Yesterday afternoon, Diana Olick of CNBC discussed the Miami condo market on her segment “Spring Realty Check”. The Miami condo market has made an amazing recovery over the past four years and is once again heating up. Miami condo sales are up 134 percent from a year ago and investors are rushing in to scoop up condos. As Diana says, “Investors should pay attention, or miss the boat”.
The 849-unit, two-tower, mixed-use development located at 244 Biscayne Blvd and 253 NE 2 St in Downtown Miami has officially been renamed Vizcayne (comprised of Vizcayne South Tower condos and Vizcayne North Tower condos). The name change, in conjunction with a multi-million dollar completion program, is an effort to rebrand the development and revitalize sales. An official relaunch event is scheduled for next month where the public will be able to tour Vizcayne as well as decorated model units.
Last summer, as you may recall, I wrote a few blog posts regarding the penthouse at Imperial at Brickell. At the time, the penthouse was a bank-owned foreclosure. I felt that it was very well priced and, with the right amount of work, had a ton of potential. The 5,034 square foot penthouse ultimately sold for $1.05M, or $209 per square foot, on August 13, 2010. Amazing price!
Well, the penthouse at Imperial at Brickell is back on the market…the rental market to be exact. The asking price is $18,000 per month. No, that’s not a typo, just EXTREMELY high expectations. Judging by the pictures, only minor changes were made to the unit. I was expecting to see a complete rebuild of the penthouse. Regardless, the price had made me doing several triple-takes earlier this afternoon before I even took a look at the pictures.
Below is a video of the unit as I saw it last May:
The foreclosure forefront has been quite slow ever since several U.S. banks initiated a voluntary freeze in October. The freeze on foreclosures was implemented after banks had acknowledged using “robo-signers” to approve hundreds of foreclosure documents a day without first verifying the information in them. Bank of America, the largest U.S. financial institution, announced the week of December 6, 2010 that it would lift its national foreclosure freeze and resume taking possession of properties. Despite the announcement, I had not seen any foreclosure condos in Miami or Miami Beach hit the market that I felt would be of any interest to my readers for quite some time. That is, until yesterday. The following are three Miami or Miami Beach condo foreclosures along with my commentary detailing why I feel they are deals worth pursuing.
Over the past three months, I’ve received a number of inquiries from people in regards to Mint. A few have inquired as to when sales are expected to begin while others have asked when they should expect rental listings to hit the market. Over the past four months, ST Residential has been working with original contract holders to get them to the closing table. According to public records, closings at Mint began on August 27, 2010. Since that time, there have been 110 recorded closings with prices ranging from$203,900 to $1.09M. Rental listings at Mint started to appear on the MLS within a few months of the first closing. There are currently 20 condos available for rent at Mint on the MLS with prices ranging from $1,575 to $1,750 per month for a one bedroom and $2,200 to $2,900 per month for a 2 bedroom. Sales are officially expected to launch at the end of this month to the general public. It’ll be interesting to see how the general public reacts to pricing once it is released. Mint is located at 92 SW 3 St, Miami, FL 33130.
Like many, I’ve been waiting for the dust to settle at Everglades on the Bay (now known as Vizcayne North and Vizcayne South) Rockwood Capital, as you may already know, acquired the development in a $141M cash transaction this past November. Since that time, I’ve eagerly anticipated the relaunch of sales and, of course, to get my hands on pricing. The wait is over! The development will be sold in phases with 60 very well priced units to be released in the initial phase. The objective is to get sales off to good start. Over the next couple of months, Rockwood will also be focused on performing capital improvements and improving building operations. I’ve been asked not to publicly discuss pricing at this time but I will say that I haven’t seen pricing this good since the developer blow-out sales at Marina Blue and 1060 Brickell in 2009. I anticipate these initial 60 units to be sold within the first 3 weeks. Contact us if you have an interest in purchasing a condo at Everglades on the Bay or to learn more about the 849-unit mixed-use development.
Acquiring $4.5B in property 15 months ago wasn’t enough. Starwood Capital Group is back for more, and this time, according to the Wall Street Journal, they are targeting individual properties and portfolios offered by banks and the FDIC. Recently, as the article points out, Starwood Capital Group bid on Everglades on the Bay (now known as Vizcayne South and Vizcayne North) but lost out to Rockwood Capital LLC.
Through the acquisition of Corus Bank’s portfolio in October 2009, Starwood controls roughly 6,700 units throughout the country, with a good chunk of them residing in South Florida. Paramount Bay and Mint at Riverfront are two luxury condominium developments under Starwood’s control. Both Miami developments are scheduled to begin sales in the first quarter of this year.
Since yesterday, two REO condos at Brickell on the River North Tower have come onto the market. The first is a 3 bedroom/2.5 bath condo on the 35th floor with 1,513 square feet of interior. The asking price is $ 314,000, or $208 per square foot. The second condo, also located on the 35th floor, is a 2 bedroom/2 bath condo with 1,157 square feet of interior. The asking price is $222,750, or $193 per square foot. Both condos face west, come with one parking space and have tiled flooring throughout the living areas and marble in the bathrooms. Both condos are well priced and should receive offers from multiple parties. Contact us at 305-428-3860 if you have an interest in either or both condos at Brickell on the River North Tower.
As you may recall, Penthouse 4901 at Santa Maria was a bank-owned foreclosure that came onto the market this past May at an asking price of $12.9M. Later that same very day, the status of the listing changed to “closed sale” and showed a purchase price of $11M, or $1100 per square foot. Earlier today, I noticed that the amazing, 10,000 square foot penthouse at Santa Maria was re-listed last month, on September 10th, at an asking price of $14.9M, or $1490 per square foot. There’s no question that Penthouse 4901 at Santa Maria is one of Miami’s most coveted luxury penthouses. It will be interesting to see how long it remains on the market before garnering the interest of another buyer. I’ll be sure to keep the penthouse on my radar and report the sales price after it closes.
View additional pictures and listing information for Santa Maria PH4901.
