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Related Group’s Nick Perez On Wynwood’s Transformation And The Future Of Development In This Burgeoning Neighborhood

The Wynwood Arts District, famously known for its striking graffiti walls and vibrant arts and entertainment scenes, is now one of Miami’s most desirable places to live, work and play, with some of the biggest names in tech, dining, fashion and hospitality setting up shop in the neighborhood.

Leading this charge is real estate powerhouse, Related Group, the first developer to enter Wynwood in 2019 with the area’s first ground-up rental community, Wynwood 25, and the firm behind the premier Class-A office building, Wynwood Annex.

Now, Related is betting big on the future of Wynwood’s luxury residential market with NoMad Residences Wynwood, the first hospitality-infused condominium from the iconic brand, NoMad Hotels.

PROFILEmiami had the opportunity to speak with Related Group’s Senior Vice President Nick Pérez to learn more about this exciting new development and what the future holds for the area.

PROFILEmiami (PM): What initially attracted Related Group to Wynwood?

Nick Pérez (NP): JP Pérez, the President of the Related Group, initially convinced our father, Jorge Pérez, to enter the Wynwood neighborhood, which has been one of our most successful plays to date. When Related chose to build Wynwood 25, our first large-scale rental development in the neighborhood, we were impressed by the art district’s popularity with locals and tourists alike. We recognized that while millions of people were visiting Wynwood each year, there were no existing large-scale residential communities that catered to locals. It was this lack of quality housing supply that compelled us to deliver Wynwood 25, which opened four years ago, and has since ignited a wave of residential development that has transformed the area into one of the hottest rental markets in the county.

Thanks to JP’s visionary foresight, our bet paid off in a big way and today we are the single most active developer in Wynwood. Related alone has a total portfolio, including units completed and under development, of more than 1,250 luxury rental apartments in the neighborhood. Similar to our rental projects, we hope that the NoMad Residences Wynwood will set an example for other condominium developers to follow. Not only are we creating a high-quality building that our buyers will be proud to call home, but we are incorporating a wealth of food and beverage options that will be open to the public and contribute to Wynwood’s dynamic community.

We’re exceptionally proud of the progress we’ve made to date and look forward to the building’s groundbreaking later this year.

PM: Talk to us more about NoMad Residences Wynwood. How did the project come to be?

NP: As one of the pioneers behind the branded residences trend in Miami, we recognized the potential for a partnership with a reputable hospitality brand to envision a new type of condominium offering in Wynwood. The philosophy behind NoMad Hotels is grounded in the idea of the hotel as a great home, which spoke to us as residential developers. The brand’s expertise in creating and activating artfully-lived spaces made it the ideal partner for this project.

Furthermore, the NoMad New York was credited for transforming Manhattan’s North of Madison enclave into one of the city’s most in-demand neighborhoods, and we feel strongly that the NoMad Residences Wynwood will further contribute to Wynwood’s incredible evolution, leading it to become one of Miami’s most inspired and sought-after destinations.

We developed NoMad Residences Wynwood in partnership with New York-based Tricap and collaborated with our globally-renowned design partners, DesignAgency and Arquitectonica. In addition to a full suite of resort-style amenities, the nine-story building will include two signature food and beverage offerings that will be open to the public, including the rooftop restaurant and mixology bar, The NoMad Bar. On NoMad Wynwood’s ground floor, residents and the community can enjoy a Casa Tua Cucina, an expansive open-kitchen concept offering simple, yet expertly crafted Italian and Mediterranean fare.

PM: Wynwood is rapidly transforming into Miami’s tech epicenter. How have Related’s properties contributed to this growth?

NP: In the wake of the pandemic, Wynwood became a major hub for innovators within the tech and finance spaces, including Founders Fund, Atomic Venture Capital and Live Nation Entertainment, which opened offices at The Annex.

The range of forthcoming hospitality and residential offerings, including the Arlo Hotel, Moxy Hotel and the Related communities, will cater to the needs of this growing workforce, much of which is looking to put down roots in the neighborhood.

In fact, this growing tech population paired with the highly regarded NoMad brand has directly translated into robust sales activity at NoMad Residences Wynwood. More than 50% of the building’s 329 fully-furnished homes are already in contract, including one priced at roughly $2,000 per square foot, which shattered neighborhood price records.

PM: Why is the neighborhood attractive to companies wanting to open an office in Miami?

NP: South Florida has experienced tremendous population growth in recent years as many people relocated from New York City, Chicago, Atlanta and parts of Texas.

Wynwood is unique in that it offers a highly creative environment with proximity to the Miami Design District, Midtown and Miami Beach, making it an ideal location for companies looking to tap into the city’s diverse business and cultural communities. The neighborhood is home to acclaimed art galleries, luxury boutiques and Michelin-star and five-star restaurants, all of which contribute to its appeal.

Source:  Profile Miami

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AT&T Could Sell Miami Beach Site To Developer

AT&T has sold an old BellSouth telecom site in Miami Beach to developers to build a condo.

The city’s Design Review Board will consider the application for the 24,800-square-foot lot at 6940 Abbot Ave. on March 8. Dallas-based AT&T agreed to sell the property to 6940 North Beach LLC, co-owned by Eduardo Otaola of Constellation Group and Jose Boschetti of Boschetti Group. Otaola said another co-owner in the deal is Rainer Viete of Vietmar.

Otaola noted the land is in Miami Beach’s North Beach Town Center district, which has a quicker development approval process. The project could receive final approval before the DRB on March 8, he said.

Otaola said his team recently acquired the property for $5.5 million. The deed has yet to appear in county records.

The site plan calls for a 10-story building totaling 134,573 square feet with 96 condos, 2,192 square feet of retail and 90 parking spaces. There would be a lobby on the ground floor with coworking space and a rooftop amenity area featuring a pool, a fitness center and a pickleball court.

Otaola said he’s also considering an in-house golf cart that would transport residents to the beach three blocks to the east.

The condos would range from 437-square-foot studios to 1,030 square feet with two bedrooms.

Otaola said the condos would start for under $1 million. He’s still working on a branding concept. His team is likely to permit short-term rentals in the building. The North Beach Town Center district permits short-term rental condos, he noted. Of course, each condo building has association rules governing the frequency of rentals.

“You are seeing all this development going up in Miami Beach with condos $1 million and above,” Otaola said. “You are leaving aside a lot of interest from buyers on the younger side or on the lower end of the income demographic where that’s above their price point. There’s a ton of appetite in Latin American to enter a gold standard market like Miami Beach.”

He plans to launch sales for the condo in the second quarter of this year.

Miami-based Arquitectonica designed the project and Miami-based attorney Tracy R. Slavens represents the developer in the application.

Source:  SFBJ

 

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Rilea Pays $6M For 13K SF Warehouse Property In Wynwood, Plans More Mohawk At Wynwood Loft Apartments

Rilea Group plans more loft apartments at its Mohawk at Wynwood mixed-use project after expanding its site.

The Miami-based developer paid $5.7 million for two warehouses at 31 and 37 Northeast 28th Street, said Rilea President Diego Ojeda. Both lots span 12,750 square feet, enlarging the overall development site at 56 Northeast 29th Street from 1.5 acres to 1.8 acres, Ojeda said.

In an off-market deal, Rilea bought the property from interior designer Michael Wolk, whose studio is based in one of the warehouses, Ojeda said. Alfredo Riascos with Gridline Properties represented Rilea, and Alfonso Jaramillo with Fortune International Realty represented the seller.

In 2002, Wolk paid $350,000 for the industrial buildings, which were completed in 1964 and 1970, records show.

“We negotiated what I think is a fair price and below market,” Ojeda said. “For us, it makes sense because it helps our project’s efficiency. For the seller, it was also good. It’s a small site that without our project didn’t have life for anything else.”

Rilea’s latest acquisition allows his firm to add 35 more loft apartments to a 12-story project originally slated for 225 units, Ojeda said. Mohawk at Wynwood, now spanning almost an entire block, will also have 31,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, 3,500 square feet of office and 337 parking spaces. Knocking down the two warehouses will also improve the design of a paseo planned for the project, Ojeda said.

“Before, the paseo had a big wall on the south side,” Ojeda said. “Now that we own the site, the wall will no longer be there. You will have retail on both sides when you walk the paseo.”

 

Source:  The Real Deal

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Florida Bill Turns To Developers To Tackle Affordable Housing

Florida Senate President Kathleen Passidomo (R-Naples) introduced on Thursday an $800 million affordable-housing bill designed to tackle soaring rents by providing incentives to the private sector, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

The sweeping, 93-page bill — called the Live Local Act of 2023 — would ease local regulatory laws by requiring municipalities and counties to approve multifamily and mixed-housing units in commercial areas, provided 40 percent of the housing is set aside for families whose incomes are up to 120 percent of the area’s median income, the outlet reported.

The bill also provides multiple tax incentives to developers who designate units as affordable. For example, owners of properties with at least 70 units that were built or remodeled within the previous five years would receive a tax incentive if they set aside apartments for low- to mid-income residents, according to the outlet.

Another provision allows counties and municipalities to offer a local tax exemption to developments with at least 50 apartments with 20 percent of the units dedicated to affordable housing, the Commercial Observer reported.

The bill would also prohibit local governments from instituting rent control, according to multiple outlets.

Florida rents have increased over 20 percent from 2020 to 2021, and rose even more through most of last year, according to the Sentinel.

Many residents who are employed in the hospitality industry — on which Florida relies heavily — were priced out of their local markets due to the significant rent increases, the Commercial Observer reported.

“We have great respect for the dignity of work. We know that a lower commute means a higher quality of life,” bill sponsor Sen. Alexis Calatayud, a Republican representing southern Miami, said, according to the outlet.

While Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis provided tentative support for the bill, some Florida Democrats and housing advocates decried the proposal as a giveaway to developers and landlords.

“Senate Republicans’ solution to the housing crisis is a state mandate banning local rent stabilization measures and too many developer handouts to count,” Ida Eskamani, a Central Florida affordable housing advocate, posted on Twitter, the Sentinel reported. “I’m not seeing any pro-consumer policies like tenant protections and stopping private equity monopolies.”

 

Source:  The Real Deal

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Mixed-Use Project Proposed To Replace Parking Lot In South Beach

The owner of the Washington Park Hotel in South Beach is proposing a 7-story mixed-use project on an adjacent municipal surface parking lot.

WPH Properties, LLC submitted the proposal for a 99-year lease of the city property.

The proposal include:

  • 135 structured parking spaces in three levels, including a single subterranean level
    utilizing mechanical lifts (triple the number of spaces in the existing lot)
  • ground level commercial space
  • three levels and thirty-three units of workforce housing units or office space (with the choice made by the city)
  • a top-level office/hotel use level
  • rooftop amenity area for hotel and building tenant use

In a letter, the developer wrote:

Our client has already invested over $52 million in the purchase and extensive renovations to
the Washington Park Hotel complex. We estimate the costs associated with the construction
of the new building at approximately $25 million.

This new project is not viewed by the Proposer as a profitable real estate development project
and the rate of return is not the primary motivation. Rather, because of the location of the
parking lot, the aim is to maximize and optimize the use of the combined properties as a single
unit.

Beilinson Gomez is the architect.

The city’s Finance and Economic Resiliency Committee is scheduled to discuss the proposal at a January 27 meeting.

 

Source: The Next Miami

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9-Story Apartment Tower Proposed Near Aventura

BH Group has a property in the Ojus neighborhood west of Aventura under contract with a pending plan to redevelop it with apartments.

The Aventura-based developer filed a pre-application with county officials for the 1.21-acre site at 18440 N.E. 24th Court, 18451 N.E. 24th Ave., and 2327 N.E. 184th Terrace, which is just north of Greynolds Park. It has the four parcels under contract.

The property currently has eight small apartments and a vacant lot. It would be redeveloped to make way for the project.

BH Group wants to build a nine-story building totaling 232,055 square feet with 132 apartments and 162 parking spaces. There would be 19,254 square feet of amenities, including a rooftop pool deck. The developer would utilize a workforce housing density bonus in exchange for making 10% of those apartments workforce housing.

The apartments would range from 656 to 1,229 square feet. There would be 24 studio apartments, 54 one-bedroom units, 30 one-bedroom units with dens, and 24 two-bedroom units.

In order to build this project, BH Group wants the county to rezone the site from Ojus Urban Area District-Edge to Ojus Urban Area District-Center. The developer’s traffic study estimates the project would generate 583 daily vehicle trips.

Source:  SFBJ

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Wynwood Plaza Project Scores $215M Construction Loan

In yet another sign that lenders are still confident in the South Florida market, a mixed-use office development in Wynwood secured a $215 million construction loan.

Little Rock, Arkansas-based Bank OZK provided the loan to L&L Holding Company, Oak Row Equities, San Francisco-based Shorenstein Properties and Marcelo Claure’s Miami-based Claure Group for the Wynwood Plaza, a 1-million-square-foot office, apartment and retail project planned for 95 Northwest 29th Street in Miami.

The assemblage is anchored by the former Rubell Family Collection properties. Rubell moved its museum to a new space in Allapattah.

Newmark’s Dustin Stolly and Jordan Roeschlaub represented New York-based L&L and Oak Row in finding additional partners, according to a press release. Berkadia’s Scott Wadler and Michael Basinski arranged the construction loan. Bank OZK and other lenders have been providing large loans in South Florida, despite the challenging interest rate environment and the trend of banks pulling back overall.

Construction of the Wynwood Plaza will begin “immediately,” according to the release. The development could be completed in 2025. It includes a 12-story, 266,000-square-foot office building, a 509-unit luxury rental building, 32,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor retail space, and a 26,000-square-foot public plaza. Gensler is the architect and James Corner Field Operations is designing the outdoor spaces.

 

Source:  The Real Deal

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AIRC Buys Miami Beach Apartment Complex For $250M

An affiliate of Apartment Income REIT Corp. acquired the Southgate Towers apartment complex in Miami Beach for a combined $250.47 million.

The Denver-based multifamily company announced in November that it had the property under contract for $298 million. However, the two deeds recently filed in Miami-Dade County indicate the price was $250.47 million.

Southgate Towers LLLP and Gumenick Family Investments No. 2 Ltd., both affiliates of Gumenick Properties in Richmond, Virginia, sold the 495-unit apartment complex at 910 West Ave. and the 219,270-square-foot parking garage at 959 West Ave. to Southgate Towers LLC, an affiliate of AIRC. The buyer assumed a $101.2 million mortgage with Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.

Totaling 554,694 square feet, Southgate Towers was built on the 4-acre site along Biscayne Bay in 1958. Gumenick Properties completed a $40 million renovation of the property in 2016 that included the new parking garage.

 

Source: SFBJ

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Developer Obtains $277M Construction Loan For Hotel And Condo In Miami Beach

Oko Group and Access Industries obtained a $277.2 million construction loan for the Aman Hotel & Residences along the ocean in Miami Beach.

Bank OZK assumed the $34.8 million mortgage from 2020 and boosted it to $277.2 million. The borrower on the 1.7-acre site at 3425 Collins Ave. was 3425 Collins LLC and various affiliates linked to Oko Group, led by billionaire Vladislav Doronin, and Access Industries, led by Len Blavatnik.

Located in the Faena District, the site previously had the historic 16-story Versailles Hotel. It will be renovated and rebranded as the Aman Hotel for this project, plus the developer will build a 16-story condo tower.

The hotel tower will feature 56 rooms and 22 condos, while the stand-alone condo will have 41 units. It was designed by Miami-based Revuelta Architecture and Japanese architect Kengo Kuma.

 

Source:  SFBJ

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New Apartment Demand ‘All But Evaporated’

Demand for new apartment leases has “all but evaporated” as consumer confidence remains low and inflation continues to rise, according to the latest data from RealPage.

In other words, say farewell to the days of record-high household formations.

“We’ve never before seen a period like this – weak demand for all types of housing despite robust job growth and sizable wage gains,” RealPage Chief Economist Jay Parsons said. “It wasn’t just apartment demand that shot up in 2021 and plunged in 2022. The same pattern played out to varying degrees in other rentals and in for-sale homes.” 

Parsons and his colleagues also note that “while some pundits have suggested demand is slowing due to affordability challenges, there’s not yet any evidence that’s true within the professionally managed, market-rate apartment market,” adding that turnover, while normalizing, is still low and nearly 96% of renters were paying on time as of November 2022.

In addition, “there’s no indication renters are doubling up to any significant degree,” RealPage analysts say. “That may occur later, but as the publicly traded apartment REITs all reported in their last earnings call, it’s not a major factor yet.” What’s more, “there’s no “’flight to affordability’ –meaning that renters aren’t moving down from more expensive units or markets into more affordable units or markets,” according to RealPage. “The drop in demand came across all price points and in essentially all markets.”

According to Parsons, the cause is consumer confidence.

“Low consumer confidence means many American households feel nervous and uncertain, and that has a freezing effect on household formation and housing demand,” Parsons said. “Human nature is that when we feel uncertain, we’re much more likely to stay put – and that’s what happened in 2022.”

Rents for new apartments fell in December for the fourth consecutive month, declining by 0.4%. Rent have dropped by a cumulative 1.6% since September, according to RealPage. The deepest rent cuts were in tech-heavy markets like Austin, San Jose and Raleigh/Durham, as well as cities like Las Vegas, Phoenix and Sacramento, which all benefited from strong pandemic-era in-migration trends.

 

Source:  GlobeSt.

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