New Miami Condos – Closing Rates for September 2008

It’s been a little over two months since my last condo closing rate update.  The last one was published on July 8, 2008.

Below, you will find the date that each condo development began closings followed by the number of closed units in each condo development:

• Ten Museum Park – June 14, 2007 – (165)
• Latitude on the River – July 27, 2007 – (371)
• Onyx on the Bay – July 31, 2007 – (69)
• Loft Downtown 2 – September 26, 2007 – (444)
• 50 Biscayne – October 1, 2007 – (526)

You’ll notice with this first batch that I dropped Star Lofts from the list.  I noticed a lot of double entries which made it difficult to gauge the true number of closed condos.  Additionally, Star Lofts on the Bay hasn’t shown much progress in a very long time.  Ten Museum Park closed 11 units since the last update while 50 Biscayne’s vast improvement reflects the bulk sale that took place.  The rest of the condo developments showed very little progress.

• 1800 Club – November 27, 2007 – (322)
• Brickell on the River South – December 17, 2007 – (165)
• Opera Tower – December 28, 2007 – (220)
• Quantum on the Bay – January 3, 2008 – (524)
• Plaza on Brickell – January 7, 2008 – (660)
• Apogee South Beach – January 16, 2008 – (65)

Plaza on Brickell once again showed the most improvement within this group.  Its closing rate jumped about 14 points since the July update revealing a total of 660 closed condos of the overall 1,000 in the two towers.  Apogee South Beach once again inched closer to hitting the 100 percent mark, with only 2 additional condos to close before reaching it.  Quantum on the Bay moves into second place in this group and has now closed around 75 percent of its condos.

• 1060 Brickell – January 23, 2008 – (210)
• Midtown 4 – February 15, 2008 – (338)
• Marina Blue – February 27, 2008 – (359)
• Wind – February 28, 2008 – (193)
• Asia Brickell Key – April 4, 2008 – (60)

The big story in this group is Midtown 4.  It jumped from a 19.10 percent closing rate to an 84.92 percent closing rate.  A large bulk sale of over 250 condos seems to have taken place to a buyer with a second party name of “D M MIDTOWN MIA OWNER LLC”.  The same buyer also closed on slightly over 50 condos at Midtown 2 on the same day.  Was this simply the developer transferring units to one of its other entities or was this an outside buyer with no association to the developer?  Marina Blue jumped about 10 points, settling at around 70 percent of its condos closed.  Wind and Asia showed nice improvements this update with Wind increasing around 17 points and Asia about 18 points.

• Met 1 – April 30, 2008 – (131)
• 900 Biscayne Bay – May 5, 2008 – (157)
• 500 Brickell – May 14, 2008 – (149)
• Axis – May 19, 2008 – (143)
• Ivy – June 12, 2008 – (150)

These last four condo developments all showed good progress since the July update.  The biggest surprise to me was Ivy which closed 125 new condos since that time.  I would have guessed that 500 Brickell and Axis would each have more closed sales than Ivy.

Disclaimer: The above closing rate information was derived from public County records. There can be a 2-3 week delay from the time that a closing occurs and the time that the closing is recorded.

Miami World Center

I’ve been on vacation for the past week but I have kept up with the comments that have been left about the Arts District and Park West.  While both sides of the argument have valid points, I tend to side with AJ more than the others.  I don’t consider the Arts District or Park West dangerous.  It may have some shady characters at night but which neighborhood in a large city doesn’t?  When I lived in Chicago, I lived in a neighborhood called the Gold Coast for a few years.  It was, and still is, one of the best neighborhoods in Chicago.  A mile away, however, was the housing project called Cabrini Green which had the reputation for being one of the worst neighborhoods in the NATION!

Cabrini Green has since been relocated to another area.  My point is that large cities take time to transition.  Park West and the Arts District of Miami are in their early stages of transitioning.  There are several proposed city improvements for these two neighborhoods that will transform them.  One of these proposed improvements is the Miami World Center.  Take a look at their website to view various renderings of what the area behind 900 Biscayne Bay, Ten Museum Park and Marina Blue will look like once this plan is implemented.  Again, it will take some time, however.  The Miami World Center plan will probably not become a realization for another 5-7 years but when it does it will provide the infrastructure that is much needed in that area.  My bet is that Edgewater and Park West will be among the best neighborhoods to live in about 10 years.

Update: The Mall at Miami Worldcenter is scheduled to break ground by the end of 2014.  Reservations for condos at Paramount Miami Worldcenter will start on November 18, 2014.