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Terra’s David Martin Buys Stake In Deauville Miami Beach Site, Plans Reconstruction

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Developer David Martin acquired a minority stake in the site of the former Deauville Beach Resort, a property that billionaire developer Stephen Ross had under contract two years ago.

Deauville Associates, led by the Meruelo family, sold a 25 percent interest in the 3.8-acre oceanfront property at 6701 Collins Avenue in Miami Beach for $12.5 million. TMG 67 Communities LLC, a company tied to Martin’s Coconut Grove-based Terra, purchased the stake, records show.

A spokesperson for Terra said the firm is “leading plans to bring an iconic development” to the site and suggested that Terra plans to reconstruct the former resort. The company declined to share additional details about its plans.

Terra also did not respond to a request for comment on whether the $12.5 million represents the full amount of its investment in the deal.

The Deauville, a historic hotel built in 1957, designed by Melvin Grossman, was demolished in 2022 after the Meruelos submitted a structural report to the city that determined it was an unsafe structure. The Meruelo family, led by Belinda Mereuelo, was criticized for not maintaining the building. It had been shuttered since 2017.

 

Source:  The Real Deal

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Miami Beach Votes Down Big Real Estate Projects

Miami Beach voters on Tuesday nixed three major real estate projects proposed by industry heavyweights Stephen RossBarry Sternlicht, and Don Peebles.

Some 53.4 percent of voters rejectedRoss bid to exceed the current building-size regulations, effectively halting his plans to redevelop the historic Deauville Beach Resort, a MiMo-style property.

The New York-based developer wanted to increase the floor-area ratio, a method of regulating a building’s size, for the Deauville lot at 6701 Collins Avenue and two adjacent parcels. Had the ballot measure passed, Related would have developed an Equinox-branded complex with two luxury towers, featuring 125 condos and 175 hotel rooms. (Related owns Equinox.)

The development seemed like a passion project for Ross, who partly grew up in town.

“As a native of Miami Beach, this project is personal to me. I know what this site means to the people of Miami Beach,” Ross said when announcing his purchase bid in May. 

The billionaire developer enlisted world-renowned architect Frank Gehry to design the new complex. In July, Ross also spoke at a Miami Beach city commission meeting, where he mapped out his plans for “a world-class project.” Yes For A Safe and Strong Future, a political action committee tied to Related Companies, spent over $1 million in favor of the referendum.

Ross’ plans for the Deauville site are unclear following the defeat. The sale was contingent on voters approving the height increase. When reached for comment, Ross and Related representatives provided a statement from Yes For A Safe and Strong Future.

“While we are disappointed with the outcome, we know North Beach deserves an economic engine, not an eyesore. We appreciate the tremendous support we received from thousands who backed a real vision for a better North Beach and still believe there’s a brighter future ahead,” the statement reads. 

Regardless of Tuesday’s vote, the Deauville property will be demolished. The resort has been closed since 2017, following an electrical fire. It fell into such disrepair that a Miami Beach official deemed the resort structurally unsafe and ordered it to be knocked down last January. A Miami-Dade circuit judge later upheld the order. The demolition is scheduled for this Sunday.

No More Offices on Lincoln Road

Ross wasn’t the only developer to lose in Miami Beach.

Ventures led by Sternlicht’s Starwood Capital and Peebles’ Peebles Corporation both sought 99-year leases to build competing office-heavy, mixed-use projects on city-owned land near Lincoln Road, a pedestrian shopping street in Miami Beach. As with Ross, voters rejected each of the proposed leases by 53 percent.

Had they been approved, the leases together would have generated $355 million for the city over 99 years, as stated on ballots. Developers saw an opportunity to build boutique offices in Miami Beach in part to serve billionaires, who relocated to the island town during the pandemic and now seek offices near their residences.

At 1688 Lenox Avenue and 1080 Lincoln Lane North, Starwood’s plans with partners Integra Investments and The Comras Company called for a 100-foot-tall structure that would feature office space, ground-floor retail (including 1,000 square feet leased to a nonprofit rent-free) and a public parking lot to replace the existing surface lot.

Just three blocks east, at 1664 Meridian Avenue, Peebles — along with two partners, local developer Scott Robins and former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine — wanted to develop a six-story building with Class A office space, 43 market-rate residential apartments, ground-floor retail space, and public parking to replace the existing 151 spots.

“We will consider working with the city to make some adjustments to our proposal and consider presenting it to the voters again without such a crowded and controversial group of ballot questions. That would give the voters the opportunity to focus on the many public benefits from our proposal,” Peebles said in a statement.

The Ones That Passed 

Miami Beach residents did approve some referendums related to real estate — those which weren’t directly tied to developers.

Voters agreed to boost the floor-area ratio for oceanfront hotels in the South of Fifth neighborhood that want to convert to residential buildings. Residents also greenlighted a floor-area ratio hike for certain office and residential properties east of Washington Avenue between First and Second streets if the owner agrees to prohibit hotels and short-term rentals on the property.

Residents also passed a ballot initiative that asked voters whether the municipality should seek voter approval before selling or leasing city-owned properties for over 10 years. The measure affects properties between West 43rd Street and West 40th Street, and from Pine Tree Drive on the east to Alton Road on the west.

Unlike in Miami Beach, Developers Win in Miami

Across the bay in Miami, developers had better luck Tuesday. Sixty-four percent of voters approved a 99-year lease extension for a waterfront site in Downtown Miami, paving the way for a $1.5 billion development.

Hyatt Hotels and Miami-based developer Gencom plan to tear down the James L. Knight Center and build three skyscrapers. Called Miami Riverbridge, the development would include 1,542 rental apartments in total, along with 615 hotel rooms and 264 serviced apartments. The annual rent will jump from $250,000 to at least $2.5 million. The joint venture has also vowed to make a $25 million contribution to affordable housing initiatives, the details of which have not yet been released.

“Miami Riverbridge will improve access to and from the Hyatt Regency Miami site, activate the Miami riverfront, and meet growing demand for housing, hotel rooms and more meeting space in our downtown,” James Francque, global head of transactions for Hyatt, and Phil Keb, executive vice president of development for Gencom, said in a joint statement.

 

Source:  Commercial Observer

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Billionaire Stephen Ross’ Deauville Resort Redevelopment Plan Could Soon Be Up For A Vote

Miami Beach voters will likely decide Nov. 8 whether billionaire Miami Dolphins owner Stephen M. Ross can redevelop the site of the shuttered Deauville Beach Resort with the height increase he wants.

The City Commission on Wednesday approved putting the item on the ballot on first reading. It would take a second vote by the same body to officially put it on the ballot. Ross’ plan would create a “North Beach Oceanside FAR Overlay” district to raise the maximum height on the Deauville site to 375 feet, and permit more building density.

The resolution doesn’t mention the exact size of the project the developer would build.

Ross, the chairman of New York-based Related Cos., and New York-based architect Frank Gehry presented the Commission with preliminary plans for a 175-room hotel tower and a 150-unit condo tower.

Built at 6701 Collins Ave. in 1957, the 540-room Deauville closed in 2017 following an electrical fire and never reopened.

It’s usually difficult to demolish properties with a rich history in Miami Beach, but this hotel fell into disrepair following the fire and a judge ordered its demolition.

The hotel is currently in the process of being torn down after Miami Beach officials cited it for numerous code violations related to the deteriorating condition of the building.

 

Source:  SFBJ

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Dolphins Owner Stephen Ross To Buy Deauville Hotel, Plans Luxury Complex In Miami Beach

Related Companies’ Stephen Ross is buying the historic Deauville Beach Resort in Miami Beach, enlisting star architect Frank Gehry to redesign the property.

The hotel, originally built in 1957, was the set of the famed Beatles performance for “The Ed Sullivan Show” in 1964. It’s said to have hosted President John F. Kennedy and Frank Sinatra.

The MiMo-style hotel has remained vacant following an electrical fire in 2017. The property fell into such disrepair that a Miami Beach official issued a demolition order in January, deeming the building structurally unsafe. A last-ditch effort to save the property, launched by the Miami Design Preservation League, failed last week when a Miami-Dade County board upheld the order.

The oceanfront property sits on 3.8 acres at 6701 Collins Avenue in North Beach, a historically working-class neighborhood that’s been gentrifying, thanks to Miami Beach’s soaring residential market during the past two years.

Ross has not revealed specific plans for the site, only divulging his intention to develop a “six-star hotel and luxury residences” designed by Gehry. The Pritzker-winning architect has designed iconic structures such as the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain.

The Deauville project is “personal” for Ross, who partly grew up in Miami Beach and graduated from Miami Beach Senior High School.

“I know what this site means to the people of Miami Beach, and I know the potential to create a truly special development that honors the history of the Deauville while creating an iconic place for generations to come,” Ross said in a statement.

The Meruelo family bought the 540-room hotel for a mere $4 million in 2004, according to property records. After the 2017 fire, the property had been embroiled in a legal fight. In 2019, the Miami Beach government sued the Meruelos to maintain the 595,788-square-foot resort, as required for historically protected buildings. Some preservationists have accused the owners of letting the hotel decay on purpose, in hopes of tearing it down and building something new.

Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber said he would back a development project with Ross at the helm only because of Ross’ long-term vision.

“There are too many examples of folks buying and flipping parcels for quick payoffs, leaving the city with undeveloped and vacant properties for too many years,” the mayor wrote in an email to residents. “Steve is committed to making sure his design pays suitable homage to the original Deauville and wants to assure the entire neighborhood benefits.”

The developer is “not looking to increase density but needs more flexibility in the design possibilities,” Mayor Gelber added. It’s unclear whether Ross will retain parts of the original structure or move forward with a complete demolition.

Miami Beach residents will likely have a say. Mayor Gelber said he would ask the City Commission to put the development plans to a vote this November.

A number of questions remain unanswered, including whether Ross’ purchase has even closed. A representative for Related did not respond to a request for comment.

While the developer announced that he had bought the property — without providing a sale price — Mayor Gelber wrote that Ross had taken “the first steps to purchase the property” only last Friday by signing “documents that will allow him to acquire and control the parcel.”

It’s also unclear whether the project will be owned by Ross personally or his development firm, Related Companies, a powerhouse in New York’s real estate scene having built Hudson Yards and the Deutsche Bank Center, formerly known as the Time Warner Center.

Ross, who’s worth an estimated $8.2 billion, has a history of working outside of the firm he founded. After buying the Miami Dolphins in 2009, he renovated the Hard Rock Stadium, spending hundreds of millions out of pocket.

For Ross, the Deauville development represents another milestone in his growing South Florida real estate empire. Related Companies is in the early stages of developing an office tower in Brickell, one that could become Miami’s tallest. In West Palm Beach, Related has developed much of the city’s downtown, including a neighborhood-like shopping mall and an office building that nabbed Goldman Sachs as a tenant.

 

Source:  Commercial Observer

 

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Why Super Bowl LIV Could Spark Interest In Miami Gardens Real Estate

Tens of thousands of people passed through the turnstiles into Hard Rock Stadium for Super Bowl LIV, taking part in the spectacle and competition. And when it ended, nearly all of them bypassed the neighborhood entirely on their way out.

While the stadium’s privately-funded, $500 million renovation boasts an open-air canopy along with other impressive additions, the surrounding city of Miami Gardens stands in sharp contrast.

The city has so far failed to attract the wide-scale investment that some sports stadiums in other cities have brought, and has not seen a blossoming of new residential properties outside the stadium.

Hard Rock Stadium owner — and Related Companies’ founder and chairman — Stephen Ross began the massive renovations of the venue in 2015, which brought the Super Bowl back to South Florida after a decade of absence. In addition, the money that Ross invested in the stadium — he also owns the Miami Dolphins — led to the Miami Open tennis tournament there in April and potentially, a Formula 1 race.

Some real estate developers who have built or proposed projects in Miami Gardens believe the renovations may bring about new interest in the city as a whole. The city, incorporated in 2003, is a historic African-American community with a population of about 110,000. It largely consists of older residential properties and commercial and industrial properties. In 2017, the household median income was $41,000 — below the county’s average of $46,388.

“The stadium is starting to be an asset. It was just a football stadium, but now… you are seeing an active asset, you are drawing people,” said Barron Channer, the CEO of Woodwater Investments, a Miami-based real estate investment firm. He previously proposed building a mixed-use project near the stadium.

Some developments are already in the works.

Los Angeles-based Latigo Group recently broke ground on a 259-unit apartment project at 19279 Northwest 27th Avenue in Miami Gardens. Rents will range from $1,700 to $2,300 per month, and the project is one of the first new market rate apartment developments in the city. It’s part of a bigger mixed-use project that will include a 37,000-square-foot building on a 4.63-acre parcel that will be leased to 24 Hour Fitness.

Jonathan Roth of Miami-based 3650 REIT, which provided a $50 million construction loan for the project, said Miami Gardens could become an attractive place to build housing at reasonably priced rents, since land prices are cheaper.

“What is happening nationally, you have a lot of development, but it is all Class A going up. By going into Miami Gardens you are going to pay slightly less for the land,” Roth said.

Sitting right off the Florida Turnpike and I-95 and in between downtown Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Miami Gardens has become a hub for logistics and warehouses, the less sexy part of real estate.

In recent years, institutional industrial investors have been snapping up properties in the area. In October, private equity giant Blackstone acquired two industrial properties in Miami Gardens for $13.6 million at 5120 Northwest 165th Street. And in July, Longpoint Realty Partners bought an industrial park in Miami Gardens from Prologis for $25 million.

In the northeast Miami-Dade County submarket, which includes Miami Gardens, more than 197,000 square feet of industrial space was under construction at the end of 2019, according to a report from Avison Young. The net absorption was 1.1 million square feet, the most of any submarket in the county.

Yet, the question remains whether the city will pivot from attracting industrial development to more residential projects.

Some real estate experts are betting on it, in part due to the rising cost of land in other parts of South Florida, and a lack of developable land to build new projects. The city could also become an alternative for renters on a budget, who would otherwise move further south or west in Miami-Dade County.

Colliers International South Florida’s Gerard Yetming and Mitash Kripalani are listing two parcels of land in Miami Gardens at 1255 Northwest 210th Street, totaling 82.5 acres, which allow for a maximum of 50 residential units per acre. Yetming said he is getting inquiries from developers who are looking to build workforce residential development, and that developer interest is growing in Miami Gardens.

“The level has increased over the past couple of years,” Yetming said. “A few years ago, developers were more interested in downtown and an urban type of environment.”

With new investment also comes the risk of gentrification and displacement of existing residents, something communities in places like Miami’s Little Haiti are trying to combat amid projects like the Magic City Innovation District.

“Miami Gardens is and has been heavily defined by the presence of black residents,” said Channer of Woodwater Investments. “If this is not reflected in who is courted to, and actually investing at all levels, then economic development efforts would have failed their ultimate test.”

 

Source:  The Real Deal

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