The #1 Miami Real Estate Website

Drive Down Brickell Avenue and Biscayne Boulevard – Video

March 1, 2009 by Lucas Lechuga
I must say that I'm very impressed with how far video technology has come along over the past year.  Gone are the days of YouTube's grainy video quality. YouTube now allows people to upload and view HD videos. Don't expect the HD quality that you see on your HD TV but it's still a big leap for Internet video.

Here are a couple of videos that I shot Friday night while driving down Brickell Avenue and Biscayne Boulevard.  (It may take a while to load if you're using a slow Internet connection). You'll notice Icon Brickell, Epic and One Miami in the video below:



In the following video, you can see Marina Blue, 900 Biscayne Bay, Ten Museum Park and Opera Tower, as well as the American Airlines Arena:

53
Leave a Reply

53 Comment threads
0 Thread replies
0 Followers
 
Most reacted comment
Hottest comment thread
21 Comment authors
newest oldest most voted
AJ

and the Oscar for cinematography and original score goes to….. anyway, these moving videos of Miami should be shot from an open top (convertible) so that we get to see the buildings and not cars on the road. Nevertheless a good quality video. I guess Lucas got a HD cam as gift for his birthday (or Christmas) and he is going berserk with it! I like it. Get us some daytime shots of Park West and Pace Park please. Moving or stationary, does not matter. Also can you go on top of say Four seasons and pan your cam around… Read more »

H2O

As you were driving past Bayside Marketplace I was reminded how they are owned by General Growth Properties (GGP) and how GGP will need to refinance $3 billion (in a miserable economy) or file for bankruptcy.

Other malls GGP owns in S. Florida:
* Village of Merrick Park, Coral Gables
* Pembroke Lakes Mall, Pembroke Pines
* Mizner Park, Boca Raton
* Kendall Town Center, Miami

Who is prepared to buy these properties in the current market if GGP tanks? If Bayside does goes dark how does that effect the neighborhood?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122875588694888349.html

H2O

By the way Lucas, you are truly a brave man to exhibit videos of Miami drivers to potential buyers. I would think that would frighten them away.

Visionary

You have to read this article in today’s Miami Herald:

Miami condo king Jorge Pérez battles to survive real estate slump

BY MATTHEW HAGGMAN
[email protected]

AJ, You’re partially right. I’ve actually had a nice HDV camcorder for at least a year and a half. However, I rarely used it because it’s so impractical to carry around with me everywhere I go. This past week I purchased an HD Mino. It’s slightly smaller than an iPod and easily fits into my pocket. It amazes me that something so small can output video with relatively good quality and also be so affordable (slightly over $200). You also have to keep in mind that the videos above were shot at night. Daytime videos with a lot of light… Read more »

Visionary,

That was a great article!

Muir

ditto on article

jcrimes

turns out my source from related was spot on. the way the story was told to me was that perez put the bank reps in a room and said take it back now or let me work it out. considering the banks’ options in this market, i’d go with perez. 2 billion in debt…the monthly carry on that has to be at least $15m. huge layout for a company that isn’t generating big sums of cash from closings. an aside, it’s amazing how mediocre the herald is. it took them over a month to report this story. i heard about… Read more »

Liked the video — and the music. Car trips are my thing.

Un-Related

jcrimes,

That is the way I heard it (the hotel conference) as well.

You asked: “an aside, it’s amazing how mediocre the herald is. it took them over a month to report this story. i heard about this over two weeks ago; other (non-related) folks knew about it the day it happened.”

Let me take a stab at it: The Herald is addicted to Related’s advertising dollars, even though they have scaled back, and Big Gorge’s rumblings about buying the paper for the land.

Wild Bill

City of Miami has agreed to let strapped Bayside Marketplace pay only half of unpaid rent.

Pathetic.

AJ

I needed a HD cam for my biz and been wondering for long what I should buy. This settles it. I needed a good small cam for low light/night conditions and in an environment in constant motion. Looks like HD Mino fits the bill perfectly. It’s selling for $190 now.
Lucas, thanks for inadvertently providing a solution to my problem.
Is it compatible with both Mac and Windows?

Visionary, where is the link to the article? You only gave the e-mail link to the journo.

AJ

Some guys will have their nickers twisted in a bunch on reading this. But I like it. If the bank is disorganized and careless, they should pay:

Homeowners’ rallying cry: Produce the note

gables

if you cant produce the note, you have no right to force somebody out of their home. very simple concept. if you can produce the note, have at the property any way you see fit. contracts need to be honored. but not having the note implies no contract as far as i am concerned. as you say, AJ, sloppiness should not be rewarded. does anybody have any news on Met 1? this could be a great building for working class professionals if/when prices become reasonable. great location and nice looking. it will either become an affordable gem or an overpriced… Read more »

jcrimes

AJ/Gables
bullshit. the fact you don’t have the original note is meaningless. if i’m making monthly payments on a mortgage, i’m certainly not doing it out of the goodness in my heart…thus, it’s a little disingenous gables on the back end for me to say gotcha, you don’t have a note, thus, there was never any contract between us. frankly, it’s absurd.

all this foreclosure nonsense merely delays the inevitable and makes the correction longer and harder.

Samson

ICON IS KILLING ME:

Before you walk away from your deposit, let me know – I’ll give you $25,000 for it. Seriously.

AJ

Samson, he could get 25% of the deposit back. Why would he settle for $25,000?

Lucas, I figured out Mino HD works with both XP, Vista and Mac OS. But I have a question, how did you tag those landmarks? Did you use another software or the Mino’s built in software allows you to do that? tks

Samson

AJ-

I didn’t know that. How much can he get back?

samson

Got it, thanks. Stupid of me.

AJ

jcrimes, I can produce 7 year old credit card statements or utility bills if demanded. They (Banks, utilities, credit card companies, various government departments) have always imposed the burden of proof on us, mere mortals. It has always been us, who had to go to great lengths and to the ends of the Earth to produce all kinds of silly documents just to get a refund or to prove that we already paid a bill or that we got overcharged. So why cry foul when the shoe is on the other foot? It is nice to see the other side… Read more »

jcrimes

AJ
it has nothing to do with sympathizing with the banks. rather, it’s a disingenuous argument. you don’t pay your mortgage, you lose the place. that’s the deal that was struck when the borrower got the loan he eventually couldn’t afford to repay. to complain on the back end with something silly like where’s the original note? is the equivalent of people whining about spelling on a blog. it’s a waste of time. and as i said before, just further prolongs the correction.

UnRelated

Samaon said:

“ICON IS KILLING ME:

Before you walk away from your deposit, let me know – I’ll give you $25,000 for it. Seriously”

Sorry, but either Big Gorge will give him back $61,000 (contractual 25%) or some judge at the banko court will give him back $121,000 (50% – the remaining escrow).

BMW M3

Wow, talk about lame music! In other news, an 07 line of 1800 Club is now going for $2075. Uh oh! Better get Maco!

gables

jcrimes, you may feel it disingenuous, but as a consumer you are within your rights to demand that the servicer filing a foreclosure on you truly has the right to such action. what if i send you a foreclosure notice on your house? are you going to turn it over to me without proof? these documents should be available easily within a week or two. if not, i myself would suspect fraud and would never turn over my property until i was sure of the legality. a well run bank should have absolutely no problem with this rule. i dont… Read more »

Samson

That’s what I love about this blog – it is a force for good. This morning “Icon is killing me” sounded like he was about to walk from a $200K deposit on a unit at Icon. I offered him $25,000. AJ pointed out he could get $50,000 back from Perez. Then Un-related explained how he could get more than twice that back. Yes, this blog is better than a law firm.

jcrimes

gables you’re elevating form over substance here. the people raising the note argument don’t deny that they took out a mortgage. they also don’t deny they aren’t paying it. their argument is that “how do i know you, mr rmbs trustee, are the person who should be foreclosing on this? ” short of it, why else are they bringing the action unless they are the real party in interest? we’re not talking a small lien shakedown here. this is hundreds of thousands of dollars. in those rare instances where there really is a screw up by the lender, it’s going… Read more »

AJ,

Neither. YouTube has an editing function that allows you to place notes within the video after it has been uploaded and ready to be viewed.

jcrimes

unrelated

if there’s a bankruptcy, i’m not sure why you think he’ll get half his deposit back. related will move to assume the sales contract in the bankruptcy court and force the issue. best case you’re still looking at 25% back.

also, my understanding is that there are two icon contracts. one gives you 25% back. the other gives you nothing.

UnRelated

jcrimes,

If the Icon is an a banko proceeding and you are still in a “negotiating period”, you should petition the Court as a creditor for all the money in your escrow account (50% of deposit). The Icon entity or Related couldn’t deliver and the buyer’s contract is with the Icon entity not Related’s lenders. There are some 2008 cases in Broward of Palm Beach that went this way.

Geez…Two different contracts? Well, he better hope he has the 25% return or for my banko scenario!

gables

jcrimes, underwater homeowners are in their position because they did not perform due diligence on their loan details. they were too busy signing the documents and preparing to flip the property next year at a profit. on the other side of the table, lenders also did not conduct due diligence on the loans, as they allowed individuals who could not afford the loan to follow through with the contract. they were too busy collecting fees for the loan. implicit in those fees is the job of proper documentation and paperwork filing. if they cannot find these files properly, chances are… Read more »

Samson

My offer of $25,000 for the contract still stands.

john

As attorney Kenneth Damas told me ICON Tower One is completely different from the other two towers as each tower had its own contract. I was lucky because of the amount of leverage Ken had with the tower one contract.

gables

Any news on Epic? since it is the apparent competitor to Icon, wondered whether it is having the same issues? personally, i like the look of epic better. but for the right price i am sure i would be happy in either building!

john

Has anyone heard anything on the Everglades project?

john

I looked at the Epic and it had much better views. The sales team seemed much more willing to negotiate price.

Samson

How did the common spaces measure up?

Miami Guy

The law offices of Adorno, Damas & Associates are the attorney’s I utilized to fight for my rights. Someone has to get back at these developers who are stealing our 20 percent deposits. When I asked for the 5% ask required by the contract, they basically laughed at my face. They claim the market has dropped and I was not getting nothing.

After a zealous fight I was able to achieve most of my deposit back.

UnRelated

I read Big Gorge’s Herald alibi again and the following sets up his inevitable “blame-game” strategy: ********************* “In retrospect, Pérez said he wished that he had done more to weed out speculators from buying units. He also said builders — including him — should not have started to believe that South Florida was different, casting aside traditional methods of gauging housing demand. And he said he was wrong to assume that second-home buyers would continue to stream in from the Northeast, Latin America and Europe. But Pérez insisted that if it hadn’t been for the credit crisis last fall and… Read more »

john

ICON had much better common area ammenities however most of it will be shared with the hotel guest. Who needs a football sized swimming pool? I have lived in Brickell 11 years and the best thing is having a good building with a down to earth board.

john

Has anyone heard if the Asia is closing units, or if they are reducing the price? I heard there is seller financing available.

Renter Tom

jcrimes wrote: “AJ/Gables bullshit. the fact you don’t have the original note is meaningless. if i’m making monthly payments on a mortgage, i’m certainly not doing it out of the goodness in my heart…thus, it’s a little disingenous gables on the back end for me to say gotcha, you don’t have a note, thus, there was never any contract between us. frankly, it’s absurd. all this foreclosure nonsense merely delays the inevitable and makes the correction longer and harder.” – Amen. If you think about, each month you pay your mortgage your principal is going down…don’t you get a statement… Read more »

Kramer

RT

Ho Hum. More selective outrage ala Rick Santelli for the poor homeowners who got hoodwinked. Yet not a peep from you about Citimank and Bank of America and AiG and General Motors asking for and getting billions more from the taxpayer just this last week. Tea party my ass. Ho Hum!

Renter Tom

Oh Kramer, I’m just trying to stay focused on real estate here. We are on a slippery slope and economics is about behavior at the margin. What I see is more incentives for individuals to make bad choices that could greatly exacerbate the economic problems. While I will withhold comments on the many economic issues, I will say that if a million households decided to game the system, an economic depression would be a high probability. And yes, I am very much against the trillion dollar deficits which will place a serious debt burden on the US….the credit bubble shell… Read more »

Kramer

Dont beg off by saying your trying to stay focused on real estate when you know its all related – one to the other. You cant discuss whats going to happen to Miami Condos without a discussion about the economy in general.

isellpower

I’ll bet the dirt bag in ther article who told the bank to produce her original mortgage paperwork isn’t paying a dime per month. They cry like babies, yet they are the one’s running a scam. Why doesn’t she pay even a few hundred a month? Where in the U.S. can you live for $0 per month?

jcrimes

Kramer
hate on santelli all you want but the guy knows his stuff more than any yutz in obama’s administration…he KILLED as a trader and his analysis of the current problems is dead on albeit, roughly presented. people just don’t want to hear it.

Kramer

jcrimes I was also a CBOT trader at one time early in my career and know first hand that these guys are far from squeaky clean, so for Santelli to characterize all people who are having trouble with their mortgages as “LOSERS”, just pisses me off. Your not a loser if you have medical bills due to an illness from cancer or the like that wipes out your savings. Your not a “LOSER” if you lose your job that was outsourced. My point was that RT and the Santelli’s of the world are so selective in their outrage. RT (“Ill… Read more »

AJ

Lucas, Thanks. That helps. Never posted on U-tube before. I will have to start using it soon. re note: A note is the heart of a contract between two parties. No note, then the burden of proof will lie on the person claiming ownership. Period. Live with it. For all the outrage some of you are expressing, I am absolutely sure, a large majority of judges will agree with me, including conservative judges. This is a simple rule of law and you pray that it exists because it is a double edged sword. Tomorrow, someone can break into your house… Read more »

The Ace

The Oscar for Best Buyer goes to…………..

The Smart Money

gables

jcrimes and rt, you must recognize this is nothing more than a game being played by both parties. one side does not want to own up to their debt, and the other side is disparately looking for a way out of their soon to be acquired debt burden. our society and laws have evolved to this point-like it or not. in fact, it is the big corps who are most to blame for this strict attitude towards the law, because most of the laws were written to their benefit. but a foreclosure, bankruptcy, etc is LEGAL, and a due process… Read more »

For Real Estate
Related Needs And Inquiries

please complete the form below

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.