Over 30% of Brickell City Centre’s Reach Tower Units Are Already Offered as Rentals

July 27, 2016

Brickell City Centre’s Reach Tower has been open now for a little over 3 months and over 30% of the apartments are already offered as rentals! According to public records, Swire has been able to close 277 of the contracts on the units already, probably closer to 300 if you count the two-week delay that is common with tax roll searches. Of those closed apartments, 125 have already come back to the market as rental apartments.

What I find to be even more alarming is the fact that of the 125 rental opportunities, only 15 landlords have found a tenant. Fifteen. In 3 months. If we keep up at that pace, landlords will be holding their apartments for 2 years or more. That’s a big pill to swallow if you bought a condo with the expectation of having it produce an income for you.

But what does this mean for Brickell?

Here’s the bottom line. The condos are beautiful. The neighborhood is hot. The condos will rent and tenants will be found… but at what price?

The Downtown Development Authority estimates that 70 new families move to Brickell each month in their 2014 Demographics Report. That doesn’t include people who relocate between buildings in the neighborhood, and there is plenty of that going on. The demand is there and nobody is denying the fact that Brickell City Centre is one of the most anticipated projects of them all. That leaves us at price.

Before the building opened, agents were boasting to our team members that they were representing landlords and planned to offer their 1 bedroom units for $3,500 and 2 bedroom units for $4,500. You see, our team members know their way around the Brickell rental market. Their response was, “You guys have fun with that.”

Fast forward to today. The 15 units that rented were all leased for $2,500-$2,750 for one bedrooms and $3,300-$4,000 for two bedrooms. The one bedrooms offered currently are between $2,500-$3,300 and the two bedrooms offered are between $3,700-$5,700, so some folks are starting to get the memo.

Hopefully the others will realize the true market value, before the Bond on Brickell, SLS Brickell and Rise at Brickell City Centre open, further flooding the market. With this being said, please don’t think it is fire sale time in Brickell. The neighborhood is still very hot, it is just readjusting with the new inventory.

We’ll check back in a few months to see how things are going after the Bond on Brickell and SLS Brickell open.