4 New Condo Towers With 1,400 Units Proposed For Miami’s Brickell Area

As the South Florida condo market rebounds from the devastating crash of 2007, a pair of developers in unrelated deals are proposing a combined four new condo towers with nearly 1,400 units across the street from each other in the Brickell Avenue Area of Greater Downtown Miami, according to a new report from CondoVultures.com.

The newly proposed condo projects – the three-tower Brickell Heights complex and the Nine At Mary Brickell Village with one tower – are slated to be the latest additions to a 12-block stretch of South Miami Avenue where at least 12 towers with more than 3,900 units are now proposed or under construction, according to the Preconstruction Condo Projects Database™ compiled by the licensed Florida brokerage CVR Realty™.

In the Greater Downtown Miami market, a combination of domestic and international developers – in unrelated projects – are proposing to construct 39 towers with nearly 11,500 new condo units in a market that stretches from the Julia Tuttle Causeway south to the Rickenbacker Causeway, and Biscayne Bay west to Interstate 95 as of August 23, 2013, according to the Preconstruction Condo Projects Database™ compiled by the licensed Florida brokerage CVR Realty™.

Overall in the tricounty South Florida region, developers are now proposing nearly 21,250 units for coastal Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties as of August 23, 2013, according to the Preconstruction Condo Projects Database™.

“A one-mile stretch of South Miami Avenue in the Brickell Avenue Area of Greater Downtown Miami is quickly emerging as the most active submarket for preconstruction condo projects in all of South Florida,” said Peter Zalewski, a principal with the Greater Downtown Miami-based real estate consultancy Condo Vultures® LLC. “Developers are rushing to this submarket to acquire land and launch presales as soon as possible in hopes of being the first to deliver new condo units while the market is hot. The driving factor for the condo developers is the widespread belief that Swire Properties’ $1 billion Brickell CityCentre mixed-use development at Seventh Street and South Miami Avenue will change the face of Greater Downtown Miami.

“The unanswered question is whether too much condo product is being proposed too soon for the Greater Downtown Miami market to absorb.”

CondoVultures.com is scheduled to profile condo trends in the second quarter of 2013 in the 10 largest coastal markets in the tricounty South Florida region of Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties beginning the week of July 15, 2013.

The Condo Vultures® Market Intelligence Report™ plans to publish a 10-part weekly series that analyzes the markets of Greater Downtown Miami, South Beach, Bal Harbour / Surfside / Bay Harbor Islands, Sunny Isles Beach, Aventura, Hollywood / Hallandale Beach, Downtown Fort Lauderdale and the Beach, Pompano Beach, Boca Raton / Deerfield Beach, and Downtown West Palm Beach and Palm Beach Island.

In Brickell Avenue Area of Greater Downtown Miami, the Related Group is proposing to build a three-tower complex with a combined 1,000 units that would be called Brickell Heights at 801 S. Miami Ave., immediately south of the proposed Brickell CityCentre mixed-use complex, according to the South Florida Business Journal.

The Brickell Heights project would incorporate a development site – originally proposed as the Premiere Towers during the last condo boom – that was acquired for $32 million at 850 S. Miami Ave. in June 2013, according to the Miami Herald and a recent CondoVultures.com report.

The Related Group is already in the process of developing at least three towers – MyBrickell, 1100 Millecento, and the SLS Hotel & Residences – with a combined 1,027 units within six blocks of the site of the proposed Brickell Heights project, according to the Preconstruction Condo Projects Database™.

Across the street from the proposed Brickell Heights project, a development group led by of San Antonio-based Lynd Development has decided that its 34-story rental tower – dubbed the EnV when construction began in September 2012 – should actually be delivered as a condominium, according to reports by the Miami Herald and the South Florida Business Journal.

The 390-unit tower – to be called the Nine At Mary Brickell Village – is slated to be complete in May 2014, according to an announcement from the developer.

The proposed Nine At Mary Brickell Village tower – going up on top of a Publix Super Market – was originally proposed to be the 35-story Sky Palace At Mary Brickell Village condo project with 369 units by Skyline Equities developer Evangeline Gouletas, according to a CondoVultures.com report.

Faced with a foreclosure action in March 2012, Skyline Equities sold the project a short time later to the current development group headed by Lynd in April 2012, according to the South Florida Business Journal.

Some six years after the South Florida real estate crash began in 2007, two new condo tower – 23 Biscayne Bay and 4001 North Ocean – have already been completed in the tricounty region and 35 other highrises – Aventura’s Bellini At Williams Island and Echo Aventura (two towers); Fort Lauderdale’s Adagio Residences; Greater Downtown Miami’s 1100 Millecento Residences, Brickell Citycentre (two towers), BrickellHouse, Habitat II, ICON Bay, MyBrickell, Nine At Mary Brickell Village projects; Hallandale Beach’s Beachwalk; Hollywood’s Apogee Beach, Costa Hollywood (two towers), Sage Beach (two towers); Key Biscayne’s Oceana (two towers); Miami’s Baltus House in the Morningside area and Grove At Grand Bay (two towers) in Coconut Grove; Miami Beach’s Faena House, One Ocean (two towers), Peloro Miami Beach, and Residences At Miami Beach Edition; and Sunny Isles Beach’s 400 Sunny Isles (two towers), Chateau Beach, Jade Signature, Mansions At Acqualina, Porsche Design Tower, and Regalia – are under construction as the post-crash development era gains momentum, according to a CondoVultures.com report.

The push for new condo construction comes as the boom-era unit inventory is dwindling in South Florida.

Overall in South Florida, less than 2,150 new condo units remain unsold from a supply of nearly 49,000 units created since 2003 in South Florida’s seven largest coastal markets of Greater Downtown Miami, South Beach, Sunny Isles Beach, Hollywood / Hallandale Beach, Downtown Fort Lauderdale and the Beach, Boca Raton / Deerfield Beach, and Downtown West Palm Beach and Palm Beach Island as of March 31, 2013, according to a recent CondoVultures.com report.

The total number of unsold new condos does not include any of the more than 8,000 units that were purchased in bulk transactions by investment groups that plan to one day resell the units at a premium, according to the Condo Vultures® Bulk Deals Database™.

A number of the newly proposed condo units are not expected to be completed until 2014 when the unsold developer inventory from South Florida’s last real estate boom and bust is projected to be sold.

It is important to note there are various stages to a residential real estate transaction in South Florida.

A transaction begins when a property is made available for sale and ends when a title is conveyed from one party to another party as a result of the recording of a deed with the local government.

As part of the process, a property typically goes under contract and into a due diligence phase by which a deal can be canceled.

The CondoVultures.com new condo sales report is based on completed transactions where a deed is recorded and taxes paid as a result of the sale.

Condo Vultures® LLC is a real estate consultancy and marketing company based in the 225 Midtown Building at 225 NE 34th St., Suite 209B, Downtown Miami, Florida, 33137. Condo Vultures® LLC can be reached at 800-750-0517.

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