The Ritz Carlton Residences Miami Beach Are Winning Art Basel With Their #RitzRainbow

Lionheart Capital has commissioned the art display to trump all art displays of this year’s Art Basel festival. They have commissioned Yvette Mattern’s ‘Global Rainbow’ to shine over Miami during Art Basel week, visible for 25 miles around and sharing the message of positivity with the beauty of light… something we are all hungry for after a politically heated year on all fronts.

The large-scale, laser light beam installation originates from Lionheart Capital’s headquarters in Miami’s Design District. This gift to the city of Miami celebrates art and the human spirit. Personally, I feel it is extremely called-for at this moment and a welcome beacon for peace. Private boat tours are departing via Von Dutch boats on the hour to view the installation as well as the construction progress of The Ritz Carlton Residences Miami Beach, although you don’t need to be on a Von Dutch boat in the bay to enjoy it.

To celebrate, The Ritz-Carlton Residences, Miami Beach and Lionheart Capital have teamed up to host a special giveaway. To be entered for a chance to win, share your original photo of The Global Rainbow to Instagram using the hashtag #RitzRainbow. On Monday, December 5th, one photo using the hashtag #RitzRainbow will be chosen as the winner of the grand prize. The winner will be contacted via direct message shortly thereafter with prize redemption details. No word yet on what that grand prize is, but we expect it will be quite nice… as anything with the Ritz Carlton name is.

Located in one of the most desirable residential neighborhoods in Mid-Beach, The Ritz-Carlton Residences consists of 111 condominium residences and a limited collection of 15 standalone Villa Residences. The tropical modern luxury development, which is over 60 percent sold, is priced from $2 million to more than $40 million and slated for a timely completion Q2 of 2017.

Related Group’s One Brickell On Hold For 5+ Years

One Brickell, Related Group’s riverfront mega-project in Brickell, appears to be on hold until at least 2022. The 1,400 unit waterfront project was slated to be developed in 3 towers at 444 Brickell Avenue, where Capital Grille currently stands along with a 10 story office tower. Previously, it was scheduled to break ground in 2016.

Since the news broke in late 2014 that the towers were on their way, the developer had stopped pushing for new tenants in the office building. They were still signing new leases, yet requiring a 6-month kick out clause, allowing Related to have a vacant building when it came time to begin construction. Since the kick out clause isn’t an ideal situation for tenants, not many offices complied.

As of today, Related is heavily marketing the office tower to tenants. They are pushing for the property to be leased up within 6 months, offering incentives for deals up to 10 years. The lease terms offered are between 2-10 years, with higher incentives for longer leases. New leases signed with a term of up to 5 years also do not have the kick out clause, meaning that Related cannot develop the land until those leases expire.

There has not yet been an official announcement made, but this isn’t the first tower to be put on hold. Auberge in the arts district has also been effectively placed on hold. They are still offering units for sale but have stopped marketing the project. In September, Jorge Perez said at the “State of the Market Conference” in Wynwood that he expects a market slowdown and that his company will not bring a project out of the ground if it is not at least 70% pre-sold with 50% deposits. Since One Brickell had not yet released pre-sales, it seems we have a confirmation after all.

Watch ECHO Brickell Rise With Their Live Online Construction Cam

Did you know that you can monitor the construction progress at ECHO Brickell online, real-time? They have a construction camera on a nearby building and are streaming their progress real-time 24/7 here.

Construction is currently around 50 floors and should top off early in 2017 then completing later in the year. ECHO Brickell is the most luxurious of the Brickell new construction buildings. It was designed by Carlos Ott and developed by New York’s Property Market’s Group. Some of the features the residences will be outfitted with are biometric building access, summer kitchens, robotic parking system and private elevators.

While the building has been a success from a sales perspective, there are a handful of units remaining, ranging in price from $930,000 for a 914 square foot one bedroom up to $5.25 million for a 2,686 square foot residence on the 48th floor with 4 bedrooms and 4.5 baths. Two penthouses remain, priced at $18.75 million for a full floor on the 55th level with 4 bedrooms, 5.5 baths and over 5,000 square feet of living space and $41.8 million for the 10,000 square foot upper penthouse that will be custom designed by Carlos Ott himself to meet the needs of the owner. The penthouses also have private pools on the terrace.

IconBrickell Pool Closure Begins December 5

Over a year after we first reported the pool closure at IconBrickell, they have finally given the dates for the work to begin. In a letter to residents this week, the condo association has announced that starting December 5, the pool will be inaccessible for approximately 12 months. Surprisingly, the condo association did not make arrangements for an alternative pool for the residents.

Anticipation of the repair and special assessment have sent sale and rental prices in a tailspin. Sales prices in the last 90 days are averaging $426/square foot. Just a year ago, apartments in the project were closing at $584/square foot.

Rental prices have also been in free-fall. Unit 4103 in Tower 2 rented in 2015 for $5,300. This year, it rented for $3,800 after 5 months on the market. In Tower 1, unit 4104 rented this month for $2,000, down from the $2,600 that the landlord received last year. It doesn’t help matters that there are currently 180 available rentals on the market. Since 24 apartments rented in the last 30 days, it will take over 7 months to absorb all of this inventory.

On the bright side, this is a fantastic opportunity for investors who are looking for a long-term hold or for those who are looking for a great price on a vacation home. While the values are depressed now, I fully expect them to rebound when the amenity deck reopens. There are still plenty of sellers who need to move on from the properties for personal reasons, or investors who are not able to wait out the storm. How much lower do you anticipate the prices will fall? We are happy to help if this situation is an opportunity for your investment goals.

Tenant Sues Condo Association For Price Gouging On Application Fees

Quantum on the Bay

A tenant at Quantum on the Bay in the Omni district finally did something about the high application fees that are being charged to prospective tenants, according to the Miami Herald. He is suing them because their application fees are in excess of the $100 cap that the Florida statute issues.

This has been an ongoing problem for tenants in many of the Downtown area buildings for several years. Some condo associations use these elevated fees in order to avoid having to make a special assessment on the unit owners for repairs or upgrades. The association at Quantum once had a $400 application fee, but it was later reduced to $150 after so many potential tenants complained. In order to continue bringing the income that they once received from the application fees, they split it into the application fee plus the administrative fees. Some other buildings have ‘impact fees’ of $500, but Quantum is one of the highest priced buildings in the area for a tenant to apply for.

Even though it is not lawful for a building to charge these exorbitant fees to tenants, many still do. The tenants really have no choice but to accept the fees. Protesting only causes delay and added expenses. If they miss their move-in date, they would need to stay at a hotel until the issue is resolved and there is still no guarantee that it would be resolved in their favor without a lawsuit. The Government Affairs department of our Miami Association of Realtors has been lobbying in Tallahassee for some time already, trying to convince them to enforce the laws.

Now, most buildings also charge a security deposit for the common areas and for pets, but that is different. Security deposits are returned. We typically see a security deposit that is held through the duration of the lease in order to guarantee there will not be damage to the common areas, a smaller security deposit for the actual move to guarantee that the elevators and hallways are not damaged by the movers and/or a pet deposit to the building.

You can read more about the Florida Condominium Act here, so that you know your rights. While it seems that Quantum is being singled out, this is a large problem throughout the marketplace and something that we are striving to change. On a day to day basis, the best we can do is see that our clients get settled as peacefully and efficiently as possible. On a larger scale, we are very much a part of the efforts from the Miami Association of Realtors to bring change to this practice.

Aria on the Bay Construction Update

Construction at Aria on the Bay is steaming along. They have reached the 32nd level and are completing 1 floor per week. At this rate, we should see top-off in early January and completion by the end of 2017.

As of now, 72% of the 648 residences are under contract and the developer is offering a 35% deposit structure for new buyers of select apartments. There is still a nice selection of layouts available with prices ranging from $400/square foot for apartments in the podium up to $700/square foot apartments with direct bay views.

Hyde Midtown Offers Free HOA For First Year & Flexible Deposit Structure

Going into the holidays, the developers of Hyde Midtown are looking for new ways to close out the last of their inventory. They are currently 78% sold with a nice selection of available apartments and the construction is on the 25th floor.

For a limited time, they are offering to cover the first year of HOA payments for new buyers.  The way they typically apply the promotion is to give a credit at closing in order to avoid confusion with the HOA after the association has been turned over to the homeowners.

Since the building is nearing top off, the developer is now able to offer a more flexible deposit structure. Rather than the typical 50% required before closing, they are now able to accept 30% if the buyer prefers.

Of the remaining 90 or so apartments, they have prices starting as follows:

• 1 bedrooms from $435,000
• 1 bedrooms plus den from $490,000
• 2 bedrooms from $538,000
• 2 bedrooms plus den from $643,000
• 3 bedrooms from $859,000
• Penthouses start at $735,000

Panorama Begins Marketing For Their 821 Rental Units That Are Coming To Brickell

Panorama Pool Deck

Construction is well underway and Panorama Tower is rising quickly into the skyline, soon to surpass the Four Seasons as the tallest building in Miami. Although the building is not scheduled for completion until the end of the next year, the developer has begun marketing the rental units.

When it is finished, Panorama will reach 83 stories tall with 821 rental apartments. That’s an awful lot of inventory when we are also looking at the new condo developments coming to market in the area with their rental offerings.

One thing that I really love about the building is the size of the plans. The one-bedroom units are 1,150 square feet and there are 3 bedroom plans that are over 2,000 square feet. In a neighborhood where one-bedroom units are typically 700-800 square feet and two bedrooms are typically 1,100-1,200 square feet, the layouts at Panorama are very generous.

The building will have a pool deck with dining and bars on the 22nd level along with 3 private theaters, a pet boarding facility/doggie daycare and even a recording studio. For some reason, they’re also bringing in a cyber cafe. The cyber cafe seemed odd to me. I haven’t seen a cybercafe since the early 2000’s when people actually had to go dock up to a computer to surf the internet. Now we just surf the internet on our phones as we’re walking down the street. Hopefully, that will be switched to a kids’ playroom before opening day. I’ve heard a ton of people requesting playrooms lately, but not a cyber-cafe.

It is still far too early to be able to predict what the pricing will be for these apartments. A lot can happen over the course of a year and there is also a lot of inventory coming to market in the next few months. We’ll keep our eye on things and report back once we know more. Until then, renderings:

Lobby

Panorama Interiors

Panorama Interiors and Views

Panorama Doggie Daycare

Panorama Private Theater

Private Recording Studio

Club Room

Dining Room and Wine Lounge

Staffed Fitness Center With Classes

Cyber Cafe From Y2K That Should Be a Kids’ Playroom

900 Biscayne Bay Can Look Forward To Lower Association Dues In 2017 And A Pool Upgrade

Apartment owners at 900 Biscayne Bay can look forward to a nice 2017. According to announcements from the condo association, their monthly association dues are decreasing by over 25% and they can look forward to pool upgrades.

On October 27, a special meeting was held to go over the proposed budget for 2017. The new budget showed a reduction of over $2.6 million from the 2016 budget and included the pool renovations that are included in the 558 litigation that is currently underway against the developer. This litigation will hopefully be settled in December during a scheduled mediation. If not, it will go to trial in April of 2017. Once this is finished, the 2018 budget is anticipated to be even lower than the 2017 budget! Each apartment owner will experience a reduction in dues from $1.13/square foot per month down to $0.78/square foot per month in 2017.

The owners are also invited to preview the pool renovations on November 15 at 5:30pm in the 15th floor conference room. See below for some photos of the changes compared to what the pool looks like now.

New Design From Arquitectonica, The Landscape Architect

New Furniture and Tile

A New Barbecue

And here are some photos of what the pool currently looks like:

REPORT: Trump Buildings ‘On Fire’ After His Election Win

After Donald Trump’s big election win this week, many have wondered how the buildings bearing his name will fare in the marketplace. We have a listing Trump Palace with a sincere seller (one that isn’t listing just to ‘see what he can get’, he really wants to sell). It is a beautifully renovated 3 bedroom with ocean views for $2.1 million, but the drama from the election certainly hasn’t done us any favors. Not yet, anyway.

Now that the election is all over, TMZ has reported that Trump’s properties in NYC are ‘on fire’ with buyers swarming once more. I am well aware that TMZ is not the first site to come to mind if you’re looking for market news, but in their defense they did interview legit agents and they do thoroughly fact check. As a matter of fact, they have called our office more than once to verify leads that they receive.

Less than a week into the election news, it is too soon to tell from the sales figures what effect the Trump name is having on the market in his buildings. How do you think it will pan out? Do you think that the values will increase in these buildings or will the sellers there suffer from the name association? If you are a fellow agent or broker, have you experienced an increase in inquiries for these buildings over the last few days?

We’ll be watching this one closely. Here are some additional photos of Trump Palace 3604 for those who like to admire pretty properties…