Babylon Apartments Demolition Blocked… For Now
Babylon Apartments. Photo by Phillip Pessar.
The City of Miami’s historic preservation board voted Tuesday evening to block demolition of the iconic Babylon Apartments on Brickell Bay Drive, which is one of architecture firm Arquitectonica’s very first buildings and one of its most iconic. Although the owner, Francisco “Paco” Martinez, who once stared in old spaghetti western movies under the name George Martin, was able to get the City of Miami to condemn the structure, the preservation board unanimously voted to consider preservation a day before Paco was to get his demolition permit. This places a 120 day moratorium on demolition, giving city staff time to further consider the historic importance of the building.
Since its age falls significantly short of the standard 50-year cutoff for historic preservation, the structure must meet a higher bar of “exceptional importance” to warrant historic designation. (It was designed in 1979 and completed in 1982) Preservationists, however, argue that is exactly what it is. “Few dispute the architectural originality of the small Brickell apartment building, distinguished by its vivid red, ziggurat-shaped face, its key role in shaping the redevelopment of Brickell as an urban residential district in the 1980s, or its role in gaining a worldwide rep for the young Arquitectonica.” writes Andres Viglucci in the Miami Herald. Meanwhile, prominent historian Arva Moore Parks calls the Babylon “truly an iconic building.” The Babylon stands among the Atlantis, the Pink House, and the Palace Condominium, as Arquitectonica’s most iconic early buildings, which themselves set the stylistic tone for Miami in the ’80s.
Did a Kaleidoscope Explode in This Modernist Condo?
Santa Maria condominiums, one of Brickell’s most stalwart high-end condo towers, is where you would be likely to find somewhat predictable interior design choices, liked overstuffed club chairs and wainscoting set off by a Dale Chihuly chandelier. Unit 1643, priced at $5.5 million, has none of those things. Instead it’s a white box condo with bold, solid colors, and geometric designs selectively streaked over walls, ceilings, and floors. The dining room comes in a black & white diamond pattern. There are yellow checkerboard-ish walls in a bathroom. The kids’ rooms are colorful, as kids’ rooms tend to be, and the kitchen is triangular. Out in the living room, a giant circular black rug and three-piece yellow couch dominate the space, while on the balcony the ottomans are made of grass.
UberPOOL Prices Lowered Again for Urbanite Miamians
UberPOOL, the least expensive and most egalitarian version of Uber, is now up to 80% off for rides in Downtown Miami, Brickell, Miami Beach, Coconut Grove, Key Biscayne, Coral Gables, and every location within the Miami Request Zone. That means that if you live in Brickell but want to make it over to to South Beach but don’t mind sharing a car with a stranger or two you’r paying a fraction off what you had to pay before. Checking earlier today, UberPOOL was offering a ride from South Beach to Downtown for just over $2. A more recent check showed the price had risen slightly to $3-something, while an estimate for UberX (the second-least expensive version) came in at just over $7. This could be what travel pricing looks like in the brave new world, heavily based on distance and economy. When an Uber ride costs about the same as the bus, nevermind parking, is when Miami transportation rules really start to change.
UPDATE: Uber and competitor Lyft are now legal in Miami.
Map via Uber
Michael Dezer’s New Car Warehouse Says a Lot About the Relationship Between Men and Their Cars
Photo via Google Street View
They say men who buy big cars have small… feet, but how about men who have dozens and dozens? Developer Michael Dezer has purchased a warehouse at 5320 Powerline Road in Fort Lauderdale where he intends to hold some of his-ever expanding car collection. That is, after Dezer gets out the building’s current occupants, a place called ‘Dirt Cheap‘ with a picture of a chicken, out front. ‘Dirt Cheap’ is a chain of highly discounted retailers, not a chicken processing plant, so the chicken doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense. However, if Dezer could (or would) leave the sign up with his fleet of cars parked around around, the self-effacing euphemism of it all would be great. Let’s hope his sense of humor is bigger than some men’s feet. The warehouse cost him $3.6 million.
Closings at Centro Begin Last Week of May/First Week of June
Centro is done. Well technically, it’s almost done. According to representatives from the sales office, the Newgard Development Group’s latest condo tower Centro, at the corner of SE 1st Street and 2nd Avenue, is expecting to begin closings the last week of May/first week of June. Presumably that will be when the project receives its Temporary Certificate of Occupancy as well. At the moment construction fencing and scaffolding are still up, but the construction cranes have been removed.
Centro was one of the earliest to herald the resurgence of Downtown Miami in this real estate cycle (after the apocalypse of 2008 that is) and was even a little controversial in the beginning because it was built without a garage. And you know how Miamians love their cars. Then during site excavation, some nincompoops saw the unearthed foundations of a hotel formerly on the site and thought they had found Roman ruins. Hopefully the project, will be as entertaining when it’s done as it was watching it get built. We’re looking forward to seeing those Yves Behar-designed interiors too.
Excrutiatingly Adorable Little Coral Gables House Hits the Market for $675K
521 Aragon Avenue
This may be called the Miami Condo Blog, but when a house is cute, well, that house is cuuuute. Here’s an adorable little three bedroom, two bath, historic Mediterranean Revival number in Coral Gables that hit the market a total of eight days ago for $675,000. Built in 1926 and designed by architect Harold D. Steward, despite its modest 1,588 square foot size, the house has a certain stateliness to it, with a vaulted living room ceiling of ‘pecky cyprus’ beams, a fireplace, wooden floors, bright green cabinetry, and a front porch. The dining room/sun room has Portuguese tile floors, and out back the very lush backyard has a brick patio facing a pond and waterfall, with a little guest cottage beyond. At 521 Aragon Avenue, the house is in the oldest part of Coral Gables, two blocks away from Miracle Mile and literally basically around the corner from the childhood home of George Merrick, the Gables’ founder.
In Miami, houses are like land. In this town they’re not making many more of them. Condos are where the growth is, making up the vast majority of the residential real estate market, and houses in good neighborhoods are rarer and rarer.
New Owner Reboots The Edge on Brickell as a Hotel
New rendering of The Edge on Brickell
The Edge on Brickell is back, sort of. The sliver of land at 55 SW Miami Avenue where a condo tower was proposed just a few years ago will now be the site of a hotel, developed by its new owner Brazilian Leo Macedo of the Brick Group. The developer told Miami Today “A hotel makes a lot more sense than residential on the river in this particular location,” close to transit, marine life, and the activity of lots of surrounding new developments.
Although the hotel has a new architect and a new (even taller!) design, Macedo is sticking with the name ‘The Edge on Brickell.’ The project will have 200 hotel rooms and more parking than the axed residential tower. Plans shown to the Miami River Commission on April 22nd show two ninth floor pool decks and a rooftop restaurant.
Condo Associations Opting to Not Include Water as a Utility in Their Monthly Dues
You know what they say when you assume: you make an ASS out of U and ME. Until recently, it was assumed, for condos located in Miami, that water would be included as a utility in a condo owner’s condominium association dues and, therefore, would be included in the rent price for tenants who lease their property. That no longer seems to be a safe assumption. Two recently completed condo developments – Nine at Mary Brickell Village and The Crimson – have done away with including in their condo dues water as a utility. For those two condo developments, units have associated to them separate water meters, which are read periodically in order to compute their individual utility bill.
While at first glance this may seem like great news for investors since they no longer would have to foot the bill for a utility service that they personally are not using, it could potentially be risky for owners as well. If a tenant neglected to pay his/her water bill, a lien could be placed on the property. That is not the case for other utilities and services such as electricity and cable TV. If a tenant neglected to pay their electricity bill, Florida Power & Light would simply shut off the power to the property. If a tenant neglected to pay their cable TV bill, the cable company would simply deactivate service. If, on the other hand, a tenant neglected to pay their water bill, the bill would continue to run up and a lien would be placed on the owner’s property. Something to keep in mind, especially for Realtors who are in the habit of telling prospective tenants that water comes included in the rent price. Rather than assuming, it’s always best to double check with a building’s condominium association before relaying such information.
Brickell City Centre Reach Tower Is Officially Open
At long last, Brickell City Centre’s first residential tower has opened! Reach Tower has received its certificate of occupancy from the city and closings have begun. The closings just began this week and the first residence to hit the public records was apartment 2109. That closed on Monday, April 11, according to The Next Miami.
Sources with the development have indicated an average sales price of $650/square foot for the 390 residences, 335 of which are currently under contract. The first investors to commit to the development were offered lower prices in exchange for believing in the project when it was in the conceptual phase. Apartment 2109 is a 2 bedroom with 1,501 interior square feet that closed for $884,300, or $589/square foot.
At the time of this post, we have not yet seen any of the apartments come to the rental market although they are expected soon. Some investors have mentioned to our agents that they intend to list the rental units for $3500/month for one bedroom options and $4500/month for two bedroom options.
The apartments are being delivered finished and ready for furniture, so we will not have to wait for interiors to be built out before seeing new neighbors occupying the tower. If you would like a tour of the development for purchase or lease, we are happy to arrange it.
