Comments on: Follow-Up to the Flamingo South Beach North Tower Cancellation Story

By: SBRGS

SBRGS — Tue, 27 May 2008 19:01:41 +0000

MCZ/Centrum has a reputation of legal attacks to get their variances. In Boca Raton they purchased the Boca Teeca (a/k/a Ocean Breeze) country club knowing that the land was zoned for a golf course. They paid the nearby condos and the city government via mitigation agreements in order to get their variances, then they claimed these adjacent property owenrs were not “affected”. They have been tied-up in legal challenges since the Dec. approvals and the most highly impacted property owners vow to continue their fight under their organization, Save Boca Raton Green Space. Why did they buy, instead of option, this property prior to obtaining government approvals? Were there violations of the Sunshine laws, or back-alley dealings with government offiicals that convinced them the established zoning would be changed for their project?

By: james Schiffer

james Schiffer — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 16:26:01 +0000

Does anyone here know anything about the 1607 ponce de leon in coral gables. A friend put up a 20% deposit on a unit(to live in, by the way) 4 years ago and it is still not finished…..any info would help

By: brian

brian — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:23:36 +0000

If anyone is interested in purchasing an 1100sf HUGE 1/1.5 corner unit (Apt 540 at $590k) that’s directly on the bay here is a virtual tour. http://www.visualtour.com/shownp.asp?T=1195882
I will also sell it turnkey/furnished for those who may want an investment rental property. The best part is unit 1540 sold for $595k without parking and without the upgraded bathroom. Unit 640 is also listed at $40k more than my unit without parking and the upgraded bathroom.

By: Julian

Julian — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 06:54:20 +0000

BFG – absoutely right. Worthless apartments in Bulgaria (Varna) were classic examples. Equity release from your UK home (weren’t you so smart…) into absolute cr*p in areas that were depopulating.

Those kind of losses (in my opinion) are well deserved. As my old boss said, when brickies in Essex are buying holiday homes in Bulgaria, you just know it’s gonna go horribly wrong…

By: Mr Flamingo South Beach

Mr Flamingo South Beach — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 04:09:40 +0000

HOW TO CANCEL: The sales agents might take their time so you might want to go direct to the source. Today I spoke with Cassandra the Contract Manager for the developer. She told me that all you have to do is email her at: cpalanza@mczcentrum.com to confirm that you want to cancel the contact.

She also told me that they will mail you a document that you need to sign and send back to them. So please confirm your mailing address with her. This whole process should take less than 2 weeks. If you have any questions she can be reached at 305-604-9445.

By: Preconstruction Deposits: The Final Scraps On The Table In The Current Condo And Housing Market Crisis « The Magic City Harvard Lawyer: Reporting On Real Estate And Business Litigation From Miami, Florida

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 06:45:40 +0000

[...] responses This recent item from Miami realtor Lucas Lechuga’s blog caught my attention and prompted me to provide a [...]

By: BFG

BFG — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 17:23:47 +0000

Isabel – that explains it… thanks.

Doubt many Americans are thinking much about their missed Latvian investment opportunities. That would have been a weird choice for the US market.

By: BFG

BFG — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 17:20:43 +0000

After posting the question, I thought about it some more and concluded that, yes – they probably do mean the Baltic states. I know property values have soared there – but you could say the same thing about almost anywhere during the boom. Just thought it was an odd choice of example. And the capitalization of “The” in “The Baltics” seemed weird, as well.

But then I remembered that the new “mark” for condo salesmen is a foreign buyer. The Baltic area was probably like the “Bakersfield, California” to western Europe’s “Los Angeles”. Saw this pattern repeated all over the place during the boom: the popular, desirable areas would get too expensive, so the flippers would move to the outside areas to “invest”. Same story in Europe, apparently.

By: Isabel

Isabel — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 17:09:46 +0000

BFG – the ad posted for 900 Biscayne was a version used in European markets, not through media aimed at US buyers. And for Europeans investing abroad, the Baltics were a huge growth market in the late 90’s and early 2000’s.

So the comparison was one that would reasonate with those buyers. The US versions of 900 Biscayne marketing materials made no reference to the Baltics.

By: lara

lara — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 02:49:03 +0000

900 Biscane ad is not so great but in Latvia condo prices went through the roof. In 1995 one could buy a condo for a very low price. Since then prices encreased 10 times in euros.