Miami Innovation District Idea Gaining Tech Community Support

, , ,

While debate continues over a 10-acre development centered around a 633-foot LED tower, support is growing among some local entrepreneurs and tech investors for the Miami Innovation District proposed for the Park West section of downtown.

“I’m becoming pretty passionate about this project,” said Andres Moreno, executive chairman of Open English, a fast-growing online education company in Coconut Grove that has attracted $120 million in venture capital. “Miami is definitely coming together as an ecosystem but it is pretty spread out … We haven’t found a hub.”

Moreno is among the South Florida entrepreneurs, angel investors and board members of Endeavor Miami who have met with Innovation District developer Michael Simkins to discuss the project. Moreno, who also recently founded Next University, is among the more bullish: He said he would move his companies there.

National players may share his enthusiasm, according to Simkins, who said he is in active discussions with large tech companies as potential anchor tenants. Already lined up, Simkins said, is Silicon Valley’s 500 Startups, a well-known global venture fund for early-stage tech companies.

According to Simkins, the “verbal understanding” with 500 Startups calls for the organization to open an accelerator for top Latin American startups in one of the existing buildings on his property, possibly as early as this fall, with the goal of moving to a new tower when complete. Dave McClure, founder of 500 Startups, brought the company’s PreMoney Conference to Miami in March and said then he was looking at opportunities to expand to Miami. 500 Startups did not return calls seeking comment for this story.

A rendering of the Miami Innovation District project shows a street view of the public spaces and "cloud" layer, or elevated public space (Rendering provided by Innovate Development Group)

A rendering of the Miami Innovation District project shows a street view of the public spaces and “cloud” layer, or elevated public space (Rendering provided by Innovate Development Group)

To be sure, Simkins and his Innovate Development Group have been promoting the benefits of clustering large tech companies, mid-sized companies, startups, incubators, co-working and public spaces, services and cafes in a common area wired with super high speed Internet access as a way to accelerate the growth of a tech ecosystem — an effort supported locally by the Knight Foundation and eMerge Americas, among others. Similar districts are found in Boston/Cambridge, New York, Seattle, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Las Vegas and one emerging now in downtown Detroit, as well as London, Barcelona, Berlin, Stockholm, Medellin and many other cities, according to a 34-page Brookings Institution report. Many are in walkable-bikeable urban downtown-midtown areas close to public transportation and contain housing.

“The one thing Miami is lacking as a great city is the high-paying jobs that will allow us to evolve and elevate us overall. We visited innovation districts. We chose an architecture firm that has designed other innovation projects” — including recently Uber’s new headquarters, said Simkins, in an interview in his Miami Beach office.

He has not done a project of this scale before. Simkins’s proposal has faced a mountain of negative sentiment about the 633-foot centerpiece tower that would contain an observation deck, restaurants, retail, event space – and advertising in lights visible from the freeways. An electronic billboard in the sky is one of the nicer ways critics have described it.

Simkins prefers “a $250 million icon in the sky” and said the tower could also be used for public service messaging – a dashboard for the city if you will. But he is also quick to point out that the media tower, called the Miami Innovation Tower, is just one part of the vision for the live-work-play district, which includes nine towers with 7.4 million square feet – more than half of that earmarked for office space.

But it’s the overall concept, not the media tower, that interests the early tech supporters. What distinguishes successful innovation districts are big tech anchors. Juan Pablo Cappello, a lawyer and co-founder of the AGP angel network, said having a place – with literally the space – to house large companies is what excites him most about the Innovation District plan for Miami.

“If Miami can offer a place where enterprise tech companies like a Google, like a Facebook can have the space and resources to hire 100, 200, 500 people, that could be transformative,” Cappello said. “Companies like to cluster … With a project like this you can get some momentum building.”

Patrick McKenna, managing partner of HighRidge Global and an investor and entrepreneur who moved here a year ago from Silicon Valley, saw the power of momentum first hand. About six years ago, he said, San Francisco risked losing Twitter and other tech companies that were outgrowing their spaces. Meetings between the tech community and government ensued. Thanks to tax breaks and the rezoning of blighted sections of the city, the offices of Twitter, Square, Salesforce and Zynga lie within walking distance of one another. A district can attract both critical mass and tech anchor tenants, both critical to Miami’s tech development, he said.

Colombia-born entrepreneur Juan Franco, who moved to Miami from Silicon Valley about a decade ago to launch social gaming publisher Mentez and since has started three more companies, met Simkins through YPO, the Young Presidents Network. He, too, is a supporter of the project.

“What is missing here is an environment of entrepreneurs. That is what I like most about this project. … It will bring people together – young people with new ideas, people with experience, hopefully venture capitalists in the future. They are close together and that creates the interactions and the new ideas,” said Franco. Franco even likes the controversial tower: “I believe he Simkins needs to create a statement, that’s why I like the tower. It could be an icon of the city very related to technology and around the tower we can start to create that excitement.”

Moreno said he spent some time recently talking about the importance of frequent collisions – entrepreneur-speak for interactions that happen in tech clusters that Franco spoke about – during a visit with CEO Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos and engineer of Las Vegas’ innovation district. For Hsieh, moving his company headquarters and more than 2,000 employees there wasn’t enough. Hsieh also funded and led a resurgence of a once-blighted downtown area that now includes multiple big companies, startups, services, weekly speaker series, regular conferences, cafes, bars and a dog park.

Matt Haggman, Miami program director of the Knight Foundation, said he has talked with Simkins about the project in concept but has not seen the plans.

“I don’t know the details of the proposal, but our focus at Knight Foundation is to expand Miami’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, helping it become more diverse and broad-based. Any project that advances those goals would be good for the community,” Haggman said.

In the past three years, Knight Foundation has invested more than $10 million in Miami entrepreneurship programs.

Simkins plans to continue meeting with tech community leaders and wants to share plans and hear feedback at a future event by Refresh Miami, South Florida’s largest tech meet-up organization. He is also taking part in a panel discussion hosted by the Commercial Industrial Association about “Miami’s tech footprint” on Thursday. Moreno, a member of the Miami board of the global entrepreneurship nonprofit Endeavor, said a tech community advisory board is being formed for the Miami Innovation District project.

“The developer has spent a lot of time and money on what it will look like, but what will happen inside that venue is still to be defined. As a community, we still have an opportunity to shape this to be a really core part of the ecosystem. I think that is hugely exciting,” said Moreno.

Simkins, born and raised in Miami Beach, has become increasingly involved in the tech community and helped fund donations to various organizations and conferences, including Black Tech Week, Start-Up City: Miami, 500 Startups PreMoney Conference, Smart City Startups and eMerge Americas. About a year ago, he joined the AGP network, a group of angel investors, and has invested in six local startups.

He said his involvement and “brainstorming meetings” have helped shape features of the project, such as adding more community space. The plans by New York-based SHoP Architects, which also designed Uber’s new San Francisco headquarters, include a “cloud layer” – elevated public space with gardens and gathering places connecting all the towers. Also in the plans: parking lots near the I-95 exit so cars would be off the roads quickly to create a walk-bike culture, and 250- to 350-square-foot micro-unit apartments that would appeal to millenials. Nearly a third of the project – 2.4 million square feet – is earmarked for residential.

Though Simkins has already acquired the land needed, many political, legal and regulatory hurdles remain, particularly when it comes to the controversial media tower. Still, Simkins hopes to break ground next year. If that happens, he hopes to open the first buildings within three years and complete build out within seven. The developer said he is focusing first on securing a large anchor tenant. He then will move to middle-sized companies, startups, funding and support organizations in addition to 500 Startups, coworking spaces and university involvement. He’s also looking at ways to activate part of the property before construction, such as locating 500 Startups there.

Yet, the Miami Innovation District is just one piece of a much larger picture of Miami as a technology hub of the Americas, Simkins says.

“It is a component that is needed, along with a lot of the other things that are already taking shape,” he said. “But this provides the infrastructure … We need the enterprise companies that will bring the employees. That will keep the talent here.”

Panel Discussion

Michael Simkins

Michael Simkins

Miami Innovation District developer Michael Simkins is set to appear on a Thursday lunch panel titled “What is Miami’s Tech Footprint?” hosted by the Commercial Industrial Association of South Florida at Venture Hive in downtown Miami. Other panelists are Venture Hive founder Susan Amat, Pipeline founder Todd Oretsky and Peter Crovo, senior vice president of Prologis. For more information and to register for the event, CLICK HERE.

 

Source: Miami Herald

/by

Codina Partners Nabs Big Loans To Build Coral Gables Apartment/Office Project

, , ,

An affiliate of Codina Partners obtained two big loans from Regions Bank to build its 2020 Salzedo mixed-use project in Coral Gables.

The bank (NYSE: RF) made a $53.54 million mortgage to Codina CG for the residential portion and a $15.35 million loan to Salzedo Office for the office portion. The site covers 1.6 acres at 2020 Salzedo Street.

Codina assembled the property with purchases of $5.2 million in 2010 and $977,500 in 2013 and then paid the owners of historical properties to transfer development rights to the property.

The project will have 213 apartments in 16 stories, 46,000 square feet of office in four stories, 5,000 square feet of retail and 559 parking spaces. The parking garage will have a rooftop amenity deck with a pool.

 

Source: SFBJ

/by

Miami Commercial Investment Activity Upticks, Aided by Low Vacancies

, , , ,

According to the Miami Association of Realtors’ Realtor Commercial Alliance, Miami’s commercial vacancy rates continue to rank among the lowest in Florida, leading to more local investment from global companies and investors.

Miami’s vacancy rates for office (14.9 percent), industrial (5.3 percent), retail (6.3 percent), and multifamily (4.4 percent) are the lowest among major cities in Florida, according to a May 2015 Commercial Outlook report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and Reis, Inc., a leading provider of commercial real estate market information. Each of Miami’s commercial sectors are performing better than the U.S. average, except for multifamily which is 0.1 percent lower. The national vacancy rates in May were 15.6 percent for office, 8.4 percent for industrial, 9.6 percent for retail and 4.3 percent for multifamily, according to NAR and Reis.

“One of the world’s top global cities, Miami has become a launching pad for new industries,” said Barbara Tria, the 2015 Miami Commercial Alliance President. “Technology companies and other businesses are moving to Miami largely because of the region’s top-tier cultural offerings, outdoor lifestyle, and affordability compared to other major cities around the globe.”

Miami Office Market

Miami’s 14.9 percent office vacancy rate in May ranks as the 21st lowest out of 82 major U.S. cities, according to the NAR and Reis report. New York leads the nation at 8.9 percent. Statewide, Miami’s office vacancy rate is performing better than Florida’s major cities. The Sunshine State’s other major metropolitans had the following rates: Fort Lauderdale (18.6 percent), Jacksonville (20.4 percent), Orlando (16.5), Palm Beach (16.5) and Tampa (19.7). The national average is 15.6.

South Florida’s growing, multilingual workforce is one reason for its low office vacancy rate. Miami-Dade County added 33,700 jobs across several sectors from April 2014 to April 2015, a 3.1 percent increase, according to job numbers released May 22. Miami had the third-largest job gain in Florida behind Orlando and Tampa. Miami’s unemployment rate from April 2014 to April 2015 decreased by 0.7 percentage points, to 6.2 percent from 6.9 percent.

Miami Industrial Market

Miami’s industrial vacancy rate of 5.3 percent is the third-lowest in the nation among the 82 major American cities studied by NAR and Reis. Only Orange County (Calif.) and Los Angeles performed better than Miami in the industrial sector in May, registering vacancy rates of 3.4 and 3.6 percent, respectively. Florida’s other major metropolitans had the following rates: Fort Lauderdale (8.2), Jacksonville (6.9), Orlando (10.3), Tampa/St. Petersburg (7.8), and Palm Beach (5.5). The national average is 8.4.

Miami International Airport and PortMiami are two of South Florida’s international trade successes. Miami International ranks as the top airport in the U.S. for international freight, and the ninth-best airport for foreign cargo in the world. In 2013, Miami International handled 2.1 million tons of total airfreight, of which 88 percent was international freight.

PortMiami is the top-ranked container cargo port in Florida with 900,000 TEUs handled each year. The port has an opportunity to expand its international business as it is deepening its channel from its current 42-foot depth to 50-52. When the deep dredge project is completed, PortMiami will be the only U.S. port south of Norfolk, Va. that can accommodate the new, mega cargo vessels that will pass through the expanded Panama Canal.

Miami Retail Market

Miami has the 15th lowest retail vacancy rate among U.S. major cities, according to the NAR and Reis report. Miami’s 6.3 percent rate is considerably lower than Florida’s other large metropolitans. Fort Lauderdale (9.3 percent), Jacksonville (12.9), Orlando (11.0), Palm Beach (9.5) and Tampa (10.6) are higher than Miami. The national average is 9.6.t”>

Miami’s tourism and multilingual employment base are just two reasons why major developers are bringing new retail ventures to the region. Earlier this year, the company that owns and runs the largest mall in America announced plans to build the nation’s largest shopping mall in northwestern Miami-Dade, a roughly 200-acre entertainment complex with submarines, a Legoland, sea lions and an artificial ski slope. American Dream Miami is projected to cost as much as $4 billion to build.

Brickell City Centre and The Mall at Miami World Center are two other significant Miami retail ventures. At Brickell City Centre, Hong Kong developer Swire Properties will deliver 500,000 square feet of retail space anchored by Saks Fifth Avenue by late 2016. The Mall at Miami Worldcenter, in the heart of downtown, will complete 765,000 square feet of restaurant, retail and entertainment space by 2017.

Miami Multifamily Market

The vacancy rate for Miami’s multifamily market is tied for 38th among 82 major U.S. metros, according to the NAR and Reis report. Miami’s 4.4 percent multifamily vacancy rate is the lowest in the state. Fort Lauderdale (5.2 percent), Jacksonville (7.0), Orlando (6.1), Palm Beach (5.6), and Tampa (5.0) all have higher rates. The national average is 4.3 percent.

 

Source: WPJ

/by

Developers Propose Two Big Hotel Projects In Miami

, ,

Plans for two Miami hotel projects with hundreds of rooms between them have been submitted for review.

A rendering for a hotel proposed at 7400 S.W. 88th St. in Miami

A rendering for the hotel proposed at 7400 S.W. 88th St. in Miami

Norwich Dade Hotel Group LLC, a company affiliated with New Hampshire-based company Norwich Partners, submitted plans for a 20-story Marriott hotel in downtown Kendall.

The 19-page application proposes 300 hotel rooms and 155 valet-only parking spaces at 7400 S.W. 88th St. in Miami. Renderings for the hotel show signs for two Marriott brands: AC Hotels and Residence Inn. If approved, the property would be built adjacent to the Dadeland Mall. The renderings, submitted May 15 with the application, were designed by Nichols, Brosch, Wurst, Wolfe & Associates.

Grapeland Hospitality Group has proposed a Staybridge Suites near Miami International Airport with 153 rooms and possibly a restaurant and one other commercial space on the property. The Palmer Lake-area development would be located at the corner of N.W. 37th Avenue and N.W. 25th St. in Miami, which is currently vacant. The application includes 142 parking spaces and a swimming pool. The renderings were designed by Architect J. Antonio Rodriguez Tellaheche.

The Miami-Dade County Department of Regulatory and Economic Resources Development Services is currently reviewing the applications.

 

Source: SFBJ

/by

North Miami Beach: A ‘Hidden Gem’ In The Real Estate Market

, ,

A new strategic vision, competitive pricing and a less hectic lifestyle are three reasons North Miami Beach is emerging as an attractive location for new residential and commercial investment.

Both the scenic Biscayne Boulevard corridor and the 163rd Street commercial district are in the early stages of an exciting transformation that will bring many positive benefits and developments to the city.

NorthMiamiBeachHiddenGem-ChartLed by Mayor George Vallejo, the city of North Miami Beach adopted a strategic plan in September that sets guidelines for real-estate development, design and zoning for the next 15 years. The “visioning” framework, which was guided by two consulting firms, encourages new mixed-use projects and high-end residential towers in appropriate locations. It also includes funds for a comprehensive parks master plan, which will make the city an even more appealing place to live.

Already, a new wave of commercial development is under way, including plans for new high-end restaurants and a hotel along West Dixie Highway south of the roadway congestion in Aventura. Gil Dezer, president of Dezer Developers in Sunny Isles Beach, purchased the Intracoastal Mall for $63.5 million last year and plans to open a luxury iPic theater in the mall this summer.

On the residential side, North Miami Beach is becoming a destination of choice for both domestic and international buyers seeking an alternative to higher-priced properties in more congested areas along the beach, in Aventura or in downtown Miami. Because the redevelopment of North Miami Beach is just in the early stages, pricing for luxury residences is more attractive than other markets that have already experienced a run-up in values.

Marina Palms Yacht Club & Residences

Marina Palms Yacht Club & Residences

For example, the sales prices for the second tower of Marina Palms Yacht Club & Residences, now under development on Biscayne Boulevard, averages $550 per square foot. To the north, a residence in a new Aventura building would be $850 per square foot, and the price for oceanfront units could be double or triple that rate.

Looking back at the last few decades, it’s clear that South Florida communities are at varying stages of the real-estate cycle. For instance, South Beach real estate was a bargain in the 1980s, before a wave of new hospitality, retail and residential investment created one of the world’s most popular (and expensive) urban resort markets.

Downtown languished until the early 2000s, when new residential and mixed-use developments exploded on the scene. After the recession, developers were quick to pick up unfinished projects and market them on an all-cash basis to affluent buyers from Latin America and Europe.

Meanwhile, North Miami Beach has remained a quiet, suburban city with about 40,000 residents and great recreational amenities, such as Greynolds Park and Oleta River State Park. In addition, the Biscayne Bay campus of Florida International University is conveniently located in nearby North Miami.

With its new strategic plan in place and a growing flow of commercial and residential real-estate investment, North Miami Beach is entering a new era, just as other Miami-Dade communities have evolved in the past.

Now the world is about to discover the new “hidden gem” in South Florida’s real-estate market. It’s an exciting time to participate in the transformation process, which will create a bright future for North Miami Beach and its residents.

 

Source: Miami Herald

/by

Is Brickell’s Biggest Hole Getting Miami’s Tallest Building?

, , ,

Scrapped Project

Scrapped Project

The Chinese consortium that bought the former Capital Brickell Place site, which has been sitting empty for years and as of right now is the biggest open hole in the ground in Brickell, is claiming on its website that they are building the tallest building in Miami there, according to The Next Miami.

The website is only in Chinese though,and the website of their Chinese/ American partner isn’t revealing much. Either way, until it’s verified, it’s only rumor. They also supposedly claim to have gained “preliminary approval” for the project, although no details are given.

 

Source: Curbed Miami

/by

Two Coconut Grove Office Buildings Sold For $42M

, , ,

BayviewPlazaTwo office buildings in Coconut Grove were sold for a combined $42 million, commercial brokerage Marcus & Millichap announced Thursday.

The first, dubbed the Bayview Executive Plaza, is a 57,155-square-foot building at 3225 Aviation Avenue. It is occupied by the Femwell Group Health, Wolfberg Alvarez & Partners and the accounting firm Pinchasik Yelen Muskat Stein.

The second, named Continental Plaza, is a, 80,380-square-foot building at 3250 Mary Street. It’s across the street from Park Grove, an upcoming mixed-use development that has plans for three 20-story condo towers with retail and office space.

Both were purchased by a company titled Allegra Holding, and both were sold by TA Associates Realty.

Douglas Mandel and Benjamin Silver of Marcus & Millichap brokered the sale for both the buyer and the seller. “These buildings are well positioned to reap the benefits associated with the explosive growth of new developments in The Grove, and the buyer will be able to take advantage of future spikes in demand that will push rental rates to new highs,” Mandel said in a statement.

 

Source: The Real Deal

/by

Developer Plans Live/Work Lofts And Boat Storage Project On Miami River

, , , ,

A group of developers is preparing a plan for live/work loft units and a boat storage facility with a marina along the Miami River.

Chapman Ducote on a Delta Powerboats yacht.

Chapman Ducote on a Delta Powerboats yacht.

Chapman Ducote, the managing member of the development group, said he’s planning two buildings at 600 N.W. Seventh Ave. One would be a dry stack for boat storage attached to a high-end marina. The other building would have live/work lofts with high ceilings and a modern look, in addition to some retail, he said. While the size of the buildings aren’t finalized, Ducote said the mixed-use building would be eight to 12 stories tall.

“There is a beautiful neighborhood on the other side of the canal from us and we want to be in tune with what works in the neighborhood,” Ducote said. “We will remove a boat yard that isn’t very pretty and replace it with a nice modern building.”

Miami Boat Storage, an Aventura-based partnership between AL US Investments, Quillpoint Capital Investments and Ducote, recently bought the 47,152-square-foot lot for $3.65 million to save it from foreclosure. Ducote is also the president and CEO of Miami Beach-based credit card processing firm Merchant Services LTD, a professional racer on the American Le Mans series, and a major investor Delta Powerboats, a Swedish company that builds yachts fully out of carbon fiber.

“The live/work concept, particularly in other cities, is starting to work and get some legs behind it,” Ducote said. “You have residential and office in the same dwelling with a wall separating the two.”

 

Source: SFBJ

/by

A Peek At Downtown Miami’s Future Skyline

, , ,

Miami’s Downtown Development Authority has released a video that provides a glimpse of what the skyline will look like when the current crop of construction projects have been completed.

The video helps to visualize the massing of Miami’s evolving skyline by showing buildings that are both proposed and under construction. Buildings where construction is underway are represented in blue, while planned and proposed towers are represented in green and purple, respectively.

It doesn’t include every project, and isn’t exact about height. Fast-rising Edgewater is mostly ignored. It also doesn’t show detailed renderings, as Brickell Magazine did last year.

Below is the Miami DDA video rendering:

 

 

Source: The Next Miami

/by

Miami Beach Sea Level Rise Conference Targets Future Developments

, , , , ,

It’s up to developers and city officials to protect projects in Miami Beach from the threat of global sea level rise, architect Reinaldo Borges warned an audience gathered inside a conference room at the W South Beach on Thursday.

“Developers need to change their perspective,” Borges said. “They go in with a short-term investment mentality. That mindset has to change.”

Business leaders discuss sea level rise at the Miami Beach Community Resiliency Summit

Business leaders discuss sea level rise at the Miami Beach Community Resiliency Summit

Borges, a principal of Borges & Associates Architects, lamented that hotel projects his firm worked on like the Royal Palm Miami Beach and the Bentley Beach Hotel will be negatively impacted by sea level rise. Before new projects break ground, Borges suggested city officials find ways to provide developers with incentives if they build structures at a higher elevation.

The Miami-based architect was part of a panel of business community leaders at the Miami Beach Community Resiliency Summit Friday morning. Other speakers such as Wendy Kallergis, president and CEO of the Greater Miami and the Beaches Hotel Association, and Gabriole Van Bryce, a member of the association’s sustainable hospitality council, talked about successful efforts to convince builders and owners to make their properties greener.

“We have really helped hotels reduce the impact of climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” Van Bryce said. “We want to further reduce the effects of greenhouse emissions by promoting a cool roof initiative to place local gardens on rooftops.”

Al Roker, host and weatherman for NBC’s “Today Show,” kicked off the summit by providing attendees with a few cold hard facts about climate change. “In the next 50 years, Miami’s high tide will be five feet higher,” Roker said. “At the city’s 100th anniversary concert last night, I told the crowd, ‘I hope you’re enjoying this now because where you are standing now will be underwater one day.’”  The popular morning show personality also said the mainstream media made a mistake by coining the term “global warming,” instead of using “climate change.”

Following his presentation, Roker told The Real Deal that developers, city officials, and residents have to work together to address the real threat of climate change. “Everybody should be concerned,” Roker said. “Are buildings ready? Is the infrastructure ready? Those are all real concerns condo owners, private property owners, businesses and everybody should be concerned about.”

 

Source: The Real Deal

/by