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The Ivy – A Photo Tour

August 10, 2008 by Lucas Lechuga

The Ivy Miami


A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit The Ivy for the first time.  The Ivy is located on the Miami River just west of Downtown Miami in the only riverfront gated community.  I was given a tour of the amenities and a two bedroom condo.  As always, I brought my digital camera with me to shoot pictures to share with my readers. You'll notice in the pictures below a heavy use of the colors white and green throughout the common areas at The Ivy.


Below, you will find a shot of the lobby at The Ivy:

The Ivy lobby

The arcade room with ping pong and air hockey tables:

The Ivy arcade room

The billiards room at The Ivy:

The Ivy billiards room

The entrance to the women's spa at The Ivy:

The Ivy spa

A shot of the shower, sauna and steam room at The Ivy:

The Ivy sauna

A seating area off the spa:

The Ivy seating area

The state-of-the-art fitness center at The Ivy:

The Ivy fitness center

An aerial shot of the lap and resort-style pool as well as the hot tub at The Ivy:

The Ivy swimming pool

The grass-covered volleyball court:

The Ivy volleyball court

The barbecue area at The Ivy:

The Ivy barbecue area

The residents of the condominium buildings located within the gated riverfront communities such as The Ivy, Mint, Wind and Cima will be able to share the planned soccer field and tennis courts.  The shot below, located just north of The Ivy, is of the site where that will reside:

The Ivy at Riverfront soccer and tennis courts

The clubroom at The Ivy:

The Ivy clubroom

Another shot of the clubroom:

The Ivy clubroom

The condos at The Ivy come "decorator-ready".  Below is a shot of the kitchen which comes with stainless steel appliances.  The wrapping had still not been uncovered on the refrigerator, oven and dishwasher in this unit.

The Ivy kitchen

My favorite part of the condos at The Ivy is the glass shower wall with a view to the bedroom:

The Ivy shower

Another shot of the shower.  You also have a view out the balcony door from the shower as well.

The Ivy shower

The Ivy offers fabulous views of the Miami skyline.  Below is the type of view that you can expect from the units facing south:

The Ivy skyline view

Full-size washer and dryer:

The Ivy washer dryer

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Click Broker

Some posts related to bulk buying of bank REO by hedge funds and sovereign wealth funds, along with surprising Section 8 rentals:

The Mortgage Crisis brings Unforeseen Neighbors

Big Time Buying in Foreclosed Single Family Homes

Raffi

everything looks so cheap, not impressed at all. the view south is nice though.

AJ

I agree. Looks like an old retirement home on the Miami Beach. Like the bathroom though.

“The residents of the condominium buildings located within the gated riverfront communities such as The Ivy, Mint, Wind and Cima will be able to share the planned soccer field and tennis courts. ” How many units total is this whole gated development? Is the Ivy the first to start closings? FWIW, link to a map of the physical address. Click “Aerial” on the map and zoom in to get an idea of the location. http://maps.live.com/?q=92+SW+3rd+St+Miami%2c+FL+33130&mkt=en-US&FORM=BYRE 92 SW 3rd St Miami, FL 33130 Unfortunately, it looks like it’s North of the River. South of the River would have put you 3… Read more »

What are the units going for? And couldnt you just use the Metromover to get to Brickell?

AZ88

Building actually looks nice….Lucas, what is your OVERALL impression? Good, bad, fair, high-end? cheap?
My thoughts are
1) location…not so good…as mentioned, long hike over bridge to anything worthwhile…metromover stops nearby though…
2)views….very impressive, BUT, Cima (when built) will eventually destroy most south facing
views
3)prices…what are they? will hold value or drop like a rock?
4)amenities…don’t look bad…like the pool tables and air hockey

Interested

Lucas, why do you have all those pics of amenities and then only 4 pictures of the actual units. Most people will be spending 95% of their lives IN the unit. I will be PAYING for the actual unit. More pics of the unit (inside the Unit) if you want to make a sale to me. Have I mentioned that the pictures should be inside the unit?

probably too cynical

yet another miami condo designed more to look nice in a glossy brochure than to be a practical, functional living unit. so I guess I won’t be letting guests (well, the ugly ones) use my shower. in a glossy brochure: 100 points. in practical, real world: 0. (not to mention shower greatly limiting pool to which unit could later be sold. Other than that, a great idea.) pretty appliances, but where would one actually do the meal prep? in those 16 inches of countertop next to the sink? location is awful. Putrid miami river directly to the south, i-95 off-ramp… Read more »

Richard

The loft (1030) at Met 1 for $229 seems like good value–location is better than Ivy

Interested

I completely agree “probably too cynical”. I stayed in a hotel in the Carribean with that see through restroom crap. It was disgusting. Who wants to look at the sillouette of someone taking a dump? That exact washing and drier is in my cheap $1000/month apartment. My landlord is known to cut corners. so I am certain that these are the cheapest available washer/drier combo on the planet.

Interested

washer*

AJ

Lucas,
Why didn’t you rank the miami river condos on your condo ranking page? If you sell them, you must rank them. I guess as per your ranking system criteria, all those buildings should rank between 4 to 5.5. What say.

Bubba

the nicest area is the Roads section – its has a nice feel to it – it has some nice condos and many single family houses. very central location close to Brickell, Miami Beach, Key Biscayne, coconut Grove.

Wild Billhttp://www.miamicondoinvestments.com/2008/08/10/the-ivy-a-photo-tour/#comments

That washing machine is on sale at Best Buy for $351.49. Model # WBSR3140GWW.

That looks like a propane grill under one of the green covers on the roof deck. I’m sure that’s not allowed, but a least they put it next to the fire alarm box. They probably store extra propane in the electrical room.

probably too cynical

JL, one building next to Ivy has started closings, “wind,” I believe. Closing rate appears to be somewhere between abysmal and cataclysmic. (same developer that “allegedly” grossly overpaid recently on four units in one of their other developments “purportedly” to boost sales comps, but I can’t prove any of this. mere heresay from previous pages in this blog.)

jcrimes

i dunno…air hockey makes this project pretty damn cool (no joke).

what it comes down to is what makes this project any different than all the other stuff that’s coming online. no joke…aside from the colors of the lobby and some cosmetic differences, how are any of these buildings different? lucas…i know you have a condo rankings page, but really, with these buildings, it’s like comparing the left side of the street to the right side.

as for the shower…itwould really force you to think hard about who you settled down with. maybe that’s not such a bad thing.

I kind of like the large open vibe of all the common spaces, it is different. Obviously land is cheap where they built.

White is cool until it gets dirty so it could look crappy pretty fast if it turns into a rental haven. A soccer field would be pretty funny… but I’d take a developer’s intent to deliver with a grain of salt… actually make it a few pounds.

Interested

Jcrimes, what if you have friends over and they use the toilet or the shower?

Interested

Wow, I was right about the washer and drier being cheap. At least they bought American. hehehe.

jcrimes

Interested
i have a penchant for scatological humor so frankly, the toilet “vue” would be a source for comedic relief in my household.

Interested

I wonder how fast they will shut off “The Ivy” waterfall to conserve on the HOA.

seanjohn

In a short sale when the underlying mortgage has been securitized who exactly takes the hit when it goes through?

jcrimes

seanjohn
depends on where you are in the trust. your typical rmbs deal has several tranches. lower tranched positions get greater returns but in exchange, move up the ladder in terms of losses. for example, the lowest tranche would have the greatest return but would also be sitting in pole position with respect to first losses. if this tranche goes out of the money, you move up the ladder to the next tranche…and repeat the process.

900 Biscayne

I think they had a bulk sale for half that amount. Maybe you can sue em?

leaner

I have been looking daily at the miamidade.gov website, where you can browse recorded sales. There is nothing past June. Does anyone know what is the typical delay between a sale and it showing up in the site?

probably too cynical

the more I think about it, the more I hate the shower window-thingy. great marketing ploy: every guy imagines a hot chic soaping herself in the shower while he watches from bed. but think about it: if she gets up in the middle of the night and turns on the bathroom light, the bedroom will flood with bright light. what every one needs at 3am. and whenever the bathroom light is on and bedroom has low light, person in bedroom will see EVERYTHING– yeah, that should kill the romance pretty quickly. “uhh, honey. could you run the water next time… Read more »

Interested

Guys, have you seen the even newer and more modern bathroom concept? Studio bathroom. No rooms whatsoever. The bathroom area of the studio is right next to the kitchen. It’s the hot thing in Europe now.

bc

bathrooms kinda remind me of Ten Museum Park.

Looks great in concept, maybe for a vacation hotel someplace, but horrible for every day use. They have no privacy and its like your bed is sitting inside the bathroom.

AJ

I have seen open bathroom concepts before and it is not practical. There should be one place in the whole wide world, where you can go in, shut the door and be able to shut off from the outside world. For those few minutes, it becomes your own sacred sanctum sanctorum. There are a few things, even your own wife/husband/boyfriend/girlfriend should not be privy of.

Juan

I love this building… The final finishes in the building are a lot more detailed than your other buildings in Brickell. The developers did not take any short cuts and delivered a good product. Prices are great, and they make it well worth it to live here.

Kitchen Workable

The Kitchen cooking area is very large and workable if you can serve and eat off the floor.

gables

Anybody know the price range on units in this building? I would rate it as average or above. Nice new building makes it attractive, but in the longer term does not offer anything to make it stand out beyond a nice place to live if HOA/management maintain the property well. At the end of the day, building suffers the same issue most other new “luxury” buildings suffer-they are not truly “luxury”. Nice pool, parking (even if valet) and a few common areas are not luxury-they are expected. In most other cities, many people can rent or buy apartments, including nice… Read more »

shwin

“Guys, have you seen the even newer and more modern bathroom concept? Studio bathroom. No rooms whatsoever. The bathroom area of the studio is right next to the kitchen. It’s the hot thing in Europe now.”

Interested:

My apologies but I cannot allow you to credit the Europeans with the “newer and more modern studio bathroom concept” when it has been employed in rural areas of southeast asia for centuries.

Un-Related

shwin said: “My apologies but I cannot allow you to credit the Europeans with the “newer and more modern studio bathroom concept” when it has been employed in rural areas of southeast asia for centuries.”

You left the door open for this: It has also been employed for years by the bums on Biscayne between Marina Blue and Quantum!

jcrimes

wait a second, isn’t this building right next to the fpl station? uhh, i don’t think i saw that in the shiny brochure.

speaking of which…when latitude went up, was it ever revealed that 2/3’s of the southside of the building would be looking into an office building next door? one of the funnier things to see down here (although i’m sure the affected folks aren’t seeing it the same way).

probably too cynical

jcrimes, that office building with latitude no doubt pleases much of NeoVertika, as well, due to the large number of units there whose views are blocked by it as well. adding insult is the fact that that office building appears to be nearly empty. most lights are left on at night, but if you’re looking at it from anywhere but ground level you can see most floors are empty. (seriously, what company in their right mind would put their offices there. Unless, of course, the executive offices have glass walls looking into showers. hey, might be on to something here…..)

Interested

What use are the views from the shower that lucas mentions if there will be office workers watching you bathe? I predict in 20 years those glass walls will be real ones.

Imagine if a high-rise goes up next to the Ivy looking in at some of the units. You could be watching TV at night, look over at the IVY and see everybody showering.

That’s pretty cool.

“Honey, can you close the living room blinds… I’m getting ready to take a shower”

Drew

this blog is becoming pretty funny: lucas raves about and posts a bunch of pics of a new project and then the commentators spend the next 2 days ripping/mocking/criticizing said building. the developers’ initial joy for free publicity quickly turns to dread….

lucas the realtor is dooming projects (unintentionally, of course)

movin' out

“imagine a high-rise goes up right next to Ivy looking in…”

One is called Wind and the other Mint.

probably too cynical

Drew,

whatever government authority allowed so many condo towers to go up unchecked have done far more to doom projects than a bunch of wiseasses on some web site ever could.

Hasn’t anybody noticed that the body two-thirds of the glass is not see-through? You wouldn’t be able to see anything from the bedroom, much less from a building across the street.

AJ

Yeah, the frosted glass is a bummer. It should be a clear see-through all the way. Just topless view is not fun enough.

AJ

You can see the contours though!

whistlin' willie

so from your bed you’ll see just a sillouette of the girl sitting on your toilet inserting her diaphram?

Mark To Market

LOL!!!! Or just the silhouette of you gf taking a dump. Oh Lucas, since you put it that way, it isn’t stupid at all!

Probably too cynical

okay, we’re getting out of hand here.

Lucas, you have a GREAT blog that provides a valuable service. we’ve had a little fun with it today and gotten carried away, but we do appreciate you and what you do enormously. 😉

OK, I was having a little fun with this topic too. All it takes is to hang a shower rod inside of the glass then problem solved. You can show off or shower in private.

It’s Miami so you can close it for your wife but open it up when your mistress stops by… LOL

perez

Drew wrote, “whatever government authority allowed so many condo towers to go up unchecked have done far more to doom projects than a bunch of wiseasses on some web site ever could.”

What’s up with blaming local government for the oversupply of condos. We don’t have soviet style central planning here, we do have markets which allow developers to take risks.

Centrally located highrises are good. Urban sprawl is bad. I’d be much more concerned about the approval of some gated single family community near the everglades.

Hugo P

Lucas, maybe what you should do is create a general section of the page where people can write whatever they think about any topic, since this is what the recent posts have become. When I started reading this blog a while ago, most of the comments were serious with lots of great information about the market, the buildingsm, etc for readers. Recently, it has become a place for people to discuss anything they feel about any topic. Like “Probably too cynical” said, you have a great blog here and having to read 30 comments of people concerned with the glass… Read more »

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