Opportunity to Own a 1 Bedroom in Tower 2 of the Luxurious Icon Brickell
A few days ago I received an email from a gentleman who holds a preconstruction contract for a 1 bedroom in Tower 2 of Icon Brickell. He prefers not to close on the unit and wanted me to find out if there’s any interest in his unit from someone looking to acquire a condo at Icon Brickell. Even though the market has slowed, I still think there will be interest due to the reputation that the “Icon” brand has created. The “Icon” brand has become synonymous with ultra-luxury living and the Icon Brickell development will be one of the finest in all of Brickell.
The gentleman was originally supposed to receive a contract for a 1 bedroom in Tower 1 of Icon Brickell but due to high demand that tower quickly sold out. The developer, The Related Group, did however give him a 1 bedroom in Tower 2 at the same price that he was promised a 1 bedroom unit in Tower 1. It is a G floor plan with 984 square feet of interior space and a 137 square foot terrace. The unit is located on a high floor above the 30th.
His price per square foot of $486 is pretty amazing given that units in that same line sold for slightly over $750 per square foot. I spoke with a sales representative at Icon Brickell today to get a feel for how pricing will be once resales begin. She notified me that The Related Group has no plans to launch a resale program for Icon Brickell. I asked her why and she said that resale programs are only launched for their projects when they feel that the market can absorb it. She continued to add that because the market is currently soft they don’t feel that this is the case at this time. Icon Brickell has been sold out of one bedroom units in Towers 1 and 2 for quite some time. I asked her if she could remember what a G line unit was selling for before they sold out. She told me that there was a G line unit on the 46th floor that sold for $750,000.
The gentleman who contacted me is looking to resell his 1 bedroom at Icon Brickell. His asking price is $599,000. A simultaneous closing would need to be done since the developer is not allowing contracts to be assigned at this time. Icon Brickell is scheduled to begin closings towards the end of 2008. If you or someone you know has an interest in acquiring this unit, please drop me an email or give me a call.
Check out the picture slideshow below for more renderings of the Icon Brickell project:
Pictorial & Video Review of The Fantastic Four in Miami
Today was a beautiful sunny day in Miami so I decided to revisit my favorite skyline-gazing spot at the southwestern tip of Watson Island, along with my trusty digital camcorder. It is the perfect location to view the progression of what I have dubbed The Fantastic Four, made up of, from left to right, Marina Blue, 900 Biscayne Bay, Ten Museum Park and Marquis. It may appear as though there are five developments but the smallest of the buildings is located further off of Biscayne Boulevard to the west. Wikipedia refers to these four developments as the Biscayne Wall, but to me it is far shy of a wall when you compare it to fully built-out skylines in cities such as New York City and Chicago.
The name The Fantastic Four came to mind though as each of these four developments are fantastic ultra-luxury high-rise buildings revitalizing the Downtown Miami neighborhood now known as Park West. Park West was recently developed to be Miami’s equivalent to Manhattan’s Park Avenue. In years to come it will become known as Miami’s luxury neighborhood. It is located directly west of I-395, also known as the MacArthur Causeway, which leads straight into South Beach.Museum Park, formerly known as Bicentennial Park, which is the green piece of land directly east of the The Fantastic Four, will be redeveloped by the Miami Art Museum and the Miami Museum of Science and Planetarium to be transformed into a world-renowned park. It may not seem like a lot of land from the picture above but it is actually comprised of 30-plus acres. The luxury condo buildings in Park West are walking distance to the American Airlines Arena, the newly constructed Carnival Center for the Performing Arts and Bayside Marketplace.
In future months, as closing dates approach, there will be many opportunities to buy into these four buildings at discounted prices. Condo units in these buildings, as well as the thousands of other units coming to market in Miami over the next 18 months, were heavily purchased by investors. Their plan was to flip each condo unit for a profit prior to closing, but demand dried and prices headed south. Many will end up walking away from 20 percent deposits and instead write it off on their taxes. Closings at Ten Museum Park have already begun and Marina Blue should begin theirs towards the beginning of August.
The following pictorial review will give you a closer look at each of these buildings as they appear today:
Note: Watson Island offers the best views of both the Miami and Miami Beach skylines. With the exception of Parrot Jungle and the Miami Children’s Museum, it is a wonder how this land has remained vacant for so long. Flagstone Property Group is supposed to develop a mix-used project known as Island Gardens, with hotel, restaurant and retail space as well as a a “50-slip mega-yacht marina that would accommodate yachts of up 450-feet long”. I haven’t heard of any progress in over twelve months and it doesn’t appear as though anyone has broken ground on the land that I stood on today.
