FAA Approves Two Miami Towers About 1,000 Feet Tall

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Florida East Coast Realty obtained approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for the height of two planned towers in downtown Miami, both designed to rise about 1,000 feet.

The FAA approved the designed height Florida East Coast’s 1,005-foot One Bayfront Plaza and the company’s 995-foot 1201 Brickell development. In a separate decision, the FAA recently approved the designed height of six Miami condo buildings by Related Group, including two taller than 800 feet.

The FAA had issued  preliminary notices of “presumed hazard” to Florida East Coast because the federal agency was concerned that the height of One Bayfront Plaza and 1201 Brickell could interfere with air traffic.

Florida East Coast designed 1201 Brickell as a twin-tower residential development with 787 units. One Bayfront Plaza is planned at a location on the west side of Biscayne Boulevard between Southeast 1 Street and Southeast 2 Street. The $1.4 billion project would include 768,000 square feet of office space. The mixed-use development also would encompass 643 hotel rooms, 97,000 square feet of retail space and 110,000 square feet of meeting and convention space.

The tallest building in Miami now is the Four Seasons hotel at 1435 Brickell Avenue, which is 789 feet tall. Florida East Coast will top that when it finishes its 822-foot Panorama Tower at 1101 Brickell Avenue, now under construction. Swire Properties eventually may have the tallest tower in town: The developer plans to build a 1,049-foot tower in a future phase of its Brickell City Centre development along South Miami Avenue between 8 Street and 6 Street.

 

Source: The Real Deal

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Miami CRE: Neighborhoods Emerging, Transforming

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When Avra Jain bought the Vagabond Hotel in Miami’s MiMo district two years ago, she couldn’t capture the interest of traditional real estate investors.

Comparable rates along Biscayne Boulevard were $60 a night — or $20 an hour, she quipped. Now, after redeveloping the property into a boutique hotel with financial backing from friends and family, off-season rates stand at $159 a night, and the coming season will command $229 to $259 per night.

Changes taking place in the commercial real estate market in neighborhoods like MiMo and Wynwood are spurring widespread revitalization in Miami and creating other newly emerging areas, panelists said Friday at the Miami Association of Realtors’ RCA Super Conference, held at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables.

In MiMo, Jain realized that dilapidated motels were hurting the area, so she purchased seven motels along the Biscayne Boulevard strip and shut them down. “And that is when the neighborhood started to change,” she said during a panel, “Emerging Miami: Miami River, Lemon City & Little River.”

Much more change is on the horizon. In a year, the MiMo District “will be lit up with neon and restaurants and will surprise everybody,” she told more than 100 conference attendees. Retail rents are rising rapidly, and now stand at about $50 to $70 per square foot, and $45 for second floor office space, Jain said.

Meanwhile, as Miami’s once gritty Wynwood transforms and rents there rise as well, art galleries, local businesses and creative types are being priced out, and are moving to more affordable and newly emerging — yet historic — areas like Little River and Lemon City, the panelists said. That’s where Thomas Conway’s MADE, a new co-working space for creative entrepreneurs, has recently opened. Creating a sense of place is key, the panelists said.

“We’re basically being the stewards of revitalizing these neighborhoods,” said Tony Cho, founder and CEO of Metro 1.

With investors redeveloping property, Wynwood has quickly become a thriving neighborhood, with a curated collection of new shops, restaurants, bars and breweries that attract a pedestrian crowd at all hours of the night. “It’s remarkable,” Cho said of the transformation. “It has exceeded my original expectations.”

Along with that, commercial rents are now as high as $80 per square foot on Northwest Second Avenue in Wynwood — compared to $10 per square foot 10 years ago, Cho said. In fact, Starbucks and other national retailers are starting to look into the area. That poses a challenge to retaining the neighborhood feel, the panelists said.

“People are fearful that Wynwood will turn into Lincoln Road,” Cho said.

The speed of transformation is accelerating, and with so much commercial activity in Miami, Jain said she does not worry about a downturn similar to what South Florida experienced in the last cycle.

“I don’t think Miami necessarily has to be roller coaster any more,” Jain said, citing commercial markets in Miami that are still underserved and the continuing demand for boutique hotels. “I’m starting to see it differently.”

 

Source: The Real Deal

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Miami-Dade Pursuing Public-Private Partnerships For Major Projects

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A day after Miami-Dade’s cultural affairs director disclosed the county is interested in teaming up with private developers to build high rise towers at the downtown cultural complex that is home to HistoryMiami and the central library, Mayor Carlos Gimenez said there are many more projects that could be open to public-private partnership, or P3s.

“The only way we are going to get any of them done is with P3s,” Gimenez said. “If we have to maintain and operate all these things, we couldn’t do it.”

On Friday, Gimenez participated in a panel discussion about the county’s transportation needs, put on by the P3 Institute at Florida International University’s north campus. A packet prepared by the P3 Insitute listed roughly $7.5 billion in unfounded county projects Miami-Dade officials are considering for possible partnerships with private companies.

Some of the projects include three general maintenance and office facilities that will cost an estimated $120 million to build, a $20 million African Heritage Cultural Arts Center, an expansion and new garage for the Miami-Dade County Auditorium that will cost an estimated $40 million, and four new jail facilities that will cost an estimated $625 million. On Thursday, the county’s cultural affairs director had discussed the future partnership potential of the downtown cultural complex, as reported by the South Florida Business Journal.

Gimenez said the county will also consider public-private partnerships for all future transit projects, including Baylink, a light rail that will connect Miami Beach to Miami via the MacArthur Causeway, and for an east-west transit connection from the airport to Kendall. Gimenez also said he would like to see Baylink’s track expanded in Miami Beach and Miami to include the Julia Tuttle Causeway, so that trains could go through the Design District, Midtown and Mid-Beach.

Neil Sklar, a partner with the law firm Peckar & Abramson and P3 Institute president, told The Real Deal that his organization hosted two-day panels on public-private partnerships to give the county an opportunity to meet with private company executives who are interested in pursuing deals.

“I was surprised to learn the county has many more projects that people don’t know about,” Sklar said.

 

Source: The Real Deal

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Middle Eastern Investment To Grow In Miami

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It’s no secret that Miami has become one of the world’s most attractive markets for international investors.

South Americans in particular have had a heavy influence in local real estate as one of the main demographics snapping up properties throughout South Florida.

But data from CBRE, a commercial brokerage that tracks such international trends, indicates that one region of the world is poised to take a much larger role in South Florida’s real estate game and in the United States as a whole: the Middle East.

Miami Beach EDITION hotel

Miami Beach EDITION hotel

So far, buyers from the Middle East have stuck to high-profile properties in Miami. This was made evident in February with the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority’s acquisition of the Miami Beach EDITION hotel for an incredible $230 million. That sale accounted for the majority of the $280 million Middle Easterners have sunk into South Florida real estate during the first half of this year, according to CBRE data.

Plot on Indian Creek Island — the highest price ever recorded for vacant land in the neighborhood

Plot on Indian Creek Island — highest price ever recorded for vacant land in the neighborhood

Also in February, a corporate entity linked to Saudi Royalty paid $23 million for a plot on Indian Creek Island — the highest price ever recorded for vacant land in the neighborhood.

St. Regis Bal Harbour hotel

St. Regis Bal Harbour hotel

Compared to last year, buyers from the Middle East have spent $37 million more on Miami real estate, CBRE data shows. The previous year saw Al Faisal Holding, a private company based out of Qatar, pay $213 million for the St. Regis Bal Harbour hotel, among other smaller transactions. However, in the context of the region’s historically large purchases, that increase does not necessarily translate to a large uptick in activity.

The evidence of this emerging trend instead comes from looking at the huge amount of money that the Middle East is pouring into U.S. real estate.

For the first half of 2015, the region spent $2.7 billion on real estate in the Americas, according to CBRE. That’s a significant chunk of the $11.8 billion total that investors from the Middle East have spent on global real estate during that time period, and CBRE expects that number to grow by another $2.4 billion by the end of the year. Most of that money comes from sovereign wealth funds.

“There’s no question that Miami has arrived as a primary market for investors worldwide, in the same league with other U.S. cities like New York, San Francisco and D.C., as this Middle East investment report suggests,” Quinn Eddins, CBRE’s director of research and analysis for Florida, said in a statement.

“The amount of foreign investment in South Florida office, retail and industrial product during the first half of 2015 alone was over $775 million – more than that of all the previous two years combined. If we factored in apartment, hotel and land sales, that number jumps to more than $1.2 billion. A lot of capital is still coming from Canada, Europe and Latin America, but there’s definitely an uptick in Middle Eastern and Asian investment – it’s an exciting trend that we’re tracking closely.”

South Florida was the fourth hottest market in the U.S. for Middle Eastern investment during the first two quarters of 2015. It stands to supplant the third spot belonging to Washington, D.C., which saw only $1 million more in transactions from the region. Above D.C. is Atlanta with $338 million in purchases so far this year, and New York in the top spot with $1.1 billion, CBRE data shows.

 

Source: The Real Deal

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Brickell City Centre Adds More Office Space

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The developer of Brickell City Centre has placed a larger bet on the office market, as it has converted a planned wellness usage into “Class A” office.

In 2014, law firm Akerman LLP signed a lease to occupy 80 percent of the 130,000-square-foot Brickell City Centre Green tower that was under construction as part of the $1.05 billion project in Miami. The rest of the space was supposed to be for wellness, but developer Swire Properties has made the 26,000 square feet available for office tenants. It also rebranded the tower Three Brickell City Centre. The project will include another office tower of the same size, Two Brickell City Centre.

“One of the two towers, Three Brickell City Centre, although designed with use flexibility, was originally designated as a wellness center, but current market conditions show demand for additional office space,” said Edward Owen, Swire Properties’ office leasing manager. “Swire decided that it was in the best interest of the market to create supply to further Brickell’s growth as a leading international business hub.”

Arquitectonica designed both buildings, which will have floor-to-ceiling glass and 10-foot high walls. Brickell City Centre will also feature a shopping center, restaurants, condos and a hotel. The office, condo and hotel parts of the project should be ready this winter.

According to Cushman & Wakefield’s second quarter report, the Class A office market in downtown Miami has a 13.3 percent vacancy rate and average asking rent of $41.81 per square foot. The last new office delivery was 2010.

CBRE reports that about 1 million square feet of office space is under construction in Miami-Dade County, with Brickell City Centre and All Aboard Florida’s Miami Central Station as the largest projects.

The Business Journal is tracking another 5.4 million square feet of office space that’s in the pipeline in South Florida, as described in a recent centerpiece.

Click here for a “Behind the Scenes” slideshow of the Brickell City Center

 

Source: SFBJ

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Miami Chamber Of Commerce ‘Asia Task Force’ Targets China

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An Asia Task Force organized by the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce wants to organize Miami trips for Chinese journalists, investors and developers to help market the city to businesses and entrepreneurs from the Far East, The Real Deal has learned.

Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce’s Asia Task Force

Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce’s Asia Task Force

At its first brainstorming session Friday morning, the eight-member task force laid out its objectives. Task force chairman Seth Gordon, a Miami publicist who represents Shanjie Li, the Chinese businessman whose company purchased a 2.39-acre site on Brickell Avenue for $74.7 million last year, said he wanted the Chamber to sponsor a delegation of reporters from China, who would then write articles about Miami’s business offerings. Gordon told other members he recently hosted a small contingent of eight Chinese journalists with assistance from Turnberry Associates founder Don Soffer and Carnival Cruise Lines.

“Don is very interested in working with the Chinese,” Gordon said. “He contributed a full week of rooms at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach hotel and we flew them in with eight round trip business class tickets provided by Carnival.”

While the reporters were in Miami, Shareef Malnik, owner of the Forge, had them over for dinner at the storied restaurant’s wine room, Gordon said. In addition, developers Armando Codina and David Martin briefed the reporters on their respective projects.

“If we do it as a chamber project, we can do something more serious,” Gordon said.

Peng Lu, Florida International University’s associate provost of international programs, said the college would like to coordinate events and activities, including meetings with top business leaders in Miami, for a delegation of 22 Chinese business people visiting the city in mid-September.

“Two of them are billionaires,” Lu said. “One is a frozen food king in China who wants to buy fish products from Latin America. They are all extremely interested in seeing what business opportunities are here.”

In exchange, Lu said FIU can assist the chamber in organizing a business delegation trip to important cities in China. Andy Perez, CEO of South Miami-based EB5 Visa Funds, also suggested the chamber consider sponsoring classes on how to conduct business with the Chinese.

“One of the most important things you can do is educate the chamber’s membership,” Perez said. “It’s very important, down to how you hand over your business card.”

The task force is scheduled to meet again at the end of September.

 

Souce: The Real Deal

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Coral Gables Transforming With Mixed-Use Projects

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Public art, pedestrian-friendly developments, and a booming commercial sector are all part of the future of Coral Gables, commercial real estate experts discussed at a panel last Wednesday.

Clockwise from left: Renderings of Paseo de la Riviera, a curbless Giralda Avenue and the Mediterranean Village at Ponce Circle

Clockwise from left: Renderings of Paseo de la Riviera, a curbless Giralda Avenue and the Mediterranean Village at Ponce Circle

Paseo de la Riviera is among the new projects. The planned, mixed-use development will replace an existing Holiday Inn with a open-air “paseo,” hotel and residential tower, said developer Brent Reynolds, president and managing partner of NP International. “We felt the U.S. 1 corridor was the right location,” said Reynolds, one of the panelists at a CREW-Miami luncheon at the Four Seasons Hotel Miami on Brickell.

The 2.66-acre project, located at 1350 South Dixie Highway, will activate that corner of U.S. 1 and Caballero with transit-oriented development, which includes green space the 0.5-acre Paseo will provide. It will be across the street from the planned Underline linear park, which runs underneath the Metrorail, as well as the University of Miami.

The paseo, or walkway, will span 352 feet in length and 72 feet in width. A 10-story, 252-key hotel and an eight-story, 224-unit residential building with 838 parking spaces will replace the 155-room Holiday Inn. “There really is no amenity space like this in the south Gables,” Reynolds said during the event.

The developer plans to complete the approval process with the city in October and begin construction next year. Coral Gables architect Jorge L. Hernandez and international firm Gensler are designing the project.“There really is no amenity space like this in the south Gables,” Reynolds said during the event.

Also among new developments redefining the Gables is Mediterranean Village at Ponce Circle. The 6.7-acre, mixed-use complex, developed by Agave Ponce, will include a five-star, 184-key hotel; a 300,000-square-foot Class A office building; 300,000 square feet of retail; two condo towers; 15 townhomes; a rooftop restaurant; and parks. Panelist Eddie Avila, president of Key Realty Advisors Development, said the $500 million project will span three full blocks and keep all streets open.

It will also feature an underground loading zone, keeping most of the street parking. To maintain the pedestrian-friendly design, the developers have decided to move the hotel entrance to inside the complex. The developer will spend an additional $7.8 million for public spaces including art, Avila said during the panel.

Downtown Coral Gables by the numbers

Downtown Coral Gables by the numbers

The city is also investing in pedestrian-friendly and green spaces. Funding for the $20 million streetscape improvements was approved back in August 2014: 50 percent will come from the city of Coral Gables and the other half from the independent BID property owners. The Gables BID is fully funded by its members, Foglia said. Marina Foglia, a panelist and executive director of the Coral Gables Business Improvement District, has led the $20 million Miracle Mile and Giralda Avenue streetscape project. Foglia also advocates for the overlay district, which will “change the coding to activate downtown Coral Gables,” she said.

Cooper, Robertson & Partners designed plans for the project, which calls for more green spaces and improved pedestrian areas, such as wider sidewalks, outdoor dining areas and mid-block parks and plazas. Parking on the street will be entirely parallel, doing away with the 45-degree angled spots for more sidewalk space. Giralda Avenue will become curbless, with the option of closing the road off to vehicles for special events. Next, Coral Gables will hold a design workshop on Aug. 27. The streetscape project will break ground in January, Foglia said.

Panelist Jane Tompkins, development services director for the city of Coral Gables, named other new projects that are under construction, including the Aloft Hotel at 2524 LeJeune Road; 2020 Salzedo, a residential project; and the University of Miami Health Center. More have been approved, including 4311 Ponce de Leon and 1200 Ponce de Leon. “We have a lot going on,” Tompkins said. “We have several projects under way.”

 

Source: The Real Deal

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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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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 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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