Miami condo prices continue to improve. The median sales price for condos throughout Miami-Dade County has increased for 16 consecutive months, according to a market report released last week by the Miami Association of Realtors. In October, the median sales price of condominiums in Miami-Dade County rose 24.2 percent to $146,000 compared to a year earlier. Inventory of overall residential listings continues to shrink as well. There are currently 4.2 months worth of supply throughout the county. Over the past year, inventory has gone down 22.2 percent from 15,127 to 11,769 listings.
IconBay to Include Garage-top Tennis Courts and Watersports Marina
Rooftop tennis courts? Why didn’t anyone say anything? I’m not an avid tennis player but I wouldn’t mind partaking in a few games of tennis if they were to be held on a rooftop offering a majestic water view. Heck, I’m not even a tennis player period but I might just volunteer to be the line judge. Where do I sign up? One of IconBay’s latest renderings reveals two tennis courts atop its parking garage. It appears, however, that only one of the two courts will offer an unobstructed view of Biscayne Bay. I wonder what the wait time for that court will be. The tennis courts at IconBay will be located on the 7th floor and offer ball and towel service, filtered water stations and access to his-and-hers locker rooms. The courts will even be lighted to allow for nighttime play.
It seems that recreational activities and encouraging its residents to live a healthy lifestyle will be a central theme for Icon Bay. Icon Bay’s latest marketing piece states that it will include a watersports marina for windsurfing, paddleboarding, sailing, jet skiing and other motorized and non-motorized aquatic activities. How awesome is that?
The waterfront sculpture park will also be a distinguishing feature for Icon Bay. Featured artists will include: José Bedia Valdes, Carolina Sardi, Edouard Duval Carrié , Gary Nader and Daniel Maman. In the rendering above, notice the dog park, sculpture garden, exercise stations, play fountain and interactive sculpture along with the winding walkways and baywalk. Sounds like it will be one helluva park!
The Infinity-edge pool at Icon Bay will be accented by a snack and cocktail bar and private cabanas. Towel service will also be offered.
The fitness center and spa at IconBay will include top-of-the-line cardio and weight training equipment, sauna and steam rooms, personal trainers, yoga and Pilates classes and more.
Notice the triangular-shaped balconies on the backside of the building in the above rendering of IconBay. You also get a good shot of the two tennis courts. I must say that these latest renderings have me excited about the prospects for IconBay. It will definitely be a game-changer for the neighborhood. Hopefully the watersports marina will be open to non-residents as well.
I updated our Icon Bay building profile page to include all of the latest information that has been released including amenities and residence features.
900 Biscayne Bay’s Attention to Detail
There are several reasons for why 900 Biscayne Bay gets a 9.5 out of 10 quality score on our Condo Rankings page. The building management’s attention to detail is definitely one of them. In the photo above, take note of the pattern across the back of the sofa. Each morning, the cleaning person vacuums this pattern into the back and sides of each of the sofas that reside in the club room at 900 Biscayne Bay. Attention to small details like these that don’t go unnoticed by the most discriminating of buyers.
New Rendering of Icon Bay
A new rendering of Icon Bay has been released. It provides a great shot of the proposed fountain that will reside in Biscayne Bay. The rendering also shows the Infinity edge pool which gives the illusion that the pool water flows into the bay as well as several cabanas that line the northern and southern part of the sundeck.
Reservations are now being accepted for condos at Icon Bay. Please visit our Icon Bay condos page for more information and additional renderings.
Custom Built, Fully Furnished Condo at Marina Blue Sets the Bar for the Building
I have seen a lot of condos at Marina Blue over the 4+ years since the building debuted in February 2008. The vast majority of units have your average run-of-the-mill build-out with tiled floors, California-style closets, solar shades in the living room, black-out shades in the bedrooms and light fixtures that were likely picked up at Home Depot as an afterthought – nice but far short of spectacular. A few weeks ago, however, I showed a condo at Marina Blue that really blew me away and deserves to be in a league of its own.
Unit 5304 is a 2 bedroom+den/2.5 bath condo with 1,663 square feet of living space. The floor plan, known as a Sky Loft, is quite rare in the building and only 11 other units of this size exists at Marina Blue. The condo has 10-foot high ceilings with floor-to-ceiling glass windows, offering breathtaking views of Biscayne Bay, Downtown Miami and the Miami Beach skyline from its vantage point on the 53rd floor. While the view is remarkable, it is the unit itself that really makes it special. The condo was 100% custom built and includes a lot of bells and whistles. The furniture and artwork that you see pictured below is also included in the sales price.
The kitchen includes a large custom island, Gaggenau stainless steel appliances and custom Italian cabinetry by Snaidero. The owner also had a DJ room/office built into the floor plan and is including the turntables and Evolution Entertainment music system with the sale of the condo. Each of the rooms is also wired with an Internet-based security camera system.
In all honesty, given the level of quality of both the furniture and the unit itself, this condo is a steal at its current asking price of $795K. The build-out itself cost at least $150K and I’m sure the replacement cost of the furniture and artwork is north of $100K. (Update: I called to check my estimates and was told that the owner paid roughly $350K total for the build-out, furniture and artwork.) Everything is pretty much brand new given that the owner has used the condo only a few times since it was built-out and furnished. Whoever ends up buying the condo is going to end up with the nicest unit that I have ever seen at Marina Blue.
1100 Millecento, BrickellHouse and myBrickell on the Brink of Selling Out
I realize that I run the risk of sounding like your typical salesman, but it must be said – “This market is hot!”. Over the past nine months in Brickell, three pre-construction condo developments – 1100 Millecento, BrickellHouse and myBrickell – were launched. I was made aware yesterday afternoon that only 20 units remain available for sale amongst these three developments combined! That represents 2.1% of their combined 948 total units. Only two units remain at 1100 Millecento, 8 at BrickellHouse and 10 at myBrickell. The first two projects haven’t even broken grounded yet. If that’s not hot then I don’t know what is. Before anyone starts to chime in with bubble talk, we need to keep in mind that all three pre-construction developments require a very large portion of the purchase price to be paid long before closing. In the case of 1100 Millecento the buyer will have already paid 50% of the purchase price by closing. BrickellHouse and myBrickell are virtually immune from default risk with the buyer required to pay 70% and 80% of the purchase price, respectively, by closing. Like I said – This market is hot!
Introducing Icon Bay – Related Group’s Newest Pre-construction Condo Development
First it was Icon South Beach. Then Icon Brickell. Related Group now looks to launch Icon Bay – a 300-unit, 40-story luxury high-rise along Biscayne Bay at the eastern end of NE 28 Street. Every unit in the building will have private elevator access and will face the water. The world-renowned architectural team Arquitectonica has been contracted to do the design. The interior designer has not yet been announced but it is expected to be someone highly reputable and impressive. A waterfront neighborhood park will also be developed as part of this project. GEO Arquitectonica, the landscape designers behind Museum of Modern Art in Miami, will design the bayfront park. Pricing is in the process of being finalized but given the level of quality, I foresee pricing to be along the lines of Paramount Bay. Letters of intent are now being accepted to reserve your space in line to choose a unit when sales officially begin. Contact us for more information if you have an interest in reserving an Icon Bay condo.
Brickell Neighborhood Tour
We are in the process of revamping our neighborhood pages. It has been a project that I have kept on the back burner for about two years. The new neighborhood pages are geared towards non-locals and others unfamiliar with the various neighborhoods throughout South Florida. My intent is to provide quality content which will allow people to familiarize themselves with the area and get a sense for what each neighborhood has to offer.
One way in which I hope to educate these people is visually. The above video/picture slideshow is one such example. (I suggest changing the quality setting to 1080p HD and switching to full screen mode when viewing the video.) My goal when taking these pictures was to provide those unacquainted with the area the type of scenic tour one would receive if walking the neighborhood by foot. I also included some amazing shots that were taken from a boat that we rented as well as others that were taken from various high-rise buildings throughout Brickell. I thoroughly enjoyed working on this project and it made me fall in love with Brickell all over again. Brickell is truly a beautiful neighborhood and one which seems to keep getting better with time.
Creating the content for each neighborhood page is very time consuming so we are going to roll out each neighborhood one at a time starting with Brickell. We hope to have the Brickell neighborhood page launched early next week then move on from there. We are also working on a few other website enhancements which should go live later this week. I will discuss those at a later time.
Al Capone’s Former Palm Island House Hits the Market for $9.95M
There is no sure thing but death and taxes – so the saying goes. As it turned out in the end, the two certainties brought about the demise of legendary American gangster, Al Capone – a person who at one time seemed untouchable. When nothing else would stick, the U.S. government finally nabbed the Chicago kingpin on tax evasion charges. He was later tried in court and sentenced to federal prison. Many people erroneously believe that Capone spent his final days locked-up behind bars . The truth, however, is that the mobster was paroled on November 16, 1939 and returned to his home on Palm Island in Miami Beach, Florida where he ultimately died from a series of health issues.
Al Capone purchased the Palm Island estate in 1928 – three years before his prison conviction – for $40,000. He used the waterfront home as an escape from Chicago when the authorities started breathing down his neck. Over the years, the property has had many owners. The current owner acquired the estate in November 2011 for $5.65M and since that time has fully restored it. Yesterday, the Palm Island waterfront mansion hit the market once again with an asking price of $9.95M. That’s gangsta!
