2016 Year In Review: The Downtown Miami Area Condo Market (Brickell to Midtown)
Image courtesy of Wanderson Dos Santos
As the sun sets on 2016, let’s review our year in real estate. There have been a lot of reports about the slowing preconstruction market, but what about the resale and rental markets? Here’s a quick breakdown:
Greater Downtown Miami (Brickell to Midtown/Edgewater) saw 1,485 closed transactions this year.
Those transactions amounted to a total of $720 million.
The average price per square foot of all sales ended up being $389/square foot.
The most expensive sale was Pharrell Williams’ penthouse at Bristol Tower, sold by our Madrina herself, Dora Puig, for $9.25 million.
China didn’t show up the way everyone was hoping back in 2015. Chinese buyers only took 11 condos, according to MLS data. Here are the stats from other countries:
Venezuela: 51
Argentina: 50
Brazil: 41
Colombia: 40
France: 13
Mexico: 10
Italy: 9
India: 7
UK: 7
Spain: 5
Russia: 2
Japan: 2
German: 1
USA: 435!
Undisclosed: 791 (We’re looking at you, 791 lazy Realtors. Please do better with logging your sales data in 2017 so that next year’s year-end post will be better.)
What other stats are you curious about? We would love to improve our content for 2017 and offer more of what you want.
2016 Year In Review: The 10 Most Popular Buildings In The Greater Downtown Area
As we close out 2016, here is a list of the most popular buildings on our website. I tallied the buildings first with the most individual visitors, but also thought the number of return visitors was interesting.
Some of the results were completely expected, but I was surprised to see that all of the top ten are resale buildings. Is this a testament to the state of the pre-construction market? Are there other buildings that you were expecting to be on the list but are not?
Surf Club Four Season’s North Tower Nearing Completion
The contemporary redesign of Surfside’s historic and glamorous Surf Club is coming right along. According to building representatives, the Surf Club Four Seasons Residences’ North Tower is nearly completed and closings are projected to begin in February 2017.
This summer, we took a peek at the construction progress via drone video, which can be seen here.
It has also been reported that famed chef Thomas Keller is planning a restaurant within the project. The Four Seasons hotel is scheduled to open in 2018 and although the Thomas Keller restaurant will not be directly affiliated with the hotel, it promises to bring the glitz and glamor back into dining.
The Venetian Causeway Is Reopening A Day Early
photo courtesy of Dora Puig
The Venetian Causeway is reopening today, one day ahead of schedule. As we reported back on December 13, the causeway was closed in order to finish the last leg of the repairs that were required in order to ensure the safety of those who cross between mainland Miami and Miami Beach each day. The bridge was scheduled to reopen on December 29, but a news release from Miami Dade announced the completion ahead of schedule. It reads:
MIAMI (December 28, 2016) —
The Department of Transportation and Public Works (DTPW) will permanently reopen the East Bascule Bridge on the Venetian Causeway starting at 6 p.m. today, Wednesday, December 28, 2016.
In November, the bridge was closed to pedestrian, cycling, and vehicular traffic due to necessary maintenance and repairs. A little over six weeks later, DTPW has completed the necessary rehabilitation work in a timely manner and will reopen the bridge ahead of schedule on December 28, 2016.
Up until now, Venetian residents have had access to the island via the west side of the bridge up to Rivo Alto Island. In order to accommodate for holidays and large-scale events, the East Bascule Bridge was temporarily reopened in late November for Thanksgiving and Art Basel Miami Beach, and once again in late December for the long holiday weekend.
Now, after working diligently for weeks, the Department is ready to lift the barricades and allow the natural flow of pedestrian, cycling, and vehicular traffic.
DTPW has worked closely with the cities of Miami and Miami Beach, as well as other agencies, and ensured that the contingency plans set in place by police and fire rescue were well executed in order to immediately respond to any emergencies on the Venetian Islands.
Miami Worldcenter Lands $89 Million Construction Loan
Despite concerns of oversupply in the multifamily market, the developer of Miami Worldcenter has closed on an $89 million construction loan to finance the construction of their first multifamily tower, Seventh Street Apartments. The lending market has been tightening across the board over recent months for commercial real estate loans, but this project was able to secure financing due to its proximity to All Aboard Florida’s Miami Central Station.
The rental project will be just one section of the 27 acre project, which is slated for completion in 2018. When completed, it will comprise of two towers. The first, a 43 story tower with 450 rental apartments, followed by a second tower with 413 rental apartments. The first tower broke ground in June and construction recently went vertical. The construction loan closed December 19.
How Much Should The Owners Of Brickell Harbour Expect From Their Buyout?
Earlier this month, we reported that the owners of Brickell Harbour are being solicited for a buyout by a mystery developer. Well, the offers have come in and unfortunately (yet expected), we cannot talk about what has been offered because they are bound under a tight confidentiality clause. What we can talk about is how much the sale is likely to garner for the owners if a good deal is made.
It is common in condo buyout deals for the developer to hold the owners under a contingency stating that the sale will only take place if 90% of the residents agree to sell. Otherwise, it makes no sense for the developer to own the building since they would not be able to develop. There are always those last few owners who hold out for the most money and sometimes it works, but sometimes it just ends up throwing a wrench in the entire deal. So, how much is a realistic number for Brickell Harbour as a development site?
First, let’s look at the most recent comparable sale. The development site at 25 NE 25th Road is just over 1 acre of waterfront land with 155 linear feet of bay frontage. It is around 300 feet deep. Once you break down the final purchase price of $48 million, that works out to just over $1,000/ft of land. The units combined are comprised of 76,291 square feet of livable space or $629/square foot ($800,000 per unit for the 61 units).
25 Bay Tower Development Site
Now let’s look at Brickell Harbour. In comparison to 25 Bay Tower, Brickell Harbour is a far superior development site. Its location at the south end of Brickell Bay drive is closer to the hustle and bustle of Brickell’s city vibe, yet secluded enough to offer peace and quiet along the bay. The site offers 275 feet of linear bay frontage and half an acre more of developable space. Both sites are in the same zone for height restrictions, allowing up to 600 feet of building height. Variances can be given, but this is where we are today.
Another feature of the site at Brickell Harbour that sticks out as a big upside is the marina. Building new marinas is extremely tedious from a permitting standpoint due to the environmental impact they cause, making them nearly impossible to add. Given all of these factors, I estimate that a final sales price of Brickell Harbour would be far north of the $1,000/square foot of land that 25 Bay Tower received.
Now that we’ve looked at the comparable and determined why Brickell Harbour is worth more, let’s get down to the numbers. Using the same price per square foot of developable land as OKO Group’s purchase would amount to a $70 million purchase for Brickell Harbour. That breaks down to an average of $380,000 per unit at Brickell Harbour, or an average of $512/square foot of livable space. Add in the increased desirability of the lot size, location and added marina, we could see a purchase of $80 million!
How much do you think the owners will end up garnering at the end of the negotiation? Do you think it will go through?
Brickell Is Finally Getting A Dunkin’ Donuts
Just weeks after it was revealed that a second Starbucks location will be opened in Brickell, the sign has gone up on the first Dunkin Donuts location. It will be located just west of the Metrorail and MetroMover lines at SW 10th Street under Brickell View Terrace.
Isn’t this exciting for residents?
Aston Martin Residences Begins Sales – Here Are The Plans, Details, Renderings And Prices
Almost two months after announcing his project, German Coto has opened sales at the ambitious and beautiful Aston Martin Residences in Downtown Miami. They have released the floor plans, pricing, floor layouts, amenities and a couple of new renderings.
Prices are slated to start at $500,000 and go up to $35 million for the penthouse. What do you think of the plans?
SLS Lux Tops Off At 58 Stories – Here Is A Preview
Carlos Rosso Demonstrates The Front Desk.
The 58-story SLS Lux has topped off on schedule and to celebrate, the folks over at Related Group invited us for a construction tour to preview the project. We were able to go up to the 55th floor for a candid tour of the views and then to some of the lower floors to have a peek at the finishes and the layouts.
We started in the construction elevator, which offered a thorough preview of the views from each floor. From this vantage point, I was also pleased to see that the views were turning out true to the renderings shown on the sales material with the deep and curved terraces overlooking the city and bay.
When we reached the top, the support beams were still installed for reinforcement and we were able to see the views from all around while discussing the project with Carlos Rosso, President of Related Group’s Condo Division and Allen Morris, CEO of the Allen Morris Company and co-developer of the project. We learned that it takes over 500 workers to construct the project and they expect completion around this time next year.
The project has been a big success for both developers, with only a handful of apartments remaining priced at around $1,100/square foot (the remaining opportunities are all penthouses). The penthouses include upgraded kitchens, 2 assigned parking spaces, 12 foot ceilings and summer kitchens in addition to the standard features.
Rosso joked that he is planning to surround Stephen Owen’s “fort” (Brickell City Centre), once One Brickell is ultimately launched. That project is on hold for now but they hope to relaunch it in 2017 after seeing the success of Aston Martin Residences and Tibor Hollo’s planned ultra-luxury tower at 1201 Brickell Bay Drive.
Morris reminisced of his beginnings in Brickell, back when his company built the first office tower, 1000 Brickell Avenue. He enjoyed being a part of the transformation of the neighborhood into what it is today and I have to say that I agree – even though my time here only dates back to 2008.
Here is a sample of the views:
SLS Lux East View
SLS Lux East View – Brickell Key
SLS Lux – South View
Next we went down to preview some of the apartments and condo/hotel suites. There are 450 units in SLS Lux as well as 78 condo hotel suites. The bathrooms and kitchens were being installed already, so there was a lot of dust but here was the view from the condo hotel suites.
Afterward we walked through the amenities and lobby area. The ground floor restaurant, Katsuya is beginning its $22 million finish out. On the amenity deck, the form sets for the swimming pools were being poured and then the rock climbing wall, tennis courts and outdoor theater will go in. All in all, SLS Lux is shaping up to be a fine addition to our skyline. It will be exciting to see it this time next year once all of the dust has settled and everything is shiny and new!
SLS Brickell Gains Fannie Mae Conditional Approval, Pays Off $157 Million Construction Loan
After opening in October, SLS Brickell has already paid off the $157 Million construction loan they obtained in 2014. The closings are steaming ahead, passing an average of 40 new keys to unit owners per week.
According to Sonia Figueroa, the Senior Vice President of Development with The Related Group, most of the transactions have been all-cash, with a handful of mortgages being issued. Now that the project is over halfway closed out, they were able to obtain their Fannie Mae conditional approval with the final approval expected soon.
Initially there was a fear that the building would not garner the approval, Figueroa said. The underwriters from Fannie Mae believed that the project was a condo/hotel, which does not fit Fannie Mae guidelines. After a personal tour of the property, they were able to see that the building is the SLS Residences with a hotel on property, but the two are separate entities in the same building. The approval was issued and now we will have a much easier time finding mortgages for buyers in the project.
SLS Brickell has been a wild success for Related Group. They have sold all but two of the 450 units, with the two units remaining being penthouses. The resale market has been extremely active, with 22 units on the market priced between $415,000 for a 26th floor 1 bedroom up to $1.7 million for the penthouse. The rental market has taken off as well with 57 units coming to market as of today. Nine of those have already found tenants and four have moved-in. The 48 remaining rentals range from $1,900/month for a 21st floor 1 bedroom up to $10,000/month for a designer-furnished 3 bedroom on the 35th floor.
If you are thinking to move to the building, feel free to contact us for a tour.
