New Construction Condo Deals in the Arts District, Brickell, Downtown Miami, and South Beach
As closing dates for some of South Florida’s newest condo developments quickly approaches, the motivation from contract holders to sell is becoming increasingly apparent. I’ve been receiving a lot of phone calls and emails from contract holders, within the past couple of weeks, who are looking for me to help them find a replacement buyer.
In some cases the contract holders are willing to accept a loss on their contract price in order to retain a portion of the deposit that was made 3-4 years ago. Below you will find some of the better deals that I’ve come across:
Edgewater
- The 1800 Club
- Unit 2×04 – 1 bedroom/1 bath – 842 SF – $235,000
- Unit 3×06 – 1 bedroom/1 bath – 822 SF – $240,000
- Unit 3×03 – 2 bedroom/2 bath with direct bay view – 1,142 SF – $418,000
- Unit 4×03 – 2 bedroom/2 bath with direct bay view – 1,142 SF – $428,000
- Quantum on the Bay
- Unit 15+ floor B (south tower) – 1 bedroom/1 bath – 651 SF – $198,000
- Unit 35+ floor D (south tower) – 1 bedroom/1.5 bath – 780 SF – $212,000
- Unit 40+ floor B (south tower) – 1 bedroom/1 bath – 651 SF – $252,350
- Unit 40+ floor J (south tower) – 2 bedroom/2 bath – 1,239 SF – $399,000
- Unit 40+ floor J (south tower) – 2 bedroom/2 bath – 1,239 Sf – $409,000 obo
- Unit 10+ floor L (north tower) – 2 bedroom + den/2.5 bath – 1,460 SF -$550,000
Brickell
- 1060 Brickell
- LF Loft – 1 bedroom/2 bath – 972 SF – $360,000
- 30th Floor (K floor plan) -866 SF – $290,000
- Unit 3×07 – 2 bedroom/2 bath – 1,103 SF – $467,000
- Axis
- 1x04S (C1 floor plan) – 2 bedroom/2 bath – 1,076 SF – $340,000
- Plaza on Brickell
- Unit 2×09 (901 tower) – 1 bedroom/1 bath – 683 SF – $250,000
- Unit 2×05 (901 tower) – 2 bedroom/2 bath – 1,185 SF – $339,000
Downtown Miami
- Marina Blue
- Unit 4×04 – 2 bedroom/2 bath – 1,208 SF – $470,000
South Beach
- Continuum South Beach North Tower
- Unit ??? – 2 bedroom/2.5 bath NW corner unit – 1,491 SF – $1.86M
- Unit ??? – 2 bedroom/2.5 bath NW corner unit – 1,922SF – $3.35M
- Unit ??? – 3 bedroom/3.5 bath NE corner – 3,497 SF (4 balconies) – $4.2M
If you’re a contract holder and you’re motivated to sell then feel free to email me details of your condo and the price that you are willing to accept. Most developer contracts do not allow you to market your unit outside the sales center, so I will post general information here on the blog to see if a buyer emerges.
I’ll match buyers and sellers together. The sales centers are in some cases charging higher than normal sales commissions and transfer fees which make it virtually impossible for contract holders to get their units into the hands of end-users. I’m hoping that this blog will help contract holders to get some of their money back, end-users to find a great deal and developers to have less defaulted units. The way I see it is a win-win-win situation for everyone involved.
By the way, I’ve added a link to this post on my “Deals” page and will be adding to the list above intermittently.
Sunday Afternoon Bicycle Ride Through Brickell and Downtown Miami
Last week, I purchased a new road bike. My hope was to not only get a good cardio workout while cycling but also to get some great pictures of Miami and South Beach condos while doing so. My goal today was to get some shots of the condo developments in Brickell and Downtown that were either recently completed or will be completed within the next year. Unfortunately, it was a very cloudy day as you will see below.
Closings at Plaza on Brickell will likely begin in January. This development will add 1,000 new units to the Brickell condo market.
Closings at 1060 Brickell should occur around the same time. 1060 Brickell will add 582 condo units.
Closings at Axis will likely begin around the middle of 2008. Axis will add 718 units.
Closings for 500 Brickell are scheduled for the beginning of 2008. This development will add 633 units.
Infinity at Brickell will likely be completed towards the middle of 2008. Infinity will bring 459 condo units to the market.
I forgot to get a shot of Brickell on the River South. That development will add 322 units. I also didn’t get one today for Latitude on the River but I’ve displayed pictures of that building in the past. Closings at Latitude started about two months ago. It has 455 condo units.
Asia is located on Brickell Key. It is the only development under construction there. It will add 123 condo units when it is completed in the first half of 2008.
Closings at 50 Biscayne began about a week and a half ago. I walked in the lobby last week and it is gorgeous. I didn’t have my camcorder with me at the time, however. I will try to get a video and picture tour of the building within the next week. 50 Biscayne has 529 condo units.
Closings at Loft Downtown 2 are scheduled to begin this month. In fact, they may have already begun. It will add 496 units.
Everglades on the Bay (now known as Vizcayne) likely won’t be completed until the end of 2008 or beginning of 2009. It will add 866 condo units to the Miami real estate market.
I’ve been told that closings at Marina Blue are scheduled to begin November 1, 2007. I don’t see that happening so soon but maybe I’m wrong. My guess would be sometime in December or January. Marina Blue will add 516 units.
900 Biscayne Bay will likely be completed in the first half of 2008. It will add 516 units as well.
Closings for units at Ten Museum Park began about three months ago. Closings are still underway. It has 200 units. Marquis probably won’t be completed until the end of 2008 to beginning of 2009. It will bring 306 units to the Miami condo market.
Above is a shot of Marina Blue, 900 Biscayne Bay, Ten Museum Park and Marquis.
In conclusion, there might be a tiny bit of an inventory problem in Miami (that was me being sarcastic). I also didn’t include Icon Brickell and Epic Miami which will be completed in 2009. Icon Brickell will add 1,816 units while Epic will add 966 units. The condo developments in the Arts District will also add a little over 2,000 new units to the market within the next six months.
Advice to Miami Condo Sellers
I mentioned last week in the July Brickell condo index that only 9 closed condo sales occurred from June 19, 2007 to July 18, 2007, in the 18 buildings that comprise the Brickell Condo Index. A question was left for me in the comments section of the post about whether I felt that the lack of sales activity was a reflection of an overpriced condo market in Miami. A great conversation enfolded and I wanted to expand on that conversation with a post that will hopefully find its way to condo sellers throughout Miami.
In a nutshell, yes, prices do need to come in significantly in order for buyers to be enticed to buy. There are a lot of “motivated” condo sellers right now who have their units listed with a Realtor who are having a very difficult time selling their condo. However, sellers need to realize that their situation will become progressively worse as time goes by and more condo units come onto the market throughout the overdeveloped areas of Miami that stretch from Brickell to the Arts District. Your condition can easily turn from “motivated” to “desperate” within a six month time period.
I will let the numbers do the talking. Within the next 7 months there will be five new condo developments that will be completed in Brickell. These five developments are: 500 Brickell (633 units), The Plaza on Brickell (1,000 units), 1060 Brickell (582 units), Brickell on the River South (322 units) and Latitude on the River (455 units). These five condo developments will bring 2,992 new condo units to the Brickell condo market within 7 months. 12 months after that, another four developments will be completed in Brickell. These developments are: Infinity (459 units), Axis (718 units), Icon Brickell (1,816 units) and Epic Miami (966 units). These four developments will add another 3,959 new condo units to the Brickell condo market. That is a total of 6,951 new condo units within 19 months from now.
Over 6,900 new condo units within the next 19 months in Brickell! If this sentence alone doesn’t make a seller see the light then maybe the following sentences will. The Brickell condo index is currently comprised of 18 condo buildings throughout Brickell which consists of a total of 5,348 condo units. This means that within 19 months we’ll see a 130% increase in the number of units that comprise the index. The total number of condo units represented in the Brickell condo index will increase from 5,348 condo units to 12,299 condo units within a 19 month period.
That is just within Brickell. Include the developments below that are within 4 miles north of the southern tip of Brickell and conditions become far worse. These developments should be completed within the same time period. A few of these buildings such as Onyx on the Bay, Platinum Condos, Midtown 2 and Ten Museum Park have already begun closings. The 23 buildings below will add another 9,119 new condo units residing within 4 miles of Brickell within the next 19 months.
This means that within the next 19 months there will a total of 16,070 new condo units that will come onto the market in the neighborhoods of Brickell, Brickell Key, Downtown Miami, Park West and the Performing Arts District. The bulk of the problems will be in Brickell, Downtown Miami, Park West and the Performing Arts District since Brickell Key will only add 123 units once Asia is built.
Let’s assume that 30% of the condo units in the five new developments that will be completed in Brickell within the next 7 months were purchased by speculators. That is a very conservative number. I have heard people suggest that this number could be as high as 70%. Let’s use 30% though to illustrate a point in a conservative manner. That means that of the 2,992 new condo units to come onto the market in Brickell, 898 of these will be listed for sale. As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, there were a total of 9 closed condo sales that occurred in Brickell from June 19, 2007 to July 18, 2007. This means that if market conditions remain the same, and this absorption rate continues, then it will take 100 months, or 8.33 years to absorb the new inventory in Brickell. This doesn’t take into account the existing inventory of 1,550 condo units on the market at this time in Brickell. It also only includes those units in Brickell that will be completed within the next 7 months, not the units scheduled for completion 12 months after. Nor does it take into account the negative impact that the units scheduled for completion in Brickell Key, Downtown Miami, Park West and the Performing Arts District will have on the condo inventory in Brickell.
My advice to condo owners who NEED to sell is to get out now! Today, Barbara Corcoran was on the Today Show and suggested that people who need to sell now should be priced 5% below the currently best priced property in the neighborhood. She was speaking about homes and the national real estate market, but I think that this advice is a great start for condo owners in Miami. To illustrate, last week, two days after our office held an Open House/Wine Tasting at The Imperial at Brickell, a pending contract resulted on one of the three bedroom units that were showcased. It was the best priced three bedroom in the building and was the nicest as well. By the way, for those of you who haven’t heard of Barbara Corcoran before, she is often referred to as “The Queen of Real Estate”. She is a Realtor in New York who has had tremendous success and has been asked to appear on many nationally televised segments for her invaluable insight.
Sellers may not like the idea of discounting the price of their condo to 95% of the best priced unit currently listed in the building. However, they will like the alternative scenario even less if they don’t. Keep in mind that once the new condo units come onto the market, you’ll end up lowering your price to that level anyways. But at that time, you will be priced in the middle of the pack rather than at the front.
If you are a truly motivated seller, who doesn’t have an exclusive listing agreement with another Miami Realtor, and want to sell your condo before the worst begins, then contact me today so we can devise a plan to get you out of this mess before condo inventories in Miami reach nightmare proportions.
