Miami Beach Real Estate News

June 24, 2007 - South Pointe Park undergoes Major Renovation Beginning July 9, South Pointe Park will be closed until at least December 2008 for a long-awaited improvement project. During that period, patrons of the steak house Smith & Wollensky, which is located in the park, will be the only non-construction-related people granted access. Last Wednesday evening, June 13, city officials hosted a Town Hall-style meeting in the community room of the Miami Beach Police station to discuss construction plans and the phases of the work. Winning contractor Magnum Construction Management Corporation, the architecture firm of Hargreaves Associates, and city staff were on hand to answer residents’ questions and address concerns. The $22.3 million make-over of the 19-acre, waterfront South Pointe Park, located along the southernmost shore of Miami Beach, promises to create a source of pride for the city of Miami Beach and the thousands of South Floridians who use it. “I think this is the most major park project that the city has undertaken, and I think when it is completed it will be the crown jewel in the city’s park system,” Commissioner Saul Gross told the SunPost. The upgrades will include a sand dune path, an elevated serpentine walkway, another walkway along Government Cut with turtle-sensitive lighting, a 7,000-square-foot pavilion with a child play area, and lots of fountains and other water features. “Children will be able to play under arching water and run through gushing water,” said Hargreaves associate Jamie Maslyn. In light of recent drought restrictions, which scientists say are likely to worsen, Jonah Wolfson, candidate for commission Seat 4, expressed concern over the amount of water that will be needed to maintain the park. Maslyn explained that most of the fountains will use underground filtration tanks to recycle water. However, for health reasons, a constant flow of fresh water will be used in the child-specific play areas. Irrigation systems for the plants and trees will be monitored with computers. The dunes are expected to need watering only in the beginning while the plants take root, Maslyn said. Even dogs were thought of during the design process, with water baths, an off-leash area and a possible dog beach where the four-legged creatures would be able to take a dip in Government Cut. Roby and Lucia Greer of Responsible Dog Owners of Miami Beach are working with the city to secure a spot for their canine friends to play while the park is closed for construction. One possibility is the grassy lot on the corner of Second Street and Washington Avenue. Ironically, the featured artwork in the subtropical park will be an iceberg. The Drift, a white iceberg sculpture by Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, will be given a position of prominence in the Alaska Parcel portion of the park. Once owned by an Alaskan tribe, the two-acre tract of land behind Apogee was deeded to the city by the Related Group to expand South Pointe Park. The half-million-dollar iceberg, a commentary on global warming, was the butt of jokes around City Hall last year. Commissioner Matti Bower, a mayoral candidate, questioned the decision to close the whole park during the entire construction period, as opposed to in phases as originally discussed. Mario Gonzalez-Pola, the city’s senior capital project coordinator, said the contractor, MCM, determined the work could be completed more quickly with the entire park closed. He said the city had hoped to keep one of the walkways open, but determined the liability was too great. Nipping at the heels of the project is a lawsuit filed by contractor A2 (A-Squared) Group that could possibly cause the work to be postponed indefinitely. Appellate judges (A2’s lawsuit was dismissed in Circuit Court) heard final arguments last week, and as of press time had not released a decision. Though the meeting did not focus on the pending appeal, activist Frank Del Vecchio asked for a status report. Hours earlier, Deputy City Attorney Jean Olin was in court giving final arguments against A2’s appeal. Gonzalez-Pola said MCM had signed a letter satisfying Beach officials that the city’s interests are protected upon entering into the contract. That indemnification agreement, dated May 3, “holds the CMB [city] harmless for any and all damages that could result in the event that a final non-appealable order in the above-styled lawsuit, or any other judicial determination, is issued requiring CMB to terminate the contract with MCM.” The appeal follows a long bidding war between A2 Group and MCM. In October of 2006, the city sent out invitations to bid for the South Pointe Park project. City staff ranked A2 first, and MCM second. Later it was determined that neither company met requirements. So on Jan. 17 of this year the commission decided to reject all of the bids and start over. MCM sued and the case was thrown out of court. The city then held a second bid with slightly different criteria. MCM challenged it, asking the city to weigh a bidder’s financial size when ranking candidates. The city said no, it would not include financial size in the criteria. Once again city staff recommended A2 number one, and MCM number two. Betty Ribas, wife of A2 Group President Al Ribas, told the SunPost they went into the March 14 City Commission meeting fully expecting to get the contract. She and her husband were stunned when they lost the bid 5-2. Commissioners Michael Gongora, Simon Cruz, Bower, Richard Steinberg and Jerry Libbin voted for MCM. Mayor David Dermer and Commissioner Saul Gross cast the no votes. Immediately following his loss, Al Ribas told the press he didn’t plan to sue despite his opinion that the vote was “bizarre.” Ribas changed his mind and took the city to Circuit Court. Jack Shawde and Gabriel Nieto, of the law firm Berger Singerman, argued that the commission’s choice of MCM was “arbitrary and capricious, contrary to the requirements of law and the City Code denied A2 due process of law, was pretextual and based upon rationale that was illogical and contravened both the express terms of the City’s [invitation to bid] and the fundamental purpose of competitive bidding — to ensure that city contracts are let pursuant to transparent and defined criteria.” A2 wanted an injunction to stop the city from entering into a contract with MCM. Meanwhile Bower made a motion at the April 11 City Commission meeting to reconsider the March 14 vote in favor of MCM. Gross seconded the motion for discussion. The item lost 3-4, with Gongora, Cruz, Libbin and Steinberg opposed. Bower then requested that her March 14 vote be changed to a no vote against MCM. There being no opposition, the tally was officially changed from 5-2 to 4-3. Last week Bower told the SunPost that MCM made a compelling argument at the March 14 commission meeting, but she felt bad about voting against the staff recommendation of A2. That, she said, is why she wanted to reconsider the vote, and ultimately changed hers. “The truth is, I should have voted for A2 from the beginning,” Bower said. But A2 was not able to convince the court, and after an April 23 hearing it ruled in favor of the city and MCM. A2 was still not ready to throw in the towel. It appealed to the Third District Court of Appeal, which brings the battle to the present. Nieto and Shawde’s argument briefing on the appeal states that Miami Beach’s “arbitrary and capricious award of the contract to MCM does not prevent this court [Third District Court of Appeal] or the lower court from directing the city to follow its own ITB and award the contract to A2, the highest ranked, best-value bidder.” Shawde told appellate Judges David M. Gersten, John G. Fletcher and Richard J. Suarez that the commission chose MCM based on the criteria that MCM tried unsuccessfully to convince the city to include in the ITB in January. Those criteria were financial size of the company, and limited past experience only to that in which the company was considered the contractor, Shawde said. Shawde argued that since the city had denied MCM’s request, and the commission ended up using that rejected criteria in its decision, the vote should be overturned. Olin countered that those criteria are in the city code, and thus the commission did no wrong. At the community meeting last week, Libbin told the SunPost that unfortunately litigation is the name of the game with city contracts. He defended his decision to go with MCM as a simple matter of dollars and cents. The sticker price for MCM’s bid was $765,000 less than A2’s. “We were elected to do what we think is best,” Libbin said. “I saw no reason to spend hundreds of thousands of extra dollars.”

June 24, 2007 - Danny DeVito opens South Beach Restaurant MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (AP) - Danny DeVito loves to eat, and has been known to cook in his trailer while on set. Now he has a restaurant kitchen to call his own. The actor has opened DeVito South Beach, an Italian chop house on trendy Ocean Drive, The Miami Herald reported in its Thursday editions. The signature menu item: a US$325 trio of steaks from Japan, Australia and the United States that serves three people. DeVito had a hand in developing the classic-meets-contemporary Italian menu, focused on prime meats and fresh seafood. "Fish is really big for me - sushi, a nice branzino or spigola (sea bass). Or pasta with some great cheese like pecorino or romano with some prosciutto or salami," he said. "If you haven't noticed, I'm not one to pass up a meal." The restaurant grew from a conversation between DeVito and South Florida financier Michael Brauser on the Greek island of Santorini, where the actor was vacationing with his wife, actress Rhea Perlman. DeVito, 62, is currently in Philadelphia filming the F/X series "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia."

January 14, 2007 - From the Miami Herald - Insurance solution INSURANCE CRISIS Crist takes on insurance ratesIn a scant few weeks, the Legislature has embraced proposals for more government involvement to reduce windstorm premiums. The reason for the change, lawmakers say: Gov. Crist. BY MARY ELLEN KLAS meklas@MiamiHerald.com TALLAHASSEE - Florida Republicans stunned the business community and shocked Democrats last week when they did something they never would have done under a Jeb Bush administration: They decided that when it comes to the state's insurance crisis, government is not the problem, it's the solution. House and Senate leaders concluded that to reduce premiums, the state needs to get more control of the insurance industry, put money into government subsidies to help insurers buy backup insurance and impose tough new measures that make it harder for insurers to hide profits or shift costs. The ideas were proposed by House and Senate leaders in a bipartisan display of unity, and Republicans openly admitted that many of the ideas came from Democrats. Those are the same Republicans who, just a few weeks ago, went out of their way to lower Floridians' expectations that a special session on insurance would lead to reduced bills for windstorm coverage. Yet now, two days before that session is set to begin, they have done an about-face. The difference: the inauguration of Charlie Crist. The Republican governor came into office with a populist agenda and a promise to accept nothing less than lower insurance rates. That, coupled with the defeat of seven Republicans in the state House -- whose soft-on-insurance proposals for the past two years did not stop insurers from filing giant rate increases or dropping policies -- has been a wake-up call for the Republican-led Legislature. ''You cannot underestimate the impact Gov. Crist has had on this debate,'' said Rep. David Rivera, a Miami Republican who is sponsoring a bill that includes the governor's proposals to crack down on insurance companies' profits. ``He's the No. 1 driver behind the approach being taken by the Legislature.'' Crist may not have come up with the answers, ''but he framed the issue up front and hasn't backed down,'' said House Republican Leader Dan Webster of Orlando, one of the Legislature's strongest conservatives. Crist's public call for lower rates has given lawmakers the backbone to stand up to the insurance industry. Insurance companies ''tell us they're going to leave; we're calling their bluff,'' said Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff, a House Republican leader from Fort Lauderdale who is sponsoring one of six bills that would put more of Florida's insurance market under state control. ''There is no cover for somebody who wants to advance an insurance agenda right now,'' said Rep. Dan Gelber, the House Democratic leader from Miami Beach. By demanding lower insurance premiums, Gelber said, Crist ``has pushed into the shadows all the industry apologists, or forced them to change their tune.'' Crist says the credit goes to the willingness of House Speaker Marco Rubio and Senate President Ken Pruitt ``to listen to the people.'' At a press conference the day after the House announced its plan for six wide-ranging insurance bills, Crist was practically giddy that a Legislature once reluctant to tackle skyrocketing insurance premiums had embraced his approach. ''The powerless have now become the powerful, and that's an important and dramatic move,'' Crist said. He called it ''truly extraordinary'' and said he was ``probably the happiest guy you're going to find around Florida today.'' Rep. Webster matter-of-factly admitted that none of this would be possible if Jeb Bush -- who railed against government involvement in private enterprise -- were still governor. Bush convened a task force on insurance reform that recommended proposals that shifted more of the risk of paying for storm damage to homeowners and rejected forcing insurers to undergo more scrutiny, such as requiring company officials to sign oaths of truth when they file their financial documents. The House and Senate proposals are a significant shift from the present system because they put state coffers -- meaning, ultimately, taxpayers -- at risk of having to absorb massive losses from a monster storm, or a series of storms. But the trade-off is that homeowners would see their insurance bills go down this year after watching them rise by double digits for the past three years. ''Yes, it's a shift [of the risk] to taxpayers,'' Rep. Bogdanoff said. ``If we do this, they will get short-term relief. But we either pay now or pay later, and we're taking a gamble. If you don't like to gamble, you need to go to the original plan, which is [to] pay that [rising] premium.'' The business and insurance lobbies oppose the approach and prefer to let premiums increase in the belief that for too long the cost of insurance has not reflected the risk of loss. ''For the short term, you're going to be able to lower rates. In the long term, you're setting [the state] up for major failure,'' said Barney Bishop, president of Associated Industries of Florida, the business-backed lobbying group. The bipartisan support for the proposal is so widespread that Gelber, the Democratic leader, believes it has ``taken away what might have been a partisan fight.'' The risk of the bipartisan support, Gelber said, is that if the gamble fails, the governor and both parties in the Legislature will have failed, too. ''They probably want all hands in the boat in case it goes down,'' he said.

January 6, 2007 - From Ocean Drive magazine: Art Basel a success Let’s start with the positives. Hurricane Basel was bigger, bolder and more profitable than ever, proving beyond all doubt that it’s now the world’s number-one contemporary-art fair. Money and razzle-dazzle aside, it also surpassed itself in terms of sheer quality. Art Basel Miami Beach is the greatest modern-art gallery anywhere on the planet, a fact made even more thrilling because it lasts only four days and is open to all. But the most amazing thing? Everything you see is for sale. Oh, it’s easy to be blasé about Hurricane Basel, especially if you live on the Beach. And there was no shortage of jaded veterans this time around, whining that it had sold out, pining for the good old days of, um...2003. But where else can you find such a concentration of the most important artworks of the last 80 years? And where else can you get so close to them? In Europe and the rest of the USA, you’d be peering over the shoulders of uniformed guards, or lining up behind trip wires. Basel Miami lets you smell the paint, breathe on the canvas, fondle the marble and bronze. This lends a quasi-pornographic intensity to the show, a sense (albeit illusory) of being intimate with priceless works of art. Basel Miami makes you feel like part of the orgy, even if you’re only peering through the keyhole. So many Basquiats, so many Warhols, it was a Category-Four Art Storm, featuring all the great thunderheads. Like those Damien Hirst paintings with the iridescent blue butterflies stuck in the antiseptic pink paint. Or a collection of Wim Delvoye’s tattooed pigskins. A gaggle of Murakamis. A fistful of heavyweight Bacons. And what about those Lee Krasners that Robert Miller showed? The best of them sold for $1.5 million, while the smallest was a snip at $900,000. Otherwise, collectors on a budget could land a Matisse, a beautiful pencil drawing of a woman’s head, for only $350,000. We’d do well to celebrate Basel Miami, and it would be a terrible shame if we ever got cynical about it. At the same time, there were worrying trends, and many locals were left pondering the same question: What happened to the exceptional art events of earlier years? Perhaps because galleries and collectors have been stung by the free-loading excesses of previous Basel crowds, there were fewer genuine art parties, and many opening events were reduced to exclusive, word-of-mouth dinners in the palatial island homes of collectors and dealers. The whole tone of Basel Miami has changed drastically, according to hardened veterans. “After three nights I realized that all I’d attended were fashion parties,” says novelist and long-time Beach resident Brian Antoni. “It was all Jimmy Choo, Ralph Lauren, Elle, Vogue, Visionaire, Harper’s Bazaar, M•A•C Cosmetics. I mean, what have they got to do with art? A lot of people are just jumping on the bandwagon. They know art is hip right now, so they want to align themselves with it.” Unfortunately, he says, fashion people don’t really get the art thing. “Hosting a fashion show in a swanky hotel with a drinks sponsor does not qualify as an Art Basel event,” he insists. Clockwise: A performance artist at Twilo for the Dolce: 10 Cane event. Richard Santulli and artist James Rosenquist at the Sagamore for the NetJets collectors cocktail party. Patrons view works by Andy Warhol from the Jablonka Gallery at the Miami Beach Convention Center. Though less conspicuous than ever, the ultrarich turned up in droves. According to The New York Times, the number of private jets flying into Basel Miami rocketed this year, with one jet-hire company, NetJets, booking 216 flights—a 44-percent increase over two years ago. But while in previous years plebeian partygoers would rub up against the über-wealthy, this time around the big money went stealth. Which is a shame, because part of Basel Miami’s fascination was watching the sometimes prickly interaction between the ultrarich and the C-list. Sure, it’s frustrating to arrive and find your name crossed off the list, because some enterprising ligger has impersonated you half an hour earlier. But that was part of the deal, that juxtaposition of fabulous nobodies and timid millionaires, and the way you could end up in a corridor crush between a Park Avenue Jackie O. clone and a screaming Cuban drag queen in a pink muumuu. Clockwise: Guests at Collins Park for the Art Positions opening party. Architect Zaha Hadid at The Setai for the Swarovski Crystal Palace opening dinner. Socialite Georgette Mosbacher at Social Miami for XM’s party honoring Yoko Ono. Drift (2005) by Future Systems/Amanda Levete for Established & Sons, at Design Miami. Now the big money has retreated to its palatial ghettos, its islands, yachts and exclusive hotels. The jets fly in, disgorge the Masters of the Universe and the Social X-Rays, who do a swift once around the social set, meet with their dealer, buy whatever’s hot this season, then scram back to Palm Beach or the Upper East Side. Consequently, the party scene this year was a damp squib, lacking the volatility of previous Basels. There was the customary frenzy, yes, but little end result. With hindsight, it’s clear that Basel Miami’s early years were marked by an almost amateurish enthusiasm. It was down to the galleries, dealers, artists and collectors to create a buzz, and they did—with curious, magical parties that bordered on chaos. Now, with all the corporate cash sloshing around, events are staged with increased security but far less imagination. Sponsors rarely fret about quality; their only concern is a high-visibility presence for their logo. Which adds up to a lot of second-rate parties with endless free booze and zero atmosphere. Clockwise: Model Eve Salvail and Yulia Foukhamoea at David Bouley Evolution for the Jimmy Choo dinner honoring the Whitney Contemporaries. Philippe Starck’s Gun Lamp produced by Flos, at Moss Gallery’s Live! From Our Studios at Design Miami. Hotel de Roxie by Kravitz Design at the Swarovski Crystal Palace exhibition in the Paris Theater. Spoonfed Presents José Parlá Cityscapes at Mitchell Rubenstein’s Park Avenue Loft. Meanwhile, contemporary and modern art has replaced real estate as the smart investment. Some observers think the market is doomed to crash. But are the prices really insane? Maybe not, given American tax laws. Art critic and television presenter Ben Lewis, whose BBC series, Art Safari, mercilessly dissects the contemporary-art world, says that a tax loophole subsidizes the art purchases of the fabulously wealthy. “It’s amazing,” explained Lewis at a party in The Raleigh penthouse. “An American multimillionaire can buy a work of art for $10 million, and a couple of years later get it evaluated at $20 million. Then he donates it to a museum as a charitable gift, qualifying for a tax rebate of 50 percent on the higher value. Meanwhile, rather than pay storage and insurance, the museum will ask him to keep it at home, until they want to show it. So with the tax rebate of $10 million, the IRS has effectively paid for the work. And though it nominally belongs to the museum, the multimillionaire still has it in his living room. Plus, the museum will now consider him a benefactor and offer him a seat on one of its committees, or even its board—so he can play the cultural big shot, with invites to black-tie dinners and red-carpet events. And a VIP Basel Miami pass, of course.” Left to right: Wok Media’s installation of broken porcelain eggs at Contrast Gallery’s show at the Marcy Building in the Design District. Marcel Wanders Globes at the Mondrian sneak preview. With this kind of talk going around, maybe the ultrarich were well advised to keep a low profile. And some shocking gossip was also doing the rounds this year. Vicious lies, mostly, dressed up as probability. Somebody tried to tell me, for instance, that Samuel Keller, outgoing director of Art Basel Miami Beach, was charging $25,000 to turn up at an opening or dinner. I was about to call and check when I realized it was such a ridiculous question that he probably wouldn’t dignify it with a response. (And besides, everybody knows Sam wouldn’t get out of bed for less than 30K.) Then there was the ugly buzz, passed off as inside information, that Art Basel will quit Miami Beach next year for Los Angeles. The reason, allegedly, is that the Basel people want to up the celebrity count. But with Keanu Reeves, Steve Martin, Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Kanye West and Jay-Z all spotted at this year’s festivities, that seems unlikely. And with the fair attracting so many serious Latin American artists and collectors, it would be madness to quit Miami, the capital of South America. (And of course, Americans love Miami because it’s almost like being in the USA.) Clockwise: The Shooting...at Watou (2006) by Folkert de Jong, presented by Peres Projects, at the Chatham Building in the Design District. Ron Arad and Patricia Urquiola’s designs for Puppy Love at the Newton Building for Design Miami, presented by Luminaire and Christie's. Dennis Hopper and Art Basel director Samuel Keller view the Andy Warhol portrait of Hopper at the Miami Beach Convention Center. The pool at The Raleigh. So farewell, Hurricane Basel, until next year. It’s strange to think that some of us are already nostalgic for your early years. But we have only ourselves to blame. After all, we were the ones jumping up and down, showing off, screaming about our Magic City and its Fabulous Art Fair. We were the ones telling everybody what a great party we were having. So there’s no point bitching now that everyone and his sister finally showed up. “We always wanted to be part of the international party circuit,” says Antoni. “And now we are. I was at the Ralph Lauren party, and got introduced to some guy. When he walked away I asked, ‘Who was that?’ My friend said, ‘Oh, that’s the guy who just sold the port of Barcelona to the Chinese.’ ” Basel Miami has changed, and will continue to evolve and mutate. Since there’s no point in sulking, we may as well learn to love it all over again. But in future, Miami, remember—be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.

February 18, 2006 - South Beach Record Condo Conversion From the Miami Herald, 2/17/06. The Flamingo South Beach, a massive apartment complex in Miami Beach, is set to be sold and turned into condominiums, in a deal that appears to be the biggest condo conversion ever in Florida -- and possibly the country. MCZ/Centrum, a joint venture group based in Chicago, will pay more than $600 million for the 1,688-unit apartment complex that sits on 13 acres along Biscayne Bay. The property is being sold by AIMCO, a publicly-traded apartment company in Denver. The parties reached agreement Thursday and are expected to close today. The purchase suggests that the Chicago condo converters remain bullish on South Florida's condo market. But it also comes at time when prices appear to be leveling after hitting new highs last year. Under the terms of the deal, the Bay Road property will be bought in phases, with the south tower converted to condominiums first, followed by the north and center towers. Miami-based Fortune International is slated to sell the units, which must be first offered to existing renters. Judy Stowell, AIMCO's director of public relations, did not return calls Thursday. Earlier in the week she said the company does not comment until a deal is complete. Principals at MCZ/Centrum either declined comment or could not be reached. Jay Massirman, the CB Richard Ellis vice chairman who is brokering the deal, also declined comment. `HIGHEST SALE PRICE' Amid South Florida's housing boom, developers have bought rental apartments and turned them into condos at a furious pace. But market observers said they do not recall any condo conversion with such a hefty price tag. ''To my knowledge, at more than $600 million it would be the highest sale price for an apartment in the state of Florida and possibly the country,'' said veteran real estate analyst Michael Cannon, managing director of Integra Realty Resources in Miami. Cannon also said it would be the largest apartment complex in Florida to be turned into condos. Across South Florida, developers have sought to take advantage of strong -- at times, frenzied -- demand for condos by converting apartments into condos. Such a scenario allows developers to avoid the headaches of actually erecting a new building. It also allows buyers to purchase and move into a unit faster than the roughly two years it takes for a new condo to be built. DIMINISHED RENTALS In 2005 alone, more than 10,000 apartments were converted to condos in Broward County. In Miami-Dade conversions have so diminished the rental stock that it would take an additional 3,000 new rental units each year for the next five years to replenish inventory to its 2002 levels, according to Marcus & Millichap's 2006 National Apartment Report. Of course, many conversion buyers are investors who immediately rent the units again. This has started to fragment the rental market from large landlords to numerous individual landlords. But the Marcus & Millichap report said it's uncertain if enough individually-owned units are resurfacing on the market as rentals to be a big factor in the rental market.

February 2, 2006 - Got 40 million? The historic Carl Fisher Estate in Miami Beach is up for sale. Built in 1927, the historic Carl Fisher Estate at 5020 Bay Rd. is for sale with an asking price of $40 million. The 3-story, bayfront property has 11 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms. The home has magnificent bay and city views. The main house, guest villas, staff house, 5-car garage, and open pavilion with fireplace bring the total living space to is 21,000 square feet.

January 23, 2006 - Watson Island Development comes to fruition Miami pushes developer closer to Watson Island groundbreaking By Deserae del Campo Miami commissioners last week took a series of steps needed for Flagstone Island Gardens to develop its $480 million project with a pair of luxury hotels and a mega-yacht marina on city-owned Watson Island. They granted Flagstone the right to use about 10.8 acres above ground and 13.4 submerged acres for groundwork relocations and modifications, environmental mitigation, seawall repairs and reconstruction, roadway work, tree relocation, dredging and filling of land, installing sales and construction offices, and temporary and final utilities. "Five years ago, the city issued a request for proposals for this project," said Lori Billberry, city director of economic development. "Flagstone should break ground on Watson Island some time this year. The items on the agenda included construction, infrastructure and greenspace for the general use of the island." In 2001, city officials awarded Miami Beach-based Flagstone Property Group a 75-year ground lease on Watson Island, and in July 2004, the city commission approved the major use special permit for the development. Flagstone is creating a master plan for the 5.5 acres of open space on Watson Island, Ms. Billberry said. "It's one consideration for using the island that Flagstone is creating the master plan." "This is a signature project for the city that was approved by the state," said Commissioner Joe Sanchez, "especially with the master plan created for a pedestrian connection onto the island." The state's Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund approved the Flagstone development and the city's issuance of an easement on June 24, 2004. Island Gardens is to include a four-star and a five-star hotel, 221,000 square feet of retail space and eight restaurants with ocean views. A 50-slip mega-yacht marina capable of accommodating yachts 450 feet long and a 24,100-square-foot luxury resort spa are part of the project.

January 5, 2006 - South Florida Real Estate Report from the Sun-Sent S. Florida real estate experts share their views on 2006 robyn A. friedman real estate December 26, 2005 Every year at this time, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel polls real estate industry professionals who are experts in different segments of the South Florida real estate market. We ask them to predict what the market will do in the coming year. Here are their responses: Andrew Ansin, vice president of Sunbeam Properties in Miami: "The question for 2006 is whether or not industrial tenants will pay $9 per square foot or more. If they don't, we will see an exodus from South Florida and very limited new supply. Lease rates in North Dade will surpass $6 per square foot, an increase of 40 percent over the last two years. Industrial land prices will continue to increase as industrial condominium developers pay double-digit prices. Land prices will continue to limit the amount of new rental product, with the vast majority of rental projects being delivered by established industrial parks." Richard Bass, broker/owner of Keller Williams Realty in Boca Raton and Boynton Beach: "I believe that residential real estate will be somewhat softer in the first quarter of 2006 than it was last year. Interest rates will continue to rise slowly, but continue to be low enough for the market to expand. As people come out of the holidays and the market funk resulting from the hurricanes this year, they will jump back into the market. Overall, I expect prices to level off for a while and then pick right back up where they left off. It will be a great time for people to get back into the market." Ron Berger, first vice president, Industrial Properties Division, of CB Richard Ellis Inc. in Miami: "In the first half of 2006, the Miami-Dade industrial market will become white-hot with activity. Rental rates will spike, and sales prices for warehouse buildings will continue to rise. Small warehouse condos (2,500 to 10,000 square feet) will continue to be a hot item no one can build them fast enough -- with sales prices reaching $200 per square foot. The Homestead and Perrine submarkets will come on the 2006 radar screen big-time, with substantial industrial development in each one." Gary Broidis, president of Atlantic Commercial Group Inc. in Boca Raton and a retail broker: "Demand for income-producing retail properties and land suitable for development will continue to experience pent-up demand from developers and investors both domestically and abroad. But investors will not see the returns they've been reaping the past few years because of the higher interest rates. Many buyers of retail properties will realize that they can't raise rents fast enough to cover the costs of their lofty purchases. This will result in many owners choosing to stabilize the rental streams of their properties rather than focusing on increasing revenue by raising rents." Katrina Campins, owner of The Campins Co., a brokerage in Miami Beach: "Miami Beach real estate values across every market will rise in 2006, but there are some areas of concern, such as the West Brickell market and areas north of downtown Miami, where there is an abundance of nondescript projects under construction. Single-family homes will increase in value by 10 to 15 percent in 2006, and demand for glamorous homes/condos by athletes and entertainers will remain at a very high level. Smaller, boutique office condo projects should continue to attract end-user demand, and more residential developers will venture into the office condo market in 2006." Marcie DePlaza, division president of G.L. Homes of Florida Corp.: "In residential new-home construction, the Florida marketplace remains very strong. Interest rates are still well below 7 percent, and the beautiful climate will continue to bring enthusiastic buyers for new housing. What bubble? New housing starts are up over 13 percent vs. last year in Florida and will continue because of continued migration from the Northeast, Midwest and Latin America, combined with strong economic indicators going into the new year." >David Dweck, a real estate agent with Re/Max Advantage Plus in Boca Raton and president of the Boca Real Estate Investment Club: "Due to the impact of Hurricane Wilma, which compounded the correction in the residential market, some homeowners and investors will get clobbered by the increase in taxes, insurance and potentially higher interest rates and homeowners association assessments. They will be forced to sell or refinance. This will continue the shift to more of a buyers' market, and there will be more buying opportunities for investors. The single-family and condo market below $400,000 will remain stable in terms of sales, and we will return to 10 to 15 percent price appreciation rates. Foreclosures will increase." Douglas Eagon, president of Stiles Corp. in Fort Lauderdale: "Downtown Fort Lauderdale vacancies should drop by another 5 percent or more in this upcoming year due to employment growth and very limited new potential office development. Downtown Miami is experiencing solid demand with very little new office development. Vacancies should also drop by 3 to 5 percent in the next 12 months." Jeff Kahn, broker/owner of Florida Beach Inc. in Fort Lauderdale: "I think that in 2006 home prices will begin to recede and that there will be a shift from a strong sellers' market to a more balanced market. I believe that listing prices will become more realistic, reflecting the prices of comparables rather than above-the-comp pricing. And I think that the number of contracts with `not subject to appraisal' clauses will be significantly reduced." David Levin, a real estate industry consultant based in Delray Beach: "In 2006, residential unit sales and prices will decrease 10 percent from peak 2005 levels. Higher interest rates, utilities, taxes and insurance will stress homeowners, sending ripples throughout the market and deterring all buyers. New condos will place downward pressure on the market, and people expecting to sell the contracts on their investor units will have to deal with becoming owners instead. Since they won't be able to achieve rents sufficient to cover their costs, they'll be motivated to sell."

December 17, 2005 - New Website Welcome to my new web site. If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear them!