‘Cocaine Cowboy’ Mickey Munday is Building Parks on Neglected Land in Miami
Screenshot from local 10 News, with LOVE sculpture and artist Maurizio Raponi.he
Mickey Munday, one of the biggest drug traffickers of Miami’s legendary ‘Cocaine Cowboy’ era has set out to change Miami again, but this time in a completely different way, by building neighborhood parks on neglected or underutilized pieces of public property. His first park was formerly a vacant lot in North Miami that the South Florida Water Management District uses to access the C-8 canal, which Mickey and artist Maurizio Raponi have transformed into the Lock-In-Love Park.
Munday gave Channel 10 News a tour recently, showing off a large heart formed in the turf, and a ‘LOVE’ sculpture by Raponi. The idea, Mickey says is to bring a lock symbolizing your love of someone or something, lock it to a chain in the park, and toss the key in the canal ( perhaps inspired by that bridge in Paris that broke under the weight of thousands of love locks) symbolizing the permanence of your love. More parks will follow says Munday and Raponi, who plan this to just be the first of many. “We want to get a lot of parks done like this, beautified and just promote positivity and love,” said Raponi.
Is A-Rod Signing With the Miami Marlins, Replacing Giancarlo Stanton?
Photo by Keith Allison / Flickr
Will A-Rod be the star attraction at Marlins Park in the near future? Rumors are running rampant that famed and notorious baseball slugger Alexander Rodriguez is about to sign with the Miami Marlins, after ESPN commentator and sports analyst JIm Bowden announced the intel on his Sirius XM radio show, and the MIami New Times picked it up.
“They’re going to sign him once he clears waivers on Monday,” said Bowden “This thing is gonna happen, so prepare yourself. It’s going to cost me personally because I made a lot of bets saying that nobody would sign Alex Rodriguez, that his career was done and that it should be.”
According to A-Rod’s people, however, the Marlins deal is definitely a no-go though. His manager Ron Berkowitz tweeted “It’s not happening.”Maybe an adamant ‘no’ or just a denial until it’s official? Or A-Rod could be waiting until next season.
Conclusion: It’s still a mystery.
Wynwood is Beginning to Bounce Back from the Zika Apocalypse
Photo via Wynwood Yard.
When ZIka hit Wynwood, Miami’s reaction was immediate, and sweeping, and a little hysterical. The plague had struck Miami and it needed quarantined, and eradicated, or it would ravage South Florida. Wynwood became a ghost town that rained pesticide. Zika spread anyway, but was it too late for Wynwood? Would the people come back?
The monthly Wynwood Art Walk this Saturday “bustled with tourists and locals taking selfies, shopping, and browsing the galleries” reported the Miami Herald. The ‘Love for Locals’ campaign put on by local businesses hoping to bring people back to Wynwood was a hit, with many offering discounts and freebies. The Wynwood Yard, an outdoor park-like venue with food trucks and entertainment, reopened after having closed out of fear of anywhere outside or around foliage, where Zika-carrying mosquitos might be. According to the New Times, they’re taking more thought-out mosquito mitigation measures, including installing something called a MosquitoNix system, instead of just fleeing.
A Look Inside the SLS Brickell as They Prepare for Opening Day
October 3rd is the big day. The SLS Brickell will officially be open, although the site is very clearly still under construction. We were lucky enough to get a hard-hat tour of the project from bottom to top this week and wow! Brickell is in for a treat! Here are some of the highlights from our outing:
The residential lobby has a really cool textured finish on all of the walls and the ceiling.
The hotel lobby has a dramatic curved staircase & direct entry to Fi’lia, Michael Schwartz’s newest restaurant in Miami. They will serve ‘honest Italian food,’ according to their instagram profile @filiarestaurant. (Check it out for pics of the plates).
Speaking of Fi’lia, here is a snap of the progress in the restaurant. It will have an open kitchen and be the more casual of the restaurants in SLS Brickell.
Up on the pool deck, things are coming along with the poolside restaurant and the signature Philippe Starck duck already in place. The pool deck has 2 large pools, a reflection pool and 2 jacuzzi’s along with cabanas and the restaurant.
Along side of the pool deck is the start of the meeting rooms. We anticipate many distractions from those meetings with the views of the South Brickell skyline and all of the action from the pool. But, what do you expect from Miami?
Up top, the residents will enjoy a private pool deck that they will not share with the hotel guests. (Sorry, guys. You have to pay to play.) This deck is on the 54th floor with crazy views all around.
The penthouses have private rooftop terraces with their own private pools.
Back down on the ground level, we toured Bazaar. That is the more fancy seafood restaurant that will have custom tile murals with mermaids, leopards, boating wildlife and all kinds of fun things. The spot will also have a fish tank and separate sushi room.
They already have plenty of parties booked, including a farewell party for a certain much-loved Miami Heat player.
The residences should start closings as well in October, but are pending their TCO (temporary certificate of occupancy). Currently there is only 1 unit remaining, a 50th floor penthouse for $1,698,900.
The hotel is already booking rooms, with a crazy introductory rate of $200/night! I’m sure that won’t last long, but get it while it’s hot! See you there!
New Trolley Lines to the Grove, Wynwood, and Little Havana Are Popular With Miami’s New Urbanites
Photo by Phillip Pessar.
Sure, it’s not a train, or even real light rail, but as people move to condos and apartments in and around the urban core, the City of Miami’s trolley service has become a big hit. The three newest trolley lines, which circulate through Wynwood, Coconut Grove, and Little Havana, launched March 1st have proven immediately popular… particularly the Little Havana line by a long shot. According to recent ridership tallies, the Little Havana line had over 70,000 riders in June, while Wynwood had almost 6,000, and Coconut Grove over 14,000. A new direct connection to the Coral Gables trolley network is also expected to increase the Grove line numbers. Sure those numbers are probably nothing compared to New York or wherever, but in Miami’s transition to being a more multi-modal city, that’s a solid step forward. When the City Commission reconvenes September 8th, they will again take up the idea of expanding the Miami trolley service city-wide.
Inside the Bond on Brickell, Which Just Received its Temporary Certificate of Occupancy
The lobby
The Bond on Brickell, which used to be called the Bond ‘at’ Brickell until its developers MDR and the Rilea Group secured an address and entrance on Brickell Avenue itself for the building (the name change has become something of, shall we say, a conversation piece) recently received its temporary certificate of occupancy for most of the building, and has started closings while still putting on finishing touches. It is also almost completely sold out, with only about a dozen units remaining according to a building representative. Meanwhile, it was recently reported that the first unit closings took place earlier this week. Today the building was a beehive of activity as workers got the Bond showcase ready and brokers brought their clients/current owners/us for a looksie.
On the first floor, the building’s driveway can be entered via either Brickell Avenue or SE 1st Avenue, leading to a covered porte cochere which will have a waterfall feature, and the building’s signature London phone booth. Inside, the spacious lobby itself is divided into a few sitting areas, with a fireplace, overstuffed couches, and mod chairs, giving it a bit of a British vibe. Not really British-meets-the-tropics, or British colonial, just British. Walls throughout are paneled in a variety of interesting materials. In the lobby, surfaces alternate between gray suede and dark, blood red leather. Despite its location in the heart of Brickell, the building’s interiors are hushed, due to a layer of fiberglass behind all the walls.
Upstairs, on the amenity level, a club room, library, and fitness center all look out onto an amenity deck with a large T-shaped pool and outdoor fire pit. Also on the floor is a children’s playroom which is probably the most explicitly flag-flying, ‘God save the Queen’-ing part of the entire building, with wallpaper covered in British-isms like ‘Mind the Gap.’ Mens and women’s saunas and steam room, with accompanying locker rooms, are elsewhere on the floor, slightly oddly not attached to the gym, but on the opposite side. They are tiled in contrasting black and white rocks, to moody effect.
Finally, we checked out a few units with varying layouts. Balconies are generously deep, all kitchens come standard with Bosch appliances, designed to coordinate with the dark wood cabinetry, and some units come with dens. Interior doors feel solid wood, instead of hollow, which is often the case, and door handles and other hardware is nice.
One final note about the exterior. Although renderings gave the impression of dramatic exterior lighting, it appeared that this was not (or at least not yet?) part of the final design. Where there would have been long bands of light shooting up and across the facade as of now are just bands of decorative plaster, painted a dark gray.
$10.5M Mediterranean Revival Tower Penthouse is Most Expensive Condo in Coral Gables
If you’ve ever been to the Al Capone Suite at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, FL, in an ancient-feeling tower straight out of Medieval Spain, there’s a feeling of being on top of the world even though the suite is only on the 13th floor. That’s the feeling the designers of this tower must have had in mind when they designed the crowning penthouse of the Segovia Tower, an 8,492 square foot aerie not far from the Biltmore that’s bedecked in crenelations and cupolas. It’s a thrilling feeling of escapism, even though this place is only two floors higher. The unit comes with eight bedrooms, a whopping 12 baths, a just as whopping 5 parking spaces, and two kitchens. At $10.5 million, this is also the most expensive Coral Gables condo.
Boutique Townhouse Project ‘One Bay’ Underway in Micro-Hood East of Design District
On the far side of Albert Pallot Park from the offramp to the Julia Tuttle Causeway, nestled in a little-known micro-neighborhood east of the Design District with a variety of architectural styles and some cute surprises, a townhouse development called One Bay is currently under construction. With unit sizes ranging from 800 to 2500 interior air conditioned square feet, all units come with private entrances leading onto a private road going through the center of the community. Most also come with private garages and private roof decks, except for some single story units. There’s a community pool, and walking distance to the park and the Design District.
Ritz Carlton Residences Miami Beach Drops New Renderings of Its Lobby & Where That Staircase Goes
The Ritz Carlton Residences Miami Beach, designed by Piero Lissoni, has dropped a series of new renderings of its lobby and library to accompany the already released money shot with that fabulously suspended staircase. (see the last image, below) “Its library will be comprised of collectibles, artifacts, modern design pieces, art and design books, and a canoe artifact paying tribute to Seminole Tribe of Florida.” says Curbed Miami. The renderings look gorgeous, and the canoe is admittedly very cool. It’s a beautiful piece of (authentic?) Native American craftsmanship on display, but a tribute? Well, first maybe someone can explain why there are two of them in the renderings..
The development’s 111 condos and 15 villas make up one of Miami’s most unique and interesting projects, although at times it’s probably a rather tough sell. (it was an old hospital, after all) The Ritz Carlton Residences Miami Beach is currently about 65% sold out.
While everyone else in Miami is busy talking about the market slowdown, Ugo Colombo is busy selling condos. We were invited into their sales center this week for a lunch and pulse check of the project, now that they are under construction.
We last checked in with the project back in May, when they were around 50% sold. Today, they are 52% sold. That may not seem like an enormous gain, but let’s also remember how many condos they have to sell. According to my math, that’s around 11 condos so far this summer. Not bad! (And anyone who says anything negative about an 11 condo summer needs to back their challenge up with some really impressive sales figures. Thank you.)
Here’s the thing. The market is really difficult right now for projects that have no unique selling proposition. This isn’t the case for Brickell Flatiron. Ugo Colombo is one of the best developers in Miami. If you need proof, take a look at our skyline. The buildings he built in the 1990’s still look newer than the buildings that competing developers built within the last 5 years. Have you heard any bad press about a construction defect in an Ugo Colombo building? No. He builds luxurious buildings and he does it well. We expect Flatiron to age just as gracefully as her sister buildings, Bristol Tower, Santa Maria, and the Epic Hotel & Residences. This wasn’t part of the sales presentation, just my professional opinion after working in the neighborhood for the last 8 years.
Since the groundbreaking in March, the construction crew has been hard at it with the site work and foundation form set. The pilings are all being set now and we expect to see a foundation pour in January of 2017. Sales are still happening with 1 bedrooms starting in the $400’s. For the smallest 1 bedroom, that works out to roughly $550/sf… an amazing price for Brickell in mid-late 2016! It is also the same price we would expect from the 2008-built Icon Brickell, who is getting ready to have a year without a pool… so there you go. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a price increase soon, but whatever. It’s still worth it.
