 We’ve compiled a comprehensive list of the top retail leases signed by square footage in South Florida during Q2 2019. This quarter was very busy overall and saw several big box leases signed and sealed. Despite the sentiment that the traditional retail market is suffering due to several factors, particularly…

Mayor Giménez seeks sweeping county facilities upgrade

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Giménez hopes to leave behind one more legacy when he exits after his final term next year: the Countywide Infrastructure Investment Program (CIIP), a 20-year, $1.8 billion modernization of county facilities. “When I began my tenure as mayor, I set out to make sure that Miami-Dade County would be better off by the end of my term than it had been when I started,” he wrote in…

Robust Population Growth Drives Apartment Construction in Downtown Miami

The apartment construction boom continues in Miami as rapid demographic and employment growth foster rental demand. Employers expanded staffs by 25,900 personnel year over year in February, roughly 6,900 more than in the preceding annual period, which has kept the unemployment rate below 4 percent for 12 consecutive months. Hiring during this period was led by the professional and business…

Hard Rock Stadium getting pedestrian bridges, tunnels

Construction to link pedestrians to Hard Rock Stadium is 70% complete and is expected to conclude in two months. By the end of September, a pedestrian bridge over the Florida Turnpike exit ramp for Hard Rock Stadium, another bridge over Northwest 199th Street (Dan Marino Boulevard) and two tunnels under Don Shula Drive, the stadium perimeter road, are to be ready for public use. The…

$7.7M Sale of Miami Office Building Negotiated

Cushman & Wakefield has negotiated the $7.7 million sale of Bank of America Center, a six-story, 68,174-square-foot office building in Miami. Bank of America Center is situated at 1313 NW 36th Street, within an Opportunity Zone. The property was 88.8 percent leased at the time of sale to tenants including Bank of America and the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s office. Miguel Alcivar, Dominic Montazemi…

Sliver of Brickell that held Babylon can have 24-story tower

Miami commissioners have allowed owners of a Brickell area property that was previously limited to eight stories to build up to 24, despite Chairman Ken Russell and nearly all of about 30 nearby residents, who pleaded to bar what they saw as a more-than-generous rezoning. However, the rest of the commission voted last week for… whose property is at 240 SE 14th Street. where the Babylon building…

Upcoming Coconut Grove Office Building Gets New Tenant

Boyne Capital Partners has signed an 11,597-square-foot lease at One CocoWalk, the Class A, 85,762-square-foot office building underway in Miami’s Coconut Grove neighborhood. The private equity firm will relocate from 2601 S. Bayshore Drive to the fourth floor of the property, which is up for completion in 2020. A joint venture between Federal Realty Investment Trust, Grass River Property and…

Developer closes on land assemblage for big resi complex near Miami’s Overtown

A local developer closed on a land assemblage in the Spring Garden neighborhood, where he plans to build a large residential complex… Marlon Gomez paid $17 million for the land near the Miami Health District and Overtown… An LLC… acquired the roughly 68,000-square-foot assemblage at 1150 and 1180 Northwest Eighth Street Road; 1000, 1008, 1010, 1040, 1050, 1060, 1070 and 1080 Spring Garden Road.

Hedge funder bets on Allapattah with Opportunity Zone site purchase

New York hedge funder Spencer Waxman paid $7.7 million for the Bank of America Center in Miami’s Allapattah neighborhood. Records show a company managed by Waxman and his wife bought the 68,174-square-foot office building at 1313 Northwest 36th Street for $112 per square foot. An affiliate of Miami-based Golden Sands, led by Peter Fedele and Mary Maguire, sold the property. The project sits in…

Galbut family sells Ocean Drive hotel for $28M

Kirk Olson, Shadi Shomar, Drew Kristol and the Bentley Hotel Companies tied to Russell Galbut’s Crescent Heights sold the Bentley Hotel on Ocean Drive for $28 million. Ocean & 5th Commercial LLC, led by Shadi Shomar, acquired roughly the majority of the condo-hotel units and the ground-floor retail at 510 Ocean Drive. Shomar’s Sunnyside Hotels & Resorts is now managing the property, according…

Pep pill needed: As many as 700 more GNC vitamin stores will disappear later this year

GNC plans to close as many as 700 more of its vitamin stores in the second half of the year. The struggling Pittsburgh-based retailer – which already closed 200 stores in the first half of the year – confirmed Monday that its store closures in 2019 will total as many as 900, Bisnow reported. “The negative trends in traffic that we’ve seen in mall stores over the past several years accelerated during the past…

Amazon’s got cash to burn, and real estate is its tinder

Amazon’s officially on a spending spree. After a big week of movement in the world of real estate that included shopping for 1 million square feet of warehouse space in Brooklyn, scoping out the We Company’s historic Lord & Taylor building for office workers , and launching a new partnership with Realogy, the e-Commerce giant’s second quarter earnings report confirmed that the company has…

Funding in hand, downtown Miami Flagler Street project moves forward

The long-delayed downtown Flagler Street project can finally move forward after the city approved $22.5 million in funding on Thursday. The approval was the last step needed before the project, which is expected to take three years, can break ground. The new design was proposed by real estate developer Moishe Mana, who owns many of the buildings on and near Flagler Street, and Zyscovich Architects.

2019 South Florida Opportunity Zone Report Issued by Bilzin Sumberg

Bilzin Sumberg is pleased to share the results of the 2019 South Florida Opportunity Zone Survey and subsequent Forum that we co-hosted with Urban Land Institute Southeast Florida/Caribbean (ULI SE FL/Caribbean)  on June 5, 2019. The Report captures the perspectives of developers, investors, and other professionals who specialize in real estate and finance in Florida, to delve into how…

Leasing Billboard Space On Your Commercial Property

Why looking up is looking good for CRE As soon as people had something to sell, they knew they had to advertise in order to draw in customers—and a business was born. From the outside walls of barns painted with images of fresh corn to LED digital displays turning night to day in Times Square, billboards have evolved and always managed to find a place in the American landscape. Outdoor off…

Family behind La Carreta and Versailles sells Doral shopping center

The owners of the popular Cuban restaurants La Caretta and Versailles sold a shopping center in Doral for $14 million. A company tied to the Valls family sold the 36,160-square-foot property at 9000 Northwest 25 Street for $388 per square foot to Pacheco Group of Doral, records show The buyer secured a $9 million mortgage from the seller, according to the records. Tenants include Synovus Bank…

Stephen Bittel’s Terranova wants in on the hotel game on Miracle Mile

Terranova Corp. is planning to build a mixed-use hotel on the newly revamped Miracle Mile in Coral Gables. Gables Miracle Mile LLC, an affiliate of Stephen Bittel’s Miami Beach firm, submitted a proposal for the Mile Hotel and Shops, a 120-key development at 220 Miracle Mile. The Arquitectonica-designed property would be seven stories and 70 feet, with more than 28,000 square feet…

This MiMo landmark in Miami Beach could be designated historic – but not before owner locks in zoning changes

After more than two years of negotiations, the owner of International Inn in Miami Beach won’t contest a historic designation for the waterfront lodge so long as she can use the property as a full fledged hotel and have the option to build an eight-story addition. On Wednesday, the Miami Beach land use… seeking the height increase for…  at 2301 Normandy Drive in Normandy Isles, according…

César Pelli, the genius behind Armani Residences in Miami died at 92

César Pelli, the prolific and brilliant Argentine architect, died at 92 on July 19, 2019. Among his most famous works are the famous Twin Towers of Kuala Lumpur, the expansion of MoMA, various skyscrapers in New York and around the world and even two architectural jewels in Miami, the Adrienne Arsht Center and Armani Residences, which made it worthy of dozens of professional and academic awards.

Video: PwC Workforce Strategy Lead Bhushan Sethi Discusses the Impact of the Sharing Economy on CRE

Bhushan Sethi, Workforce Strategy Lead with PwC, joins America’s Commercial Real Estate Show to discuss how the flexible talent economy, – the gig economy – is affecting the commercial real estate industry. He begins by talking about the balance, essentially, between community ambiance and its talent ppol, versus cost. They go on to discuss the radical differences in co-working…

Commissioner Eileen Higgins brings groups together to reimagine a new, interconnected vision for Downtown Miami’s Government Center campus and urban core

Miami-Dade County Commissioner Eileen Higgins, together with the Miami-Dade County Regulatory and Resources Department (RER), hosted a visioning public workshop on “The Future of Downtown” at the Main Library Auditorium in Downtown Miami on Saturday, July 27, 2019. The workshop allowed residents, organizations, and public officials to share their ideas and provide input on how to…

‘This Will Impact Florida Healthcare For Years To Come’: Don Steigman At Bisnow South Florida Healthcare

As of July 1, Florida healthcare facilities are no longer required to obtain a Certificate of Need from the state before beginning construction, and Jackson Health System Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President Don Steigman says he has already seen the impact on construction. “There has already been a plethora of planned expansion in the ambulatory arena,” Steigman said. “Hospitals…”

How Do You Build A Guitar-Shaped Hotel? Ask Jessica Chen

Jessica Chen remembers the first time she heard that the Seminole Tribe was going to commission a $1.5B, 35-story hotel in the shape of a guitar, and that she would be in charge of building it. “We were actually building a helicopter pad for the Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood when I first saw any renderings of this project,” Chen told Bisnow. “I saw different versions in renderings only, and I could…”

Gatsby Enterprises pays $126M for 800 Brickell

Deutsche Bank’s RREEF sold a Brickell office building to Gatsby Enterprises for $125.5 million, according to sources. Gatsby Enterprises, a New York-based real estate firm led by principal Nader Shalom, and Master Mind LLC, led by Babak Ebrahimzadeh, closed on 800 Brickell, CBRE said. The 2-acre property includes a 209,122-square-foot office building and an adjacent 9-story parking garage. The firm declined…

Miami Tower Changes Hands in $126M Deal

The Miami office tower known as 800 Brickell has come under new ownership. With the assistance of CBRE, RREEF Property Trust sold the 209,100-square-foot property to Gatsby Enterprises and Master Mind LLC in a deal valued, according to South Florida Business Journal, at $125.5 million. “(The property was) highly pursued by a variety of different investment groups, including institutional, high net worth…

Multifamily arm of Florida Crystals nabs construction loan for Hialeah project

The apartment development arm of Florida Crystals closed on a $38 million construction loan for a new project in Hialeah. FC Hialeah Development LLC scored the financing from PNC Bank for the 245-unit development planned for 11055 West 36th Avenue. The FCI Residential affiliate acquired the 10.8-acre site from Lennar Corp. in 2017 for $9 million. The property is west of I-75 and east of the…

Miami Beach board greenlights new rules for hotel development along Lincoln Road

Hotel development along Lincoln Road is now a step closer to reality. A proposed ordinance that would make it easier to build hotels along the South Beach pedestrian promenade won the endorsement of the Miami Beach Planning Board on Tuesday. Two Lincoln Road property owners who want to redevelop their office buildings as hotels pushed for the new rule. They claim that current city…

Finvarb moves forward with mixed-use apartment project in North Beach

Robert Finvarb and an aerial view of the properties (Credit: Google Maps) Miami Beach developer Robert Finvarb has one less obstacle in his path of building a 220-foot-tall mixed-use apartment complex in North Beach, The Miami Beach Planning Board unanimously approved a land swap in which Finvarb absorbed 4,522 square feet of city-owned land – portions of the Abbot Court and Normandy…

BAC Florida Bank Relocates HQ to Coral Gables Development

BAC Florida Bank has inked a 63,000-square-foot, long-term lease at The Plaza at Coral Gables, the 7-acre, mixed-use development currently under construction in Coral Gables, Fla. Starting 2022, the bank will relocate its headquarters from 169 Miracle Mile and occupy the top three floors of the project’s south tower. Agave Holdings is the owner of the upcoming building. Located at 2901 Ponce de Leon…

Investors buy bayfront apartments in North Beach

An investment group led by Jonathan Politano bought a waterfront apartment assemblage in North Beach for $7.3 million, The Real Deal has learned. The assemblage includes 2050, 2070 and 2095 Bay Drive in Miami Beach, and is composed of a 70-unit bayfront apartment building on two lots, and a vacant lot across the street. Pierre on the Bay LLC, led by Aaron Edelstein, sold the properties. Jose Melgar…

Miami Beach investors head north, buy Broward rental portfolio

Miami Beach investors Jack Avid and Steven Oved paid $8.9 million for a 54-unit portfolio of apartments in east Broward County. Madison Realty Investors sold the following properties: — 15-unit Jasmine Court apartments at 816-822 Northeast 18th Avenue in Fort Lauderdale — 14-unit BV Apartments at 2850 Northeast 30th Place in Fort Lauderdale — 10-unit Victor Apartments at 3451 Northeast 11th Avenue…

Miami Beach Canopy to mark city’s entrance

The Miami Beach Canopy, French artist Daniel Buren’s latest work, has won unanimous approval from City of Miami Beach commissioners. The transparent cylinder pedestrian bridge and gateway off the MacArthur Causeway is lined with curved glass panels that, when hit by sunlight, will allow pedestrians to walk on color. The Miami Beach Canopy or the Pedestrian Bridge Project is one component of the…

Miami Worldcenter residences plan more parking for bikes than cars

The developer of a major mixed-use residential project within Miami Worldcenter plans a building with more parking spaces for bicycles than for cars. So it may be no surprise that the site abuts a Metromover station. Akara Partners, a Chicago-based real estate investment and development company, is proposing the project in the multi-block Worldcenter development, rising in the Park West neighborhood.

Donald Trump’s Doral golf resort may host the G7 summit: report

Donald Trump and Trump National Doral (Credit: Getty Images) The Trump administration has picked Trump National Doral as a finalist for hosting the world’s most powerful leaders at the G7 summit next year. Trump National Doral, an 800-acre golf resort in Doral owned by the Trump Organization, is in the running for the meeting after the Trump administration completed site surveys of possible locations…

Miami explores leasing Allapattah land to Major project

A request for information has been issued on behalf of the City of Miami for about 18 acres of city-owned land in Allapattah as the city considers leasing the property. The two square blocks are between Northwest 19th and 20th streets and Northwest 12th and 14th avenues, north of Jackson Memorial and the Veterans Administration hospitals. Andrew Schimmel, project lead from the city’s real estate…

Baptist Health Inpatient Rehabilitation Relocating to Homestead Hospital

A new, 23-bed inpatient rehabilitation unit opened July 20th at Homestead Hospital, accommodating the relocation of Baptist Hospital’s Inpatient Rehabilitation program. Baptist Health Rehabilitation cares for children (ages 4 and up) and adults who are facing an acute or disabling injury or illness. The program includes certified rehabilitation nurses and a full complement of physical, speech, occupational…

High-flying Melreese golf course development hits county turbulence

A full year after a high-power group sought the City of Miami’s only golf course beside Miami International Airport for a vast office, retail and hotel complex including a soccer stadium, the group finally got around to talking with the airport. That was eight months after voters had OK’d talks about a lease of the city’s largest green space for a project due to be larger than landmark Brickell City Centre, on about…

The New EB-5 Rules Are Out, And The Rush To Invest Is On

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has finalized a new rule for the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program that will nearly double the funds foreign investors need to loan to U.S.-based projects in order to get green cards. The new limit could have a substantial impact on funding for development projects around the country. Allison Berman, the head of the EB-5 group at New York-based real estate lender…

Multifamily Developers Pull Back on Deliveries in South Florida

While apartment demand remains strong in South Florida, multifamily deliveries were down sharply in the second quarter, according to commercial real estate firm Berkadia. According to Berkadia’s recently released Q2 2019 South Florida Multifamily Report, construction was completed on 8,522 units in the second quarter in South Florida, down from 12,562 additions posted in the second quarter of…

Video: PwC Workforce Strategy Lead Bhushan Sethi Discusses the Impact of the Sharing Economy on CRE

Bhushan Sethi, Workforce Strategy Lead with PwC, joins America’s Commercial Real Estate Show to discuss how the flexible talent economy, – the gig economy – is affecting the commercial real estate industry. He begins by talking about the balance, essentially, between community ambiance and its talent ppol, versus cost. They go on to discuss the radical differences in co-working environments…

Residents Scorch Mayor Scholl’s Plan to Cram 9000 Residential Units Into the Town Center District of Sunny Isles Beach

Sunny Isles Beach Mayor George “Bud” Scholl ran in 2014 on a platform that he would stand against high density development on the west side of Collins Avenue. Now that he’s been re-elected, he’s lying down on his promises. Or maybe he was lying all along. Mayor Scholl was fresh off a vacation in Sicily when he breezed back into town with an idea that was so crazy it just might have worked. That…

Blockchain Center’s grand opening attracts local, international leaders

Blockchain Center’s grand opening in June was well received by local and international community leaders including a ribbon cutting by Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and an announcement by Nick Spanos informing the community that the space is open for free during the summer. “Miami is entering its next phase in its technological advancement; the center is part of the redevelopment of Miami’s Central…

Smart Growth in the Heart of Miami-Dade County

The term ‘smart growth’ is repeatedly overused in the real estate development world as a semantics tool aimed at gaining support or other benefit from the community. The end result doesn’t always match the ‘smart’ with the ‘growth’ and too often projects fail to deliver on their promised vision. However, sometimes a project concept comes along that seems to check many of the boxes on the…

Renowned Adrienne Arsht Center architect César Pelli dies at 92

Acclaimed architect César Pelli, whose firm designed some of the world’s most distinctive buildings, died Friday. He was 92. La Gaceta, a newspaper in San Miguel de Tucumán, his hometown in northern Argentina, reported the news. Pelli, who came to the U.S. in 1952 to continue his architecture studies at the…

New owner of Toys R Us plans 2 store openings this year in small-scale U.S. comeback

The new owner of the Toys R Us brand will open scores of new stores this year, but only two in the United States, where the former owner declared bankruptcy in 2017. Several former executives of Toys R Us founded Parsippany, New Jersey-based Tru Kids Brands in January, and it now manages the Toys R Us, Babies R Us and Geoffrey brands. Toys R Us liquidated its U.S. business after its 2017 bankruptcy…

Apartment pricing slowdown: Rents are cooling in downtown Miami, report says

Amid an influx of new high-end apartments in Miami, rent growth is starting to slow down in downtown Miami and South Beach, according to a new report. The report from Berkadia shows that the average monthly apartment rent in downtown Miami and South Beach rose only 0.8 percent in the second quarter of 2019, year-over-year, to $2,112. That compares to an annual increase of 2.7 percent…

Avra Jain, Akara Partners and Mishorim win approvals for hotel and resi projects in Miami

When it came to conceptualizing 555 Riverhouse, a new mixed-use project on the Miami River proposed by an Avra Jain-led development team, New York City-based architect Carlos Zapata made several site visits to soak in the maritime activities along the city’s water way. The result is a design featuring two striking glass-and-steel buildings that resemble cargo ships weighed down by stacks of containers…

Lissette Calderon plans second apartment project in Allapattah

Lissette Calderon and a rendering of the project (Credit: Sonya Revell) Lissette Calderon is firmly planting her flag in Allapattah. The Miami Urban Design Review Board on Wednesday approved the developer’s second planned apartment project in the neighborhood. The proposed mixed-use development would have 323 apartments and a 336-space parking structure at 1625 Northwest 20th Street. Known…

Glasshaus in the Grove lands construction financing

The developers behind Glasshaus in the Grove secured a $13.2 million construction loan to finish building the boutique luxury condo project. The loan was provided by Boynton Beach-based Trez Forman Capital. It was arranged by David Larson of NKF Capital Markets. Javier Lluch and Daniel Ribeiro are developing the five-story, 23-unit condo building at 3161 Center Street that is expected to be…

Tariffs, natural disasters are driving up construction costs in Florida: report

This has been a rough year for Florida’s housing market. A new report by BuildFax found that existing home maintenance construction costs in Florida increased 13 percent in June, on a year-over-year basis. Buildfax’s CEO Holly Tachovsky said via email that natural disasters could have driven up some of the costs in Florida and made it more difficult to find workers. Nationally, she said tariffs on construction…

Foreign investment in US homes plummeted to $78 billion over the past year

A map of the US with flags from China, Canada and India Foreign investment in residential real estate in the U.S. has taken a tumble. Foreign buyers purchased $77.9 billion worth of existing U.S. homes between April 2018 and March 2019, a 36 percent decline compared to the $121 billion recorded the previous year, according to a report from the National Association of Realtors released Wednesday.

Boyne Capital Partners signs lease at One Cocowalk

The Gap has announced that it will depart CocoWalk at the end of August. The Gap is one of the original tenants and they are part of the community, it will be sad to see them go. Starbucks will not return, they have a better rent deal across the street where they are. Their location across the street has not hurt business and it has helped business at Panther Coffee across Main Highway; they sort of feed off…

South Florida by the numbers: Miami, the tax haven

South Florida (Credit: iStock) “South Florida by the numbers” is a web feature that catalogs the most notable, quirky and surprising real estate statistics. One state’s tax is another state’s treasure (or something like that). However the phrase goes, Florida certainly seems to be reaping the benefits of new laws that are driving companies and residents of New York, California, and other tax-heavy states to seek…

Uchi and Wabi Sabi to open in Wynwood, Carrot Express hops to Coral Gables & other restaurant news

Two restaurants inked leases for space at Wynwood 25, a newly completed apartment development at 240 Northwest 25th Street. Related Group and East End Capital are the developers. Uchi Miami, led by chef Tyson Cole, is taking 5,500 square feet. The famed sushi restaurant is based in Austin. Tahini Street Food, a Middle Eastern restaurant based in San Diego, is leasing 2,000 square feet, according to a…

Yardi Kube Regional Manager, Coworking Discusses Coworking Trends

Warren Hersowitz of Yardi Kube joins Michael of America’s Commercial Real Estate Show in Studio One to discuss coworking trends and how they’re affecting office real estate property today. He talks about how buildings are incorporating coworking in buildings, using the concept to increase rent per square foot. Contibuting technologies are discusses, particularly for large coworking / shared space companies. Issues specific to shared space are discussed, including managing conference rooms…

In Palmetto Bay, it’s about time, it’s about space…

Some of you may remember the theme song from a 60s sitcom, “It’s About Time,” probably better than the show itself. It goes like this: It’s about time, it’s about space… It’s about people in the strangest place… In a strange way, it makes me think about Palmetto Bay and the light years it’s taking to launch a downtown. I mean really, isn’t it about time for the Palmetto Bay Council to start delivering…

Is Mayor Gimenez being spiteful over the Coconut Grove Playhouse?

There’s an interesting article in Political Cortadito, which calls out County Mayor Carlos Gimenez regarding the Coconut Grove Playhouse at 3500 Main Highway. It basically calls him a spiteful schmuck. It says, “It is proof positive that Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez, who wants to sell off every part of the county he can before he is out of office next year, has become completely delusional or thinks he can…”

Another lawsuit regarding the Coconut Grove Playhouse

Attorney David Winker is filing a lawsuit/petition with the county. “I represent two residents that live within 500 feet of the Playhouse and we will be filing an Amicus Brief in support of upholding the Mayor’s veto,” he said. They have until September to file the suit. Winker said, “The County’s arguments that the Mayor’s veto is illegal are without merit and this is an inappropriate attempt to override the decision…”

Headwinds from soccer stadium deal worry MIA

As Miami nears a deal for a soccer stadium and commercial complex beside Miami International Airport, county lawmakers want to know how that will affect the area’s biggest economic engine. A county commission committee Tuesday advanced a directive to administrators sponsored by Rebeca Sosa to detail in 90 days potential impacts of the project sought at what is now Melreese Golf Course. “Our…”

A-Rod Corp. Acquires 12,700 SF of Office Space in Miami’s Coconut Grove, Will Relocate Headquarters

A-Rod Corp., led by former Major League Baseball player Alex Rodriguez, has acquired 12,700 square feet of office space within a two-tower condo called Grove at Grand Bay in Miami’s Coconut Grove neighborhood. The corporation will consolidate its offices to create a new headquarters at 2675 S. Bayshore Drive. In addition to the full floor of office space, the acquisition includes ground-floor space…

Commercial Property Borrowing Cost Quarterly 2019 Q2

At the end of the 2nd quarter of 2019, both short and intermediate yields continued their decline from higher levels reached late in the prior year. Also of note is that the yield curve has inverted, with five year rates higher than short term, as can be seen here with 1 month treasuries yielding more than those with five year maturities. Historically, an inverted yield curve is highly predictive of a looming…

A-Rod scores new Coconut Grove home base for his investment company

Retired Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez is moving his investment company’s home base to Terra’s Grove at Grand Bay. On Friday, Rodriguez’s A-Rod Corp closed on space totaling 12,700 square feet at the luxury Coconut Grove condo development, said Erin Knight, executive vice president of Monument Capital…

Reis: National Retail Vacancy Experiences First Drop Since 2016 Among Neighborhood Shopping Centers

The neighborhood and community shopping center retail vacancy rate fell 10 basis points to 10.1 percent in the second quarter, according to New York-based commercial real estate data firm Reis. This is the first time in which vacancy has declined since the first quarter of 2016. For context, in the second quarter of 2018, the rate had risen 20 basis points to 10.2 percent and remained flat at…

Rialto Relocates to Florida’s Tallest Office Tower

Rialto Management Group has inked a 46,746-square-foot lease at Southeast Financial Center in downtown Miami. The investment and asset management platform will relocate its headquarters from 790 NW 107th Avenue, in the Doral area. JLL Executive Vice President Eric Groffman and Vice President Cameron Tallon represented the landlord, Ponte Gadea Biscayne. Patrick Duffy, vice chairman of Newmark…

Tariffs, natural disasters are driving up construction costs in Florida: report

New homes in Florida (Credit: iStock) This has been a rough year for Florida’s housing market. A new report by BuildFax found that existing home maintenance construction costs in Florida increased 13 percent in June, on a year-over-year basis. Buildfax’s CEO Holly Tachovsky said via email that natural disasters could have driven up some of the costs in Florida and made it more difficult to find…

Where’s my den? Buyers sue Related for allegedly delivering smaller condos than promised

Jorge Pérez with a rendering of Paraiso Bayviews UPDATED, July 17, 4:51 p.m.: Thirteen buyers at the Paraiso Bayviews condo tower in Edgewater are suing the Related Group for false advertising, among other counts, after the developer allegedly delivered units that were smaller than promised. According to a lawsuit filed in late June in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, the 11 one-bedroom units purchased by…

Stricter EB-5 Rules Are Coming Soon. Advocates Hope Trump Kills Them.

The EB-5 program allocates 10,000 visas per year for foreigners and their family members who collectively pitch in billions of dollars toward development projects in the U.S. But the program has been beset by so much fraud and abuse that the U.S. Customs and Immigration Services has spent two and a half years working on updated regulations to stem problems. Those rules have been…

E-Scooters: Boon or Burden to Cities and Commercial Real Estate?

Cities have a love/hate relationship with these two-wheelers Once an oddity only seen in America’s tech centers, e-scooters have now become near-ubiquitous across the U.S. and around the globe. From Columbus to Nashville, Lisbon to Paris, these two-wheelers are taking over the urban world as we know it. Startups like Lime, Bird, and Scoot once had the field to themselves, but are now being…

Coworking is Snatching Up Office Space, But Is More Disruption on the Horizon?

The office investment market is back on track and buoyed by significant sources of capital for deal making, following some political and economic uncertainty over the past year, according to the June 2019 Office Investor Sentiment Report by Real Capital Markets (RCM). Among the key takeaways is that a majority of investors (87 percent) who participated in the survey view coworking as a…

County seeks expedited deal for Biscayne Bay transit route

After years of studies, Miami-Dade lawmakers may soon ask the county administration to act fast in securing arrangements and funding for floating transportation services connecting the City of Miami and South Beach across Biscayne Bay. County commissioners in committee Monday voted 5-0 to advance an item, sponsored by Commissioner Eileen Higgins, that would direct Mayor Carlos…

Jorge Pérez: Condo king transferring control of his Related Group

Jorge Pérez likes to lead by example. “My management style is, ‘Follow me,’” said the reigning condo king of Miami whose real estate firm, The Related Group, has by his estimation built more than 100,000 condo units cumulatively valued at about $50 billion throughout the nation and across the globe. His competitive spirit, he said, is based on the “immigrant mentality” that everything can be lost at any…

Yardi Kube Regional Manager, Coworking Discusses Coworking Trends

Warren Hersowitz of Yardi Kube joins Michael of America’s Commercial Real Estate Show in Studio One to discuss coworking trends and how they’re affecting office real estate property today. He talks about how buildings are incorporating coworking in buildings, using the concept to increase rent per square foot. Contibuting technologies are discusses, particularly for large coworking / shared space…

Nearly complete Le Jardin condo project in Bay Harbor files for bankruptcy

Verzasca Group president & co-founder Darius Kasparaitis and Le Jardin Residences Verzasca Group’s Le Jardin Residences boutique condo project in Bay Harbor Islands is nearly complete with the majority of units presold. Yet, in an unusual move, the project filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in a U.S. Bankruptcy Court last week. By reorganizing, the project’s developer hopes to close…

South Florida Industrial Market Continues Its Evolution

More than 3.4 million square feet of industrial and flex space is currently under construction in Miami-Dade County, and an additional 50 million square feet of industrial space will need to be constructed over the next five years to meet the region’s population growth, according to research from Colliers International South Florida. Connect Media asked Louis Archambault, partner at Saul Ewing…

Philip Levine lists block-long Wynwood dev site for $25M

Philip Levine and the property at 2215 Northwest First Place (Credit: Getty Images) Developer and former Florida gubernatorial hopeful Philip Levine listed a block-long development site in Wynwood for $25 million. Levine, a real estate investor and a former Miami Beach mayor, is looking to sell the properties at 2215 Northwest First Place, according to a Loopnet listing. The site includes a building known…

Miami’s First Affordable Housing Project For The Developmentally Disabled Approved

Finding an affordable rental is hard enough, especially for anyone with a intellectual or developmental disability like autism or Down syndrome. About 80% of such individuals will never be able to hold jobs. They live on an average of $771 per month from Social Security, which means they can’t afford the average apartment in many U.S. cities — in Miami, the average one-bedroom costs $1,191 a month.

North Miami investor aims for healthy returns on medical office properties

In life, three things seem certain: death, taxes and investor demand for medical office space. A company managed by North Miami real estate investor Allen Chelminsky bought two medical office buildings in Lauderhill for $5 million, records show. The 33,290-square-foot properties are at 7100 West Commercial Boulevard and 7200 West Commercial Boulevard. J & J Properties, managed by John Ekstrom…

Struggling Neiman Marcus scores loan from Credit Suisse for Coral Gables store

Neiman Marcus closed on a $37.38 million loan from Credit Suisse for one of its South Florida stores as the high-end retailer struggles to regain its footing. The company secured the financing on July 3 for its Shops at Merrick Park location, at 390 San Lorenzo Avenue in Coral Gables, less than a month after Moody’s Investors Service upgraded Neiman Marcus Group’s probability of default rating. Neiman…

Co-working finally feels the crunch of supply and demand

(Credit: iStock) Earlier this year, a San Francisco coder set out to create an outdoor co-working space that charged $2.25 an hour. The catch? It was comprised of a table and chair, set up on an empty parking lot. While the cost of co-working has yet to reach the levels of WePark, as the operation was named, it has been becoming more affordable as of late, Bisnow reported. Amid a drastic spike in supply…

Virgin Trains may announce 3 new train station sites in South Florida by year-end

Virgin Trains USA, formerly known as Brightline, may double the number of South Florida train stations it operates to six. Virgin Trains USA may identify three more South Florida locations for new train stations this year. Virgin Trains, formerly known as Brightline, said in a June 28 filing that it wants to increase ridership by opening new stops in addition to its downtown train stations in Miami, Fort Lauderdale…

Developers land $74.5M loan for condo construction project at Ocean Reef Club

John Grunow Jr. and Ocean Reef Club The developers of a condominium at the Ocean Reef Club near Key Largo borrowed $74.5 million to finance construction of the 48-unit project. Long Island, New York-based ACRES Capital provided the construction loan for the condo project, called Residence Club at Ocean Reef. The borrowers include John Grunow III and John Grunow Jr. of The Grunow Group and…

American Landmark closes $460M apartment fund, now seeks to raise $500M

American Landmark Apartments and its equity partner Electra America are betting big on multifamily investments in the Southeast. The two firms just closed on a multifamily fund of $462 million this week and are seeking to raise $500 million in another fund. The closed fund totaled 37 multifamily assets with 12,600 units in the Southeastern United States. Out of the $462 million raised, $392 million…

Stock indexes hit records as market anticipates rate cut. Here’s what that means for real estate

After Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell hinted at an impending interest rate cut, stock indexes hit record highs Thursday — and real estate is going along for the ride. At a congressional hearing this week, Powell said global uncertainty “strengthened the case for a somewhat more accommodative policy.” The Dow climbed after, closing at an all-time high of over 27,000 Thursday. The S&P 500 also…

Historic preservation board rejects Blue Road’s plans for South Beach hotel

Blue Road’s plans to convert a 34-unit South Beach apartment building into a 116-room hotel hit a snag after the project failed to get the minimum votes needed from the Miami Beach Historic Preservation Board. The board voted 4 to 3 this week to approve an amended version of Blue Road’s plans to turn the 61-year-old Park Terrace Apartments at 355 19th Street into the more contemporary Park…

Tech entrepreneur plans private school in South Beach

A tech entrepreneur and inventor plans to convert a 102-year-old South Beach building into a private school. John D. Marshall, founder of the mobile security company AirWatch, bought the 6,500-square-foot property at 224 Second Street in January for $4.8 million. Currently, the South-of-Fifth property consists of a one-story building constructed in 1917 and a two-story addition built in 1937. According to a…

Miami commission rejects proposed Olympia Theater renovation

Olympia Theater and Commissioner Ken Russell An unsolicited proposal to redevelop the commercial portion of downtown Miami’s Olympia Theater was shot down at a Miami City Commission meeting on Thursday. Commissioners voted 5-0 against seeking bids to turn over management of the city-owned Olympia, dealing a quick blow to a developer interested in converting the building’s 72 apartments…

Florida Senate candidate sentenced in Miami area real estate fraud scheme

Anis Blemur In 2016, Anis Blemur was running for a Florida Senate seat in Little Haiti, campaigning on his experience as an entrepreneur and businessman to “empower his people.” But a U.S. District Court found that instead of empowering the Haitian community, the Miami real estate broker preyed on them through a real estate investment scheme that defrauded investors of $1.6 million. Blemur was…

Link at Douglas developers score $47M construction loan

The developers of Link at Douglas scored a $47 million loan to build the transit-oriented, mixed-use project near Coral Gables. Adler Group and 13th Floor Investments secured the loan from TD Bank to build the development’s first tower, which will have 312 apartments and 6,000 square feet of retail, according to a press release. The 22-story tower was designed by Corwil Architects. Link at Douglas…

Miami Building on Palmetto Expressway Sold

The sale of the building located at 5195 NW 77th Avenue was completed, Miami, Florida, located East of Doral, inside unincorporated Miami-Dade County. The building is +/- 36,000 Sq. Ft. on a +/- 1.2  Acres lot, fully fenced. Frontage on Palmetto Expressway. Building has high security with back-up Generator and Heavy power. Sale price was $4,600,000 or $128/Sq. ft. The seller was Larian, LLC; the buyer…

Video: RealPage Market Analysis Manager Carl Whitaker Provides Multifamily Outlook

Carl Whitaker, Manager of Market Analytics with RealPage, providing property management software solutions for the commercial real estate industry, joins the host of America’s Commercial Real Estate Show to discuss the multifamily market, including investment performance, supply, and rent growth. A chart is displayed showing growth of supply, dominated by the western United States, as well…

Live, work, stay? Dadeland Mall is getting its own hotel

Rendering of the AC Hotel by Marriott at Dadeland Mall and David Simon (Credit: DLR Group) Simon Property Group is planning an AC Hotel by Marriott at the Dadeland Mall. The retail real estate investment trust will build a 177-room, seven-story hotel on the northwest corner of the property, next to a Macy’s Home & Children store, a spokesperson said. Simon and Concord Hospitality Enterprises…

Whitman scores $550M loan for Bal Harbour Shops

Bal Harbour Shops, Matthew Whitman Lazenby, Erica English, Howard Friedberg and Michael Katz UPDATED, July 8, 2:35 p.m.: Whitman Family Development closed on a $550 million loan for Bal Harbour Shops, as the high-end shopping center undergoes a major expansion. MetLife Investment Management is the lender, according to a release from Katz Barron. The financing replaces a $150 million loan that…

Whitman Family Lands $550M Financing for Miami Retail Project

Big change is afoot at the world-renowned Bal Harbour Shops in Bal Harbour, Fla., now that owner Whitman Family Development has landed $550 million in financing. HFF arranged two loans on behalf of Whitman, which will utilize the funds to expand the approximately 463,100-square-foot luxury retail property. The financing came in the form of a $400 million floating-rate construction facility, one of…

HFF Arranges $550M Construction Loan for Bal Harbour Shops in Miami Beach

HFF has arranged $550 million in financing to expand Bal Harbour Shops, an upscale shopping mall in Miami Beach. The 463,114-square-foot mall is home to anchors Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. The borrower, Miami-based Whitman Family Development, will use $150 million of the loan to pay off an existing loan and $400 million to expand the center by 300,000 square feet, bringing the total…

Bal Harbour Shops, with 100% Occupancy & Tenant Waiting List Borrows, $550 Million for Expansion

The Bal Harbour Shops in Miami take up 463K SF, but apparently, that’s not enough for tenants who want in. The mall has been fully leased for decades and has a waiting list, so its developer has taken out a $550M loan to retire an existing loan and expand by 300K SF, HFF announced this week. MetLife Investment Management was the lender on two loans with the mall’s owner, Whitman Family…

Michael Shvo wants to build a 200-foot tower near his South Beach hotels

Raleigh hotel with Michael Shvo (Credit: Trip Advisor) New York developer Michael Shvo is one step closer toward being able to build a 200-foot-tall residential tower in South Beach. On Tuesday, the Miami Beach Historic Preservation Board backed a proposed ordinance that will allow property owners who own 115,000 square feet of land to build “ground level additions” up to 200 feet high in the RM-3…

AOC and Kamala Harris want to reverse rule that evicts public housing tenants over felonies

As democratic presidential candidates look to distinguish themselves from the pack and demonstrate their progressive bona fides, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Kamala Harris are teaming up to strengthen protections against housing discrimination. The duo proposed a bill that would outlaw the so-called “one strike” rule, which has been…

Landlord Loses Additional Rent Dispute Based on Lease Language

Another new commercial lease case, another instance of drafting being the deciding factor.  We’ve looked at cases where drafting affected guaranties (here and here), exculpatory clauses, remedies, and how to calculate renewal rent.  To be clear, cases turning on lease drafting are not necessarily borne of drafting errors.  But the specific words the parties use matter. In Dezer Intracoastal Mall, LLC v. Seahorse…

Industry group says Florida ranks fifth in overall commercial development nationwide

It’s not just your imagination: Florida is booming. The state ranked fifth in the U.S. for all commercial real estate development, according to an annual survey by an affiliate of the National Association of Industrial and Office Parks. The Sunshine State trailed only Texas, New York, California (perhaps no surprise there) and a sleeper — Tennessee. In all, Florida commercial real estate projects pumped $20 billion…

Florida’s Hospital Wars: State Eliminates Certificates Of Need

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill last month that eliminates certificates of need before certain hospital facilities can be built. This could potentially lead to a wave of new medical facilities throughout the state, though executives are currently waiting to see whether restrictions will simply be shifted into licensing requirements. Nationally, there are efforts underway to knock down CON laws in other…

Related Group buys more land in Wynwood for mixed-use project

Jon Paul Perez and Jorge Perez with 51 Northwest 28th Street The Related Group paid nearly $6.5 million for land in Wynwood where it’s planning to build a mixed-use project, The Real Deal has learned. Related’s PRH NW 28 LLC closed on the lots at 33, 45 and 51 Northwest 28th Street, property records show. The land totals 20,700 square feet. Jonathan Eismann of Lombardi Properties represented the sellers…

Investors buy North Beach assemblage with plans to redevelop

From left: Michael Bird, Jefferson Brackin, and Jose Sasson Investors Jefferson Brackin and Michael Bird paid $5.9 million for a commercial assemblage in North Beach, with plans to redevelop the property. Brackin and Bird’s Nobe Creek LLC bought the three properties at 666 71st Street, 6994 Carlyle Avenue and 6980 Carlyle Avenue in Miami Beach, said Jose Sasson of Axiom Capital Advisors. Sasson…

Flight training center plans major investment in Sweetwater

An undisclosed flight training center already operating in Miami-Dade County plans to lease 83,000 square feet in Sweetwater and add ten flight simulators at a total cost of more than $104 million – almost $100 million for the simulators alone – in an operation that would add 73 jobs in the county. The global logistics company plans to pay an average of $77,740 for each of the 73 new jobs, plus an…

Miami looks at creating another Dinner Key mooring field

As the City of Miami moves ahead on long-awaited repairs and improvements at the city’s Dinner Key Marina, another contractor is poised to be hired to build an adjacent mooring facility. The matter is scheduled for review and a vote at the city commission’s meeting today (7/11). The Department of Real Estate and Asset Management or DREAM is recommending the city award the work to Dock and…

Miami-Dade courthouse to cost $1.2 billion on arsenic-laced site

A new civil and probate courthouse will cost Miami-Dade County $1.2 billion in payments over the first 30 years, straining budgets and probably forcing service cuts in vital areas if taxes aren’t raised, Mayor Carlos Giménez warned commissioners last week. Furthermore, the $1.2 billion estimate doesn’t include environmental costs – and he said that a new assessment report shows soil and groundwater…

After legal war, Jackson Health’s Doral hospital to be done in 2020

With a major change in state law on hospitals this month, Jackson Health System is moving forward with its plans to open José Milton Memorial Hospital at the Jackson West Medical Center in Doral. The county-owned health system says it will open the 100-bed acute care hospital next year. The hospital sits beside the main building and garage on the 27 acres Jackson Health System owns at 7800 NW 29th…

Lincoln Road blanketed with 500 native orchids

Walking on Miami Beach this summer can be even more mesmerizing than usual. Since Tuesday morning a block of Lincoln Road has been blanketed with 500 native orchids, planted among the palms and hardwood trees. Over eight species of the vibrant plant were donated to the City of Miami Beach by Terranova, one of South Florida’s leading real estate firms, contributing to the city’s goal to…

With taxes rising elsewhere, downtown Miami can add to its gains

Give credit where it’s due to Miami’s Downtown Development Authority for consistent, successful focus on enticing niche financial operations to Miami, adding high-income jobs, ultra-high-income residents, and large-scale economic clout. Those victories have pushed the DDA higher up the scale of community impact by doing the economic development job that had eluded downtown for many years…

Former Kaplan University buildings in Fort Lauderdale sells for $37M

1525 Northwest 62nd Street in Fort Lauderdale, Purdue University Boilermaker mascot A former Kaplan University property in Fort Lauderdale sold for $36.5 million. An Illinois company sold the leasehold interest for two buildings at 1515 Northwest 62nd Street and 1525 Northwest 62nd Street, records show. Purdue University Global, an adult online education program that is part of the Purdue…

Urban League of Greater Miami sells mixed-use property in West Little River

T. Willard Fair, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Urban League of Greater Miami and 8400 NW 25th Avenue The Urban League of Greater Miami sold a mixed-use project in the West Little River neighborhood of Miami-Dade County for $12.5 million. The nonprofit sold the property at 8400 Northwest 25th Avenue to Elizabeth Gardens of Miami LLC, which is managed by Lisa Ramos and Lisette…

Have no fear? Debt brokers say Deutsche Bank quelled concerns about real estate lending

Deutsche Bank CEO Christian Sewing (Credit: Getty Images and iStock) It’s business as usual. That’s the message Deutsche Bank has sent to New York’s real estate industry following the weekend announcement it would shutter its investment banking arm’s equity sales and trading divisions and slash thousands of jobs worldwide. The German bank has been battered in recent years, enduring losses and…

Blackstone buys 9-acre industrial site in Medley

Stephen A. Schwarzman and 8482 Northwest 96th Street (Credit: Google Maps) A Blackstone affiliate bought two industrial vacant lots in Medley for $7.2 million. Link Industrial Properties, an affiliate of Blackstone, bought the 8.8-acre site for $818,181 per acre. The seller is Medley Auto Parts, which is managed by Jorge Seoane of Hialeah, Ana Maria Seoane-Garcia of Davie, and Yolanda Orihuela Cruz…

Video: Counselors of Real Estate Chair Julie Melander Top Ten Issues Affecting Real Estate ~ Part 2 of 2

In this video, Julie Melander, the current chair of the Counselors of Real Estate, an international organization of commercial property professionals from leading real estate, financial, law, valuation and business advisory firms, as well as real property experts in academia and government, discusses what her organization has identified as the current and emerging issues expected to have the most…

Deco Capital Group plans mixed-use project in Allapattah

Affiliates of Deco Capital Group completed an assemblage of land in Miami’s Allapattah neighborhood, where the firm eventually plans to build a mixed-use medical office development, The Real Deal has learned. The assemblage consists of the properties at 1045, 1055, 1061, 1069 and 1089 Northwest 20th Street; and 1058, 1068 and 1098 Northwest 21st Street…

Cold storage is hot: Developer scores $48M construction loan to build Hialeah facility

A rendering of a building in the Countyline Corporate Park, with the Preferred Freezer Services logo Cold storage is hot. A giant cold storage warehouse will soon rise in Hialeah after its developer secured a $48 million construction loan. Chill Build Miami I LLC, tied to Indianapolis-based DEEM, received the construction loan from a syndicate of banks. Huntington National Bank, Associated Bank…

Investors bet on restaurants’ move to delivery-only

Uber founder Travis Kalanick (Credit: Getty Images and iStock) Startups are trying out a new model for restaurants in the age of food delivery: shared kitchens in warehouse spaces with limited storefronts. The move could solve a quandary that has long plagued the restaurant industry: profit margins for delivery are thin, and restaurant space comes at a premium. But scrapping space for dine-in…

Congress Group and Encore Capital Management are in a legal battle over Doral mixed-use project

Art Falcone and Dean Stratouly With a $74 million construction loan due in mid-August, two prominent real estate investment firms are locked in an acrimonious dispute over ownership of a partly completed mixed-use project in Doral. In a lawsuit filed last month in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, a shell company controlled by Boston-based Congress Group alleges that it was illegally ousted from the…

Cement pour at Ocean 2000 site takes 13 hours, 240 trucks and 500 tons of steel

Ocean 2000 cement pour New York-based developer KAR Properties poured cement for the foundation of Ocean 2000, a beachfront condo development in Hallandale Beach. Suffolk Construction oversaw a 13-hour cement pour at the development site, 2000 South Ocean Drive, that required 240 trucks and 500 tons of steel. The cement-pouring marathon from 2 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday was one…

Investors score Doral office and retail complex for nearly $7M

9550-9594 Northwest 41st Street in Doral and Alex Zylberglait A family trust sold an office and retail complex in Doral for $6.6 million to investors who plan to upgrade the property. The Ian Law Trust sold the 35,560-square-foot Showplace at Doral, at 9550–9594 Northwest 41st Street in Doral, to Americas 2122 LLC. The buying entity is led by Nelson Albareda and Jesus Iglesias of Doral, records show.

AEW Capital Management sells senior living facility in Cooper City

Artemis Capital’s Deborah Harmon, Sheridan at Cooper City AEW Capital Management sold a 120-unit senior living facility in Cooper City to Artemis Real Estate Partners for $37.5 million. Boston-based AEW Capital sold the 93,045-square-foot property at 2580 Pine Island Drive for $403 per square foot, records show. The senior living facility is known as the Sheridan at Cooper City. The center provides…

Honeywell sells Medley industrial building to Leo Ghitis

Darius Adamczyk and 9315 Northwest 112 Avenue Honeywell International sold an industrial building in Medley for $5.2 million to a company tied to South Florida real estate investor Leo Ghitis. Charlotte, North Carolina-based Honeywell sold the 49,333-square-foot building at 9315 Northwest 112 Avenue for $105 per square foot, records show. A company tied to Ghitis is the buyer, according to…

The top multifamily developers in South Florida, ranked

Construction cranes are filling up pockets of South Florida like Midtown Miami, Wynwood, Coral Gables and downtown Fort Lauderdale. But instead of the glittering condo towers that the region is known for, developers are turning their focus to creating traditional multifamily buildings. By the end of this year, 7,500 new apartments will be completed in Miami-Dade, marking the most active year…

How Crescent Heights developer Russell Galbut plans to remake South Florida

Russell Galbut (Photo by Sonya Revell) When Miamians and tourists drive eastbound on the MacArthur Causeway, past Star, Palm and Hibiscus islands, past the cruise ships with passengers waving as they exit the port, the first building that’ll catch their eye will be a veritable skyscraper. A 44-story, 519-foot-tall luxury residential building dubbed Park on Fifth is set to rise at 500 Alton Road, right at…

Arbor Provides $9.3M Acquisition Loan for Multifamily Property in North Miami

Arbor Realty Trust Inc. has provided a $9.3 million acquisition loan for Arlington Manor Apartments, a 91-unit multifamily property in North Miami. Built in 1969, the four-story property is situated at 12501 NE 13th Avenue, 13 miles north of downtown Miami. Arlington Manor offers studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans. Alexander Kaushansky of Arbor originated the loan on behalf of the…

Edgewater Condo Site Accused of Polluting Biscayne Bay

In May, Texas-based apartment developer Mill Creek Residential broke ground on a luxury tower in the Miami neighborhood of Edgewater. The 27-story Modera Biscayne Bay boasts a rooftop pool, digital package lockers, a Pilates studio, and “spectacular views of Biscayne Bay.” But during construction, the builders have been cited for polluting the very body of water the owners tout in…

Island Gardens Mega-Yacht Marina and Resort Project Moving Forward on Watson Island

On Watson Island, now known as Jungle Island, the Flagstone Island Gardens development firm has been litigating with the City of Miami and winning. The firm is expecting a settlement exceeding $100M from the City so they can proceed with their $1 billion luxury Island Gardens marina and resort project. After a Miami-Dade Circuit Court judge ruled in 2016 that the City violated a lease and illegally…

Lawsuit alleges $3.2M in unpaid work at Miami Beach Convention Center

Miami Beach Convention Center The Miami Beach Convention Center’s renovation project may be over, but one of the nation’s leading steel suppliers is still trying to collect a check for $3.2 million worth of materials and labor. Lynchburg, Virginia-based Banker Steel sued four insurance companies that provided a $515 million performance bond for the $615 million project. The lawsuit, filed in…

Residents, property owners in Sunny Isles Beach say City Commission plan is a ‘deathblow’

So what if a group of local folks have a beef against a developer. Seems they always get their way anyhow. Not this time, however, if dozens of angry residents and property owners in Sunny Isles Beach succeed in nipping a City Commission plan in the bud that would effectively permit developers to construct 6,000 hotel units and 1,000 residential units within a tight two-block radius. Not only is the…

New Hotel Proposed to replace Bentley Edgewater Condo Hotel

A new eight-story boutique hotel has been proposed in Edgewater to replace the 36-story Bentley Edgewater condo hotel project that was recently scrapped. Developer Amaury Martinez is proposing to build The Edgewater Hotel, a 207-key hotel that will encompass nearly 159,000-square-feet of area and is earmarked for construction at 410 Northeast 35th Terrace. While the developers have hinted that…