A joint venture between the Related Group of Florida, Tate Capital Real Estate Solutions and ROK Acquisitions purchased the note for the office, retail and hotel mixed-use complex located in downtown Miami. The site comprises 14 acres just north of the Performing Arts Center and the American Airlines arena. The area experienced a rebirth with the development of the Arts Center and the construction of numerous highend condos including Quantum, 1800 Club, Opera Tower and Paramount on the Bay. While the immediate neighborhood has a way to go before it can catch up with the lifestyle amenities of Brickell or Midtown, this mixed use development could be the catalyst needed to bring the area to life. There are also plans for a 35-story, $78 million Sonesta Mikado hotel.The Omni Center and 527-room Hilton Miami Downtown are located along Biscayne Boulevard, just north of Miami’s Central Business District. The urban complex offers about 1.5 million square feet of office, retail and hotel as well as a 2,700-space parking garage. Since 2008, the property has undergone about $66 million in capital improvements, including $26 million in the hotel and $40 million in the office. The total capital stack on the property included equity and an additional junior note position, which was not included in the sale.
Governor Scott signs new Community Planning Act into law.
Posted: May 31, 2011 Filed under: New Development, Notes Leave a comment »Our friends at Bercow Radell & Fernandez, P.A. put together an excellent Executive Summary of the Act and its impact on future developments. Bercow Radell & Fernandez specializes in real estate law, handling matters that include zoning approvals, amendments of local government comprehensive plans, developments of regional impact (DRIs), due diligence reviews, growth management, impact fees, concurrency issues and environmental matters. A link to the document is included below along with contact information for Mr. Jeffrey Bercow, a co-founder of the firm. Their website is www.brzoninglaw.com.
Miami Land Goes For $236mm – The end of the distress
Posted: May 27, 2011 Filed under: Land Sale Leave a comment »The Genting Group is buying the 14 acres that includes The Miami Herald ’s waterfront headquarters from the McClatchy Co. This announcement could be viewed as the official end to the distress in Miami. 10 acres of the same land was put under contract for $190 million, but the development plans that included “Times Square style” advertising billboards fell though. The new buyers intend to develop Resorts World Miami, a $2 billion entertainment and residential project in downtown Miami. The plan is to include hotel, convention, entertainment, restaurant, retail, residential and commercial facilities.
The Genting Group is a leading Asian conglomerate that owns and operated leisure, hospitality and gaming assets. The group owns 50% of Norwegian Cruise Lines.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/05/27/2238011/miami-herald-parent-sells-land.html
Waterton buys 500-unit bulk condo deal in Tampa
Posted: May 24, 2011 Filed under: Asset Sale, Bulk Sale, Condos, Tampa Leave a comment »Waterton Residential purchased a major fractured condo deal in the Tampa area. They bought the 509 remaining units at the 774-units Lansbrook Village. This community was originally a condo conversion financed by Corus Bank. ST Residential acquired the Corus portfolio, and has now sold the remaining units to Waterton’s $500 million discretionary multifamily investment fund.
This bulk deal is significant in that it is a large, suburban failed conversion. Many multifamily players have stayed away from these deals due to the uncertainty of the exit. One option is to continue to buy the individually owned units with the hope of putting the pieces back together and dissolving the association, but with over 200 units sold, this seems unlikely. Another option is to eventually sell these units to individuals when condo conversions return, but who knows when that will be. The last scenario is that at the end of the hold period the block of units is sold to another investor based on the cash-flow.
This transaction does show that seasoned multifamily buyers are willing to take on challenging projects due to the lack of easy ones. We can only assume that the purchase was based on the going in cash-flows, as the exit scenarios do not seem to be very clear as of yet.
Bulk Condo Deals Still Alive!
Posted: May 23, 2011 Filed under: Bulk Sale, Condos, Fort Lauderdale Leave a comment »
Tao in Sunrise - 396 unit condo highrise
Veteran converters Crescent Heights bought 240 units in the 396 unit development for about $50mm or roughly $210,000 per door. They were able to secure financing for 60% of the purchase price from Citibank. Crescent Heights has weathered many real estate cycles and they seem to be very bullish on a recovery. They also recently purchased two condo development sites from Africa Israel Investments, Soleil on Biscayne Boulevard at 30th Street and Vitri on Alton Road at the offramp to the I-395 Causeway. Soleil was a proposed 288 unit condo and Vitri a proposed 66 unit condo. The blended land price was $37,000 per proposed unit
Biscayne Landing note written off.
Posted: May 20, 2011 Filed under: Condos, Miami, Notes Leave a comment »The almost $200mm CMBS loan on this development was a complete write off. The property is Biscayne Boulevard in North Miami between 137th Street to 151st Street and comprises 190 acres on a former landfill. The original developer planned over 6,000 condos. They completed two condo towers, which were later lost to another lender, and then went into default on the CMBS debt. The securitized lender won a foreclosure judgment, but there was a huge problem. The loan wasn’t securitized by land, but by a lease with the city, which demanded that the lender make good on promises to pay the city and build public facilities.
Costar reports that Multifamily is off to a solid start in 2011
Posted: May 19, 2011 Filed under: Multifamily Trends Leave a comment »Multifamily Investment, Leasing Fundamentals Off to Solid Start In 2011
Many Deals Getting Done Though Investment Sales Dollar Volume Remains Far Below Peak Levels
By Randyl Drummer
Investor interest in U.S. multifamily properties continued at a healthy clip at the beginning of 2011, as investment sales dollar volume jumped 40% in the first quarter over the same period last year. More deals closed than in any quarter since mid-2005, according to CoStar Group data.
Blue Rock buys Orlando apartments for $18.2M
Posted: May 18, 2011 Filed under: Asset Sale, Orlando Leave a comment »Blue Rock Partners and its partners Konover South LLC of Deerfield Beach, bought the 288-unit Sutton Place Apartment Homes in Winter Park for just over $18 million. The partnership also bought the 244-unit Palm Grove Apartment Homes in Tampa last month.
Craig Robbins plan for Design District: SoHo south
Posted: May 18, 2011 Filed under: Miami Leave a comment »The article below in the Miami Herald talks about Robbins’ plans to turn the area into what “SoHo South”. He plans to anchor the area with high-end luxury retailer and lofts and hotels. Robbins has been working on transforming the Design District for the last 20 years. Several other developers including Rusty Atlas, Asi Cymbal and Tony Goldman among many others are all betting on the resurgence of the Design District / Midtown / Wynwood areas.
SoHo south: That’s the Design District plan – Biscayne Corridor – MiamiHerald.com.
Foreign buyers shopping Fort Lauderdale condos.
Posted: May 18, 2011 Filed under: Condos, Fort Lauderdale Leave a comment »FT. LAUDERDALE, FL-Mckafka Development Group (MDG) has sold 23 condominium units at Village East to foreign investors from Argentina, Venezuela, Austria and France. MDG snapped up the 68 remaining units in an $8.7-million bulk acquisition on Feb. 14.
MDG bought the distressed inventory at a deep discount, allowing the firm to offer investors sales prices up to 50% lower than market value before the housing crisis. Specifically, one- and two-bedroom units are selling from between $155,000 and $171,000.
Related buys $100M Omni Center note
Posted: May 18, 2011 Filed under: Loan Sale, Miami Leave a comment »Capmark Bank has closed on the sale of the senior promissory note secured by the Omni Center and Hilton Miami Downtown. The note sale was worth $100 million. The note had a principal balance of $161 million, and represented approximately 78% of the total senior mortgage balance of $206 million.
