Paraiso District Construction Update: Paraiso Bay Closings Set To Begin September 2017
The Paraiso District is now 97% sold and on the verge of opening its first building. Here is a breakdown of each tower with current photos of their progress…
Paraiso Bay – Although previously announced as “Sold Out”, we have received word that one unit has come available. This one is an 05 line with a direct bay view. It has 1,326 square feet with 2 bedrooms, 3 baths and a den. It is being offered for $934,900.
We had previously heard that the building was set to open this month, but opening day has been pushed to September. Delays at the end of the construction process are pretty common, so we’ll be sure to stay abreast of any changes.
Paraiso Bay Homes – Although not as heavily publicized as the towers, the Bay Homes are probably my favorite phase of the complex. They are located directly across the driveway from the Paraiso Beach Club and directly under the pool deck for Paraiso Bay and GranParaiso (with their own entrance). They are townhouse-style beach homes with an average of 4,000 square feet and 3 or 4 bedrooms. There are currently 3 remaining that are priced between $1.9 million up to $2.4 million.
Paraiso Bayviews – The most affordable tower is also nearly sold out, with an anticipated opening of January 2018 after topping off in April. There are now 5 condo residences available and 7 penthouses. The prices range from $420,000 for a 1 bedroom plus den with a garden view to $650,000 for a 2 bedroom with sunset/skyline views. In the penthouse levels, remaining opportunities range from $630,000 to $1.6 million.
One Paraiso – In our most recent construction update, One Paraiso had just topped off with two opportunities remaining… a 1,680 square foot 3 bedroom, 3.5 bath with bay and ocean views for $1.45 million and a 4 bedroom, 4.5 bath penthouse with 2,850 square feet and bay/ocean views for $2.85 million. Both remain available with opening day projected for February 2018.
GranParaiso – The final tower to be completed is also the one with the most inventory to choose from. GranParaiso has currently reached the 46th floor of 53 total. We should see top off early in the fall and final completion in the Spring of 2018. There are 18 condo residences available, ranging from $960,000 for a 2 bed, 2 bath plus den with bay & ocean views, up to $1.88 million for a 4 bed, 3.5 bath plus den with the same view.
There are also four remaining penthouses from $2 million to $3.1 million.
For specific unit numbers and prices (if not listed in this post), just send us a message. We’re always happy to help. As for the Paraiso Beach Club and Amenity Complex, they are both coming along nicely and scheduled to open just in time for the first residents’ move-in.
One Paraiso Has Topped Off; Paraiso District Construction & Sales Update
The third tower in the 10 acre Paraiso District has topped off. One Paraiso reached its final height of 53 floors this week leaving only GranParaiso in the vertical construction phase. Here is the latest on the project:
One Paraiso – The building has topped off and interior finish out is underway. Only two residences remain, a 3 bedroom and a penthouse. Closings are set to begin later in the year.
BayHomes – Interior finish-out and landscaping are underway and sidewalks are being poured. Closings will begin this summer and prices start at $1.9 million.
Paraiso Bay – This was the first tower to top-off. Interior finish-out is underway and closings are set to begin this summer. There are no purchase opportunities at this time.
Paraiso Bayviews – The most affordable tower in the district topped off in April and is set for opening at the end of the year. Remaining apartments start at $599,000.
GranParaiso – If you want A-Rod to be your neighbor, you should buy here. They have reached the 41st level of vertical construction and are set to open in the Spring 2018. Prices start at $968,000.
Aria on the Bay Construction Tour
Today we were invited to take a construction tour of Aria on the Bay in the Omni District of Edgewater. I had been curious to see how the building would turn out ever since the day I first saw the renderings, and I was very impressed!
In touring with the developers, Martin and Carlos Melo, their passion and pride in their craft was evident. They seemed to genuinely enjoy giving the tour and were excited to go through the project with us, often pausing to tell the stories behind previous buildings they have built. Aria on the Bay is the first luxury condominium they have built in Miami, but they have built almost 20 buildings in total, typically rental developments that they hold and run. They explained that they build for what the market calls for, whether it be an affordable yet well-appointed apartment building attached to a metromover stop, or a glitzy waterfront development with private elevators, which is what we saw today. Here’s a preview of the residences, which will begin closings early in 2018:
The East view from the 51st floor
The East view from the 51st floor
The Northeast view from the 51st floor
The North view from the 51st floor
The South view from the 51st floor
The views checked out beautifully, and I was also impressed to see that even the residences on the West side of the building (facing Biscayne Boulevard, rather than the Biscayne Bay) also had partial bay views. Bravo!
The interiors of the units were still very much under construction, but some already had the kitchens and bathrooms installed enough to where we could see the quality of the finishes.
This is the vanity in one of the master bathrooms. You can see the cabinets are a textured wooden design from Italkraft and the vanity top is quartz. In the background, you can see the standalone tub. It was still covered to protect the fixture, so I didn’t take a direct photo of it. In the photo below, you can see the rendering of a similar master bathroom.
Here is the soaking tub in one of the guest bedrooms. It hasn’t been shined up yet, but you can see that it is nicer than the soaking tubs in the master bedrooms of some of the competing developments.
This is another guest bath in the same apartment.
Sadly, none of my kitchen photos came out very well, but the finishes are similar to the bathrooms with the same textured wooden paneling from Italkraft on the cabinets and the appliances. Here is the sample kitchen, which has been built out in the sales center.
The amenity deck was also very much still under construction, but I had to make note of how similar the pool deck came out when you compare it to the rendering. They elevated the jacuzzi so that when people sit in it, they can see over the glass and into the bay.
Another aspect of Aria that I was impressed with was their range of floor plans. Buyers have the option to pay a little more and live in the more exclusive East side of the building, that has private elevators and direct bay views. They also have the option to pay a little less and live on the West side of the building with semi-private elevators and partial bay views. Apartments with private elevators have two private elevator bays as well as a shared service elevator. Those with semi-private elevators have four elevator bays for eight apartments on each floor, so residents should feel comfortable that there are plenty of bays to eliminate wait times.
The project is currently 80% sold out and has a nice selection of availability in both sections of the building. For apartments with semi-private elevators, units are available from $433,000 – $597,000 and for apartments with private elevators and direct bay views, prices range from $794,000 – $1,769,900. Penthouses are priced upon request. Buyers of the penthouses will be able to say that the Miami Marlins’ outfielder, Giancarlo Stanton, who just signed the richest contract in MLB history ($325 million over 13 years) is their next door neighbor.
Photos Bonanza! Paraiso Bay Construction Update
The first closings at Paraiso are scheduled to begin this summer, so how is construction coming along? Let’s check…
Paraiso Bay – This will be the first tower to open and closings are scheduled in July. It is currently sold out and on the home-stretch to completion.
Paraiso Bay Homes – Around the time that Paraiso Bay opens, the 8 Paraiso Bay Homes will also be complete. They are located in front of Paraiso Bay and Gran Paraiso, underneath the pool deck. There are still a few available. There is a 3 bedroom plus a study that is $1,910,900 and a couple of 4 bedrooms that also have a study. Those are $2,190,900 and $2,400,900.
Gran Paraiso – Paraiso Bay’s sister tower has reached the 38th floor of vertical construction. The railings and glazing are also inching their way up. We expect to see completion next spring and there are still units that are 2 bedroom up to 4 bedroom layouts starting at $968,000.
Paraiso Bayviews – The most affordable tower in the complex topped off last month and the rooftop pool deck is currently being constructed. We’re hoping to see this tower delivered at the end of 2017 and the close-out inventory starts at $420,000.
One Paraiso – Standing up front on the edge of the bay, One Paraiso has reached the 53rd level of vertical construction. We are also expecting to see this one completed later this year and there are two penthouses remaining, starting at $2.8 million.
The Paraiso Beach Club is also coming along nicely. It should be ready to open in time for the first residents to move-in this summer.
Here are some additional shots of the complex, for those who love a photo bonanza!
The Smoking Ban In Condos Movement Lights Up Again
A movement to ban smoking in condos is heating up again. Fort Lauderdale developer, Dennis Eisinger does not allow smoking in the common areas of his buildings nor in the parking garage, balconies or inside the units themselves, according to the Daily Business Review. The movement is spreading South as well… we noticed this week that Biscayne Beach will also be a 100% smoke-free building.
Here is the section of the Biscayne Beach Rules & Regulations that deals with smoking:
Under Mr. Eisinger’s plan, condo developers retain the right to prohibit smoking in the buildings they sell, and existing buildings have an opportunity to decide for themselves to go smoke-free. A 75% condo board agreement would change the building bylaws and deem lighting up a violation. “Smokers are not a protected class,” Mr. Eisinger told the Daily Business Review, referring to the federal Fair Housing Act.
Why This Is An Amazing Idea
To be honest, Biscayne Beach’s choice to prohibit makes a lot of sense. Below all of the units is the restaurant and beach club. I highly doubt the patrons of the restaurant and the beach club members would appreciate being hit with a stray cigarette while they enjoy their fruity drinks by the pool. I certainly wouldn’t.
In addition, every single building manager I have spoken with has complained at one point or another about cigarettes ruining the pool furniture and starting fires on balconies below. In Infinity, there was actually a fire a couple of years back on a balcony when a cigarette butt hit a patio cushion and it burned. I was also hit in the head recently while swimming with my baby in the pool. Thank goodness it was my hair that got singed and not the baby’s. Scary.
Smoking inside the apartments causes its own form of damage. Smoke smell is not a selling feature. I’ve routinely seen tenants and buyers alike dismiss a property because of the smell. Speaking also from the standpoint of a landlord’s representative, the smell is nearly impossible to get out. The apartments always have to be repainted, the air conditioner units deep cleaned and sometimes the flooring and window shades even need to be changed. This cost quickly adds up and exceeds the security deposit that landlords hold. Not a great investment.
Aside from the inconvenience to others, affect on market values and danger of burns, I think the CDC has appropriately made their point and convinced everyone that smoking is hazardous to your health and to the health of those around you.
But Are The Buildings Overstepping Their Power?
Despite the reasons why buildings SHOULD go smoke-free, can the condo association really dictate what people do inside of the properties that they own? Or is that an example of association over-control?
Also, how could it really be enforced? Would there be a cigarette-gestapo to make sure that people follow the rules? I would love to find out who threw that cigarette off the balcony and hit me in the head, but I recognize that I will never know.
Biscayne Beach’s First Rentals Hit The Market; Restaurant Space Available
Renters and hopeful restaurateurs rejoice! Biscayne Beach’s first rental apartment has hit the market, as well as the much-anticipated restaurant space.
The restaurant space takes up 7,835 square feet of the second floor including the large terrace overlooking the beach club. It is offered at a very competitive rate in order to be filled as soon as possible. The previous restaurant concept had planned to open later in the year. We had heard that it was a Turkish or Mediterranean theme, but cannot confirm since the deal fell apart before the build-out started. Here is the floor plan of the restaurant, from the offering memorandum we received this morning.
Personally, I see a high-end restaurant with American cuisine and fresh seafood being most successful in this location. The restaurant would service the beach club (which will reportedly offer 250 public memberships for sale, 391 memberships to building residences as well as their guests) and the general public.
The first residential rental to be offered is unit 2905, which hit the market yesterday for $5,000/month. The property is currently still decorator-ready, but should be finished out and shined up by July 1. It has two bedrooms, a den off of the kitchen and 3 bathrooms. The pricing of rentals in a brand-new building is always an experiment since there is nothing to really compare the apartments to and we do anticipate a surge of availability once the closings draw to completion. I am excited to see what the market will bring to Biscayne Beach!
Let us know your thoughts on the restaurant concept and the rental values. What do you think we’ll see? In the meantime, here is a video tour of the restaurant space.
Inside Biscayne Beach
Today is the day! Biscayne Beach is officially open! They received their TCO on April 21, so were able to begin closings today. Here is a sneak peek from our tour as well as from the developer representative’s social media posts. How do you think it turned out?
The lobby.
The pool.
The Biscayne Beach Club.
There are 13 poolside cabanas.
The kitchens.
I was really impressed with these super hight floor-ceiling windows.
The units are being delivered decorator-ready, so the new owners can now choose their finishes.
Market Stat Monday: 1800 Club
Last week, we had the first official installment of the Market Stat Monday series. We checked in on Quantum on the Bay, which is in the process of overcoming some legal battles. One of our readers suggested that we skip next door this week and look into the less dramatic yet equally beautiful 1800 Club, so here we are.
For those who are new to 1800 Club, it was built in 2007 and has 469 apartments within 42 stories. It is a full-service building, pretty much standard to the area. The amenities include pools, gym, 24 hour doorman, valet, and a party room. The building is quite lovely and is also well-kept. It was actually one of the few buildings in the market to earn FHA approval, so FHA buyers could purchase there with low down payment loans. That approval is notoriously difficult for condo buildings, and sadly it expired for 1800 Club in 2014, but the fact that it was achieved speaks volumes of how the building is run. Today, the FHA certification has not been renewed, but there are conventional mortgage programs that allow up to 95% financing on purchases in the building.
There are currently 32 active listings for sale, so 7% of the total units are available for purchase. The average price per foot ranges more drastically than most buildings. The lowest-priced unit is listed for $295/square foot and the highest price per foot is $511/square foot. If you’re curious why the gap in pricing is so large, it is because the units in this building have a very different mix of layouts and views. Apartments on the east side of the building have direct bay views, apartments on the west side have sunset views and those located on the south side of the building have partial bay views but also look into the nearly-completed Aria on the Bay. Also, all of the one bedroom plans have either the west view or south view. There is one line that has two bedrooms and a west view, but most of the two bedrooms have south or east views. Because the layouts and views are so starkly different, I’ve decided to pull the statistics for each segment of the building.
WEST FACING UNITS
There are currently 7 units on the market that face west. These have beautiful sunset views and the asking price averages $380/square foot. The least expensive is apartment 2902, an 841 square foot 1 bedroom that is offered for $278,900 and includes a $2,000 credit toward new floors (the wood laminate that is now in the apartment is pretty damaged). The least expensive two bedroom is on the 31st floor and is offered for $429,900 with marble floors. The most expensive two bedroom is the same floor plan on the 36th floor for $525,000 that has been completely remodeled.
On the west side, we have seen 3 closed sales since the beginning of the year. These have closed at an average of $323/square foot and the sellers have received an average of 96% of their asking price. The least expensive was unit 1602, which is a 1 bedroom that sold for $260,000. I found the listing photos of this unit to be very misleading. The agent took photos of the bay view from the pool deck but did not specify that they were not taken from the unit itself. An uneducated or underrepresented buyer could easily be led astray with photos like this. Tsk tsk.
There are not any sales listings that currently have pending contracts. I have a feeling we will see some price reductions from those who need to sell.
SOUTH FACING UNITS
The south side of the building is interesting because Aria on the Bay is being constructed next door, so many of the sellers purchased their units when the view was very much different. The view is still pretty, just the water view is not as expansive as it once was. There are currently 8 available sales at an average price per foot of $343. The only closed sale this year in this section of the building was unit 2212, which is a 1,374 square foot 2 bedroom layout that sold for $435,000 ($316/square foot).
Just a few floors up, unit 2712 is currently awaiting closing and was listed for $324/square foot. Since buyers are settling for 96% of the asking price, it looks like we’re due for some price reductions before things start to move.
EAST FACING UNITS
The east view at 1800 Club is really a money-maker. All of the plans on the east side are 2 bedroom layouts and 11 are currently available at an average price of $488/square foot. The actual listing prices are $489,000 up to $620,000.
Something interesting that I found is that the only closed sale on this side of the building was unit 1807, which closed for $545,000 ($445/square foot). The lowest price of the available units is unit 1403, a 2 bedroom with 1,142 square feet for $489,000 ($428/square foot). DEAL ALERT!!!
There are two 3 bedroom units available, but I really don’t have anything to compare them to. One is a furnished 01 line that is on the 8th floor (below the pool deck). The other is a 3,082 square foot duplex loft on the pool level. They are listed for $975,000 and $1.29 million, respectively.
Overall, the building is looking at 27 months of inventory based upon closed sales rates. While that’s not a great number, it is far healthier than some of the other buildings we’ve dug into over recent weeks. There have been a total of 6 closed sales in the overall building with an average price of $328/square foot. With 3 closings on the west side, one on the east side, one on the north side and one that was an outlier (it was on level 3 with a very different floor plan), the less expensive west side is the busier side currently. Since there is nothing pending over there at this point, it will be interesting to see what the summer brings us.
WHAT ABOUT RENTALS?
Just like the buildings we’ve seen over recent weeks, the rental market is still healthy at 1800 Club. There is just under 4 months of inventory on the market (20 active listings and 24 have rented since the beginning of the year). The listings are fetching 99% of their asking price and the listings are staying active for just under 60 days on average.
Now as an investor, you’re probably thinking that 60 days is a long marketing period but also consider that many of the listings are activated 30 days before the previous tenant vacates. The paperwork process of moving a new tenant into the building typically takes 3 weeks, so the 60 days on the market statistic isn’t really so bad.
One bedrooms are fetching $1,750/month and up right now, two bedrooms with west views are bringing $2,450/month. The only north facing unit that is available is an enormous 1,810 square foot 2 bedroom that is available for $3,500/month. East views are available for $2,800/month.
From an investment standpoint, I’m giving 1800 Club a gold star. Mortgages are available in the building, layouts are attractive to tenants (and owner/occupants), the building is well-run, the finishes are nice, the location is top notch and the views are beautiful. Pretending that we purchased that $260,000 one bedroom (the least expensive recent sale) and leased it for $1,750/month (the least expensive 1 bedroom recent rental), it would work out to a 4-5% return rate after expenses. Those are really great numbers for the area!
Which building should we look into next week???
The Biscayne Beach Club Could Offer Memberships To The Public
In anticipation of their opening day, I took the liberty of reading Biscayne Beach‘s 674 page prospectus that will be given to each of the 391 owners at closing. Nerdy? Probably, but I’m also a girl in the know. I learned some interesting tidbits including the cable service will be through Hotwire, valet parking will be through Park One, the building will be managed by First Service Residential, and the developer is retaining the rights to offer beach club memberships to the public.
According to the prospectus, the “Outside Members” will be capped at 250 at any given time and these members have to pay into the condominium association. It reads:
The Developer, during the period in which it is entitled to elect a majority of the Board, and thereafter the Condominium Association, each reserve the right, in their sole and absolute discretion, to sell memberships in the Beach Club to members of the general public who are not Unit Owners (“Outside Members”), upon such terms and conditions as the Developer or the Condominium Association, as applicable, may determine in their sole discretion, provided that the number of such memberships outstanding at any one time shall not exceed 250. All fees and other revenue by the Developer from the sale of such memberships shall be the sole property ofthe Developer, and shall not be considered revenue or income of the Condominium Association.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, each of the Outside Members shall also pay to the Condominium Association, periodic dues based on a proportionate share of the estimated operating costs of the Beach Club, as described in Section 20. The Common Elements of the Condominium, and any other portions of the Common Elements as the Condominium Association may, from time to time, elect to make available to Outside Members, shall be subject to various easements relating to the Beach Club, as described in Section 17.
The prospectus also went on to explain that the developer reserves the right to assign up to four of the 13 cabanas for exclusive use of the owner of that apartment. If the cabanas are not assigned, they are to be used by the Beach Club.
What we don’t know is whether the developer chose to exercise these rights, or what the cost of the Beach Club membership would be if they do decide to offer it. Personally, I love the idea. It would be like having The Standard on the mainland! What do you think?
