Miami Condos

ICON

In the article “Miami Condos on Upswing,” The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that the Miami condo glut is coming to an end. The article points to a 539-unit bulk deal at Midtown Miami which recently sold for $110M, or $183 per square foot. This has marked an important milestone in the city's housing recovery.  

The article also states that Icon Brickell, with 1,796 total units, now has fewer than 20 units remaining as of October and is expected to sell out in November. 

Paramount Bay

The Downtown condominium project Paramount Bay is also mentioned. The condo launched sales around mid-October. Around 70 units are either closed or under contract and only 4 of the 11 penthouses remain. Paramount Bay is designed to be a mix of refined city apartment and casual beach house décor, with Lenny Kravitz’s New York-based firm, Kravitz Design Inc., to create the artistic vision for the property. Marquis Residence, a 292-unit luxury condo development located in Downtown Miami which was not mentioned in The Wall Street Journal article, is now over 75% sold.

Needless to say, it very well seems that 2011 will represent the year that the Miami condo glut came to an end. The next couple of years will be filled with new projects, such as the Resorts World Miami, the Citi Centre, and many more. Today is a pivotal moment in Miami's history, a time where the city's image and realty are being fully reshaped. 

Icon Spa

       Paramount Bay view

Resorts World Miami

Downtown Miami

“Miami is destined to be one of the most prominent cities in the world” states KT Lim, the CEO of Genting Malaysia Bhd. For this reason, Lim shelled out $236 million to buy 14 acres fronting Biscayne Bay, the Miami Herald Plaza, which has housed the newspaper since 1963. Lim plans to build “Resorts World Miami”, a $3 billion, Arquitectonica-designed project that will include four hotels, two condominium towers, more than 50 restaurants and bars and a luxury retail shopping mall. A casino will be included if the governor and Florida Legislature approve destination resort legislation, Genting said in a statement. It is being billed as one of the largest projects in the United States. 

The size of the resort would be 10 million-square-foot inspired from the region’s coral reefs. The centerpiece is a 3.6-acre outdoor lagoon equivalent to 12 Olympic-size swimming pools and surrounded by natural sand beaches that would allow visitors to literally swim from Biscayne Boulevard to the edge of Biscayne Bay.

Economically, the project will be great for Miami and the state, indeed it will allow the creation of 15,000 direct and indirect construction jobs plus 30,000 permanent positions. Genting expects to be ready to begin site work on the Miami Herald land as early as Spring 2012.

There’s really nothing to compare it to,” said Marc Sarnoff, the Miami city commissioner, who quickly added: “The closest thing is Swire.” Sarnoff was referring to Swire Pacific’s proposed $700 million mixed-use CitiCentre project in Miami’s Brickell area, which we talked about a few weeks ago.  As we noted, it’s billed as a pioneering urban retail destination that will ultimately have 4.6 million square feet of space. Arquitectonica is also the architect on CitiCentre. Swire, which developed the high-end enclave of Brickell Key, is, like Genting, an Asian-based conglomerate.

"Resorts World Miami" is expected to change the scope and landscape of Downtown Miami, bringing jobs & entertainment, as well as increased property values for nearby property owners. “It will accelerate Florida’s evolution as a global destination at the crossroads of the Americas,” said KT Lim. 

Gigantic Mall Coming to Downtown Miami: Brickell CitiCentre

A massive new mega mall is planned for downtown Miami. Brickell CitiCentre consisting of more than five towers will rise from the land bordered by Brickell on the East, Southwest 1st Ave. to the west and between Southwest 8th and Southwest 6th St.

The complex will be bigger than the Dolphin Mall's 1.4 million square feet of retail space, bigger that Sawgrass Mills Mall -- in fact about double the size of Sawgrass -- at 4 million square feet.

"This is the biggest private work project in the U.S. this year", said Miami City Commissioner Marc Sarnoff. "It's going to bring Miami into the epicenter of retail shopping and that includes Coral Gables and even Aventura."

The project will create 1,700 construction jobs every year for the four years it will take to complete construction. When it's finished there will be 3,800 permanent full time jobs.

The CityCentre will house not only retail shopping but office space, apartments or condos, and a hotel.

"This is the biggest thing to happen in Miami in about 12 years," Sarnoff said. 

Model of the project