Chinese developer buys one-acre Miami Beach lot for $38.5 million

A Chinese developer paid $38.5 million for a .98-acre Miami Beach lot in a deal that closed Thursday.
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It’s not the company’s first entry into the Miami market. Last year, China City Construction paid $74.7 million for a 2.4-acre site in Brickell.

Developer Don Peebles, who sold the waterfront site at 6747 Collins Ave. in North Beach, had planned to build a boutique luxury condo called Bath Club Estates. But he pulled out of the project in August, saying it was too small of a site to develop. He paid just $4.6 million for the property in 2010.

Prominent Miami real estate brokers have traveled to China in recent months to attract buyers from a previously untapped source. Economic and political turmoil in Latin America has led to a slowdown in Miami’s downtown condo market.

“This beachfront site is ideally situated in one of the nation’s most sought-after real estate markets, a top-performing hotel market and a place where residential sales top $2,000 per square foot,” CBRE senior vice president Robert Taylor, who represented the seller, said in a statement. “Barriers to entry here are extremely high and land suitable for development isn’t often available; as a result, the site is among the rarest-of-the-rare — an opportunity for a visionary developer to create a prestigious luxury condominium or hotel right on one of the world’s most famous beachfronts.”

China City recently sold a 45 percent stake in its Brickell property to a Hong Kong developer, the blog The Next Miami reported earlier this week. It has said it plans a mixed-use project on the site but may wait until the next real estate cycle to begin building.

Read More: http://www.miamiherald.com/

Sea Level Will Swamp Miami, New Orleans: Study

Say goodbye to Miami and New Orleans. No matter what we do to curb global warming, these and other beloved U.S. cities will sink below rising seas, according to a study Monday.

But making extreme carbon cuts and moving to renewable energy could save millions of people living in iconic coastal areas of the United States, said the findings in the Oct. 12 edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a peer-reviewed journal.

We hear the two terms used all the time, often interchangeably. What's the meaning of these words and how do people perceive them?

DCI

Scientists have already established that if we do nothing to reduce our burning of fossil fuel up to the year 2100, the planet will face sea level rise of 14-32 feet (4.3–9.9 meters), said lead author Ben Strauss, vice president for sea level and climate impacts at Climate Central.

The big uncertainty is the issue of when.

"Some of this could happen as early as next century," Strauss told AFP
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"But it might also take many centuries," he added.

"Just think of a pile of ice in a warm room. You know it is going to melt, but it is harder to say how quickly."
To bring this issue home for people in the United States, the study pinpoints at-risk land where more than 20 million people reside.

The authors projected business-as-usual carbon emissions, in addition to the complication of the melting West Antarctic ice sheet, a process some experts fear is irreversible.

They also considered what might happen if the world were to make a big turnaround, reaching peak carbon emissions by 2020.

This radical scenario would have to occur far earlier than the current aim of some world powers to peak by 2050, said Strauss.

Read More: http://news.discovery.com/

Hedge fund billionaire bought $60 million Miami Beach penthouse

Kenneth Griffin, CEO of Citadel, is reportedly the buyer of the record-breaking $60 million penthouse at Faena House.

The 12,516-square-foot unit has eight bedrooms and a 70-foot-long rooftop pool

Previous record was $47 million paid for an Indian Creek mansion in 2012

The buyer who shattered local real estate records by buying a $60 million Miami Beach penthouse late last month is South Florida-born hedge fund billionaire Kenneth Griffin, according to a report in The New York Times.

The Times reported that “people familiar with the deal” said Griffin, the founder and CEO of Chicago-based hedge fund Citadel, bought the eight-bedroom penthouse at Faena House in Mid-Beach for $4,794 per square foot.

Griffin grew up in Boca Raton and attended Boca Raton Community High School, according to a profile in Chicago Magazine.

$7 billion Net worth of hedge fund mogul Kenneth Griffin

Forbes pegs Griffin’s net worth at about $7 billion. He paid $10 million above asking price for the 12,516-square-foot unit at the ultra-luxury 18-story tower built by Argentine developer Alan Faena.

The deal was done through a Delaware corporation that lists no owner or board members. Delaware state law does not require companies to reveal their owners. Wealthy buyers often use such tactics to obscure their identities and prevent them from showing up in public property records.

The previous sales record for a local home was an Indian Creek mansion that went for $47 million in 2012. The record for a condo was a unit at the Continuum in South Beach that sold for $27.5 million, or $3,342 per square foot, in 2014.

Read More: http://www.miamiherald.com/

18-acre development site hits market in North Miami Beach

A 17.7-acre parcel of land in North Miami Beach is up for sale as the city tries to attract developers with new zoning regulations.
“This is the only site in the area that is a blank slate,” said Cary Cohen, senior vice president at Flagler Real Estate Services, which is handling the sale. “You could do retail, commercial, hotel, office, even a charter school. And it’s shovel-ready.”

The roughly triangular lot, a former distribution site for Peoples Gas, is bordered on the north by Northeast 159th Street, on the west by Northeast 19th Place and on the southeast by West Dixie Highway. It lies just to the west of Biscayne Boulevard.
The current owner, real-estate investor Jacob Elharar, said he would be willing to sell all of the site, which is being marketed under the name Biscayne Village, or just part of it.

“We’ve had offers in the $30 million to $50 million range,” said Elharar, who paid $17 million for the land last year through a Delaware-based corporation. Elharar has sought development partners for the site in the past. Its previous use by the gas distributor required environmental remediation to remove contamination.
A lawsuit alleging that Elharar and partner Amram Adar unfairly took over real-estate broker Emile Farah’s stake in the property was recently settled out of court, according to Elharar’s attorney Joseph Geller, who also serves in the Florida House of Representatives.
In March, the city of North Miami Beach rezoned about 41 acres of land to allow for high-density, mixed-use development. Biscayne Village lies in one of those rezoned areas. Developers can now build up to 2,300 residential units and 2.5 million square feet of commercial space on the site, which has an address at 15780 W. Dixie Hwy.
“The overall vision is to capitalize on the world-class location that we have here in North Miami Beach,” said Mayor George Vallejo. “We had to change our codes in order to support people coming in, reinvesting, redeveloping.”

Elharar said he moved on the land last year because he believed the rezoning would pass the city council.
“We knew the city’s agenda was to move things forward,” he said.
Just to the northeast of the Biscayne Village site, a team of developers recently paid $23.5 million for the land that Dean’s Gold strip club now calls home. The new owners, Privé Land Banking and CK Holding Group, said they plan to redevelop the property.
Also nearby, developers 13th Floor Investments and Key International have announced a plan to build two 32-story, luxury condo towers on bayfront land.

Read More: http://www.miamiherald.com/

SHOULD THE BOARD HIRE A BOARD MEMBER’S COMPANY?

By Eric Glazer, Esq.

            Let’s say your condominium building needs a paint job.  It just so happens that the President of the association is the owner of a general contracting firm.  He tells the Board to stop racking their brains trying to find a company.  He promises to have his company do the job right.  He will certainly give the association the best price.  His company will provide a warranty.  He will personally supervise the job.  All required permits, if any, will be pulled.  And in the end…..it will look like Michaelangelo himself painted the property. 

  

            Two questions…….The first is whether or not the Board of Directors can enter into a contract with a company that a fellow director has an interest in.  The second question is…even if the law allows for such a contract, is it a good idea?

            For both condominium and homeowner associations the law states:

(As to any contract or other transaction between an association and one or more of its directors or any other corporation, firm, association, or entity in which one or more of its directors are directors or officers or are financially interested:

(a) The association shall comply with the requirements of s. 617.0832. (full disclosure)

(b) The disclosures required by s. 617.0832 shall be entered into the written minutes of the meeting.

(c) Approval of the contract or other transaction shall require an affirmative vote of two-thirds of the directors present.  (The director who is interested cannot vote)

(d) At the next regular or special meeting of the members, the existence of the contract or other transaction shall be disclosed to the members. Upon motion of any member, the contract or transaction shall be brought up for a vote and may be canceled by a majority vote of the members present. Should the members cancel the contract, the association shall only be liable for the reasonable value of goods and services provided up to the time of cancellation and shall not be liable for any termination fee, liquidated damages, or other form of penalty for such cancellation.

   

          So, Florida law does allow the association to enter into a contract with a director’s company.  But is that a good idea?  There are situations where such an arrangement can work out fine.  The job gets done, the service is performed, the association saves money, and everyone is happy.  When it goes bad however, it’s an uncomfortable situation for everyone.  Remember, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

            Doing business with a Board member or their company.  Good idea or bad?

Read More: http://www.hoa-condoblog.com/

Car2go expands service to Miami Beach

The car-sharing company car2go is expanding its business into Miami Beach.

Car2go members will be able to hop in a Car2go vehicle throughout Miami and Miami Beach 24-hours a day and pay only for the time they use.

The cars can be parked in a city metered space, a residential neighborhood street within the car2go Home Area, or a car2go designated parking space. All tolls are covered by the company.

New members can register with the promotional code BEACH to receive discounted registration and 30 minutes of free drive time.

Read More: http://www.miamiherald.com/

South Florida home prices rise in second quarter

South Florida home prices continued their steady growth in the second quarter of 2015.

The median sales price for single-family homes in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties hit $289,000, up 7.4 percent from the second quarter of 2014, according to a quarterly report from the National Association of Realtors released Tuesday.

The median sales price for condos in South Florida also rose to $156,000, up 7.1 percent year-over-year.

Since the economy began recovering local real estate values have skyrocketed, largely fueled by foreign investors, but the pace of growth has slowed over the last year.

Even with the slowdown, rising prices are still making it hard for many residents to find affordable housing because wages aren’t keeping pace. In Florida, per capita income is up just 1.2 percent so far this year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. That’s made South Florida one of the least affordable housing markets in the country.

Read More: http://www.miamiherald.com/