Miami Considers Development At Museum Park, Report Says

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museum park rendering

Miami is considering a move to redevelop a park along Biscayne Bay downtown, according to a news report.

The Miami City Commission will consider giving a conservancy control of Museum Park, the South Florida Business Journal reported.

The park is home to the Perez Art Museum and the Frost Science Museum, which is under construction. The 22.5-acre park is in a prime location for the city and for years there’s been debate about how to improve it for residents and visitors.

A city-commissioned plan in 2008 by Cooper, Robinson & Partners highlighted a future Museum Park with more shade trees, water features and a restaurant, but the city hasn’t acted on it – until now. The park is currently managed by the Bayfront Trust, a quasi-city agency.

The commission was scheduled to vote on Jan. 14 on turning over management, events and development of the park to a new non-profit called the Museum Park Conservancy. Yet, the item was deferred to a later date by the city. The framework of the potential deal was included on the city agenda.

The conservancy could charge for events and naming rights at the park and allow the sale of alcoholic beverages at the park during special events. The conservancy would actively solicit donations to support the park and its development, which is currently not allowed under the Bayfront Trust structure.

The conservancy promised to show the city proof within 90 days that it’s raised at least $7.5 million for the park. The group says it already has this money. However, the conservancy could not start managing the operations of Museum Park until after the first phase of the development breaks ground. That could occur in about 18 months, according to the proposed agreement.

The proposed deal between the city and conservatory refers to the Cooper, Robinson study as the “master plan.” The conservancy would have to submit its annual audited financial statements to the city. The city commission would have the right to abolish the conservancy at any time and retake control of the park with 180 days notice.

According to city documents, the conservancy would be governed by a board of 10 to 15 directors. They would be appointed by the mayor, the city commission, the city manager, a non-profit called Friends of Museum Park, and also appointed by the sitting conservancy board. The Miami Foundation is currently working to establish the conservancy.

 

Source: SunSentinel

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Long-Dormant Development Projects May Come To Life On Watson Island In 2016

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For many years, a handful of initiatives to redevelop a broad swath of city-owned, semi-derelict Watson Island have lurched along the MacArthur Causeway like zombies, never quite dead or alive.

A plane begins departure toward Bimini, Bahamas from the Miami Seaplane Base in Watson Island.

A plane begins departure toward Bimini, Bahamas from the Miami Seaplane Base in Watson Island.

Now it seems 2016 could be the year when the undead — the old Chalk’s seaplane terminal, a long-abandoned heliport, and a megayacht marina and resort plan that’s been stalled for 14 years — spring back to at least some sort of half-life on the island just off downtown Miami, long known as a burial place for sketchy development schemes looking to exploit public land. But the long-term prognosis for each remains unsettled.

At the seaplane base, a new operator promises to undertake a temporary revamp of the quasi-dilapidated facility, establish an expanded flight schedule, and formally submit to the city plans for a new terminal building that include a restaurant and public observation areas so visitors can bask in the romance of travel by seaplane.

Next door, after years of controversial delays and extensions by the city, Flagstone Development is nearing completion of the piers for its megayacht marina, which its representatives insist will soon be operational. The firm has also begun to clear its upland leasehold for Island Gardens, the $600 million hotel and retail complex Flagstone is supposed to build under an agreement with the city — even though financing has not yet been identified, at least publicly, a year after Flagstone agents said they hoped to have it nailed down.

An abandoned heliport sits near the Miami Seaplane Base

An abandoned heliport sits near the Miami Seaplane Base

Meanwhile, a contractor who won a bid a decade ago to reopen the heliport across from the seaplane base and Island Gardens is up to date with rent payments after falling behind and also paid FPL, with help from a city agency, to bury power lines at the site that posed a flight hazard, said Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado, who pledges the facility will be open and running this year. Right now, though, the heliport consists of a rusted metal shed, broken concrete and weeds.

Then there’s the perennially troubled Jungle Island animal and banquet-hall attraction, formerly Parrot Jungle, which has attracted a fraction of its projected attendance since opening in 2003. Its operators are now consistently making rent payments to the city, paying off a federal loan that was once in arrears, and raising money to make over the attraction with a new emphasis on water features and restaurants — and maybe a hotel as well.

Miami City Manager Daniel Alfonso met in early December with Jungle Island representatives, who told him they’re bringing in a new investor, ESJ Capital Partners, based in Aventura. Alfonso said in an interview that the discussion didn’t delve deeply into details, but there was talk about ESJ, which invests in a number of charter schools, introducing a new education component.

He also said Jungle Island representatives alluded to the possibility of new development at the site, something that has come up from time to time, often in reference to building a hotel. But Alfonso said any consideration of a hotel would be complicated because of requirements for a voter referendum in approving major improvements at the waterfront site.

To Regalado, who stresses that all of the projects predate his assumption of the mayor’s job, getting them moving is a central accomplishment of his administration. He notes the other major facility on the island, the Miami Children’s Museum, is popular and on solid footing — even if it took city approval of two massive and controversial electronic advertising billboards on the building to help shore up its finances.

“I think it’s part of my legacy. It will not be my doing. It’s been a long time coming,” he said. “But I think I’ll be very proud of leaving office with things going on in Watson Island.”

Regalado and city officials have defended extending the life of stalled or troubled projects on Watson Island like Island Gardens even after they’ve missed contractual deadlines or rent payments, saying previous administrations locked them into binding agreements which they’re obligated to make work as well as possible. But to skeptics and critics, all that progress is anything but positive. They say the Watson Island projects cement a legacy of seat-of-the-pants planning and questionable deals, with most of the publicly owned island effectively privatized.

“It’s really sad to me to see the evisceration or the loss of any kind of public space there,” said Greg Bush, a co-founder of the Urban Environment League and history professor at the University of Miami. “You could have a real park out there, or at least buildings with a public use. Instead what I see is the long-term lack of good planning and public benefit going over several generations, kind of endlessly.”

Those leery of the Watson Island projects include Miami Beach officials concerned about traffic impacts on the frequently clogged MacArthur Causeway, which bisects the island, as well as the new city commissioner for the district, Ken Russell. During his campaign, which was run by a lobbyist for a group critical of Flagstone, he criticized extensions for Island Gardens, which his predecessor, Marc Sarnoff, supported.

Russell said he’s now studying the deals and the role in them of the city’s Miami Sports and Exhibition Authority, or MSEA, which Regalado chairs and which serves as landlord for Island Gardens, the Children’s Museum and the seaplane and heliport facilities. Under city ordinances, the agency can lease out waterfront properties without a referendum, a requirement for city-owned waterfront land not controlled by MSEA, which includes the Jungle Island site.

Russell said that so far he’s found MSEA’s role“bewildering,” although he’s not yet prepared to take a position on the Watson Island projects.

“It seems there’s a lot on Watson Island coming to the forefront, and these are all things I want to look into,” said Russell, whose chief of staff once ran MSEA for the city. “MSEA is supposed to be in charge with a basic master plan and providing guidance, but there is not full transparency necessarily. This is what I’m scratching my head about, honestly.”

Jungle Island’s president, John Dunlap, did not respond to an interview request, but issued a statement in which he said “it is our policy not to discuss private business negotiations.”

The statement does not mention the ESJ investment firm, but adds: “We are proud to share that companies like Spectra Food Services & Hospitality (formerly Ovations), SharpShooter Imaging and Wildlife Trading Company have already committed significant investment dollars towards the redevelopment of our park services and attractions.”

Some of the Watson Island projects have been dogged by litigation. An appeal is pending on a lawsuit by a group of Venetian Island residents who contend the city improperly extended the agreement for Island Gardens after the developer missed several key deadlines. A circuit court judge dismissed the case without getting to its merits after concluding the residents do not have standing to sue.

The seaplane base’s former operator and the city were ensnarled in lawsuits for years until the new operator, lawyer and aviation enthusiast Ignacio “Nacho” Vega, bought him out. Vega said he now has six seaplane operators making four to five flights a day between Watson Island and Key West, Bimini and Fort Lauderdale.

In December, in his first and so far only commission meeting, the newly inaugurated Russell persuaded commission colleagues to put off until January a decision on a rezoning and land-use change that could clear the way for the redevelopment of the seaplane facility so that he could analyze the measure more closely. The changes would reclassify the land the terminal has occupied since 1929 from parkland to allow transportation uses. That would in turn allow the current operator, Vega, to submit plans for a new terminal to the city.

In the meantime, Vega said, he would remove a pair of dilapidated, condemned trailers on the property that served as office space and replace them with a new trailer. Eventually Vega hopes to construct a three- or four-story building with a restaurant and observation deck to attract non-flying visitors, because fees paid by airlines won’t be enough to sustain his operation. “We charge a minimal amount. Seaplane bases by themselves do not cover their costs,” Vega said.

The Island Gardens marina, meanwhile, is awaiting a temporary certificate of occupancy, which Regalado said should come in January. The developer’s representatives have said the marina would be operational, though the only structure on the property is a small building.

 

 

Source: Miami Herald

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Massive Development Proposal Splits Wynwood

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For two years the major players in Wynwood, Miami’s hippest, hottest emerging neighborhood, have been working on plans to jack the old industrial district up to the next level — only to now find themselves sharply at odds over exactly what that means, with the district’s future hanging in the balance.

Even as one group of property owners and developers publicly worked up a plan to control development to maintain Wynwood’s creative vibe and human scale while drawing in more housing, shops and businesses, the area’s biggest landowner, New York moving-company mogul, developer and arts patron Moishe Mana, privately sketched out a blueprint that embraces the same broad ideas — but on a dramatically different scale.

No sooner was the ink dry on the Miami City Commission’s approval of the Wynwood Neighborhood Revitalization District — special zoning rules that limit heights to eight to 12 stories and extract payments from developers to improve streets and create parking garages and public open space — than Mana applied for his own plan.

Mana’s proposed Special Area Plan, which would supersede the new zoning rules on 24 acres of his property, calls for a massive nine million square feet of new development, including towers up to 24 stories, while exempting the developer from the public-benefit programs in the NRD plan, as well as payments to the local business improvement district. In lieu of that, Mana has proposed to build an expansive public plaza and a city fire station and bury obtrusive FPL electrical lines that run through his properties at his own expense.

WynwoodSplit

The Mana plan has provoked some serious balking from a good portion of his fellow Wynwood property owners, including Goldman Properties, the firm credited with launching the neighborhood’s transformation from derelict warehouse district to hipster mecca and a key backer of the NRD plan.

Those Wynwood owners and entrepreneurs say they’re concerned Mana’s mammoth project could overwhelm its modestly scaled neighbors while providing insufficient public benefits and little help in mitigating its impact on traffic, parking, policing and other public services — in effect, they contend, passing on the public burden of his upzoning to other local property owners who agreed to cap development.

“Everything we’ve done is to try to develop a comprehensive strategy to create a great place,” said Goldman Properties managing director Joe Furst, complaining the Mana blueprint is so vague in places there’s no gauging its precise effects on the rest of Wynwood. “There’s too many question marks.”

Mana’s representatives have noted it was no secret that he was working on a big plan for his Wynwood properties, centered around the former Wynwood Free Trade Zone complex, which he purchased in 2010, and that he never objected to the NRD plan. But Furst and others note Mana held details close to the vest and did not brief anyone else in the neighborhood until he filed his application with the city in November.

Everything we’ve done is to try to develop a comprehensive strategy to create a great place.

Mana’s planner and architect, Bernard Zyscovich, called his client’s promised public benefits “very, very significant,” saying their cost will run into the tens of millions of dollars. And he said Mana has also agreed to mesh the zoning along the edge of his property on Northwest Second Avenue, Wynwood’s main drag, with the NRD zoning, creating a consistent urban street front.

“We’ve done a tremendous amount to collaborate and make sure we’re integrated with the rest of Wynwood,” Zyscovich said. “We also have our own objectives, of course.”

How Mana’s proposal fares will play out over the next several weeks, and is likely to have defining implications for Wynwood’s redevelopment. The debate over his plan is the first sign of a serious split in the neighborhood since it began drawing outside developers, investors and speculators who’ve driven up rents and land prices and driven out many of the artists and galleries that characterized its early revival.

The NRD plan, supported by a majority of local property owners, was an effort to guide development before it happened, upzoning just enough to foster construction of reasonably priced housing and new commercial spaces while maintaining a consistent scale, and encouraging a building-design aesthetic that blends with Wynwood’s funky industrial look.

But some are clearly concerned that Mana’s plan, because it covers a substantial percentage of the neighborhood, could upend that carefully calibrated strategy before it has a chance to work.

Earlier this month, the board of the Wynwood Business Improvement District, an autonomous public agency chartered by the city that commissioned the controlled-development NRD plan, declined Mana’s request for an endorsement of his own plan after twice meeting to consider it. Instead, the BID board, which Furst chairs, asked the city’s planning and zoning board to defer a scheduled vote on the Mana plan while agency leaders could study his proposals further.

The planning board put its vote off until Jan. 20 after Mana’s representatives agreed to a postponement. The Mana plan and a companion development agreement with the city will ultimately need to be approved by the Miami commission.

Mana’s attorney, Iris Escarra of Greenberg Traurig, was out of the country through January and could not be reached for comment. At the BID’s Dec. 14 meeting, though, she hinted Mana might be willing to compromise. “It’s possible this is going to evolve,” she said. “Stay tuned.”

Escarra did say that the development agreement will legally require Mana to keep his promises, including building the fire station and every acre of the promised open space. She also noted that city planners have already insisted that Mana meet other elements of the Neighborhood Revitalization plan. Among those: That his new buildings be reviewed by a new Wynwood design review board created under the NRD, and that Mana’s development provide cut-through “paseos” to foster pedestrian flow and connectivity to the rest of the neighborhood.

BID board members, who represent the district’s property owners, say they would like to reach an understanding with Mana. But what they’ve seen so far, they say, doesn’t seem to justify the large increases in scale and density he’s seeking.

And neither his zoning plan nor the development agreement appear to sufficiently hold Mana to building the promised public space in a timely fashion, nor guarantee a high design quality, they contend. Because the project would be built out over 30 years, some Wynwood stakeholders worry Mana might leave the public space for last.

“The vision for the Mana project is a good one,” said Jonathon Yormak, an investor and BID board member who’s planning a mixed-use building on a large vacant lot his firm owns off Wynwood’s main drag . “Everyone believes the underlying premise is a good one. We are all inclined to support it.  To Mana’s credit, he has engaged us. But for what he is really providing, versus what he’s asking for, does that seem like a fair outcome? The initial answer is no. What he’s presented is more to his benefit and to the detriment of the neighborhood,” Yormak added. “If they care to get our support, I believe they can get it. It will require a little bit of consideration and cooperation from them.”

Zyscovich said he and Mana’s team plan to meet with BID members in early January.

 

Source: Miami Herald

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PMG Will Build Miami’s Tallest Tower After Getting FAA Approval

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Developer PMG received approval today from the FAA to build a 1,049-foot tower at 300 Biscayne Boulevard, and they fully intend to build to that height.

PMG’s tower will be taller than the Empire World Towers once proposed for the same site:

PMG’s tower will be taller than the Empire World Towers once proposed for the same site

PMG principal Ryan Shear told TNM that the developer “has full intention to use every foot.” The tower would be the tallest in Miami.

The approved height is 1,041 feet above ground, or 1,049 feet above sea level. At that height, it will be taller than the 93-story Empire World Towers project that was once proposed for the same site.

Details of the project haven’t yet been revealed, but it is expected to include about 500 luxury condos.

 

Source: The Next Miami

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Little Haiti Residents, Businesses Say Developers Pricing Them Out Of Neighborhood

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Little Haiti

Longtime residents, business owners and civic leaders gathered in Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood on Thursday to deliver a message about their rapidly changing community: “We want to stay.”

Little Haiti residents say investors and real estate developers are buying property and pushing out the people and small businesses that give the district is distinct Caribbean flavor. (Photo Credit: Daniel Chang, The Miami Herald)

Little Haiti residents say investors and real estate developers are buying property and pushing out the people and small businesses that give the district is distinct Caribbean flavor. (Photo Credit: Daniel Chang, The Miami Herald)

Residents and activists, many carrying hand-written signs declaring “Little Haiti is not for sale” and “Say no to gentrification,” said real estate developers and speculators are buying up land and pushing out the people and small businesses that give the neighborhood its distinct Caribbean character.

“They tried to push me out of this area,” said Wilfrid Joseph Daleus, a Haitian immigrant and owner of the Daleus Museum and Art Gallery on 59th Street and Northeast Second Avenue.

Daleus, 66, said he opened his art gallery in 1980 and loves the neighborhood. But his rent is rising, and he feels that local government could do more to help, such designating the area a historic or cultural district.

“The price goes up every month,” Daleus said, “and I don’t have the support to stay. … But I don’t want to go. I want to stay.”

The Little Haiti neighborhood of Miami — an area broadly defined as running from 38th Street to 79th Street between Interstate 95 and the Florida East Coast Railway — does not have an official boundary, though city commissioners have considered a formal designation in the past.

Little Haiti gained its name as Haitian migrants, fleeing the regime of Jean Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, began to populate the neighborhood in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Longtime residents, business owners and civic activists gathered to protest what they see as the gentrification of Little Haiti. They produced a list of demands, including the creation of a cultural district and the establishment of a trust to preserve and acquire land in the district for housing and businesses (Photo Credit: Daniel Chang, The Miami Herald)

Longtime residents, business owners and civic activists gathered to protest what they see as the gentrification of Little Haiti. They produced a list of demands, including the creation of a cultural district and the establishment of a trust to preserve and acquire land in the district for housing and businesses (Photo Credit: Daniel Chang, The Miami Herald)

Lately, though, art galleries have moved north from Wynwood in search of more affordable rents in Little Haiti. And developers have taken increasing interest in the area, using harassment, intimidation and sometimes inducements to coerce longtime residents and businesses to move, said Marleine Bastien, executive director of Haitian Women of Miami, a community group.

Bastien told a group gathered in front of the offices of the Haitian American Community Development Corporation on Northeast 82nd Street that “a lot of investors and developers are “organizing to change the name of Little Haiti. They are buying left and right, cash. The Little Farm Mobile Court on Biscayne Boulevard, home to many Haitian immigrants, has been purchased through lawyers by a Chinese investor who doesn’t even live here.”

Joined by representatives from local civic groups and elected officials, including Michael Etienne, city clerk for North Miami, Bastien presented a list of demands for Miami leaders, including the creation of a historic or cultural district and the establishment of a community land trust to preserve existing land and acquire new property for housing and small businesses.

She called for fast action from Keon Hardemon, a Miami commissioner whose district includes the Little Haiti neighborhood. “If he doesn’t act,” she said, “soon Little Haiti will disappear.” Hardemon did not respond to an interview request from the Herald made through his chief of staff on Thursday.

Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado said the city has never designated any area in honor of any immigrant group, including Little Havana. But, he said, that doesn’t mean Miami has overlooked the contributions of immigrant groups that have contributed to the city’s history.

“The Haitian heritage can never be erased from the history of Miami,” Regalado said. “It’s still there in Little Haiti, although some Haitians have moved, but still we have the Little Haiti Soccer Park. We have the Little Haiti Cultural Center. We have the Caribbean Marketpalce.”

 

Source: Miami Herald

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Top Developers Predict Miami’s Future

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A panel of major Miami developers, many of them billionaires, gathered at The Real Deal South Florida’s Real Estate Forum & Showcase to talk about their upcoming projects and give their take on when this real estate cycle will come to a close.

Craig Robins, Jeffrey Soffer, Richard LeFrak, Gil Dezer and Michael Simkins

Craig Robins, Jeffrey Soffer, Richard LeFrak, Gil Dezer and Michael Simkins

In attendance was Richard LeFrak of the LeFrak Organization, Jeffrey Soffer of Turnberry Associates, Gil Dezer of Dezer Development, Craig Robins of Dacra and Michael Simkins of the Innovate Development Group.

The five heavyweights touched on themes like what it means to build a neighborhood and the challenges involved with planning a multibillion-dollar project. However, one topic reigned supreme: is South Florida headed for a crash?

“In the long run, what is going to happen is what always happens: the weak will not survive, the strong will survive, and the ones who survive will thrive,” said LeFrak, chairman and CEO of the LeFrak Orgnization.

To watch the panel from start to finish, check out the video below, or go to The Real Deal‘s YouTube page.

 

Source: The Real Deal

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$1 Billion Miami River Project Gets City’s Stamp Of Approval

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New York-based Chetrit Group and local developer Ari Pearl’s plans for a $1 billion Miami River project have moved a step closer to reality.

A rendering of the Miami River project

A rendering of the Miami River project

The Miami City Commission late Thursday unanimously approved a development agreement and rezoning of a 10-acre site where Pearl and the Chetrit Group plan to build the mixed-used site that includes four towers, a hotel, shops, restaurants, and a public river walk with boat slips. There, a large section of Little Havana along the Miami River will get a major facelift.

To obtain city approval for higher density, the developers promised to invest $14 million into an affordable workforce housing fund, as well as $7 million for public infrastructure surrounding the project, including renovating nearby Jose Marti Park. Raymond Jungles has designed the plans for the park.

“This project is of city-wide importance,” the developers’ lawyer Melissa Tapanes Llahues told commissioners. “It makes the vision of an interconnected city a reality.”

A rendering of the Miami River project

A rendering of the Miami River project

Located between Southwest Second Avenue and Southwest Third Avenue, the Miami River and Southwest Seventh Street, the project will be built in five phases. The complex would have 1,678 residential units, 330 hotel rooms, 266,000 square feet of retail and office space, and more than 2,000 spaces. The first tower with 200 hotel rooms and 328 condos, Tapanes said, is scheduled for by the end of 2018. The developer is also getting 1.2 million square feet of “air rights” from the city at $17.82 a square foot, or $21 million, which is being used for the public improvements.

Joseph Chetrit

Joseph Chetrit

Pearl and the Chetrit Group have been working on the project’s design since they assembled the land for roughly $100 million last year. Some of the properties they acquired included the Finnegan’s River restaurant and the Pleasure Emporium adult superstore.

The developers and their architect, Kobi Karp, also consulted with the Miami River Commission on the site’s design which calls for restaurants and shops to line the river walk that will be accessible to Brickell and East Little Havana residents. There will also be a public gathering place at an I-95 underpass.

“This is a very exciting project in a blighted area that could use some enthusiasm,” said Miami River Commission Chairman Horacio Stuart Aguirre.

The commissioners also heard from a dozen residents and property owners who spoke in favor of the project. City Commissioner Frank Carrollo, whose district includes the site, gave the project a thumbs up after negotiating some more concessions from Pearl. Carrollo said the developers had agreed to contribute $14 million to the city’s workforce affordable housing fund and to set aside a space for the city to build a small paramedic station. The first $1 million is due when Pearl and Chetrit submit site plans for the towers, which they expect will be sometime in February 2016. Another $1 million is due once the first building permits are approved.

“This is a beautiful project,” Carrollo said. “I am glad to say I met with the developer and his team to address some issues

 

Source: The Real Deal

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Miami Beach Oceanfront Acre Sells For $39 Million

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A Chinese investment group paid $38.5 million for less than 1 acre at 6747 Collins Ave. in Miami Beach.

China City Construction Company Da Tang Development and Management LLC struck the eight-figure deal with the Peebles Corp. for a 0.98-acre oceanfront site approved for high-density multifamily development.

The buyer, part of China City Construction Holding Group, has New York-based operations as well as offices in Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego. It operates six regional service centers in China, targeting high-profile investors looking to acquire U.S. properties.

China City Construction Co. acquired the site at 6747 Collins Ave. in Miami Beach.

China City Construction Co. acquired the site at 6747 Collins Ave. in Miami Beach.

Its new purchase sits between 67th and 69th Streets with the Deauville Beach Resort to the south and Sterling condominiums to the north.

Approved plans allow a 19-story development with 60 residential units and a 150-room condo hotel with gross building square footage of up to 93,600 square feet. The company appears to be wasting little time moving forward with plans for the site.

Dr. Shan-Jie Li, chief executive officer of American Da Tang Group

Dr. Shan-Jie Li, chief executive officer of American Da Tang Group

Information on its website shows CEO Shanjie Li and general manager Haibo Pan traveled to Miami and Atlantic City between March 31 and April 6 to scout development prospects. While in Miami, they met with real estate developers, architects and lawyers to create a land development plan, according to the site. Their meetings likely included CBRE Inc.‘s Miami-based hotel division since the real estate brokerage house announced Thursday it handled the massive sale.

CBRE executives Robert Taylor and Paul Weimer of the hotels division teamed with Gerard Yetming of the firm’s multifamily arm and Irving Padron of Engel & Volkers to represent Peebles Corp. They marketed the land as one of Miami Beach’s last vacant oceanfront properties.

“This beachfront site is ideally situated in one of the nation’s most sought-after real estate markets, a top-performing hotel market and a place where residential sales top $2,000 per square foot,” CBRE senior vice president Robert Taylor said.

Peebles chairman and CEO Donahue Peebles called the site a “prudent investment with immeasurable potential.”

“As the Peebles Corporation shifts focus to our large-scale projects in the Northeast, we will watch with great enthusiasm as China City Construction Co. brings this exciting development opportunity to life,” Peebles said.

American Da Tang Group and Borda Commercial Real Estate represented the buyers in the transaction.

 

Source: DBR

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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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