No Comments

Evolve Acquires Wynwood Property, Housing Development Planned

Evolve Wynwood closed on a land acquisition in Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood where it plans to develop 141 units of housing.

Mery Najera Dominguez and several associated LLCs sold the 1-acre parcel at 535-585 NW 35th Street for $9.8 million to Evolve’s Mike Winstead Jr. and Joe McKinney, who have launched the design of the housing project through Kobi Karp Architecture.

They expect the project to be completed by the end of 2024.

“The location is in a good long-term growth market for multifamily in proximity to the Wynwood Arts District and Miami Design District,” Winstead said in a statement.

Fabio Faerman with Fortune International Realty brokered the deal on behalf of Evolve. The new owners plan to build eight stories of housing.

Evolve’s development sits within the northwest corner of Wynwood just off Interstate 95, near where the Design District, Model City and Allapattah meet.

 

Source:  Commercial Observer

No Comments

Swiss Real Estate Firm Acquires Rare Development Site West Of Brickell

As institutional capital flows into Miami from around the world, a Switzerland-based real estate investment firm acquires a rare development site west of Brickell.

Empira Group plans to develop a mid-rise multifamily project in the neighborhood called ‘The Roads’ to help meet the area’s rising demand for housing fueled by an influx of business relocations to Miami’s urban core. Due to Empira’s conviction in the continued growth of Miami, the firm is looking to own the property as part of its portfolio for the long-term after its projected completion in 2025. The transaction closed yesterday, Aug. 29. This asset will expand Empira’s real estate portfolio with assets in Europe and in the US.

Empira plans to start construction of CoralGrove Brickell in the second half of 2023.

“Empira Group is very excited to close a unique acquisition in Miami,” said Rafael Aregger, Empira’s Head of Investments US. “The city is benefitting from a strong in-migration from other states and all over the world, and we have a very positive outlook on the future of Miami and its population’s growth. Centrally located, the upscale boutique project will cater to professionals and families who want to be close to Miami’s largest employment centers, including Brickell, downtown Miami, Coral Gables and Coconut Grove. The building was designed to offer residents highly attractive living space and amenities that promote a healthy lifestyle.”

Designed by award-winning Revuelta Architecture International, CoralGrove Brickell is planned to include 85 units, consisting of one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments. Some of its amenities include a fitness center that incorporates spaces for yoga and spinning, a rooftop resort-style pool overlooking the city, a gourmet kitchen and a game room. The ground floor will have about 900 square feet of retail space. The building’s architectural style is aligned with the Coral Way Beautification Master Plan since the project sits on the Coral Way corridor, connecting Coral Gables to the Brickell area.

Empira’s new development site sits in The Roads, a residential neighborhood with one of the highest barriers to entry. The 0.53-acre site consists of two vacant aged apartment buildings at 3025 SW 3rd Ave. and 3051 SW 3rd Ave. Demolition of the structures will take place later this year.

CoralGrove Brickell, which is a five-minute walk from the Viscaya Metrorail Station, will promote walkable urban living. Future tenants will be able to trade their cars for the Metrorail to travel around the tri-county area. That is important for Empira, whose institutional investors are committed to the highest ESG standards for their developments in Europe and the US. CoralGrove Brickell will be LEED certified which promotes not only more sustainable buildings from an environmental perspective but also a healthier living environment for the building´s users.

Since the onset of the pandemic, Miami has become the epicenter of the Great Migration and experienced a 16.8% year-over-year population growth. Miami-Dade County is projected to add approximately 175,000 new residents over the next three years.

South Florida’s booming economy and thriving job market have transformed the area into an economic powerhouse. Miami has attracted high-profile tech, private equity and finance firms from major high-paying employment hubs such as New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. Blackstone, Citadel, Google, Spotify, Thoma Bravo, Marsh Insurance and Goldman Sachs, among many others, have opened or significantly expanded their offices in Miami in recent months.

 

No Comments

Macy’s Building On South Beach Sells For $15.5M

A local developer acquired the retail building that houses Macy’s in Miami Beach for $15.5 million.

San Antonio-based 1675 Meridian Ave LLC, managed by longtime owner Terry Emanuel, sold the 102,009-square-foot retail building at the same address.

The buyer was SoBe Park LLC, managed by Ronny Finvarb, head of Bay Harbor Islands-based Finvarb Group. The deal included $9.3 million in seller financing.

The price equated to $152 a square foot.

The building was developed on the 1.15-acre lot in 1953.

 

Source:  SFBJ

No Comments

Neology Secures Construction Loan For Third Apartment Community In Miami’s Allapattah

Neology Life Development Group, led by Lissette Calderon, announced that it has secured construction financing to build its third lifestyle-driven residential community in Miami’s historic Allapattah neighborhood. Located at 1470 NW 36th Street, “Fourteen Allapattah Residences” will deliver 237 apartments, along with 5,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, to one of Miami’s most dynamic emerging neighborhoods.

Berkadia secured a $57.5 million construction loan through lender Churchill Real Estate to build Fourteen Allapattah Residences, with groundbreaking expected this September. The property is located in a Qualified Opportunity Zone.

Neology’s portfolio now consists of more than 1,500 apartment units completed or under construction in Miami’s urban core, including The Julia, an upscale apartment community that will open in 2023, and Neology’s flagship Allapattah project, No. 17 Residences Allapattah, which opened in 2021 and leased up in record time.

“Fourteen Allapattah Residences is an important milestone,” said, Lissette Calderon, President and CEO of Neology Life Development Group. “It further establishes Neology’s commitment to Allapattah as the pre-eminent multifamily developer in the neighborhood with over 1,000 apartments recently completed or under construction. It also demonstrates our partners’ confidence in our business model and track record. Everything about this project – from the Opportunity Zone location to the attainable lifestyle component – makes good financial sense in today’s market. It’s an exciting time for Allapattah as we add another one-of-a-kind residential space to one of Miami’s original neighborhoods.”

She added, “To be able to bring this project to life with my partner America Opportunity Zone Advisors, led by my mentor and former Wharton Professor and head of Wharton Real Estate, Peter Linneman, along with his team of Jared Mintz and Kelley Brasfield, is a dream come true.”

Fourteen Allapattah Residences will consist of a 14-story building with 180 apartment units connected via a pool deck to a five-story building with 57 apartments including ground floor walk ups. It will offer studio, one- and two-bedroom units ranging 450 to 900 square feet. Apartments will feature European-inspired cabinetry, quartz countertops, energy efficient kitchen appliances, in-unit washer and dryer, energy efficient AC and heating systems, and smart home technology adaptors. Lifestyle amenities will include curated original artwork, a multipurpose lobby, media lounges and living rooms, a rooftop pool and clubhouse, poolside cabanas, coworking spaces, conference rooms, outdoor movie screen, an indoor and outdoor fitness and wellness center, with a yoga and cardio studio, dog park with dog wash area, bike storage, virtual concierge and smart package lockers, and a parking garage with electric car charging stations as well as a ride share lobby.

The property, which will open in early 2024, enjoys a highly visible location on NW 36th Street just 5 minutes west of Wynwood and 10 minutes east of the Miami International Airport, close to the health district, which is the country’s largest concentration of medical and research facilities after Houston. It is just a short walk from the Allapattah Miami Metrorail Station, the Rubell Museum, and SuperBlue.

The contractor for Fourteen Allapattah Residences is JAXI Builders, Inc.; the architect is Behar Font Architects; interior design is by designBAR; and Witkin Hultz Design is the landscape architect and GT Law provided legal counsel. Bilzin Sumberg Law’s Suzanne Amaducci-Adams and Manny Gonzalez led the transaction on behalf of the borrower.

No Comments

Miami Area Expected To Add 19,000 Apartments In 2022

Developers are expected to complete 19,125 apartments in the Miami metro area in 2022, according to a new report by rentcafe.com.

Rentcafe also reported earlier this month that Miami remains the most competitive market in the U.S. for renters. In Miami, “the existing supply of rentals simply can’t keep up with sky-high demand,” the website said.

Just two other metro areas are expected to build more apartments than Miami this year: New York (28,153) and Dallas (23,571). By comparison, Miami ranked sixth nationwide in 2021.

The city of Miami itself will see the most new rental units in the metro area this year by far – nearly eight times more than second place Fort Lauderdale, the report said.

For apartments completed within Miami city limits in the first half of 2022, Miami ranked fourth nationwide with 2,996 units. Only Houston (4,746 completed apartments), Austin (4,236 completed apartments), and Seattle (3,232 completed apartments) ranked higher.

Miami’s land area is just 36 square miles, far less than Houston (640 square miles), Austin (320 square miles), and Seattle (84 square miles).

 

Source:  The Next Miami

No Comments

Miami Beach Voters Pass Referendums Approving More Density For Some, Less For Others

Residents of Miami Beach approved all six referendum questions on their primary ballot Tuesday, including a handful that will have an impact on development in the city.

The most impactful measure passed allows the developer of the Alton Road Gateway Project to increase the allowable density on its site.

Terra, which is replacing the community health center at 710 Alton Road, will be allowed to build to a 2.6 floor-area ratio, clearing the way for a roughly 15-story tower with about 120 units, office space and retail, Terra’s Russell Galbut told The Real Deal. In exchange for the allowable density — the site previously allowed 2.0 FAR — Terra has agreed to build a new health center and library across the street from its project.

A ballot measure that would force developers who are building in vacated city alleyways and side streets to get voter approval to increase their projects’ floor-area ratio also passed Tuesday night. Developers had previously been able to build denser projects than zoning allows by incorporating former city streets and alleys into their projects — they will now need to get a referendum approved to get that additional FAR.

“I was a bit disappointed, but not surprised,” that the FAR referendum passed, said Neisen Kasdin, a managing partner at law firm Akerman and a former mayor of Miami Beach. “I’ve always held the belief that the U.S. Constitution protects property owners’ rights to not be subject to popular vote.”

Another referendum passed that would allow developers to build denser residential projects if they convert properties zoned as apartment-hotels. The city voted to ban those types of properties last year, and now voters have approved an incentive for developers to convert those buildings to permanent housing.

“There is this idea that transient [developments] are viewed as disruptive,” Kasdin said. “This incentivizes developers from working on transient projects.”

Voters also approved adding a rule that the city’s Board of Adjustments, which hears land use and zoning cases, must have an architect among its seven members.

 

Source:  Bisnow

No Comments

Thor Equities Lists Wynwood Dev Site For $32M

Thor Equities is listing a Wynwood assemblage that’s primed for a hotel, retail and restaurant development. Asking price: $32 million.

The New York-based firm, led by Chairman Joe Sitt, retained Tony Arellano and Devlin Marinoff with DWNTN Realty Advisors to market the five contiguous empty parcels at 2724 Northwest Second Avenue, 208 Northwest 28th Street and 229, 235 and 245 Northwest 27th Street.

“It is the last remaining development site on that side of Second Avenue,” Marinoff said. “Four years ago, this site was in a desert. Now it’s come a long way.”

The 0.7-acre assemblage comes with development rights for an eight-story hotel with 211 rooms, 19,705 square feet of retail and a 12,106-square-foot rooftop terrace, according to the offering. Development site prices in downtown Miami and surrounding neighborhoods are skyrocketing, with buyers paying about $16 million an acre last year, according to Colliers.

“Retail rents on Second Avenue are north of $120 a square foot,” Marinoff said. “You get more than $30 million in value on just the retail.”

In 2014, a Thor affiliate bought the vacant lot at 2724 Northwest Second Avenue for $1.9 million, records show. A year later, The firm acquired the other four parcels as part of a $41.5 million deal for a larger assemblage that included a 100,000-square-foot site at 2800 Northwest Second Avenue that had been the headquarters for Lehman Pipe & Plumbing Supply for 68 years.

Thor redeveloped the Lehman Pipe property into Wynwood Walk, a 63,000-square-foot retail and restaurant complex that is adjacent to the vacant lots hitting the market, Marinoff said. The assemblage is also next door to the site that the Related Group, David Edelstein’s Tricap and Alex Karakhanian’s Lndmrk Development are co-developing into the NoMad Wynwood Residences condo-hotel. The partnership paid $26.5 million for the site at 2700 Northwest Second Avenue last year.

Marinoff said Thor had drawn up plans to develop its assemblage, but the company’s primary focus is retail and industrial, rather than hotels.

Thor is also looking to shed two Miami Design District properties the firm owns. In April, Thor listed the former U.S. Post Office building at 66-70 Northeast 39th Street for $80 million. And Last year, Thor put on the market a retail building currently leased to luxury retailer Stefano Ricci at 120 Northeast 39th Street. The asking price was not disclosed.

 

Source:  The Real Deal

No Comments

Longpoint Buys Shuttered Trailer Park In Allapattah

Industrial land is so scarce, a Boston-based developer picked up a former mobile home park in Miami’s Allapattah neighborhood for potential redevelopment.

An affiliate of Longpoint Realty Partners paid $16 million for a nearly 6-acre site at 2260 Northwest 27th Avenue, according to records. Formerly the River Park Trailer Court mobile home park, the property is near the Miami River and Miami International Airport.

Deme Mekras with MSP Group represented the seller, an entity with ties to North Miami real estate investor Israel Kopel. In 2009, The Kopel entity paid $2 million for the mobile home park that was completed in 1975, records show. Four remaining mobile home residents were evicted in June, court records show.

The property sold just below its asking price of $16.5 million, Mekras said. Longpoint did not respond to a request for comment, but Mekras said zoning allows the buyer to redevelop River Park into an industrial project.

In addition to the site’s size, River Park’s proximity to the airport, PortMiami and easy highway access made the property an attractive purchase for Longpoint, which specializes in the industrial sector, Mekras said.

Miami-Dade’s industrial sector is experiencing a land crunch, as inventory of developable land for new warehouses is diminishing across the county. A 2022 Commercial Industrial Association of South Florida (CIASF) outlook from earlier this year shows Miami-Dade has 1,300 acres left for potential industrial development that could run out in eight years.

As a result, warehouse builders are targeting potential redevelopment sites in Allapattah, Medley and other submarkets near the Airport West sector.

 

Source:  The Real Deal

No Comments

With Pricey Rents In Miami Beach, Developer Plans Cheaper Apartments For Local Workers

A new workforce housing project could help relieve some local residents from sky-high rents in Miami Beach, one of Miami-Dade County’s most expensive residential markets.

A boutique rental building with 60 apartments proposed for Normandy Isles neighborhood could give essential workers — think teachers, nurses, police officers and firefighters — more living options in line with their incomes. Alan Waserstein, owner of Miami Lakes investment and development firm LeaseFlorida, plans to build a four-story development called Mia, containing the 400-square-foot studio apartments and retail space on the ground floor, at 1960 Normandy Drive, according to plans filed to the city of Miami Beach’s Design Review Board.

Mia’s dwellers would have to earn between 60% and 140% of the area’s median income in order to qualify to live in the building, or between $50,820 and $118,580 annually for a family of four, according to Miami-Dade County’s Public Housing and Community Development Department. Renters could expect to pay between $683 and $2,390 a month based on their earnings and the latest income guidelines from Florida Housing Finance Corporation.

There’s a dire need for affordable and workforce housing across Miami-Dade County. The county’s home affordability crisis precedes the pandemic, but demand skyrocketed during the spread of COVID-19. Already accustomed to competing with foreigners for housing, local residents face competition for homes from an influx of wealthy digital nomads from across the country seeking refuge from strict pandemic restrictions, cold climates and high taxes.

The migration here has prompted landlords to boost rents so much that Mayor Daniella Levine Cava in April declared a state of emergency over the county’s housing crunch and budgeted over $40 million to help residents most struggling to pay rent. Waserstein, a Miami Beach native and resident, decided to build Mia to cater to the workforce housing demand. He’s built several residential projects — including 63 Nobe and the St. Tropez Condominium in Miami Beach — but this will be his first housing development priced for the local workforce. A neighborhood like Normandy Isles needs workforce housing given its proximity to employment hubs and growing business sectors.

“We started to notice the demand for workforce housing when the pandemic hit,” the developer said, noting a hotel his firm acquired during the ongoing pandemic and turned into an apartment building. “We got a lot of people — waiters, hotel workers, the workforce. We had a waiting list of people trying to rent our rooms. That’s when we noticed there was a big demand.”

Waserstein’s latest development proposal goes before Miami Beach’s Design Review Board in September. If approved, he plans to finalize design plans and secure building permits to replace the existing surface parking lot and small warehouses with the planned Mia apartment building. Construction and early leasing could start by mid-2023, and completion is targeted for late 2024.

 

Source:  Miami Herald

No Comments

Miami Beach Parking Lot Sells For $20M

A parking lot near some popular restaurants in the South of Fifth neighborhood of Miami Beach sold for $20 million in two deeds.

Kaine Parking 125 LLC, managed by Patricia M. Kaine in Miami, and the Lawrence F. Kaine Living Trust, with Patricia Kaine as trustee, sold the 26,000-square-foot parking lot at 125-151 Collins Ave. The buyer was 125 Collins LLC, managed by Miami-based attorney Brenden D. Soucy. The price equates to $769 a square foot.

The property is zoned multifamily, so it has development potential as well.

 

Source:  SFBJ

© 2024 FIP Commercial. All rights reserved. | Site Designed by CRE-sources, Inc.