Insider Reveals Deceptive Strategy Behind Florida’s Solar Amendment

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The policy director of a think tank supported by Florida’s largest electric utilities admitted at a conference what opponents have claimed for months: The industry attempted to deceive voters into supporting restrictions on the expansion of solar by shrouding Amendment 1 as a pro-solar amendment.

Sal Nuzzo, a vice president at the James Madison Institute in Tallahassee, detailed the strategy used by the state’s largest utilities to create and finance Amendment 1 at the State Energy/Environment Leadership Summit in Nashville on Oct. 2.

Nuzzo called the amendment, which has received more than $21 million in utility industry financing, “an incredibly savvy maneuver” that “would completely negate anything they (pro-solar interests) would try to do either legislatively or constitutionally down the road,” according to an audio recording of the event supplied to the Herald/Times.

Nuzzo offered others a recommendation: “As you guys look at policy in your state, or constitutional ballot initiatives in your state, remember this: Solar polls very well,” he said. “To the degree that we can use a little bit of political jiu-jitsu and take what they’re kind of pinning us on and use it to our benefit either in policy, in legislation or in constitutional referendums — if that’s the direction you want to take — use the language of promoting solar, and kind of, kind of put in these protections for consumers that choose not to install rooftop.”

The comments underscore the claims made by opponents to Amendment 1 on the November ballot that the utility-backed political committee, Consumers for Smart Solar, was formed to undercut attempts to allow third-party sales of rooftop solar by leaving voters with the impression that their rival amendment will expand solar generation in Florida.

Spokeperson for Consumers for Smart Solar, Sarah Bascom, however, contradicted Nuzzo’s claims and told the Herald/Times late Tuesday that “Consumers for Smart Solar did not engage or hire or ask JMI to do research regarding the effort.”

Robert McClure, executive director of the Tallahassee-based James Madison Institute, responded to this report and said Nuzzo “misspoke” when he characterized the effort as a strategy to deceive voters into thinking the plan was a pro-solar amendment.

“At an event with an unfamiliar, national audience, Mr. Nuzzo generalized his commentary and misspoke in reference to JMI partnering with Consumers for Smart Solar in any capacity,” McClure said in a statement. “JMI has never worked with or received funding from Consumers for Smart Solar,” McClure said in a statement. “We have released policy positions on both solar amendments and have publicly spoken on the pros and cons of each.”

The solar industry-backed group, Floridians for Solar Choice, wants to encourage a broad-scale solar market in the Sunshine State by using the state Constitution to remove the ban on third-party sales and require lawmakers to allow customers to lease their solar generation to neighbors or building tenants. But the effort failed to get enough signatures to appear on the November ballot. It is expected to return in 2018.

Threat To Utilities

Utility investors, like Warren Buffett, and the industry’s trade group have warned that distributed energy from solar and wind are long-term threats to the monopoly economics model of the investor-owned utilities. Floridians for Solar Choice claim that the amendment attempts to convince voters that it is pro-solar when it “paves the way for barriers that would penalize solar customers” and adds to the state Constitution “the false assumption that solar customers are ‘subsidized’ by non-solar customers.”

Nuzzo confirmed that he made the comments while on a panel for the conference. He disagreed that the strategy was deceptive and instead claimed that the opponents of Amendment 1 “have been rather deceptive about the degree to which solar is already incentivized and already propped up and subject to more crony carve-outs than anything else.”

In mailers and television ads for Amendment 1, the utility industry says it will allow customers to “strengthen your right to generate your own solar energy … protect consumers, particularly our seniors, from scam artists … and protect consumers who don’t choose solar from having to pay higher monthly electric bills.”

The Florida Supreme Court approved the amendment language in a 4-3 vote, concluding the proposal was not misleading but did enshrine into the Constitution protections consumers already had. Justice Barbara Pariente, in her dissenting opinion, called the language “a wolf in sheep’s clothing” because it would allow utilities to raise fees on solar customers and was “masquerading as a pro-solar energy initiative.”

In the hour long audio recording acquired by the left-leaning Center for Media and Democracy and the Energy and Policy Institute, Nuzzo told the group that the utility-backed amendment was motivated in part by the popularity of the solar industry’s proposal and their ability to win the support of free-market advocates.

“They actually leveraged some of the less savvy, less informed, tea party groups and formed what is now called the Green Tea Movement — God help us, we’re dead and destroyed,” Nuzzo said. “So they come in and they merge and they start a constitutional ballot initiative. They go out and sell a ballot initiative saying if you put solar on our rooftop, shouldn’t you have ability to sell to your neighbor? Yes, that’s free-market … that’s exactly what they were marketing as a free market principle and the tea party got behind this.”

Who Pays For Grid?

He said JMI, a free-market research and policy organization that has ties to the Florida utility industry, saw it differently. Nuzzo explained that they believe that solar users are being subsidized by non-solar users because they don’t pay for the fixed costs of maintaining the electricity grid.

“So here’s the James Madison Institute, this right-wing think tank, the Koch Brothers-funded group, part of the vast right-wing conspiracy going ‘please stop!’ ” he said. “They wouldn’t stop, so the idea was that they were completely and vehemently opposed to any grid maintenance cost being spread out.”

Nuzzo said that his reference to the Koch brothers was “in jest” but that they had given money to JMI. Nuzzo would not say how much. According to federal tax documents, JMI has received more than $120,000 from the Charles Koch Institute and Charles Koch Foundation, and Stan Connally, the CEO of Gulf Power, sits on JMI’s board of directors. Gulf Power and its affiliates have contributed more than $2.3 million to the utility-backed amendment, which also has received funding from Florida Power & Light, Duke Energy, Tampa Electric Co., and non-profit groups primarily funded by Exxon and the Koch brothers.

Adding to the utility industry’s dilemma, Nuzzo told the panel, was the fact that the solar-industry-backed amendment “was actually polling in the 70s.”

“Why? Because the tea party was behind it,” Nuzzo said. “We even saw some folks that we would normally play pretty well with — the chambers of commerce locally, the business community — was kind of galvanizing behind it. Why? Because if you’re not a utility generating organization, this kind of helps you because it makes it a little bit easier for you to go that route and sell it. The other problem with the pro-solar amendment is that the language of the ballot initiative is mandating in the Florida Constitution that solar is the preferred energy source in the state of Florida. It directed in the Constitution that the Legislature create policy to advance solar interests in the state. So the utility industry came to JMI and said you guys are the adults in the room, you’re the ones that have access to the research, to the scholarship … to a lot of the national organizations. We need some help.”

‘Savvy Maneuver

Nuzzo said that the utilities also created a political committee, Consumers for Smart Solar, that not only funded the JMI research but then “also, in what I would consider an incredibly savvy maneuver, they put forth their own constitutional ballot initiative.

“That ballot initiative also gathered the 700,000 signatures, but what it said was individuals have the right to own solar equipment, they have the right to install solar equipment and lease it, they have the right to generate as much electricity as they can.”

Nuzzo said JMI partnered with the conservative Heartland Institute and a free-market researcher from Florida State University’s Devoe Moore Center to conduct the research requested by the utility industry. Consumers for Smart Solar said did not clarify whether or not the organization reached out to these groups for the research assistance.

Together they “built a model” and, in a report released in December, concluded that over 10 years if the solar industry-backed amendment was approved, the cost of maintaining the electricity grid would be shifted from solar customers to non-solar customers — a $1 billion cost shift “from wealthy solar consumers on to the folks who were not able to install and to the rest of the ratepayers.”

It’s an argument solar promoters vigorously disagree with. They argue that instead of costing non-solar customers more, solar energy brings more value to the electricity distribution system than it takes away. Floridians for Solar Choice argues that instead of protecting customers, Amendment 1 imposes barriers to solar expansion in Florida that will cost customers more money in utility bills.

They point to a Brookings Institution study in May that concluded that when solar customers sell their power back to the electric utility through a billing system known as net metering, it helps non-solar customers by reducing the need to build new power plants to meet peak demand, reduces the need for costly grid maintenance, reduces reliance on oil and gas power generation, lowers utility rates, increases energy security and saves customers money.

“The economic benefits of net metering actually outweigh the costs and impose no significant cost increase for non-solar customers,” the Brookings report concluded. “Far from a net cost, net metering is in most cases a net benefit — for the utility and for non-solar rate-payers.” The report also cited several state-based studies that offered similar conclusions.

Nuzzo acknowledged Tuesday that the JMI research looked only at the hypothetical impact of the solar industry-backed proposal and did not take into consideration the net metering studies done by governments in many other states, including those that allow third-party leasing. He said he considers Florida’s current net metering law, which pays customers retail rates for the excess energy they sell back to utilities “absolutely the subsidization of solar.”

Also at the Oct. 2 meeting, Todd Wynn, director of external affairs at Edison Electric Institute, the trade association for investor-owned utilities, detailed the threat net metering poses to the industry. None of the presenters made any mention of the Brookings report or the reports from several states that have studied the impact of net metering on customer bills.

“If a homeowner had a large enough solar power system, they could essentially zero out their bill,” Wynn said, arguing that the cost of maintaining the electrical grid would then be borne by the non-solar customers.

He suggested two solutions are to charge all customers to access the grid, and the other is to reduce the net metering rate so that the utility will not have to pay retail rates for the excess energy. When asked about what impact Amendment 1 would have to any pro-solar amendment in the future, Nuzzo told the Energy Summit that it is likely to severely limit the Solar Choice amendment in 2018.

“If Amendment 1 passes, in my opinion and the opinion of people far smarter than me, it would completely negate the ability of the Green Tea movement folks to make a ballot initiative that would include subsidization and a cost shift on it,” he said. “It would cancel — it would attempt to cancel — that one out.”

David Pomerantz, executive director of the Energy and Policy Institute, one of the groups that obtained the tape, said the audio reveals that the groups behind Amendment 1 “were very clear about the utilities’ plan when they thought the public wasn’t listening: They’re trying to confuse voters into believing their utility-backed ballot initiative is pro-solar.

“It’s a dirty trick, and Floridians should show them that they’re too smart to let them get away with it.”

 

Source: Miami Herald

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Coral Gables Paves The Way For Development On Land Where Police Department Sits

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The Coral Gables Police Department isn’t leaving its current building just yet, but if it moves, a future owner will have more flexibility to develop the space.

2801 Salzedo Street, Coral Gables

2801 Salzedo Street, Coral Gables

Commissioners gave initial approval to measures that change the current police department headquarters, 2801 Salzedo St., from public building use to commercial high rise and from special-use zoning to commercial zoning. The changes come almost a year after the city said it might build a new police headquarterson a city-owned parking lot at the corner of Salzedo Street and Alcazar Avenue.

City Manager Cathy Swanson-Rivenbark said her staff plans to present the latest recommendations at a future meeting. The zoning and land-use changes would not prevent the space from continuing to operate as police headquarters.

“A government building can be in a commercial area. A commercial building cannot be in a government area,” Swanson-Rivenbark said. “It doesn’t preclude our operation of 2801 Salzedo as a government facility.”

City staff estimated the cost of building a new facility on another lot or renovating the current building at $17 million to $33.5 million last year. Those estimates and proposals would also put the fire station that’s housed at the public safety building on Salzedo in the new building or create a new stand-alone fire station there. Both items will require a second vote at a future meeting before they become official.

 

Source: Miami Herald

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Miami Urban Development Review Board Green Lights Three Major Projects

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Miami’s Urban Development Review Board gave the thumbs up to three mixed-use projects in Brickell, Coconut Grove and Little Havana.

Maizon by Zom rendering

Maizon by Zom rendering

The board voted 4-0 to recommend approval for Zom’s new apartment tower in the Brickell neighborhood. The board’s Wednesday vote allows the Orlando-based developer to now seek the go-ahead from Miami planning director Francisco Garcia for Maizon, a 262-unit residential building with 15,258 square feet of ground floor retail space.

“Very nice work,” said board member Jesus Permuy of the project’s design. “I like the articulation of the building.” Agreed his colleague Anthony Tzamtzis: “It is a very good project.”

Permuy did recommend a few minor design changes such as improving the landscaping in the building’s setback areas as well as the facade by adding a three-dimensional element.

Zom, which has a contract to purchase land owned by Maria Ramon and Alberto Cabrera, would demolish low- to mid-rise apartment buildings at 1100-1142 Southwest Second Avenue and 221-237 Southwest 12th Street and replace them with the new tower. The project will consist of 424,258 square feet with 366 parking spaces and 24 bicycle spaces. It will also include open courtyard areas, an amenity deck and pool on the ninth floor, and an onsite residential leasing center.

Zom sought approval recommendations of four waivers, including a 30 percent reduction in parking, a 10 percent reduction in a driveway width and to replace the required commercial loading zone with two residential loading zones.

Cassa Grove rendering

Cassa Grove rendering

The development review board also approved plans for Cassa Grove, a 116-unit, 200,000-square-foot project at 2900 Southwest 28th Lane that is located near the 10-mile long Underline.

“This building has a lot of potential in redeveloping this area,” said boardmember Felix Perez. “This is the type of project that this park needs.”

The 12-story project is being developed by Miami-based MEC Development Associates and B Developments and New York-based Abington Properties. The transit-oriented development features luxury apartments ranging from 652 square feet to more than 1,300 square feet, a 3,600-square-foot commercial component, and shared workspaces for residents. It will also feature a public plaza on the ground floor and a sky deck.

In order to make the project work, the developers sought four waivers, including a 10 percent reduction in parking. ALFA SF Equity and B Developments bought the 1-acre property for $6.1 million.

“We are trying to make a nice, high-end apartment building,” said B Development principal Miguel Angel Barbagallo. “We are very committed to linking with the Underline. I think it is a great public space.”

Eight and First rendering

Eight and First rendering

The board also approved Eight and First Development’s plans for a 12-story, 96-unit residential building at 45 Southwest Eighth Avenue in Little Havana. The property owners, Ana V. and Pedro O. Rodriguez, submitted plans for the mixed-use project to include 44,525 square feet of commercial space, 311 parking spaces and 15 bicycle parking spaces. The retail space will be anchored by a 35,930 square foot Presidente Supermarket.

 

Source: The Real Deal

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BOMA Forecasts Sunny Outlook For Miami-Dade’s CRE Industry

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The commercial real estate market outlook for Miami-Dade: Sunny, as long as more mass transit is on the horizon, said industry experts at the Building Owners and Managers Association of Miami-Dade’s 2017 Commercial Real Estate Outlook event.

In the office market, rents are at an all-time high in certain sub-markets, said Brian Gale, Cushman & Wakefield’s vice chairman of Brokerage Services who represents nearly 5 million square feet of office space in South Florida.

On Brickell, office space is hitting around $60 a square foot for Class A space; back in 2008 the high was in the upper $40s, said Gale, during the panel discussion at the East Miami in Brickell. Downtown Miami is just behind it, and Aventura and Airport West have also hit all-time highs, too, he said. Coral Gables presents a different story, he said. In 2007-08, rent in the trophy buildings was $46-$48 a square foot; today it’s the low $40s.

“For many years, Coral Gables was the darling of the office market. I would say it has a temporary black eye with less demand and blocks of spaces still existing. But Coral Gables also has the most to gain,” Gale said.

Gale sees the South Miami market as vaulting too, once new mass transit options fully kick in for the area.

“The traffic on Useless 1 is not getting any better. … Miami Beach needs to figure out a way to get light rail over there.” Gale said. “Rental rates will continue to increase in 2017. Looking further out, being a gateway city … there is no reason to believe we couldn’t be a $70 rental market in 2022.”

Growth in shared office spaces has exploded — for instance, WeWork recently leased 65,000 feet at Brickell City Centre and there are now more than 20 shared workspace centers in downtown Miami alone. Sometimes these shared office centers can act as an incubator for a building; when the companies grow out of the co-working space they take space on other floors, Gale said. In the broader office market, expect more smaller offices, with more open spaces and cubicle areas on the outside of the floor with the glass-walled offices in the center, he added.

In the industrial sector, with job growth projected to slow in 2017 and 2018, is that a concern with 1.8 million square feet coming online in 2017 and 1.4 million in 2018?

“That’s actually less than half of what we have seen in 2015 and 2016.” said JLL Managing Director Brian Smith, who led the team representing NBC Universal/Telemundo Enterprises in the record breaking lease of over 550,000 square feet for a world headquarters broadcast center in western Miami-Dade.

He said he looks more closely at population growth. In both the office and industrial markets, new-to-market tenants are pushing the records. The last three years have brought more than 700,000 square feet of new-to-market office tenants. But that’s more than the previous 15 years combined, Gale said.

The last two years saw 300,00 square feet of new-to-market industrial tenants, but this year it will be 2 million and perhaps 3 million square feet.

“John Deere, new names. We have quickly become one of the most important industrial markets on the globe,” said Smith. “Three large deals in the works may be the biggest ever, in addition to the NBCUniversal deal.”

To be sure, urbanization has transformed the retail landscape, with Miami’s downtown population now approaching 90,0000 people, a 30 percent increase since 2010, with an incredibly affluent demographic, said David Moret, president of Highline Real Estate Capital, which acquires and redevelops office and retail properties with capital partners.

Retail rents are in the stratosphere on Lincoln Road, surpassing $300 a square foot. They are hitting $200 in the Design District and Coconut Grove and Wynwood are flirting with $100 a foot, Moret said. How far will they go?

“I think we have gotten ahead of ourselves,” Moret said. “ I think there will be a reset. … We are already seeing resistance. We are seeing leasing volume way down on Lincoln Road.”

He sees the biggest impact coming from millennials, a group that will have the most spending power by 2017. This means tenant mix is more important than ever.

“Successful centers are going to be about creating experiences, to give people a reason to go there instead of click on their phone,” said Moret.

 

Source: Miami Herald

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Is Downtown Miami About To See Retail Overload?

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About 2.3 million square feet of retail space is set to deliver in Miami by 2018. What will a massive influx of retail supply mean for the overall market?

Jason Shapiro, managing director at Aztec Group, has some opinions. First, he tells GlobeSt.com, it’s noteworthy that the vast majority of that space—approximately 1.4 million square feet—is located within Brickell and Downtown Miami with major mixed-use projects such as Brickell City Centre, Miami Worldcenter and Met Square fueling this new development. That’s according to a Miami Downtown Development Authority.

“While the delivery of over 2 million square feet of retail space by 2018 may sound like a huge number, it is not necessarily an oversupply,” Shapiro says. “Historically speaking, the Miami’s Central Business District has been underserved in terms of access to high quality, international retail brands.”

As Shapiro sees it, substantial residential growth in the Downtown Miami area, along with organic employment growth and increased visitation, have all contributed to improved retail fundamentals. The DDA report found that over 30% of tourists to Miami in 2014 visited the downtown area. That’s a record-breaking number.

“As our city’s demographics evolve and neighborhoods such as Downtown Miami and Wynwood continue to build up and grow more sophisticated, the stronger market fundamentals support the fact that the additional supply will meet demand,” Shapiro says. “Most of the new product coming down the pipeline is luxury, high-street retail that will serve new demographics that live and work in those key urban areas.”

 

Source: GlobeSt.

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Florida Primary Voters Give Green Light To Solar Tax Break

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Primary-election voters approved the expansion of a renewable-energy tax break that backers say will help businesses and spark the expanded use of solar energy in Florida.

But while the measure had support from an array of groups, they are divided on an unrelated solar amendment on the November general-election ballot that could lead to a major political fight.

The proposed constitutional amendment approved Tuesday was known as Amendment 4 and was placed on the ballot by the Legislature. It is designed to extend a residential renewable-energy tax break to commercial and industrial properties.

Shortly after the polls closed, the measure was more than 10 percentage points above the required 60 percent threshold needed for approval of constitutional amendments. The preliminary results indicated that the measure, which backers say will spur growth in solar and renewable energy, was supported in almost every county.

“The strong showing of support for Amendment 4 sends a clear message to elected officials at all levels of government that Florida voters want more diversity in our energy market,” said Sen. Jeff Brandes, a St. Petersburg Republican who sponsored the proposal during the 2016 legislative session.

Though approved by voters, the measure still needs the Legislature to enact the changes. The measure, sponsored in the House by Rep. Ray Rodrigues, R-Estero, and Rep. Lori Berman, D-Lantana, will exempt for 20 years the assessed value of solar and renewable-energy devices installed on businesses and industrial properties.

“Eliminating high tax barriers will unleash the potential of the ‘Sunshine State’ to become a leader in solar energy production,” Rodrigues said in a statement.

“The election results allow Florida to enter a new era where renewable energy can be accessible for all, and clean energy jobs can be at the forefront of Florida’s economy,” Berman said.

Voters approved a similar exemption for residential property owners in 2008, with the measure taking effect in 2014.

The new proposal also has an element to help residential property owners, as it would exempt all renewable-energy equipment from state tangible personal property taxes.

Support for the measure came from a wide range of organizations such as the Florida Retail Federation, the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association, the Florida Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association, the Florida AFL-CIO, the Nature Conservancy, the Sierra Club of Florida and Surfrider Foundation.

A poll released last week by the Florida Chamber of Commerce showed 70 percent of Floridians supported the proposal, with 14 percent opposed. Yet on Friday Mason-Dixon Polling & Research released findings that indicated the measure was having serious trouble with Republicans and independent voters.

Some late opposition to the measure came from groups such as the Orlando-based political action committees Stop Playing Favorites and the Advocacy, Action & Accountability Alliance, which claimed the amendment would provide “millions in tax breaks to big corporations” at the expense of money that would otherwise flow into minority communities.

Backers of the measure also had to overcome some confusion that the proposal was linked to a separate utility-backed solar proposal on the November ballot.

With Tuesday’s victory, supporters of Amendment 4 are now expected to divide up on what is known as Amendment 1 in November.

Stephen Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, said his group is ready to immediately “pivot” from having supported Amendment 4 to vocally opposing Amendment 1.

“What Amendment 1 does not have is the support of a broad, very diverse, grassroots coalition,” Smith said. “It is exactly what it is, a utility-backed, utility-funded, self-promoting approach to try to keep a monopoly control on their terms.”

The November “Consumers for Smart Solar” initiative would generally maintain the status quo in allowing Floridians with solar equipment on their property to sell energy to power companies.

More than $15 million has already been spent promoting the November amendment.

 

Source: Daily Business Review

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Related Group And Allen Morris Propose Coral Gables City Center

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Related Group and The Allen Morris Company are proposing a $250 million project to replace city-owned parking garages at 245 and 345 Andalusia Avenue in Coral Gables.

The project, called Coral Gables City Center, would have two 16-story towers and could be built in phases.

TOWER 1:

  • 140,000 square feet of office space
  • 11,871 square feet of ground-floor retail
  • 770 parking spaces

TOWER 2:

  • 270 residential units (either rental or condo)
  • 16,878 square feet of ground-floor retail
  • 799 parking spaces

Zyscovich is the architect. Related and Allen Morris are competing against another bid from ZOM and Terranova. Both were the finalists selected out of five bidders for the property, and the city commission will vote later this month.

 

Source: The Next Miami

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Miami Is Now A Buyers’ Market For Luxury Properties

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Slower sales and a glut of inventory has led to a buyers’ market for South Florida luxury properties, according to Miami Beach real estate agent Jill Eber.

“For almost five years we were just on an upward spiral,” Eber, of Coldwell Banker’s the Jills, told a gathering of real estate professionals Wednesday evening. “But, right now, it has adjusted and it has become more of a buyers’ market. As a result, developers are adjusting their pricing and increasing broker commissions to move units. In no way is this like 2008, 2009, and 2010. The market has been steady.”

Eber participated on a panel hosted by the Miami chapter of the Asian Real Estate Association of America at Brickell City Centre’s East, Miami hotel. The discussion was moderated by Coldwell Banker luxury real estate Vice President Craig Hogan and featured Debora Overholt, Brickell City Centre’s vice-president for retail, Swire Properties Vice President Maile Aguila, Eber, Miami Association of Realtors President Teresa Kinney and Ramona Messore, vice-president of Saks Fifth Avenue at Brickell City Centre.

Overholt and Aguila offered their insights into Swire’s ability to finish massive developments like Brickell City Centre. Overholt noted that the $1 billion nine-acre mixed use project is modeled after Pacific Place, a complex of office towers, hotels and a shopping centre the company built in Hong Kong 27 years ago.

“If you are familiar with Pacific Place, what we are developing is very similar to that,” Overholt said. “We are very excited to bring something fairly new to U.S. retailers, but something we already do well.”

Since opening in 1989, the four-floor mall at Pacific Place has more than 711,000-square-feet of retail space that houses a Harvey Nichols department store and 140 luxury brand shops and boutiques. Similar to Brickell City Centre, the mall is integrated into three Class A office towers, four five-star hotels, and a condominium. Swire spent $2.1 billion in 2011 on a redesign project led by Thomas Heatherwick.

Aguila told the audience Swire’s success with Pacific Place proves the company has the strength and wherewithal to deliver every phase of Brickell City Centre.

“When we do things, we do things long-range and take a long time,” Aguila said. “I remember when we were developing Brickell Key, we were all looking forward to a retail component and food and beverage component that just never happened. We saw that need. We had the vision to come into the area at the right time and the right place.”

 

Source: The Real Deal

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Will Tiny Apartments Without Parking Solve Miami’s Rent Crunch?

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An entrepreneur who’s bought a big chunk of downtown Miami while promising some mold-breaking surprises was apparently not kidding: He wants to build an eye-catching 49-story tower with apartments so small there’s no room for ovens in the tiny kitchens. And there’s no parking.

Actually, that last bit’s not quite right. There will be parking — for bicycles. Is Miami really ready for this?

Moving-company and arts mogul Moishe Mana — who’s also building a mini-city on a large swath of Wynwood and has lately spent tens of millions to buy up property on and around downtown’s Flagler Street — certainly thinks so.

A rendering of developer Moishe Mana’s proposed “micro-living” apartment tower. (Zyscovich Architects)

A rendering of developer Moishe Mana’s proposed “micro-living” apartment tower. (Zyscovich Architects)

He’s the first in Miami to formally propose putting up a building consisting entirely of what’s been dubbed “micro-units” — compact, hyper-efficient and affordable apartments meant for young singles who want to live in dense urban neighborhoods and get around primarily on foot and public transit. The plan, which Mana’s team says fully conforms with downtown zoning rules, will have its first and likely only public review before the city’s Urban Design Review Board on Monday

MicroApartments3The blueprint calls for 328 apartments starting at 400 square feet, the minimum allowed by city code. The penthouse units top out at a relatively generous 600 square feet, but most will be 500 square feet and under, said the project’s architect, Bernard Zyscovich.

The apartments would be equipped with built-in furnishings, including beds and tables, that tilt, fold or slide into walls and cabinets, Zyscovich said. And the building, at 200 North Miami Ave., would be flush with amenities, including built-in superfast WiFi and fully equipped common kitchens and dining rooms for when residents want to entertain.

“It’s like living in a Transformer,” Zyscovich said. “The idea was, let’s make these apartments in the urban core, let’s make them small and let’s build in all the stuff that makes it desirable. We’re going for that authentic coolness that comes from being in the middle of everything. It’s for a particular type of person, probably Millenials but not exclusively so, who want to live an urban life and simplify their life, and not have all their money going to rent and furniture and maintaining a car.”

Rents, which have not been set, would be at market rates, but would be significantly lower than the norm downtown and in surrounding neighborhoods like Brickell — where high costs have some renters taking in roommates and doubling up in bedrooms — by virtue of the apartments’ small size. The substantial savings Mana will realize by not having to build costly structured parking will also help keep rents down, Zyscovich said.

A rendering of developer Moishe Mana’s proposed “micro-living” apartment tower. (Zyscovich Architects)

A rendering of developer Moishe Mana’s proposed “micro-living” apartment tower. (Zyscovich Architects)

The project takes advantage of a zoning exemption that allows buildings close to transit stations in downtown Miami to dispense with parking. The building, on a sliver of land that Zyscovich said would make it hard to fit in a parking garage in any case, sits a short stroll from the Government Center Metrorail station, three Metromover stops and the station for the All Aboard Florida train service, now under construction.

There is lots to walk to nearby, including courthouses, government buildings and offices with tens of thousands of jobs, not to mention classes at Miami Dade College’s downtown campus two blocks away. The All Aboard station will have a food market, and Whole Foods and Publix stores can be reached by Metromover or city trolley.

Those who insist on having a car have options: The building site abuts a big city parking garage, and another public garage sits a couple of blocks away.

Two South Florida analysts predicted Mana will have no trouble renting out the building at a time where rents in Miami have risen much faster than salaries, creating a housing affordability crisis.

If Mana rents his apartments in the middle of the range for the area, or about $2.25 a square foot, that means someone could get into one of the 400-square-foot units for $900 a month, a relative bargain, while enjoying the privacy of his or her own space, noted Jack McCabe at McCabe Research in Broward County.

“They will fill it up,” McCabe said even as he expressed surprise at the apartments’ size and lack of fully equipped kitchens — though they will have cooktops. “Affordability is key right now. There is definitely demand for more-affordable rentals without a real kitchen in a cramped apartment that allows you to enjoy the lifestyle in downtown Miami.”

McCabe said the common kitchens, which Zyscovich said would have to be booked in advance, are a desirable feature for many people, and the compact units would not bother many of the South Americans and Europeans now flocking to the city who are used to living in smaller spaces than Americans.

The “micro-living” concept, which is catching on in other U.S. cities like Seattle, San Francisco and New York — the Big Apple’s first such building just opened in the Kip’s Bay neighborhood on the east side of Manhattan — can help solve not just the affordability problem but also relieve traffic congestion, said Suzanne Hollander, a broker and lawyer who teaches at Florida International University’s Hollo School of Real Estate.

“It’s very smart. It’s pioneering,” Hollander said. “Micro units are tiny solutions to big urban problems, and Miami is becoming a big urban city. It gives options to a lot of people who otherwise would not have them, so they can enjoy the urban living we are building.”

Micro-living buildings also carry other potential social benefits that could prove attractive not just to Millenials but also to retirees or business executives who need a pied-a-terre, she added.

“People sleep in a micro-unit. But, really, the whole building is their home,” Hollander said. “And the amenities here are amazing. What they’re trading is space for an A-plus location. This all encourages people to interact not just inside the building, but in the neighborhood, making everything more social.”

Another benefit, she said: Because the units are new and built to code, they are safer alternatives to the unregulated rooms in older homes or apartment houses that are often the only alternative for people on limited incomes.

Micro-units in New York and elsewhere are even smaller than Mana’s, with those in New York’s Carmel Place ranging from 260 to 360 square feet after the city waived its 400-square-foot minimum. That’s something some advocates are pushing to happen in Miami as well.

The no-parking alternative has a longer track record in Miami. Other developers have used the transit exemption to build no-parking residential towers downtown, including Related Group’s Loft buildings, but those units are for sale and tend to be larger. Units at Centro Miami, a high-rise condo tower now nearing completion, also without parking, range from 500 to over 1,111 square feet.

A new city zoning rule also allows for small buildings near transit routes to forgo parking. A small developer has broken ground on townhouse-like apartments without parking in East Little Havana.

Though Mana’s apartments will be small, the tower’s design aims to make a big impression, Zyscovich said. It looks like stacked blocks, with some sides on the west and south screened with a “veil” of metal mesh to shade them from the sun.

“It wants to say, I may filled with micro-units, but I’m cool,” the architect said.

 

Source: Miami Herald

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City To Consider New Designs For 5 Big Miami Projects, Including Miami Worldcenter

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MiamiWorldcenter_6

Miami officials will consider the design plans of five new projects in the booming city, including the redesigned Miami Worldcenter, an apartment tower with no parking by a prominent developer and a mixed-use building in Midtown.

All five items will go before the city’s Urban Design Review Board on July 25.

The 27-acre Miami Worldcenter is a major mixed-use project that would reshape the north side of downtown. Construction has already started on its first phase, although it hasn’t gone vertical yet. The master developer is Miami Worldcenter Associates, led by Art Falcone and Nitin Motwani, with Los Angeles-based CIM Group as an equity partner.

The main public plaza at Miami Worldcenter

The main public plaza at Miami Worldcenter

The new design reflects Miami Worldcenter’s transformation from big-box, enclosed retail to “high street” retail that is integrated with the urban street grid and incorporates public space and art.

Other major projects proposed or under construction in downtown Miami and Brickell can be found on the Business Journal‘s interactive Crane Watch map.

The new Miami Worldcenter design was partially inspired by Dacra’s work in the Miami Design District, as its presentation includes numerous photos from that upscale retail district to the north. Miami Worldcenter would have a long paseo that crosses several streets, capped with public plazas at both ends – similar to the Paseo Ponti/Palm Court Plaza/Paradise Plaza stretch of the Miami Design District.

The Miami Worldcenter paseo would start around Northeast 1st Avenue and stretch from Northeast 7th Street to Northeast 10th Street. It would have a 25,000-square-foot main plaza of public space on the south side and a 14,000-square-foot plaza on the north side. Those plazas could be used for special events and performances, the application said. The public spaces would be lined with trees, water features and art. There would be a vehicle drop off circle at Northeast 2nd Avenue.

Miami Worldcenter was designed by Elkus Manfredi Architects and ADD, with Kimley Horn as the landscape architect. Greenberg Traurig attorney Ryan Bailine represents the developer in the application.

The lot coverage of Miami Worldcenter’s first phase, encompassing about 10 acres, would be reduced from 88 percent to 81.5 percent. The density would decrease.

The first phase would total 3.91 million square feet, down from 4.73 million square feet in the previously-approved design. That reduction would mostly come on the commercial/retail side, with 338,036 square feet planned instead of 1.09 million square feet. Most of the retail would be on the ground floor, with some extending to a second floor. The retail buildings would have parking on the upper floors, and in most cases restaurants or amenities on the rooftops.

The residential unit count in Miami Worldcenter phase one would increase to 1,011, from 914, and the parking spaces would increase to 3,998 from 3,901. The 58-story Paramount Miami Worldcenter condominium could have up to 577 units in 1.34 million square feet, instead of 485 units, and the 44-story Luma apartment tower would have 434 units in 545,762 square feet, instead of 429 units. Luma would be developed in partnership with Orlando-based ZOM.

Paramount would rise atop a podium filled with amenities and it would be connected via an elevated bridge to a parking structure with even more amenities atop it. Luma would also have an amenity deck. The features would include multiple pools, a soccer field, two tennis courts, a half-court basketball room, two racquetball rooms and fitness areas. The condo tower would also have a yacht-shaped amenity deck on its top floor.

The application notes that up to 8.24 million square feet could be developed in the future phases of Miami Worldcenter. The next phases of the project would include a 386-unit apartment tower along Northeast 7th Street, a mixed-use tower in partnership with Newgard Development and the Marriott Marquis Hotel and convention center in partnership with MDM Group. Representatives of Miami Worldcenter couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

Moishe Mana Proposes Apartments Without Parking

New York developer Moishe Mana wants to build 328 apartments with no parking in downtown Miami.

49-story apartment tower rendering

49-story apartment tower rendering

The 49-story would total 322,355 square feet at 200, 218 and 222 N. Miami Ave. Not counting the amenities and common areas, it would have 277,536 square feet of residential space, so that averages 846 per unit.

Downtown Miami allows developers to forgo parking requirements within close proximity of public transit. This property is near the Government Center Metrorail Station and a public parking garage. That garage is slated to be redeveloped with an apartment building incorporated into it.

Mana’s North Miami Avenue Realty LLC acquired the 14,325-square-foot site in 2014 for $4.2 million. It currently has some small retail buildings constructed from 1922 to 1925. They would be demolished to make way for the apartment tower.

Zyscovich Architects designed Mana’s project, which would feature a rooftop pool deck, a gym, a social room, an exterior courtyard on the 15th floor and micro amenity spaces of around 900 square feet on some residential floors. Mana is one of the largest landowners along Flagler Street in downtown Miami and has proposed a massive redevelopment in the Wynwood neighborhood.

Mixed-Use Project Could Rise In Midtown

Midtown 8 rendering

Midtown 8 rendering

A 28-story building in Midtown Miami would combine residential and retail space. Midtown 8 would total 389,989 square feet on the two-acre site at 2901 and 2951 N.E. 1st Ave. That would break down to 387 apartments, 29,549 square feet of ground-floor retail and 519 parking spaces.

The project would have an amenity deck featuring a pool on top of the eight-story parking garage, which would be connected to the apartment building by a series of elevated bridges. There would be an open-air driveway through the center of the project and a linear park with an art along the FECI rail line behind the building.

The property is owned by Midtown Opportunities VIB, but it’s under contract to developer Wood Partners, with offices in Atlanta and West Palm Beach. Midtown 8 was designed by Stantec. Greenberg Traurig attorney Ryan Bailine said his client hopes to apply for building permits for Midtown 8 in August or September and obtain them before the end of the year.

Wynwood Attracting Major Projects

Wynwood 26 rendering

Wynwood 26 rendering

The UDRB will also consider two new proposals in Wynwood, which has attracted many development applications after the neighborhood was rezoned. The Wynwood 26 apartment/retail building by the Related Group was previously covered by the Business Journal when the plan went before the Wynwood Design Review Committee.

Wynwood 25 rendering

Wynwood 25 rendering

East End Capital‘s Wywnood 25 with apartments and retail was also considered by the WDRC shortly after it was announced.

 

 

For a slideshow for the new renderings of Miami Worldcenter, plus the other projects, that will be presented to the UDRB, click here.

 

Source: SFBJ

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