World’s Largest Rooftop Greenhouse Coming To Chicago

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Chicago probably isn’t the first place that comes to mind when you think of farming, but the city’s Pullman Park district will soon be home to the largest rooftop greenhouse in the world.

Once construction is complete, the behemoth 75,000 square foot green space, built and operated by Gotham Greens, will be larger than a football stadium and even some city blocks.

As Business Insider puts it, “For some perspective on the size of the greenhouse: the average size of a city block in many parts of the U.S.—including Portland, Oregon and Houston, Texas—is 67,600 square feet. An NFL football field is 57,600 square feet. This greenhouse is larger than all of these things.

According to a Gotham Greens, the greenhouse will produce up to 1 million pounds of sustainably grown, pesticide-free produce annually. The harvest will also be distributed through local retailers, restaurants, farmer’s markets and community groups. Since the greens are grown locally, it eliminates the carbon emissions and miles that food traditionally travels to get to Chicago’s plates.

“This is an exciting opportunity to bring fresh, healthy produce year-round to Pullman, which is underserved for food, and going through an exciting resurgence in economic development,” Gotham Greens CEO Viraj Puri told DNAInfo.

The rooftop farm is also expected to hire 40 workers to help grow the produce, the site reported.

ChicagoFactoryGothamsGreen2The greenhouse features a slew of innovative farming technologies. With its soil-free hydroponic system, “Gotham Greens’ irrigation methods use 20 times less land and 10 times less water and eliminate the need for pesticide use and fertilizer runoff,” the company said. A computer-controlled system also regulates temperatures, irrigation needs and other variables, Business Insider noted.

What’s interesting is that Chicago’s new greenhouse will sit on top of an already environmentally friendly factory occupied by eco-soap company Method. Designed by Cradle to Cradle company William McDonough + Partners, the $30 million building is the nation’s first LEED Platinum manufacturing plant in this sector.

Method’s so-called South Side Soapbox, contains a 230-foot wind turbine as well as three 35 x 35-foot solar tracking trees that follows the sun’s path to maximize energy generation. According to Business Insider, this clean energy helps generate “a third” of the building’s energy needs.

“Gotham Greens shares our goal of using business as a force for social and environmental good,” Drew Fraser, CEO of Method, said in the press release. “We are thrilled to partner with a like-minded organization, who has demonstrated that the innovative, adaptive use of urban space can make a significant impact on local communities.”

When the greenhouse is finally built, it will also help insulate the building to keep costs down even further, improve urban air quality and reduce stormwater runoff.

“We need to use our urban spaces more efficiently,” Method’s chief greenskeeper Saskia Van Gendt told Business Insider. “Rooftop greenhouses are a representation of a model of doing that.”

ChicagoFactoryGothamsGreen4It’s a stroke of genius to bring these eco-minded companies together. As EcoWatch previously reported, Gotham Greens now has four state of the art greenhouses where its workers grow organic greens year round. Its flagship greenhouse in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, was built back in 2010 and was the first commercial scale rooftop greenhouse in the U.S, according to the company. Method, known for its colorfully pleasing soap bottles and for introducing the world’s first bottle made of ocean waste, formulates its products with naturally derived, biodegradable ingredients.

Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel only had nice words to say about the partnership. “Method has been instrumental in supporting the revitalization happening in Pullman, and the addition of this sustainable greenhouse means that more Chicago residents will have access to fresh, healthy foods grown in the neighborhood,” Emanuel said in the release. “I commend both Method and Gotham Greens on their commitment to Pullman and look forward to seeing the results of this partnership come to fruition.”

 

Source: EcoWatch

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Miami-Dade’s New Transit Director Wants to Make Miami A Car-Optional City

Miami-Dade County’s new transit director has big plans.

Alice Bravo, Miami’s former deputy city manager, has several short-term projects in mind, but her grand vision is sure to raise eyebrows in South Florida: Eventually, she hopes that the plans that she and her team put in place in the next few years will make buying a car “optional” for Miami’s next batch of commuters.

“It’ll take time, but we have to take advantage of this enthusiasm to make Miami a car-optional city one day,” Bravo tells New Times. “It’s apparent that we have a younger generation that is not interested in having a car and wants to use public transportation. We have to make sure there is a system there for them to satisfy their needs.”

How the heck will she do that? Bravo admits it’s a long-term goal, but in the near future, she says, there are projects that will immediately relieve congestion. She points to the often-out-of-sync traffic signal system. She says by creating a system that can monitor intersection congestion and adapt on a moment’s notice depending upon traffic flow can optimize efficiency. Once a system is in place, she says, it can become centralized and connected to the bus system.

“We want to get all of our systems working together,” Bravo said.

For the longer term, Bravo is concentrating on “connectivity points” — places that are convenient for commuters in different suburbs. She wants to turn those connectivity points into stations and work to bring people to those stations as easily as possible (whether it be adding sidewalks or bus lanes). From these stations, she wants to work with local municipalities to create shuttles to quickly take people to other hubs around the city.

And to really tackle the east-west transportation debacle, Bravo plans to work with various agencies to put buses on existing highways.

The top-tier transportation shakeup comes after Miami-Dade’s much-criticized former transit director, Ysela Llort, resigned last month. She had overseen the county’s transportation since county Mayor Carlos Gimenez was elected in 2011. Even though Llort was credited with connecting the airport line to Metrorail, many observers have pointed to the lack of east-west and late-night public transportation options.

“The bus/train fares keep increasing, and the conditions get worse and worse. How is this working for [us], the tax-paying, hard-working residents?” one online petition to Llort declares. “Find the money, make public transit a priority, and fix our city.”

Gimenez, in a move to tackle public transportation “more aggressively,” hired Bravo to replace Llort. Bravo left her previous post as deputy city manager, where she oversaw six departments, including public transportation. Bravo is credited with shepherding in Metromover’s Brickell extension and the city’s free trolley system.

Born and raised in Westchester, Bravo remembers driving past Metrorail as it was being built in the mid-1980s. On the weekends, her family would sit in traffic on South Dixie Highway on their way to Key Biscayne. From the car window, she stared at the colossal concrete beams and steel rails. It fascinated Bravo, who was only a tween, and planted the seed for flashy transportation ideas to come.

Bravo went on to study civil engineering at the University of Miami before earning her MBA from Florida International University. She worked first as an engineering consultant on transportation projects for 13 years. Then she went to work for the Florida Department of Transportation, where she was in charge of implementing well-known projects such as 95 Express and the PortMiami tunnel. She was then hired by the City of Miami to work in capital improvements and transportation. In 2011, she was promoted to assistant to the deputy city manager. Two-and-half years later, she was promoted to deputy city manager.

Now, Bravo is trying to put that experience to use by transforming Miami-Dade’s transportation policies.

“The scope of transportation for the county is very large and affects millions of people,” Bravo says. “The mayor’s vision is to combine the public transits with the roadway through public works to make sure all of our transportation systems are coordinated to maximize efficiency.”

Bravo wants to make sure the current transportation systems are clean, safe, and reliable. To that end, she’s been studying the technology and transportation systems in other metropolitan areas in the States and Europe. “There are a lot of different groups with different ideas. Everyone needs to come together to formulate these plans that’ll span out 20 years. It’s not built overnight, but over many years,” she says. “But we need to turn a corner and start acting.”

In the meantime, Bravo is excited about taking Metrorail to work. “Our office is just north of Government Center,” she notes.

 

Source: Miami New Times

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The End Of Urban Sprawl? Ambitious Plan To Fit A City Inside Skyscraper

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A stunning set of designs has envisaged what an entire city within a single skyscraper could look like.

The ‘Vertical City’ project features a futuristic-looking tower, which would be population-dense yet still feel spacious, holding 25,000 people at any given time.

Unlike traditional skyscrapers, which are self-contained and shut off from the natural environment, the 180-floor building would allow the outside world to become an intrinsic part of the interior.

Nice view: Architect Luca Curci believes that his Vertical City concept could improve the heal and wellbeing of residents

Nice view: Architect Luca Curci believes that his Vertical City concept could improve the heal and wellbeing of residents

Huge hexagonal voids would run up the side of the tower, allowing sunlight and rainwater to nourish the plant life inside.

The bold project was overseen by Luca Curci, an architect based in Bari, Italy.

 “We wanted to introduce a new approach to the architecture of contemporary cities – the idea behind the project is that the tower can be built anywhere,” said Curci.

Bee hive: Huge hexagonal voids run up the side of the tower, allowing sunlight and rainwater to nourish the plant life housed inside

Bee hive: Huge hexagonal voids run up the side of the tower, allowing sunlight and rainwater to nourish the plant life housed inside

If constructed, the 18-story building would be 2460ft (750 metres) tall. It would boast a green area of over 21,527,82 square ft (20

0,000 square metres), including the public garden square at the top of the building.

The foundations would be built into the seafloor, meaning that a number of floors would be underwater. Here parking, ‘technical areas’ and spas, meditation centres, gyms and luxury hotels rooms would be housed.

The building was designed to be energy-independent, producing energy from photovoltaic glass and solar panels housed on the roof

The building was designed to be energy-independent, producing energy from photovoltaic glass and solar panels housed on the roof

Designers envisage that the Vertical City would be accessed by water, by land or by air. The circular basement would be equipped with external and internal docks and three entries. Large boats would dock at the external berths, allowing private smaller boats to navigate into the building itself. A semi-submersed bridge would also allow pedestrians, cars and public transport to reach the water-based city while a heliport would connect with the upper garden-square.

Though he does not have a specific city in mind for the tower, Mr Curci imagines the project most suited to the Middle East – near cities such as Doha, Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

The majority of the tower would be filled with green space - but there would also be room designated for offices and residents.

The majority of the tower would be filled with green space – but there would also be room designated for offices and residents.

The building was designed to be entirely energy-independent, producing energy from photovoltaic glass and solar panels placed on the roof.

By having such a zero-energy building, the design team hope that such a tower would help societies rethink their relationships with nature

By having such a zero-energy building, the design team hope that such a tower would help societies rethink their relationships with nature

 

 

 

 

 

“The idea for this project started from the analysis of the skyscraper as a compact element, smooth and alienated from the surrounding space. The re-interpretation of this archetype and its linked way of life, conducted us to imagine an opened structure, equipped with green areas on each level, natural light and ventilation. Residents get into an healthier lifestyle, in connection with natural elements, and re-think the traditional concept of community and society,” Curci said.

 

Source: Daily Mail

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Foreign Investors Staking Claim To Miami’s Office And Retail Sectors

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High net worth investors, families, and wealth managers from Latin America, seeking to diversify their portfolios, have been on a buying binge for office buildings and single-tenant retail properties throughout Miami-Dade County during the past 18 months, real estate advisors and developers specializing in the commercial sector told The Real Deal.

“Their appetite for well-positioned income-producing assets coupled with Miami’s prospering economy are translating into appreciating property values at a faster pace than previously anticipated,” said Alex Zylberglait, president of The Zylberglait Group at Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services in Miami. “It is fueling transaction velocity across most product types. And there is particular interest in single tenant spaces.”

Alex Zylberglait, president of The Zylberglait Group at Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services

Alex Zylberglait, president of The Zylberglait Group

Zylberglait told TRD that his firm brokered the sale of six commercial properties to buyers from Argentina, Brazil, El Salvador and Italy in the past 15 months.

For instance, Zlyberglait represented the seller of a 20,000-square-foot office building at 1250 Northwest 57th Avenue that is the headquarters of Summit Aerospace, an aircraft maintenance company that generates approximately $18 million in sales annually. The building was sold in March of last year for $2.6 million to a company called Algafin, which lists Giorgio Rubini, an Italian national, as its manager.

4995 Northwest 72nd Avenue

4995 Northwest 72nd Avenue

In another Zylberglait brokered transaction in July of last year, a Brazilian-owned entity called Kireland 41 Street Doral purchased an L.A. Fitness at 10055 Northwest 41st Street for $9.9 million. More recently, Zylberglait represented the previous owner of an office building anchored by a Wells Fargo Bank at 4995 Northwest 72nd Avenue. The property was bought for $5.3 million on March 25 by St. Helena LLC, a corporation listing Frech Hasbun and Freddie Moises of La Libertad, El Salvador, as managers.

Zylberglait’s firm is not the only commercial real estate brokerage seeing more interest from foreign buyers. Earlier this month, Fabio Faerman of Fortune International/FA Commercial told TRD he represented a foreign buyer that purchased a 2,259-square-foot Taco Bell at 1650 Northeast 163rd Street in North Miami Beach.

“International investors are looking for business opportunities like this,” Faerman said in a statement. “This is a prime location with a great franchise, Taco Bell.”

Camilo Lopez, president and managing director of The Solution Group

Camilo Lopez, president and managing director of The Solution Group

The company is tearing down the old structure to make way for a Mediterranean-style office building called OFIZZINA. It will have 54 units totaling 96,767 square feet of office space, as well as three retail units at ground level and 332 parking spaces, Lopez told TRD. Camilo Lopez, president and managing director of real estate development and management company The Solution Group, said demand from Latin American buyers for commercial office space is the reason his firm is building an office condo in Coral Gables. In August of last year, Solution paid $6.6 million for a one-story office building at 1200 Ponce de Leon Boulevard, built in 1972.

“In our research meetings, we realized the office market is the least served sector in Miami,” Lopez said. “It doesn’t even reach 5 percent of the overall real estate market. Because of the very limited offerings, we decided to build a luxurious office condo building.”

The project, including the land purchase and construction, is being financed privately through a capital fund made up of investors from Latin America and Europe, Lopez said. He said the office condo concept appeals to South Americans.

Claudio Stivelman, a principal partner in Aventura-based S2 Development

Claudio Stivelman, a principal partner in Aventura-based S2 Development

Claudio Stivelman, a principal partner in Aventura-based S2 Development, said foreign investors staking claims to commercial properties in South Florida have buying power that begins in the $3 million to $5 million range.

“These are people who have likely already bought a condo or two in Miami and are looking to upgrade their portfolio,” Stivelman told TRD. “They may want to buy a Walgreens, a strip mall  or a warehouse.”

In recent months, Stivelman said, his contacts in Brazil have been introducing him to investors who are not interested in condos.

“They are seeing the strength of the commercial side,” Stivelman said. “They see an opportunity to make big money.”

Zylberglait said the foreign buyers he’s dealt with view commercial properties as a safer bet.

“The income generated from the properties is a much more stable situation than buying a half-a-million dollar condo that doesn’t produce income unless you can rent it,” Zylberglat explained. “Buying a commercial asset not only produces a stronger yield. It also allows the buyers to leverage those investments.”

 

Source: The Real Deal

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Miami International Airport Signs 14-Year Energy Savings Contract

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The Sustainability Project at Miami International Airport (MIA) is one of the largest energy performance contracts ever undertaken in Florida.

The $32 million project includes the installation of energy-efficient lighting, water conservation retrofits, air-conditioning and ventilation upgrades and other projects to optimize energy management with new technologies in airport energy efficiency.

FPL Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Florida Power & Light, won the energy performance contract with MIA via the Miami-Dade Aviation Department (MDAD).The project will save the airport 17 million kilowatts of energy each year. Miami International Airport will reduce operational costs and streamline maintenance by eliminating 400 types of lighting fixtures through upgrades and standardization throughout the airport and replacing more than 65,000 light bulbs with new energy efficient ones.The changes that FPL Services is making throughout the airport will also save up to 28 million gallons of water each year.FPL Services guarantees electricity and water consumption savings of more than $2.2 million annually while also achieving additional savings in maintenance. The project, which is funded by third-party financing, will be completely offset with the budgetary savings throughout the 14-year project.
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Renting And Flipping – New Miami Condos Is All The Rage

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The majority of new condo buyers in Miami have been looking to capitalize on their investments by flipping the units or renting them out, according to research by CraneSpotters.com.

Looking at the four largest condo towers completed in greater downtown Miami since construction resumed in 2011, anywhere from 45 percent to 96 percent of the units sold by the developers in each building were placed back on the market or put up for rent. That indicates a high level of investor ownership in those buildings, and also raises some questions.

With more than 18,100 condo units either under construction, planned with approvals or proposed in greater downtown Miami, according to CraneSpotters.com, is there enough rental demand at higher price points to support that many new units? And how will they be impacted by the nearly 7,800 apartments in the development pipeline?

The recently completed condo towers in Miami sold in the mid-$400s per square foot, but the average price per square foot for new projects is more than double that now, CraneSpotters.com principal Peter Zalewski said. When the sales prices climb, so must rents. Are there enough high-earning renters in Miami to fill those units?

“We strongly believe that when Brickell CityCentre opens and people will be able to walk to a shopping mall with a Saks Fifth Avenue, 11 cinemas and 500,000 square feet of retail, Brickell condos will raise in value and so will rents,” said Carlos Rosso, head of the Related Group’s condominium division. “Twenty-four-hour urban living close to the workplaces is and will continue to be in high demand.”

Here’s a look at how the four largest recently completed condo projects in Miami have performed:

CondoFlipping - Nine at Mary Brickell VillageNINE AT MARY BRICKELL VILLAGE
Units: 390
Units sold/price per square foot: 300 for $501
Active MLS listings/price per square foot: 17 for $469
Units resold: 0
Asking rentals/price per square foot: 95 for $2.78
Closed rentals/price per square foot: 23 for $2.47

CondoFlipping - 1100 Millecento Residences1100 MILLECENTO RESIDENCES
Units: 382
Units sold/price per square foot: 376 for $435
Active MLS listings/price per square foot: 99 for $403
Units resold: 1
Asking rentals/price per square foot: 67 for $2.59
Closed rentals/price per square foot: 120 for $2.25

CondoFlipping - BrickellHouseBRICKELLHOUSE
Units: 374
Units sold/price per square foot: 374 for $504
Active MLS listings/price per square foot: 91 for $627
Units resold: 7
Asking rentals/price per square foot: 64 for $3.63
Closed rentals/price per square foot: 77 for $3.24

CondoFlipping - MyBrickellMYBRICKELL
Units: 192
Units sold/price per square foot: 192 for $360
Active MLS listings/price per square foot: 31 for $379
Units resold: 8
Asking rentals/price per square foot: 19 for $2.67
Closed rentals/price per square foot: 126 for $2.01

It looks like some of these condo towers are more like apartment buildings. Projects in other South Florida cities have behaved quite differently. For instance, in Broward County’s largest newly completed condo tower:

CondoFlipping - BeachwalkBEACHWALK – HALLANDALE BEACH
Units: 300
Units sold/price per square foot: 289 for $448
Active MLS listing/price per square foot: 49 for $532
Units resold: 1
Asking rentals/price per square foot: 6 for $2.97
Closed rentals: 0

There’s a fair amount of resale activity, but not many rentals. However, Beachwalk has a rental pool system managed by the hotel management that doesn’t show up on MLS, so many unit owner participate in that. CraneSpotters.com also looked at the largest recently completed condominium in Palm Beach County, Bay Colony Juno Beach, and found only two of its 121 units on the rental market, although it had 23 resales.

For more on the South Florida condo market, see this week’s feature story with comments from the region’s leading condo experts. Most of them agree that sales are slowing.

 

Source: SFBJ

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Proposed ‘Green City’ Would Move UDB, Add Thousands Of Homes

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Property owners are proposing to extend Dade’s Urban Development Boundary westward with a massive new project.

The project would be called Green City, according to plans submitted last month. It could add about 26,000 new residents and thousands of new jobs near the edge of the Everglades.

Planned for the 859 acres include 11,401 homes, 1.36 million square feet of retail, 925,000 square feet of office, 350,000 square feet of industrial, 475,000 square feet of government and educational uses, and 660 hotel rooms.

Ownership of the property is controlled by several different entities who have combined for the application.

Extending development beyond the UDB is controversial due to concerns about sprawl and other environmental issues. Others, including the politically connected Jeff Soffer’s Turnberry Holdings have also been trying to move it. A supermajority vote is required by Dade’s commission.

View greencity on Scribd

 

Source: The Next Miami

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Florida Developers Woo Chinese Buyers

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Wealthy buyers from Brazil, Venezuela and Argentina have fueled a real-estate frenzy in Miami in recent years, sending luxury-condo prices soaring. Now, Miami developers and real-estate agents are setting their sights on a more distant part of the world: China.

A rendering of the Brickell Flatiron. Illustration: Brickell Flatiron

A rendering of the Brickell Flatiron. Illustration: Brickell Flatiron

In April, representatives for several Miami condo buildings made the 8,000-mile-trip to the Beijing Luxury Property Show, a trade show that attracted more than 5,200 wealthy Chinese to look at international properties. Sales agents for the Fendi Chateau Residences, a luxury development going up near Florida’s Bal Harbour, handed out brochures in Mandarin for condos priced from $5 million to $22 million. Nearby was Lauren Marks, the marketing coordinator for two luxury-condo buildings: Palazzo Del Sol and the forthcoming Palazzo Della Luna, on Miami’s Fisher Island.

“I’m here on a fact-finding mission,” said Ms. Marks. “I’m trying to decide if this is the right place for us to facilitate a meaningful relationship with Chinese buyers.”

Executives of the Miami Association of Realtors, the largest local group of the National Association of Realtors, were there, too, handing out Miami market data and gold palm-tree pins attached to a card with the tagline, written in Chinese, “Enjoy the unique taste of life.”

Part of the reason for their journey: South American buyers, who comprise the largest foreign buying group in Miami, aren’t buying as rapidly anymore. A recent study by the Miami Downtown Development Authority found that sales of new condo units still under construction have slowed, in part because South American investors have less buying power, due to the increase of the U.S. dollar compared with South American currencies.

Meanwhile, Chinese buyers are beginning to take a closer look at the city.

“The Chinese are coming along very strong,” said Simon Henry, co-founder of Juwai.com, a China-based website that connects wealthy Chinese with overseas properties.“Miami looks relatively cheap compared with some of the big cities like San Francisco and New York.” Juwai says the average budget for Chinese buyers shopping for overseas properties on its site is $2.3 million.

Karen Xu, a Shanghai resident, is looking at one-bedroom condos in the U.S. as an investment. She says she didn’t consider Miami until she saw a marketing table at the Juwai Agent Summit in Shanghai in May for Brickell Flatiron, a downtown Miami development where one-bedroom condos cost $500,000 to $750,000. The deputy director of a boutique investment firm, Ms. Xu, age 35, was initially interested in a Manhattan home, but said she’s priced out. “Two to three years ago, prices were OK,” she said. “Now people are saying, ‘Buy in Brooklyn.’ I don’t want Brooklyn.”

Vanessa Grout, president of CMC Real Estate, which is developing Brickell Flatiron in downtown Miami, traveled to Shanghai in May to meet with investors and real-estate agents who could help connect her to Chinese buyers. Photo Credit: Alexia Fodere for The Wall Street Journal

Vanessa Grout, president of CMC Real Estate, which is developing Brickell Flatiron in downtown Miami, traveled to Shanghai in May to meet with investors and real-estate agents who could help connect her to Chinese buyers. Photo Credit: Alexia Fodere for The Wall Street Journal

CMC Group, which is developing Brickell Flatiron, is marketing the property to the Chinese via local brokerages, says Vanessa Grout, CMC Real Estate president.

Currently, only 2% of international buyers in Miami come from China, according to the Miami Association of Realtors. But potential changes in Chinese investment policies, and the relatively strong Chinese yuan, are making the Chinese look like a good bet to Miami developers. The Chinese government is expected to begin raising annual limits on how much an individual can invest overseas from the current $50,000 cap—a rule often skirted.

Lauren Marks, marketing coordinator for Palazzo Del Sol and the forthcoming Palazzo Della Luna on Miami’s Fisher Island, attended the Beijing Luxury Property Show in April. She is shown here in the Palazzo Del Sol sales office. Photo Credit: Alexia Fodere for The Wall Street Journal

Lauren Marks, marketing coordinator for Palazzo Del Sol and the forthcoming Palazzo Della Luna on Miami’s Fisher Island, attended the Beijing Luxury Property Show in April. She is shown here in the Palazzo Del Sol sales office. Photo Credit: Alexia Fodere for The Wall Street Journal

Lauren Marks, marketing coordinator for Palazzo Del Sol and the forthcoming Palazzo Della Luna on Miami’s Fisher Island, attended the Beijing Luxury Property Show in April.

And Chinese buyers have become an increasingly dominant force in U.S. real estate overall. According to the National Association of Realtors, Chinese buyers recently surpassed Canadians as the top foreign buyers of homes in the U.S., purchasing $28.6 billion of properties in the 12-month period ending in March.

The Miami Association of Realtors forged a partnership with Soufun Holding’s Fang.com, one of China’s largest real-estate portals, several years ago. The relationship allows association members to offer special pricing to the website, said Teresa King Kinney, CEO of the Miami  association.

One of the largest booths at the Beijing Luxury Property Show belonged to OneWorld Properties, which is marketing Paramount, a condo tower in downtown Miami with more than 500 units priced from about $650,000 to more than $6 million. Peggy Fucci, CEO of OneWorld Properties, says Miami’s luxurious image and thriving art and cultural scene appeal to Chinese buyers.

Still, there are plenty of challenges for Miami brokers trying to target the Chinese market. One of the most pressing issues is the lack of a direct flight from Beijing, Shanghai or Hong Kong to Miami.

“There were no direct flights to Hawaii until last year and up until that point foreign investment was almost nonexistent,” Mr. Henry said. “Now the Chinese are the second largest buyer there.” Spokesmen for American Airlines, which has a hub in Miami, and Cathay Pacific Airways, based in Hong Kong, both said there are currently no plans for new routes from greater China to Miami.

Ms. Grout, who spent a week in Shanghai in May, said it’s difficult to figure out what appeals to Chinese buyers, because there are many contradictions and not all buyers think alike.

During the Juwai summit, Ms. Grout said a Chinese real-estate agent asked her which direction the Brickell Flatiron units face. She told him they were east facing, toward the ocean. “He walked away right after I said that, saying facing east is bad for Feng Shui,” Ms. Grout said. “I had never heard that before.” (Feng Shui consultants say a south-facing unit is most preferable, to get ample sunshine, but a window facing east, for example, could create good energy for early birds.)

A rendering of the Fendi Chateau Residences in Miami. Agents for the development handed out brochures in Mandarin at the Beijing Luxury Property Show. —Venegas International Group

A rendering of the Fendi Chateau Residences in Miami. Agents for the development handed out brochures in Mandarin at the Beijing Luxury Property Show. —Venegas International Group

Monica Venegas, principal of the Miami-based real-estate firm Venegas International Group, has been coming to China property shows for the past seven years. “People finally recognize my face here,” Ms. Venegas said during LPS in Beijing. She added that she’s learned to be patient, as Chinese buyers rarely buy on the spot, and often are swayed by the advice of their friends.

Real-estate agents estimate that bringing a sales team and setting up a booth at a mainland property show can cost anywhere from $30,000 to $150,000—making it a pricey trip if a there’s no sales outcome. Aside from travel and accommodation costs, developers also must pay for translation services and shipping materials to China ahead of the show.

A few weeks after returning from Beijing and Hong Kong, Ms. Marks, of Palazzo Del Sol, said she hadn’t heard of any sales as a direct result of Miami developers attending the Beijing expo.

“I have a hunch our marketing dollars are going to be better served in Hong Kong with more intimate gatherings of ultra-high-net-worth individuals and less red tape,” said Ms. Marks, emphasizing that her development is looking for residents, not investors. “The only way to really grasp that was to go there and experience China in person.”

 

Source: The Wall Street Journal

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Miami Ranks #9 On CBRE’s Annual Green Building Adoption Index

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NGBAI-banner.jpg

NGBAI-banner.jpg

With 41.6 percent of its office space considered “green,” Miami ranked ninth of 30 markets on the 2015 Green Building Adoption Index, a joint project of CBRE Group, Inc. and Maastricht University.

For the purposes of this report, “green” office space is defined as holding either an EPA ENERGY STAR label, U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) full-building LEED certification or both. Using square feet as a measure, 41.6% of Miami’s office market is “green” – well above the national average of 38.7%.  Moreover, Miami ranked particularly well in terms of number of buildings considered green – over 17%. By square feet, 21.84% of Miami’s office market has a LEED certification, and over a third of the office market is ENERGY STAR rated.

This is the second year in a row that Miami ranked ninth on the list, behind U.S. cities such as Minneapolis, which led the Green Building Adoption Index’s city ranking for the second consecutive year with 70.4 percent of all office space currently qualified as green (down from 77.0 percent in 2014.)  San Francisco, again in second place, significantly closed the gap and now boasts a 70 percent green market, up from 67.2 percent in 2014. Chicago, at 63.4 percent, was third, while Atlanta (57.8 percent) and Houston (52.9 percent) swapped positions at fourth and fifth. The top 10 cities on the 2014 list all retained a place on the 2015 list.

The study also found that owners of small buildings have an opportunity to differentiate themselves by implementing energy-efficient practices, due to a significant gap between large and small office buildings in achieving sustainability certification. For example, 62.1 percent of office buildings in the U.S. greater than 500,000 square feet are considered green. In contrast, only 4.5 percent of all U.S. office buildings less than 100,000 square feet qualified as green.

“Our 2015 study confirmed that green building adoption has been primarily a big building, first-tier city phenomenon,” said David Pogue, CBRE’s global director of corporate responsibility. “It would appear that many smaller buildings in the majority of large markets still have an opportunity to be ‘best in class’ among their peer set by achieving these certifications.”

Executed in close collaboration with the USGBC and CBRE Research, this is the second release of the annual Green Building Adoption Index. Based on a rigorous methodology, the Index shows the growth of ENERGY STAR- and LEED-certified space for the 30 largest U.S. office markets, both in aggregate and in individual markets, over the previous 10 years.

GreenMiami4

 

Sources: CRE-sources

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Miami Center Office Tower To Undergo $20M Renovations After Citigroup Renews 125,000 SF Lease

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The 34-story Miami Center office tower downtown is set to undergo $20 million in renovations after main tenant Citigroup renewed its lease.

Cushman & Wakefield’s Jon Blunk represented landlord Crocker Partners in the lease, while NGKF’s Patrick Duffy represented Citigroup.

MiamiCenter2The banking giant will continue to occupy 125,000 square feet at the building, at 201 S. Biscayne Blvd., and will add a retail branch there. Citibank had $3.1 billion in deposits in that office as of June 30, 2014, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. – its most in Miami-Dade County

Crocker Partners said the $20 million in renovations to Miami Center will include a makeover of the lobby and exterior plaza, a new entrance with a valet, and elevator modernization. The tower totals 786,267 square feet.

“Locking in a long-term lease at today’s rental rates is a wise move,” Crocker Partners’ Angelo Bianco said. “Tenant demand from both organic and new tenant growth is in its fourth consecutive year of expansion. Couple that fact with the limited amount of office development in the pipeline and we have a perfect storm on the 12-to-24-month horizon for a significant increase in rents.”

 

Source: SFBJ

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