Apology to Tibor Hollo, Florida East Coast Realty and Opera Tower
Please accept this statement as a public apology to Mr. Tibor Hollo, Opera Tower and Florida East Coast Realty (FECR). I acknowledge that a blog post that I wrote on November 25, 2007 contained inaccurate statements and misrepresented facts involving you, your firm and your projects.
The blog post dated November 25, 2007 telling my readers that Mr. Hollo went bankrupt in the 1980s was completely untrue. As I have come to learn, neither Mr. Hollo, nor any of his companies has ever declared bankruptcy. Additionally, the prediction I made regarding contract closings at Opera Tower was unfounded, and I’ve been proven wrong.
Any blog entries were not reflective of the opinions of my former employer, EWM Realtors, nor did the firm endorse my statements pertaining to Miami real estate.
To my readers, I wish to publicly acknowledge Mr. Hollo’s contribution to Miami’s skyline and FECR’s standing in the community. I wish Mr. Hollo and Opera Tower continued success in the future.
New Miami Condos – Closing Rates for December 2008
It’s been almost three months since my last Miami condo closing rate update. The last one was published on September 22, 2008. Unfortunately, there has not been a lot of progress in closings for most of the condo developments below since that time.
Below, you will find the date that each condo development began closings followed by the number of closed units in each condo development:
Latitude on the River had three new closings since the last update, Onyx on the Bay had three new closed condos and 50 Biscayne had two. Ten Museum Park and Loft Downtown 2 were both unchanged since the last update.
Quantum on the Bay and Plaza on Brickell each had an impressive number of closings, since the last update, considering how long ago closings began. Quantum on the Bay had 28 new condo closings while Plaza on Brickell was able to close 46.
On Friday, the Miami Herald reported that the developer of 1060 Brickell is looking to sell around 60 percent of its condos in bulk. Closings at 1060 Brickell recently reached the 40 percent mark meaning that this represents the developer’s remaining inventory.
900 Biscayne Bay and Ivy have now each reached the 40 percent mark. I’m actually quite surprised that not one of the condo developments in this last group has been able to hit the 50 percent mark. Enough time has certainly gone by. To rev up sales, 500 Brickell recently held a 4-day promotion offering a free Mini Cooper with any condo purchase from the developer’s inventory.
The next update will include Icon Brickell, Everglades on the Bay (now known as Vizcayne) and Infinity at Brickell which recently began closings.
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.
Top 5 Miami Distressed Condo Sales Closed in November 2008
I found a total of 17 distressed condo sales that closed in the month of November in the MLS located in Brickell, Brickell Key, Downtown Miami and the Arts District. The following are, in my opinion, the five best deals that took place along with one worth mentioning.
- Vue at Brickell – unit 1413 – 1 bedroom/1 bath (737 square feet) – This unit sold for $90,000, or $122 per square foot, on November 18, 2008. Foreclosure
- Brickell on the River North – unit 2703 – 1 bedroom/1 bath (775 square feet) – This unit sold for $172,750, or $223 per square foot, on November 19, 2008. Foreclosure
- Brickell on the River – unit 3714 – 2 bedroom/2 bath (1,058 square feet) – This unit sold for $255,000, or $241 per square foot, on November 10, 2008. Foreclosure
- Skyline on Brickell – unit 1107 – 2 bedroom/2 bath (1,367 square feet) – This unit sold for $349,000, or $255 per square foot, on November 17, 2008. Foreclosure
- The Club at Brickell Bay – unit 3524 – 3 bedroom/2 bath (1,232 square feet) – This unit sold for $249,000, or $202 per square foot, on November 4, 2008. Foreclosure
Runner-up: Blue Condo – unit 2504 – 2 bedroom/2.5 bath (1,158 square feet) – This unit sold for $305,000, or $263 per square foot, on November 25, 2008. Foreclosure
Another Look at Corus Bank
This has been a post that has been on my mind for over two weeks.
Before reading any further, please read the post I published on September 10, 2007 entitled, “Corus Bank – One of the Many Publicly Owned Real Estate-Related Companies to See Trouble Ahead“. There are two things that amaze me most about that post. One, the growth in the number of comments left by visitors astonishes me. That was one of the most informative posts that I’ve ever written yet it only received 6 comments. Now, I write about a CVS opening at the base of Everglades on the Bay and there’s over 130 comments. I guess, as they say “If you build it, they will come”. Two, I’m amazed by just how dead on target my words turned out to be.
As the post mentions, Corus Bank had, and still has, significant exposure in the Miami condo market. The day that the September 2007 post was published, Corus Bank’s stock price closed at $12.50. Currently, the stock price is hovering around the $1 mark and has dipped as low as 82 cents per share recently. A few weeks ago, Corus Bank announced that they would be deferring interest payments on their debt and had also applied for funds under the U.S. Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).
Corus Bank was successful in having its construction loan for Quantum on the Bay and Marina Blue paid in full in 2008. I believe they also had equal success with Continuum North Tower. How will Corus Bank fare in future months, however, with the condo developments that either recently began closings or have yet to begin? The following are some of the condo developments in South Florida in which Corus Bank still has an outstanding construction loan along with the original loan amount:
- Artecity – $60,300,000
- Caribbean Miami Beach – $124,700,000
- Infinity at Brickell – $140,300,000
- Ivy at Riverfront – $130,400,000
- Jade Ocean – $288,115,000
- Mint at Riverfront – $191,800,000
- Onyx on the Bay – $44,100,000
- Paramount Bay – $216,000,000
Of the condo developments listed above, Onyx on the Bay is the only one in which Corus Bank has recovered most of its loan amount judging by the closing figures I published in September 2008. They may be very close to being paid in full on it, if they they haven’t been already.
Closings for condos at Jade Ocean, Paramount Bay and Mint at Riverfront have yet to begin. I’ve heard that closings for condos at Infinity at Brickell began a few weeks ago. These four condo developments alone represent slightly over $800M in outstanding loans. All four condo developments were priced relatively late in the game and could prove to be disastrous for an already troubled Corus Bank.
On top of this, it was announced a little over a week ago that the developer of Tao, a 396-unit condo development in Sunrise, Florida, handed the property over to Corus Bank with work unfinished and closings yet to begin. The construction loan extended by Corus Bank to the developer of Tao was in the amount of $126,250,000. Additionally, Corus Bank purchased the mezzanine loan on Tao in the amount of $32.3M, which included principal plus outstanding interest.
It appears that Corus Bank could be wobbling on its last leg. If it were to go bankrupt, the Miami condo market could see a number of bulk sales occur in 2009. Even if it were to be granted federal funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, how long could that money delay the inevitable?
