A vacant site just south of Wynwood in Miami sold for $23 million.
Miami Sunrise Properties LLC, managed by Camila Koelbl in Key Biscayne, sold the 2.5-acre site at 1950 N.W. First Ave. and 1905 N.W. First Court to 1950 NW 1 Ave LLC, a Miami-based company that listed Sara Enwright as its sole organizer.
The property last traded for $16 million in 2015.
The parcel is located just south of Wynwood, north of Overtown, and west of Edgewater.
Click here to read more about this story.
Miami Beach has officially launched a request for proposals process to find office developers for several city-owned properties north of the famous Lincoln Road retail strip.
This presents opportunities for one or more developers to build Class A office buildings at a time when an increasing number of wealthy individuals — and their companies, in some cases — are relocating from high-tax states to the city, where office rents are nearing record levels.
There’s the potential to build about 400,000 square feet of office space, plus ground-floor retail, on these properties, said Ken Krasnow, vice chairman of institutional investor services at Colliers International South Florida, which is helping Miami Beach market the RFP.
The properties the city is fielding interest in total 1.38 acres at 1664 Meridian Ave., 1.12 acres between Lenox Avenue and Michigan Avenue, 0.85 acres at the southwest corner of 17th Street and Lenox Avenue, and the parking garage on 2.9 acres at 640 17th St. The parking garage is across from the Miami Beach Convention Center.
The bids will be ranked by a city evaluation committee and then the city commission would vote on the winning bids from one or multiple developers. However, the 99-year lease or leases would require approval from voters in a public referendum because of Miami Beach’s rules on selling city property. The parking lots would need 50% voter approval while a parking garage would need 60% of voters to agree, Krasnow said.
Bids are due by Nov. 15. Interested parties can obtain more information about the proposal here.
Click here to read more about this story.
A unique public-private partnership has assembled and will bring an apartment building to Wynwood’s southeastern corner devoted entirely to affordable rental units, atop ground floor retail.
Wynwood Works is proposed by Wynwood Works LLC, an affiliate of Magellan Housing, the developer selected by the Omni Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) to redevelop the property at 2035, 2037 and 2043 N Miami Ave.
The project was approved Monday by the Wynwood Design Review Committee with conditions on a 3-to-2 vote.
The site is in the Wynwood Neighborhood Revitalization District (NRD-1), and within the CRA’s boundary.
Wynwood Works is designed as a 12-story multi-family residential attainable housing project, including 120 units ranging from studios to two bedrooms.
The development will total 179,105 square feet of floor space, and offer 5,698 square feet of ground floor commercial space on North Miami Avenue, with five levels of on-site enclosed parking for about 108 vehicles, and a mix of amenity spaces to support the residents.
Project attorney Steven J. Wernick said the project is participating in the Wynwood Attainable Mixed Income Program, recently established within the NRD-1, with 20% of the units to go to households at or below 50% Area Median Income (AMI), including 10% to Extremely Low Income (ELI) households (at or below 30% AMI).
Mr. Wernick said the project has been submitted and reviewed by the City of Miami Planning Department and Office of Zoning.
Wynwood Works is a key project for the Omni CRA and Wynwood NRD, areas experiencing revitalization and in need of housing for those of modest income increasingly being priced out of Miami’s urban neighborhoods, Mr. Wernick wrote to the city.
The lot is irregular shaped with 25,628 square feet, with a single thoroughfare frontage on North Miami Avenue. With required right-of-way dedications, the net lot area is 17,946 square feet.
Mr. Wernick wrote, “The property has a unique lot configuration, shaped by its location in proximity to the FEC Rail Line, which forms the rear yard of the property running southwest towards the intersection of North Miami Avenue and NE 20th Street.”
He said Omni CRA acquired the property, former site of the Lowenstein galleries, in 2018 to redevelop it with the CRA’s objectives.
The property has two small warehouses, which have been unoccupied for several years, and an overgrown gated parking lot. To the north is a parking lot and FPL transformer lines. To the west is North Miami Avenue, and a part of Wynwood that has remained industrial and seen little redevelopment since the NRD-1 was adopted in 2015.
The 120-unit housing program includes 48 studios (445-plus square feet), 66 one-bedroom apartments and six two-bedroom apartments. The residential component starts on the sixth story, accompanied by a gym, business center and community room.
Mr. Wernick wrote, “The project will be one of the first affordable housing new developments in Wynwood in many years, at a critical time when housing costs have continued to rise, making it increasingly challenging for retaining Miami’s workforce, artists, and others essential for the continued revitalization and growth of areas like Wynwood, Omni and Edgewater.”
Jennifer McConney-Gayoso, principal at Studio MC+G Architecture, detailed for the committee the specifics of the proposed façades and the materials to be used. She also explained areas where artwork will be installed, including unique shadow art on the south side of the building, and a catwalk on the second floor.
The site at one end is limited to about 50 feet.
“It was a difficult site to develop. We squeezed the envelope on this project,” she told the committee.
Even with the tight site, the plan shows 14% open space, more than the 10% zoning code requires.
Several committee members commended the developer and design team for bringing much needed affordable housing into Wynwood.
“It’s surprising you can actually do that in Wynwood,” one member said.
Some were critical of the building’s cake layered look, saying the components need more articulation and the art needs to come down into the ground floor level.
Committee member Erik Rutter said, “We do have to think more about the art, not just as a mural in a box. I like the shadow wall … Magellan is a great developer. This will be a great addition to the neighborhood.”
The committee’s motion to approve includes conditions: improve articulation and integration of the pedestal to the rest of the tower or accentuate/contrast against the rest of the tower; increase art treatments at ground floor level and increase articulation; address the east façade with art intervention; and conceal rooftop equipment.
Mr. Wernick said the applicant is wholly owned by Magellan Housing, an affordable housing developer active in Texas and Florida.
Magellan is developing Wynwood Works in partnership with the Omni CRA. In addition to owning the land, the CRA is providing financial support towards development costs.
Source: Miami Today
The first phase of retail reopenings following the coronavirus crisis in Miami-Dade County began on May 20, earlier than some other large American cities. Malls such as Aventura, and shopping neighborhoods like the Miami Design District continued to evolve with new store construction and expansions, which got a boost from Miami’s economy and new transplants who relocated there at the height of the pandemic.
“We’ve been actively signing leases and opening new tenants throughout the whole Covid-19 period,” said Jackie Soffer, co-chairman and CEO of Turnberry, which owns Aventura. “We have a lot of new stores, about 30 or so, some local, and some national. We’re different – I kind of like to treat the property as a town center. We’re a big part of the community.”
Gucci is expanding by adding men’s, and Ferragamo and Rolex are under construction, Soffer said. Mayor’s is opening a Bulgari boutique. Hermes is under construction, with a new store opening in September, and Balenciaga has signed a lease.
Soffer has been commissioning art for the shopping center for more than a decade and travels in an art world orbit with her husband, Craig Robins, who spearheaded the development of the Miami Design District. He’s the owner and principal of Miami Design District Associates, a partnership between Robins’ company, Dacra, and L Real Estate. He shows artists such as Louise Bourgeois and Gary Hume, while Aventura has a fountain created by the Haas Brothers and a giant experiential slide that’s a work of art by Carsten Holler.
During the pandemic, the 2.7 million-square-foot Aventura, pivoted with more restaurant seating outdoors. Its indoor farmer’s market moved outside with a drive-through format that helped local vendors to stay in business. Recently, Aventura expanded the market’s indoor footprint to feature more than 80 vendors every weekend. With temperatures rising, the market continues to expand with a goal of 100-plus vendors as visitors escape the heat inside the air-conditioned mall.
Aventura continues to evolve with the addition of chef-driven restaurants such as Michael Mina’s Estiatorio Ornos, Juan Chipoco’s Pollos & Jarras, and Guy Fieri’s Chicken Guy! The Sugar Factory is set to open this summer and many of the more than 40 restaurants and Treats Food Hall are offering both indoor and outdoor seating.
The Design District is expanding on several fronts. In addition to the new stores and restaurants, Robins said a Class A office, club and hotel are part of the plan.
The 1 million-square-foot Design District had serious protocols in place during the pandemic. Robins estimated that stores do sales per square foot in the $2,000 range, adding that the area is attracting much younger customers than ever before. Sales during the pandemic were up 20% to 30%, and are now ahead 95%, he said.
Source: Forbes
The 29N project would be one of the largest developments in Wynwood at 964,693 square feet.
The Wynwood Design Review Committee will consider on July 12 plans for the project at 95 N.W. 29th St.
L & L Carpe Wynwood Holdings, a joint venture between New York companies L&L Holding Co. and Carpe Real Estate Partners, has nine parcels there under contract, combining for three acres. It’s directly east of the Gateway at Wynwood office building, which is currently under construction.
Designed by San Francisco-based Gensler, 29N would have buildings of 12 and eight stories with a pedestrian paseo between them to connect Northwest 29th Street, Northwest 30th Street and Northwest First Avenue. The building would feature 523 apartments, 200,618 square feet of offices, 26,372 square feet of retail and 668 parking spaces. There would be amenities on floors seven through nine. The apartments would range from 504-square-foot studios to two-bedroom units of 1,093 square feet.
Click here to read more about this story.
Moishe Mana is expanding his footprint in the Flagler District, downtown’s envisioned tech hub.
The Israeli-born developer and billionaire bought a parking lot at 49 NW First Street, across from the Miami-Dade County Courthouse and a single-story building with a handful of eateries, according to a statement provided to the Miami Herald. The approximately $12.4 million sale closed on Friday. Mana is ironing out details for a new project on the site.
The site gives the developer greater scale for his Flagler District project. More than five years ago, Mana started acquiring buildings and lots in downtown, with a concentration especially along West Flagler Street. He now owns a total of 60 buildings and vacant lots. He continues to lead an overhaul of the street named after Florida’s railroad pioneer Henry Flagler by gutting and renovating existing buildings along the corridor and supporting the makeover of the area’s streetscape, which began in May. Though many of his storefronts are now empty, Mana has announced plans to build offices, retail and housing.
“We’re committed to reviving the Flagler District through sustainable revitalization,” Mana said in the statement. “We are using the existing structures to preserve the character of the neighborhood while building a tech ecosystem that prioritizes the community’s needs.”
Mana covered the cost of the project design and mix of taxes from the city and county, parking fees and bond dollars are funding the construction. Property owners are also taxing themselves to help pay for the project.
Click here to read more about this story.
Miami has emerged as one of the largest fintech hubs in the country, a rise that’s accelerated as the COVID-19 pandemic drove companies to the metro area en masse. That’s driving up office rents across the board in Miami-Dade County–and among the region’s competitive submarkets, Miami Beach has shown the fastest growth post-pandemic.
Asking rents for Class A office space in Miami Beach have rebounded to $56.66 per square foot, up 10.2% year-over-year, according to a new report from Colliers. The submarket is also highly constrained in terms of supply, especially when it comes to viable office space. Most investors, wary of high land prices, have gravitated instead toward luxury hotels or boutique condo projects, but those same factors have also kept demand booming.
In nearby Brickell–which Colliers calls “the Manhattan of the South”–the Class A market continued to recover during Q1, thanks largely to corporate relocations from the Northeast and Midwest. Average rents clocked in at $66.70 per square foot in Q1, an increase of 4.9% over Q1 2020 numbers. The area is a major hub for South Florida’s fintech industry and other professional service providers: Thoma Bravo recently signed a 36,500 square foot lease at 830 Brickell, and existing tenants like Banco Sabadell and HIG Capital also renewed their leases during the quarter, signaling optimism for “a very strong 2021,” according to Colliers.
And in downtown Miami, home to a significant roster of law firms, banks, and public sector employers, rates are lowest among the metro’s submarkets at $50.35 per square foot. That’s an 8.2% increase over the first quarter of 2020.
Meanwhile, further afield, the suburb of Coconut Grove also benefited from COVID’s disruption to migration pattern with tenants like Mercy Hospital, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and Weinberg Wheeler Hudgins Gunn & Dial all renewing existing office leases. Gross rental rates for Class A space in the market increased by 7.9% year-over-year to $60.34 per square foot last quarter.
Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood is also luring office-using tenants from both within Miami and out of state. Recent transplants include Spotify, Live Nation Entertainment Co., Bank OZK, venture capital and startup building firm Atomic, led by Jack Abraham, and Founders Fund, the multibillion dollar venture capital firm led by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel.
Source: GlobeSt.
As downtown Miami continues to attract investors from all over the world, Colliers’ Urban Core Division facilitated a $46 million sale of Miami Center.
Known as the ‘Burdines property,’ it is the last significant development site remaining in downtown Miami’s Central Business District (CBD). The 92,972-square-foot development site, which is located at 16 SE 2nd St in downtown Miami, is currently home to a parking lot.
Colliers’ Executive Managing Director Mika Mattingly and Cushman & Wakefield‘s South Florida Vice Chairman Robert Given represented the seller, Wharton Equity Partners and Cross Lake Partners, in the transaction. The buyer, Enrique Manhard, was represented by Estrella Perez of EP Realty Group Inc..
“This is a pivotal site for the future of downtown Miami because it is a major location connecting downtown to Brickell,” Mattingly said. “This deal represents the voracious appetite for downtown assets. We currently have 10 land deals under contract to close by year’s end, and there is little inventory left for the first time ever. This is unbelievable given the fact the downtown market went silent in 2019 and during the pandemic. The demand is being fueled, in part, by all the transformative projects that are just beginning to take shape in this area. It could not be a better time to invest in the future of downtown Miami.”
Based on the site’s T6-80 zoning, this is one of the largest land sales in downtown Miami. The zoning designation allows several uses, including residential, hotel, office and retail. The maximum height permitted at the site is 80 stories with unlimited height available through public benefit bonuses. Because the development site is right in the middle of Brickell and downtown, it will provide future residents the opportunity to live, work and play in a highly walkable, urban environment.
South Florida has continued to see an influx of residents from New York, California and other states seeking lower taxes, better weather, and a higher quality of life. Greater Downtown’s population was 92,235 people in 2018, a jump of 38% since 2010, according to a study from Miami’s Downtown Development Authority (DDA). Downtown and Brickell have also emerged as the top choice for the largest technology and financial firms. According to a recent report from the DDA, at least 700 new jobs are expected in the area over the next few years.
Rilea Group announced the closing of a 1.5 acre development site in Wynwood for $22 million as the location for their upcoming mixed-use rental community known as MOHAWK at Wynwood.
Gridline Properties’ brokers Alfredo Riascos and Yonatan Missika represented Rilea Group in the off market transaction located at 56 NE 29th Street. This is the development firm’s first venture in Wynwood and the first in the neighborhood to be largely funded by crowdfunding. Earlier this year, Rilea Group tapped the Los Angeles based crowdfunding platform, RealtyMogul to raise an initial $10 million through their robust network of investors. Rilea Group’s goal was surpassed, raising an estimated $12.5 million in record time.
The seller is 29th Street Warehouse LLC, managed by Lombardi Properties.
“In recent years, we had been approached many times by different developers to sell this significant site. We never really felt comfortable until we met the Ojedas, said David Lombardi,” Principal and Broker of Lombardi Properties. “We are confident they will execute an incredible project worthy of this site,” continued Lombardi.
Located at the crossroads of Miami’s trendy and burgeoning Wynwood and Midtown neighborhoods, the site was presented by Gridline Properties as the ideal location for Rilea Group’s first development in Wynwood. Future residents will be walking distance from neighborhood destinations such as Wynwood Walls, The Shops at Midtown Miami and a short five-minute drive to the Miami Design District and I-95. The site is also one block away to the north from the proposed Trader Joe’s Midtown location and a block away to the south of the potential Wynwood Brightline Station. The project comes at a time of a continued mass migration of California and New York residents to Miami, causing a surge in demand for housing. Gridline Properties sourced the site in the Fall of 2020 – meaning this transaction was negotiated during the height of the pandemic and put under contract early this year. Amidst the uncertainty brought on by COVID-19, Rilea Group was able to see beyond the chaos and seized a unique opportunity while taking advantage of less competition caused by the pandemic.
“We were thrilled to find the ideal location for MOHAWK at Wynwood and are excited to see this uniquely-designed development come to fruition,” says Riascos, Principal and Broker of Gridline Properties. “This transaction continues to prove that Wynwood is one of the most resilient neighborhoods in Miami and is a clear indicator that the trendy neighborhood has emerged much stronger post pandemic,” he continued.
“MOHAWK at Wynwood was created to meet the demand of this new wave of Miami residents and was entirely conceptualized based on the needs of consumers living in a post COVID-19 world,” says Diego Ojeda, President of Rilea Group.
The 12-story, 225-unit, multi-family apartment building will consist of 215,430 square feet of leasable property which will include 22,000 square feet of prime ground floor retail and 3,500 square feet of private, for-rent offices for the work-from-home crowd, sitting on a total 65,700 square feet (1.5 acres). The community will provide tenants with a state-of-the-art gym with peloton bikes, a private park and dog park, kid’s playroom, rooftop pool and bar, resident’s lounge as well as exquisite art and murals adorning the building.
“These newcomers are seeking design-forward living spaces that fit the needs of their current lifestyles. With the incorporation of unique amenities that cater to those needs and an exquisitely designed space, MOHAWK will provide residents with a turn-key home in this new age,” Ojeda continued.
Designed by Javier Barrera of Miami-based Deforma Studio, the building’s architecture will draw inspiration from the industrial feel of New York’s SoHo and Meatpacking districts with an added Miami flair – combining exposed brick, steel and concrete with various murals on the building’s façade in true Wynwood fashion. Stylish interiors will feature original artwork from artists such as Jean Michel Basquiat and Marco Grassi as well as fine photography encapsulating the developer’s vision.
“MOHAWK at Wynwood is a next generation residential community inspired by the strength of sophisticated architecture and the boldness of a creative culture that chooses to live on the edge. MOHAWK is the pinnacle of cool,” says Ojeda.
Rilea Group has a 40-year track record of successful developments in South Florida such as JP Morgan Tower – 1450 Brickell, One Broadway and the Sabadell Financial Center among many others. Most recently, the firm completed The Bond, a residential project in Brickell that became 100 percent sold-out during construction.
RealtyMogul has a community of over 200,000 individual investors across a $3.1 billion portfolio that includes over 17,000 multi-family units, making them the ideal crowdfunding partner for Rilea Group.
“The MOHAWK project had an incredibly strong reception with our investor base. In fact, we twice increased the amount of capital to be raised on the platform – as investors had been attracted to MOHAWK based on the strength of sponsorship, the growth and strength of the Miami market and the potential returns based off an investor-friendly waterfall,” said Jilliene Helman, CEO and Founder of RealtyMogul.
Next year, investors will have another opportunity to invest in this project for the construction phase, for which Rilea Group will need to carry out additional fundraising. Rilea group has agreed to allow RealtyMogul the opportunity to source an additional $10 million.
Construction of MOHAWK at Wynwood is expected to begin in 2023.
An affiliate of Cardone Capital acquired an 11-story office building in Aventura for $91 million with help from crowdfunding.
Aventura Harbour Borrower LLC, managed by Rob B. Shults in Irving, Texas, sold the 528,954-square-foot Aventura Harbour Centre at 18851 N.E. 29th Ave.
The buyer was 10X Centre LLC, managed by Grant Cardone of Aventura-based Cardone Capital. The building has about 217,056 square feet of leasable space, plus the parking garage. Miami-based City National Bank of Florida provided a $73 million mortgage to the buyer. The difference between the mortgage and the purchase price was crowdfunded.
CBRE’s Christian Lee, José Lobón, Amy Julian, and Tom Rappa, along with Jonathan Kingsley of Colliers listed the building. Cardone worked with Square2 Capital and Highline Real Estate Capital on the purchase.
According to CBRE, the building is 85% leased. Tenants include UBS and First Horizon Bank.
Click here to read more about this story.