Photo by Lucas Lechuga.
As of yesterday, one unit had closed at Newgard Development Group’s Centro, in Downtown Miami. The condo in question is Apartment 2502, a 2-bedroom unit. Residents of Centro have begun moving in, but unsurprisingly, (because that’s just how these things go in Miami) a few months later than planned. Centro includes 352 total units.
One Thousand Museum, designed by the recently deceased grande dame of architecture herself Zaha Hadid, has already reached the fifteenth floor, as multiple news sources have announced. These photos are from the project’s Facebook page, which also links to plenty of those articles. That rather rudimentary floor plate count is no biggie however, because you can now finally see the structural exoskeleton coursing up around that parametric facade, supporting it from just a few key points on the exterior. In other words, every passer can finally take in the architecture. We can all now see some of what Zaha envisioned all along, in solid concrete, and that’s pretty great.
Quadro
A 13-story building called Quadro with 198 rental apartment units and 28,000 square feet of retail space is being developed by Alta Development in the Miami Design District at 3900 Biscayne Boulevard, the former site of the Channel 10 Studios, and the current location the Miami Arts Charter School which is relocating to Wynwood. Naturally, it’s called Quadro because the building stretches from 39th to 40th Streets, although 40th Street doesn’t actually intersect with Biscayne Boulevard here (the next intersection isn’t until 50th Terrace), so that’s something…
From renderings revealed on The Next Miami, the design itself looks attractive and logical, if not particularly unique in any way. It does, however, urbanize what until now has been a rather atypical suburban stretch of Biscayne Boulevard, and it does it well. Alta partnered with the Related Group on the neighboring Baltus House, so they’re not unfamiliar with the area. Alta hired Revuelta as the design architect and Behar Font as the architect of record, although they bought the land from Nancy Karp, wife of architect Kobi Karp, a year ago for $18.4 million. Whatever anyone says about those Karps and the quality of their architecture (and I’ve said a lot), you’ve got to admit they’re pretty damn talented real estate investors.
Well, there goes one of the good ones. The Miami real estate boom of 2011-ish to 2016 must definitely really be over now that it’s started taking with it class acts such as Boulevard 57, a well-designed, contextual, and high quality building that was planned on Biscayne Boulevard and 57th Street. According to Hector Torres, chief operating officer of Unitas Development Group, who talked to The Real Deal, residential unit sales have been called off. Not according the Torres, however, who when asked by TRD said only that everything’s for sale at the right price, the entire site is being marketed for sale at $26 million. Real Deal heard that from “sources,” which probably just means a sales agent who is pissed they don’t have anything to sell there anymore.
On the positive side, the large site in the Upper Eastside might not have to sit fallow for years again, with deteriorating relics of a canceled condo project, because the ground-level retail is still on. After Kubik, planned for that spot during the last market boom, was shelved, a crane suspending a lit up (and eventually burned out) cube sat forlorn there for years. It probably got taken out of its misery by a hurricane or something. Thanks Wilma.
Torres said the retail portion of the project is moving forward and might even get ten or twenty thousand square feet larger. Lyle Chariff, who is marketing the retail, totally name dropped Trader Joe’s as a potential, or at least hoped for tenant, although the grammar is technically a bit vague on whether they are actually talking to them. They’ve had “interest from Trader Joe’s and Publix-type tenants” Chariff said. A courteous comma would have really cleared things up here, people.
The years of drama at this site (don’t even get us started on all the shit that went down when they pulled the plug on Kubik), just makes you wish some shortsighted bonehead had never demolished the beautiful old Northeast Miami Women’s Club’s Mediterranean Revival clubhouse to make it all happen. Read this excerpt about it from a Soyka Restaurant press packet:
Fun Fact: Garden Room is also meeting spot for the Northeast Miami Woman’s Club. It features an historic awning initially used by the organization in its hay day. Soyka purchased its main headquarters in the late 1990’s but insisted the group still host its meetings in the Garden Room, which they do on the third Thursday of every month between September and June.
Photo by Marcos Viñas, courtesy Instagram @anapaulacg.
The Related Group’s SLS Brickell condominium tower in the heart of Brickell is fast approaching completion, with closings comin’ up soon. How soon? According to Carlos Rosso, Related’s Luxury Condo Division President, they’re planning on September 1st. In anticipation, the tower was set ablaze last night with a dramatic outdoor lighting scheme of dominated by diagonal rows of twinkling blue dots affixed to small promontories poking out of the building’s balconies, then wrapping around the building at the corners. The effect is really very cool, although last night was a test. How did the test turn out? Well, it looks pretty great,. but as you can see a few big chunks of balcony lights stayed in the dark. Looks like someone might have to do some more testing, Christmas light style.
A 1920s Mediterranean Revival pile called the ‘Prescott Mansion’ used to sit on this Biscayne Bay-fronting lot in the Bayside Historic District in Miami, at 7101 NE 10th Ave. Unfortunately, it doesn’t anymore. The lot, now listed for sale after a “drastic price drop” according to agent Dora Puig to $4.95 million (a $1.5M reduction), comes with plans to rebuild the house and add a contemporary new wing with some crazy luxe amenities designed by architect Ralph Choeff. The plans for the new house include a 7,000 square foot underground garage, a huge pool, 10 bedrooms, 3 kitchens, and a private sandy beach.
Jade at Brickell Bay is back and looking better than ever! For almost four years, a dark cloud hung over the luxury tower as an exterior work project to correct construction issues concerned and kept away would-be buyers. Scaffolding and rope hung down the sides of the building and, at one point, residents were unable to use their balconies on weekdays and the pool deck during certain hours. A few months ago, almost four years later, the exterior work project was completed and Jade at Brickell Bay is once again regarded as a top luxury option for buyers and renters. Take a look at our drone video below to see Jade at Brickell Bay in all her glory.
Former Gulf American/INS Building. Photo courtesy BrettHufziger.com.
The old INS Building, originally known as the Gulf American Building and an under-appreciated midcentury modern icon just outside the boundary of the Biscayne Boulevard MiMo District, is losing its signature anodized aluminum sun shades. Photographer Brett Hufgizer (see more at BrettHufziger.com) noticed construction workers removing the distinctive architectural elements from the facade yesterday. The building (historic photo below) originally had a glassed-in lobby and distinctive rooftop news ticker. As I once pointed out on Curbed Miami, the screens were used to shade the building’s windows from the direct light of the sun, in the days before solar tinting. They doubled as a place for architectural display. At the very top was a funky ‘GA’ logo. Plans are for the structure to be gutted to its shell and remade into the Triton Center, a mixed-use residential, commercial, and hotel project, with metal panels that ‘highlight’ to some extent elements of the original building’s design, by architecture firm ADD Inc. (update: the hotel will be a Hilton Garden Inn) Meanwhile the shades need a last minute salvation. If the sun shades can’t be saved in the ‘new’ building, maybe somebody can find use for them somewhere else.
Helix Ramps being formed and cast.
Miami’s future railroad, All Aboard Florida/The Brightline has submitted street re-routings for the south end of the Downtown Miami station site, causing The Next Miami to speculate that the project’s planned ‘supertower’ may have been canceled and replaced with two smaller towers (update: according to a Brightline spokesperson, they are not downsizing the super tower). Meanwhile, yes, it’s official says Miami Today: after some close calls, Tri-Rail will be joining the party. “The South Florida Regional Transportation Authority’s governing board has voted to accept an agreement among local agencies that will allow Tri-Rail trains to roll into the new MiamiCentral station by the end of next year.” From recent construction shots, dated May 24th, over at The Brightline’s snazzy AF website, it looks like station construction, to accommodate both Brightline and Tri-Rail trains, is going just swimmingly. Captions are via The Brightline.
