Rockne Kreb’s Miami Line Light Sculpture is Partially Re-lit

Miami Line Lighting Phase I. Photo by Lucas Lechuga.

The Miami Line, a rainbow neon strip running along the Metrorail’s Miami River bridge which was for years an iconic part of the Miami nighttime skyline, has been partially re-lit in LED lights, after going dark a few years ago. Light artist Rockne Krebs created it when the Metrorail first opened in 1984, and it proved so popular that over the years The Miami Line has appeared in everything from Miami Vice to postcards of Miami, says the Miami New Times, which recently explored the history of the piece. Due to the delicacy of the neon tube medium, and the frequency and difficulty of repairs the pieced needed over the years, in 2013 the county’s Art in Public Places program said they would convert it to much more durable LED. Although completion was slated by 2014, it didn’t happen until 2016, and about 1,390 feet of the sculpture remains in the dark. According to Troy Taylor, VP of the Riverfront Master Association, the rest is hopefully coming in two future phases that have yet to be budgeted. As of now, however, the line goes halfway across the Miami River, then basically stops.

Check Out the Plans for Starchitect Jean Nouvel’s Monad Terrace

Starchitect Jean Nouvel’s design for a boutique condominium tower at South Beach’s Monad Terrace won big applause at the last meeting of the Miami Beach Design Review Board, with the Miami Herald reporting, at the end of a lengthy and powerful review: “The Monad Terrace proposal was enthusiastically approved by Miami Beach’s Design Review Board last week. The DRB cited it as a model for future waterfront development. One board member expressed interest in living there when it was completed. Sales are due to begin this fall.”

The plans, elevations, sections, and most of the renderings below are from Monad Terrace developer JDS Development Group’s submittal to the City of Miami Beach. The design itself is a pair of buildings centered around a watery courtyard, with lagoon and pool, and sightlines straight from West Avenue to Biscayne Bay. More than almost anything else in Miami or Miami Beach, Nouvel’s design psychologically embraces South Florida’s submerged, aquatic future, taking it as a point of inspiration and adapting to it. One 14 story building, and one of only 7, hold 54 condo units in all. A transparent lobby looks out to the courtyard and eventually to the bay, enclosed in a cone of metallic, glassy shields that splay out as one progresses west, and creating was Nouvel calls a ‘reflection machine.’ Certainly, as the sun sets across Biscayne Bay, one can only imagine glowing red skies amplified to the street beyond.

Frost Museum of Science Construction Appears to be Going Very, Very Slowly

Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science Construction, May 17th. Photo by Lucas Lechuga.

Seen from across the street, construction at the Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science appears to have hardly progressed in weeks. In fact, if we remember correctly, that chunk of yellow wall paneling on the main facade (or insulation?) was the exact same shape a month ago. So, what happened? On April 5th, county commissioners approved a $49 million bailout for the nearly-bankrupt museum, following a bridge loan given by the Frost family to continue construction. Since then, on May 11th the Frost published an ‘OnSite’ construction update video exploring the features of the planetarium but not actually unveiling any new construction. It’s been over a month now since the big bailout, so what’s happening at the Frost Museum of Science?

An Inside Look at the 21,000+ Square Foot Lanai Unit at Palazzo Del Sol

Last week, I got the opportunity to tour three massive condos at Palazzo Del Sol: Lanai West, a 5 Bed, 5.5 Bath unit with 21,524 total square feet; Residence 7085, a 5 Bed, 5.5 Bath unit with 10,543 total square feet; and Penthouse 1, a 4 Bed, 4.5 Bath, bi-level unit with 11,815 total square feet.

Today, I will share with you the photos that I took last week of Lanai West. As mentioned above, the residence has an amazing 21,524 total square feet, of which 12,844 square is outdoor lanai space! The property is truly remarkable, a massive estate with the conveniences and services of a 5-star hotel.

The ginormous Fisher Island residence also features 11.5-foot high ceilings; a private zero-edge, outdoor pool by Bradford; Lualdi doors; kitchen and master bath by Boffi; and first-in-class kitchen appliances and fixtures by Sub-Zero, Gaggenau, Dornbracht, and Duravit. Included in the offering price is a private air-conditioned garage, air-conditioned storage, and customized golf cart. All can be yours for $20,194,950. Dream Big, Live Big!

Midtown Construction Update: Walmart’s a’ Comin’

Hyde Midtown. All photos by Lucas Lechuga.

Construction at Midtown Miami is heating up, with one tower already topped off, another looking close, and a third well off the ground. Midtown 36, a residential tower with a considerable amount of ground floor retail and gallery space has topped off, while Midtown 5, which is planned to be a rental apartment tower (and thus not much info has been released) looks like it’s nearing or at top off. Finally, fresh off of having sold the hotel portion of Hyde Midtown, construction is zipping along. We thought we saw a recent announcement about the sales center closing in 90 days, but a search came up empty, so that may or may not be happening. Oh well. And then of course there’s the Midtown Walmart, a source of so much drama. Having broken ground back in January, after five months it’s still not looking like much.

La Petite Maison Construction Signage Goes Up at BrickellHouse, Way Behind Schedule

La Petite Maison Construction Signage. Photo by Lucas Lechuga.

Last April Arjun Waney, the co-owner of crazy popular Zuma and Coya, announced that he was bringing another restaurant, La Petite Maison, to the ground floor space at BrickellHouse that, if we remember correctly, was originally going to be a Meat Market. The very, very successful restaurateur already has outposts of the French Provençal place in London, Dubai, and Istanbul. And it would open in Brickell by the end of the year. Now that April has rolled past, again, and we’re in the middle of May, construction fencing/signage has gone up and it looks like they have finally begun to move in.

Quantum on the Bay Celebrates Settlement with Terra Group for Faulty Construction, Throws a Party

Quantum on the Bay

According to a notice posted in their elevator, the Margaret Pace Park-fronting condominium tower Quantum on the Bay has reached a settlement with developer Terra Group over faulty construction, and to celebrate is throwing a party. Meanwhile, 900 Biscayne Bay, also built by Terra, has entered into similar litigation against the developer, and is still working their way through that. Both buildings were completed in 2008, as the Great Recession was setting in and the last real estate boom was crashing hard.

According to a nice chap in the management office at Quantum who identified himself as ‘David,’ the litigation was in regards to faulty construction on the building’s facade. When asked “So, what about the facade David? Balconies, windows?” David’s reply was “both of those.” Well, that’s scary. Anywho David wasn’t willing to spill the size of the elevator sign settlement, but it could be quite large considering the building is throwing a party for all of its residents, this Friday at 6:30 pm, with a champagne toast, to celebrate (open to building residents and any broker who RSVPs, which means it’s totally crashable). That’s developer money.

Quantum on the Bay Party

Closings at Brickell City Centre Reach Tower: How are They Faring and What Percentage are Hitting the Market For Rent?

According to public records, closings for condos in the Reach tower at Brickell City Centre began on April 11, 2016. Since then, as of this past Friday, 82 of its 390 total units (21 percent) have been recorded as closed. The 82 closed units amount to $64M in closed sales, averaging $619 per square foot, and ranging from $532 to $674 per square foot. Of greater significance, to many at least, is not the percentage of units that have closed, but, rather, the percentage of closed units that are being converted to rentals. In other words, what percentage of the units at Brickell City Centre were purchased by investors versus end-users? That’s a question that has crossed my mind a number of times in recent months, so I decided to do some investigative research. According to the MLS, 28 of the 82 recorded closed units (34 percent) have already been listed for rent (25 units available for rent + 3 units pending). If that percentage ends up holding true across both towers at Brickell City Centre (Reach and Rise), that will mean that roughly 265 units will end up hitting the market for rent soon after closing. However, it should be noted that Swire (the developer) appears to be closing lower floor units first. Of the 82 closed units, the majority of them are located below the 20th floor; the highest floor that a closed unit is located is the 30th. The Reach tower at Brickell City Centre is 43 stories high, as is the Rise tower. In my experience, investors tend to snatch up the lower floor units because they tend to bring the highest rate of return from an investment standpoint. As such, if we were to divide the tower in half, I would expect the bottom half to have more units owned by investors than the top half. With that being said, I do not expect the 34 percent rental-to-closing rate to hold true as closings continue. If I were to venture a guess, I would say that the rental-to-closing rate across both towers will end up being closer to 28 percent once everything is said and done. But we shall see, because I plan to report each month an update on closings, not only for Brickell City Reach and Rise, but for all recently completed condo developments. Back in 2007, 2008, and 2009 (during the last condo boom), I reported closings rates a lot. Consider this a reboot.

Jean Nouvel’s Monad Terrace Will be a Beautiful ‘Reflection Machine’ of Miami’s Watery Future

Rendering of Monad Terrace by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel.

There’s a certain incredible seductiveness to a sunken Miami, a combination Venice and Atlantis bobbing away in the ocean, out beyond the Florida coastline of the future. “The image is post-apocalyptical, foreshadowing an uncertain future yet, somehow, utopian and hopeful. It appears to be the end of the day, the end of a season, the end of an era, with the sun setting wildly over the skyline of downtown Miami.” says renowned architecture critic and Miamian Alastair Gordon of Jean Nouvel’s design for the luxurious boutique Monad Terrace condominium being developed by JDS Development in Miami Beach that both interprets and sharpens that vision.

It’s a future that almost unites with the past: “The architect appears to be seeking a kind of unity of purpose and compromise between future and past, an imaginary realm of wild sunsets, mating manatees and tangled mangrove roots before the coming of Flagler, Fisher or the Kardashians. A 70,720-square-foot slice of Eden, rebooted.”

The design was enthusiastically approved by Miami Beach’s Design Review Board last week. They say Miami is drowning and doomed, but after reading Gordon’s review in the Miami Herald you might not think so anymore. Perhaps Miami is just changing yet again, and maybe even for the better.