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.
Is Vladislav Doronin About To Buy Brickell Harbour? Someone Is…
It appears that Brickell Harbour has been pegged as the next condo to be bought out and redeveloped. A letter has gone out to all 185 residents of the waterfront building at the end of Brickell Bay Drive from two brokers at Colliers International, declaring intent to purchase all units of the 1973-built development.
The letter states that the firm has successfully facilitated sales of this magnitude and we know that Mr. Doronin has been on a buying streak for waterfront parcels. His development firm, OKO Group’s latest purchase was the bayfront church on N 27th Street in Edgewater, where he will construct a 57 story building, branded by Missoni. The apartments at Missoni Baia will start at $2.25 million and break ground early in 2017. He has also purchased a development site within Brickell just east of SLS Lux, as well as one on 25th Street in South Brickell.
We also know that Mr. Doronin is not shy with his money. He paid $54 million for his Missoni Baia development site, as well as $48 million for Brickell’s 25 Bay Tower at 175 SE 25th Road. 25 Bay Tower has only 60 apartments, so his price tag amounted to an average of $800,000 per unit for apartments built in 1971. I don’t know about you, but I’m eager to hear what will be offered to the owners of Brickell Harbour. In my professional opinion, Brickell Harbour is in a far superior location than either of the development sites that OKO Group previously purchased.
Another interesting tidbit is that just before these letters of intent were delivered, the condo association of Brickell Harbour announced a special assessment that will last five years. That is an astronomical amount of time for a special assessment! Could it be that they’re already leaning toward the sale? It leaves me to wonder, after seeing previous special assessments in other buildings for 40 year re-certifications (which Brickell Harbour has already undergone) and full-blown overhauls of amenity decks that are settled up within 2 years. See below for a breakdown of the special assessment as well as the detail of what will be renovated.
According to the solicitation letter, the brokers will be delivering offers to unit owners in proper Miami form. They will be foregoing their conference room and instead handing out offers this week at Sega. Salud!
The Bond On Brickell Is Getting A Fancy New Starbucks
While passing by The Bond On Brickell this morning, we noticed that the sign has gone up on the fancy new Starbucks that is being built into the retail space on the first level. According to their construction permit, the build-out is budgeted to cost just under $100k. It is unclear whether this Starbucks will be replacing the location at Mary Brickell Village just 2 blocks away, but since the space is only 1,112 square feet, I imagine it will be an additional location.
The Bond On Brickell opened during the summer and was a success for the developers, Rilea Group. Current prices range from $319,000 for a studio to over a million for a three bedroom plan. Rentals range from $1,750 for studio to $4,000 for a two bedroom.
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.
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
At Last! Renovations Are Coming To 1814 Brickell Park
Photo courtesy of Rebecca Carter Facebook
After months of requesting and circulating a petition, the City of Miami Parks Department has agreed to the proposed changes to the park located at 1814 Brickell. We chimed in as well, as the current design was excellent in theory, but fell flat with the originally intended use.
Originally, the park was intended for “businesswomen in high heels” and “workers relaxing from the business district,” except those people never showed up. You can find them after work at happy hour, not strolling 5 blocks to sit in a park. Meanwhile, young children with their mothers and nannies are left with nowhere to play. As a member of the stroller brigade, this redesign makes me very, very happy!
In an onsite meeting this week, the Director of Parks met with a handful of interested Brickellians to go over the approved changes. They will be replacing the current playscape with a setup for 2-5 year old children and a swing set. To add more shade, they discussed adding a mature shade tree in the back corner of the play area and extending the foam flooring further out to add more play space. The project is set to take 6 months to complete, but will likely take a bit more time because we all know how construction timelines are fluid. There will only be about a month of the park being fully closed.
Photo courtesy of Rebecca Carter Facebook
Photo courtesy of Rebecca Carter Facebook
Charles Brickell Offered Apartments To Veterans In This Building
Brickell Apartments via www.miami-history.com
Happy Veteran’s Day to all of our servicemen! Since it is also Flashback Friday, let’s have a look back at some of our neighborhood heritage. These are the Brickell Apartments that were completed almost 100 years ago to the day.
Back then, Miami was going through a building boom similar to the one that we’re finishing up right now. Charles Brickell (the son of Mary Brickell) built this state-of-the-art building on the piece of Brickell where the Four Ambassador is today. Even back then, developers were jockeying to see who could build the most advanced and beautiful building around. The Brickell Apartments had 24 residences with 1-4 bedrooms. The layouts were considered very spacious at the time and each residence had a private bath, hot water, electric lights and a balcony. The building also had an electric elevator, something nearly unheard of at the time.
In 1918, Charles Brickell offered special reduced rates for the servicemen returning from World War I, so that they could live in comfort and splendor after their tours. The Miami Herald referred to the apartments as, “one of the most elaborate and modern buildings in Miami.” If you ask me, I agree that the servicemen should have been first in line to live there. Thank you to all of the men and women who have served our country!
For more information on the history of The Brickell Apartments and other buildings in the area, you can find a treasure trove here.
Brickell Apartments Advertisement from www.miami-history.com
Brickell City Centre Opens With Surprise Pitbull Concert
AT LAST! After four years of anticipation, Brickell City Centre has opened its doors! To celebrate, Swire and Saks Fifth Avenue hosted a pre-opening party with a “surprise concert from an award-winning recording artist.” It was Miami’s own Mr. 305, Pittbull! Inside Saks, there were tours, light bites and cocktails with performance artists around every corner. On Thursday morning, there will be a ribbon cutting and formal opening with the mayor and Steve Owens in attendance.
While the majority of the stores are not yet open, Swire is pushing for new openings each week until the end of the year. Of course, a lot of the timeline is dependent upon the city’s permitting and inspection timeline. In the meantime, special events are being hosted in order to sample what our new shopping venue has to offer. Here is the lineup for the opening weekend:
Congress Unanimously Agrees To Make FHA Financing Easier For Condo Buyers
In a rare moment of solidarity, Congress unanimously agreed to pass the proposed changes to the FHA approval guidelines for condo purchases, opening the way for middle-income buyers to participate in the condo market once more.
Over recent years, the FHA has imposed nearly impossible guidelines for condo purchases that have left a large segment of buyers out of the market, particularly first time homebuyers. The problem has been that in order to secure an FHA loan for a property, the buyers must qualify (relatively easy), AND the building must qualify (almost impossible). The approval process was expensive and the costs were not refunded in the event that the project was rejected. The approvals had to be renewed every couple of years as well. Most condo associations opted to forego the application and just not have FHA as an option for purchasers in the building. With the new guidelines, the projects no longer need to go through the approval process. Buyers can now apply for a spot-approval on individual units and the owner-occupant vs investor ratios have been lowered. Bravo!
This is going to be a big help for actual residents of the Downtown Miami area who are ready to buy a condo, but maybe don’t have the 20%-35% down payment that is currently required to buy a property. You can read more about the new guidelines here.
