Matthew Rizai and 2401 Del Lago Drive in Fort Lauderdale

A South Florida insurance magnate sold his waterfront estate for $13 million to the former CEO of a software company, marking one of the priciest residential sales in Fort Lauderdale this year.

Richard F. Hull sold the 11,169-square-foot home at 2401 Del Lago Drive in Fort Lauderdale for $1,163 per square foot to Matthew Rizai and his wife, records show. The two-story home has five bedrooms and eight bathrooms. It also has 400 feet of water frontage, according to Redfin.

Given that the estate was built by an insurance executive, the property also advertises its hurricane-resistant high impact windows and doors.

The estate was first listed for about $18 million in May 2018. Hull bought the property for $3.2 million in 1994 and the home was completed in 1999. It sits on 0.84 acres.

Julie Jones-Bernard of Florida Luxurious Properties represented the buyer and the seller in the deal, according to Redfin.

Hull founded Fort Lauderdale-based Hull & Co., a wholesale insurance brokerage, in 1962. It was acquired by Brown & Brown Inc. in 2005.

Rizai was the former CEO and chairman of Workiva, a cloud computing company that offers compliance software to companies. He served as CEO from 2009 until resigning in 2018.

In June, the founder of Pet Supermarket bought the Fort Lauderdale estate of the late H. Wayne Huizenga at 1575 Ponce de Leon Drive in Fort Lauderdale for $14.3 million.

In May, used car dealer Mark and Eileen Fisher paid $17.4 million – including the buyer’s premium – for the 27-room, 17,000-square-foot mansion at 534 Bontona Avenue in Fort Lauderdale.

Suburbs now make up 14 of the 15 fastest growing cities in America (Credit: iStock)

After years of flocking to city centers, American homeowners are now returning to familiar grounds: the suburbs.

With America’s major cities seeing population growth slow, 14 of the 15 fastest growing cities in the country are now actually suburbs, according to the Wall Street Journal. And the popularity of some suburbs has caused a development boom, with builders barely managing to keep up with demand.

After the recession, young workers flocked to major American cities. The trend caused a multifamily development boom in cities like Chicago and Seattle, and also caused the cost-of-living to skyrocket in some cities.

Now, as Millennials begin to get married and have children, they are returning to the suburbs. The growth rate for major American cities is now down to 0.69 percent, a 40 percent plummet, the Wall Street Journal reports. The suburbs, meanwhile, account for 79 percent of the total population living in the 50 biggest urban areas in America.

The trend is having an impact on the real estate world. Institutional investors already have turned to the suburbs in search of higher yields, with many urban markets dealing with apartment oversupply and flat rents. The migration to the suburbs has caused major suburban public transportation and highway congestion.

[WSJ] — Joe Ward

1071 North Ocean Boulevard with Danielle Gureghian and Vahan Gureghian

Philadelphia attorneys and charter school owners Vahan and Danielle Gureghian sold their custom-built Palm Beach mansion for more than $40 million.

Records show the 1071 North Ocean Boulevard Trust, controlled by West Palm Beach attorney Maura Ziska and linked to the Gureghians, sold the seven-bedroom, 33,000-square-foot estate at 1071 North Ocean Boulevard for $40.87 million. The buyer is REIWA LLC, which is led by West Palm Beach lawyer Alan Ciklin.

The oceanfront property first hit the market in March 2015. The owners lowered the asking price several times since then, taking it down to about $60 million. It went under contract earlier this year.

1071 North Ocean Boulevard

Agents Ashley McIntosh, Gary Pohrer and Vince Spadea of Douglas Elliman are the listing agents. Lawrence Moens of Lawrence A. Moens Associates Inc. represented the buyer.

The mansion sits on a 2-acre double lot with 242 feet of beach frontage with two oceanfront balconies, a massage room, home theater, library, staff quarters, an eight-car garage, hair salon, massage room and arcade.

The property last sold for $12 million in 2011, and the couple built the home but never lived in it, according to the Palm Beach Daily News. They’re reportedly planning to buy the former home of Palm House developer Robert V. Matthews at 101 Casa Bendita.

1071 North Ocean Boulevard

Vahan Gureghian is also the founder and CEO of CSMI, a charter school management company, and Danielle is executive vice president and general counsel at CSMI, according to the company’s website.

The Palm Beach deal closed just days after the estate of the late Terry Allen Kramer sold her property at 1295 South Ocean Boulevard in Palm Beach for more than $110 million, including commissions, marking the most expensive single-family home sale ever in Palm Beach County.

Moens also represented the buyer of that estate, who is hidden by a Delaware LLC. Elliman’s Pohrer and McIntosh were listing agents on that sale as well.

Bill Gates and his Wellington properties

A trust linked to billionaire Bill Gates paid $21 million for an equestrian estate in a gated Wellington community, near his Evergate Stables property.

Property records show equestrian Caroline Moran sold the 7.7-acre horse farm at 13945 Quarter Horse Trail to the Wellington Trust, controlled by Kevin Mincio. Gates, whose daughter Jennifer Gates is an award-winning equestrian, used the same trust to purchase the adjacent 3060 Mallet Hill Court and the property at 13715 Quarter Horse Trail.

The Microsoft Corp. co-founder also owns 3094 and 3155 Mallet Hill Court through the Mallet Hill Trust. All told, trusts linked to Gates paid nearly $59 million for roughly 30 acres of land on and near Mallet Hill Court.

Gates’ latest purchase, an off-record sale, includes a newly built house, cabana and barn built by Griffiths South Construction Inc., records show. The seller, Moran, paid $1.4 million for the property in 1997.

Wellington, the winter equestrian capital of the world, is the seasonal playground for the families of a number of billionaires – Michael Bloomberg, the late Steve Jobs, the Campbell’s Soup family, and celebrities whose children compete in horse riding competitions.

In May, Andrey Borodin, a billionaire Russian exile living in the United Kingdom, paid $23 million for a 62-acre equestrian compound at 4370 South Road that was once home to the Lechuza Caracas polo team.

Crocker Partners Brett Reese and Northbridge Centre

Crocker Partners and Greenfield Partners sold the Northbridge Centre in downtown West Palm Beach for $98 million, marking one of the largest office sales in the city’s history.

The partnership sold the 294,000-square-foot Class A office tower for $333 per square foot to Chicago-based Vanderbilt Office Properties and New York-based C-III Capital Partners, records show. The property is at 515 North Flagler Drive, at the base of the Flagler Memorial Bridge.

Boca Raton-based Crocker Partners bought the office property in a joint venture with Westport, Connecticut-based Greenfield Partners for $68 million in 2016. The joint venture then spent $15 million on renovations, including adding a new conference center, a cafe and a barista bar as well as upgrading the common areas and lobby.

The building is known to locals as the “Darth Vader building” because of its dark windows.

CBRE’s Chris Lee and Jose Lobon brokered the sale.

Brett Reese of Crocker Partners said that when the partners purchased the building rents averaged about $20 per square foot, but rents now range up to $42 per square foot due to the renovations.

Reese said he’s also seen a change in the tenant mix as West Palm Beach has evolved to become more of a destination for investment managers and private equity firms.

“Since we renovated, we brought in over 10 new family offices and private equity [firms] to the building,” Reese said. “Historically it has been a building where lawyers have gravitated to given its proximity to the courthouse. It’s now changed. We are seeing more financial services.”

Tenants at the office building include Qwest and Wells Fargo as well as a number of law offices. Reese said the building is currently about 60 percent leased.

There is high demand from investors for Class A office space in West Palm Beach. A lack of Class A buildings has hurt the city’s ability to attract more employers, according to economic development officials.

But that could soon change. In August, the West Palm Beach City Commission approved the controversial Okeechobee Business District, allowing Related Companies’ 25-story Class A office building to go forward.

Crocker Partners has acquired and managed over 149 properties since 1993, totaling 44.3 million square feet and $5.2 billion invested, according to its website.

Last October, Crocker Partners was part of a group that sold the Brickell City Tower in Miami’s Brickell neighborhood to New York Life Investors for $117.25 million.

Vanderbilt Office Properties, LLC is a privately held, real estate investment manager. Since 2014 it has invested more than $2.7 billion in real estate with 13 transactions, according to its website.

C-III Capital Partners has over $8 billion in assets under management. It is also one of the largest CMBS special servicers in the U.S., according to its website.

Spelling Manor in Beverly Hills with Petra Ecclestone (Credit: Wikipedia and Getty Images)

How many price cuts does it take to sell a mega-mansion?

In the case of the 123-room Spelling Manor in Beverly Hills, the magic number was three.

After three years on the market and a 40 percent price chop from its original asking, the palatial estate has sold for $120 million.

Despite the price chops, the deal is the most expensive home sale ever in Los Angeles County. The previous record was held by Hard Rock Cafe founder Peter Morton, who sold his Malibu home for $110 million last year.

Spelling Manor

The buyer of the Spelling Manor, represented by Jeff Hyland of Hilton & Hyland, remains unknown. Jade Mills of Coldwell Banker Global Luxury, Kurt Rappaport of Westside Estate Agency shared the listing with David Parnes and James Harris of the Agency. Records show the sale closed July 1.

The seller, Petra Ecclestone, is heiress of the Formula One racing empire. She had been looking to unload the 56,500-square-foot home in the tony Holmby Hills since 2016. Ecclestone originally listed the estate for $200 million, and most recently dropped its asking to $160 million in May.

Originally built by film and television producer Aaron Spelling, the French Chateau-style home on Mapleton Drive sits on a 4.6-acre spread. In addition to its 123 rooms — 14 of which are bedrooms — the property includes a tennis court, swimming pool with spa and koi ponds.

Ecclestone, daughter of billionaire Bernie Ecclestone, paid Candy Spelling $85 million for the property eight years ago. She hired some 500 workers to renovate it, adding a bowling alley, silver storage room, nightclub and tanning rooms among other amenities.

Sources said Ecclestone has been looking to downsize to a smaller home in Brentwood. She also owns a house in London.

The mega-deal comes as a number of ultra high-end homes in L.A. languish amid a cooling market. Owners and spec home developers, who had been caught up in what some industry pros have termed as “aspirational” pricing a couple of years ago, have had to lower their expectations.

Developer Bruce Makowsky in January dropped the price on his so-called “Billionaire” Bel Air mega-mansion a second time, to $150 million from its original $250 million asking. That also represented a 40 percent price cut.

Meanwhile, the most expensive listing in L.A. County on the Multiple Listing Service, the Chartwell Estate, has remained unsold. That 25,000-square-foot residence in Bel Air, owned by the late media mogul Jerry Perenchio, received another $50 million price chop last week, bringing its ask to $195 million. The estate hit the market as a $350 million pocket listing.

Condo sales jumped in the last week of June.

A total of 165 condos sold for $63 million in Miami-Dade County, up from 111 closings for $48 million the previous week. Condos last week sold for an average price of about $382,000 or $290 per square foot.

A unit at the Four Seasons Residences in Brickell was the most expensive sale of the week. Unit 45F, a three-bedroom, 3,861-square-foot condo, sold for $2.8 million, or $725 per square foot, after 733 days on the market – or about two years. Teresa Palacios represented the seller, and the buyer’s agent was Carlo Dipasquale.

The second priciest condo closing was the $2.25 million sale of unit 507 in the south building at Prive at Island Estates. The newly built Aventura condo sold for $587 per square foot after 280 days on the market. The listing agent was Juan Estrada and Isabel Cortes brought the buyer.

Here’s a breakdown of the top 10 sales from June 23 to June 29. Click on the map for more information:

Most expensive
Four Seasons Residences #45F | 733 days on market | $2.8M | $725 psf | Listing agent: Teresa Palacios | Buyer’s agent: Carlo Dipasquale
Least expensive
Ritz-Carlton Residences #1701 | 124 days on market | $1M | $570 psf | Listing agent: Abraham Batievsky | Buyer’s agent: Hazel Goldman
Most days on market
Four Seasons Residences #45F | 733 days on market | $2.8M | $725 psf | Listing agent: Teresa Palacios | Buyer’s agent: Carlo Dipasquale
Fewest days on market
Williams Island #1806 | 89 days on market | $1.9M | $401 psf | Listing agent: Joel Matus | Buyer’s agent: Joel Matus

The real estate industry has long been slow to innovate, but things could be changing. (Credit: iStock)

The real estate industry has long been slow to embrace innovation. But judging by recent investment figures, that might not be the case for much longer.

Venture investment in real estate tech startups hit $12.9 billion in the first half of 2019, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing data from research firm CREtech. That’s already more than all of 2017, which saw a record $12.7 billion in proptech investment.

“We feel like we’ve hit that tipping point a couple of months ago,” Allison Sedrish, co-head of the new proptech group at Barclays Investment Bank, told the Journal. Barclays is one of the many major institutions that have recently taken an interest in the sector.

Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management also began investing in real estate tech last year under a new venture capital unit called Brookfield Ventures, alongside divisions dedicated to infrastructure, private equity and power.

Meanwhile, as Softbank has invested heavily in real estate firms like WeWork and Compass for years, other investors have also been encouraged to follow suit.

“If you see someone like SoftBank piling in the extra hundreds of millions of dollars, it makes you more inclined to say ‘the money could come, so let’s make that early bet,’” said Mark Goldberg, a partner at Index Ventures.

As property values have begun to plateau, and with office and retail sectors facing disruption from technology, many investors now expect more real estate firms to turn to proptech to drive revenue and cut costs. [WSJ] — Kevin Sun

Convention Center Hotel renderings with David Martin and Jackie Soffer

All that’s left now: the aesthetic minutiae and the permits.

Arquitectonica’s design for the 185-foot-tall, 800-room, $362 million Miami Beach Convention Center Hotel was unanimously approved by the Miami Beach Design Review Board on Tuesday.
The hotel development team, led by developers David Martin of Terra and Jackie Soffer of Turnberry Associates, will still need to return to the city’s planning department to hash out details that include the look of balcony railings and privacy barriers, as well as the appearance of a ground-floor welcome center.

However, there won’t be any further need for any other approvals since the city already loosened setback and parking requirements, allowing larger ballrooms and meeting space to be built within the 657,896-square-foot structure.

“I’m excited that the project is approved and ready to go,” said Bernardo Fort Brescia, co-founder of Arquitectonica, told The Real Deal.

Miami Beach officials have been trying for more than five years to partner with private developers wishing to build a convention center hotel on city-owned land near the newly renovated Miami Beach Convention Center and the Fillmore Miami Beach at the Jackie Gleason Theatre.

The main obstacle: Miami Beach voters. A proposal by Atlanta-based Portman Holdings to build a 288-foot-tall hotel failed to attract the 60 percent threshold in 2016. In 2013, a proposal by Tishman Hotels to construct a convention hotel on city-owned land was killed by a court challenge.

Finally, in November, more than 60 percent of voters blessed a hotel proposal by Martin and Soffer for a 99-year lease on 2.6 acres of city-owned land in exchange for 3 percent of the hotel’s gross revenues. Most of that land consists of a surface parking lot. However, to construct the hotel, a one-story office building at 555 17th Street and portions of the Fillmore’s rear will be demolished. Both properties are also city-owned.

Once complete, the convention center hotel will have 320 valet spaces, a parking garage, a bridge connecting the parking area to the convention center, 23,220 square feet of ground floor retail, and a fifth-floor pool deck with restaurants and fitness rooms, according to a report to the design review board from Planning Director Thomas Mooney. There will also be a 5,035-square foot bar and terrace on the 17th floor. Hotel rooms will range from 370 square feet to 1,319 square feet in size.

From left: Ron Peltier, Ron Shuffield, Gino Blefari and Warren Buffet (Credit: Getty Images)

After 55 years as EWM Realty International, the Coral Gables brokerage is joining the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices network, the company announced on Thursday morning.

The Coral Gables-based firm, with more than 900 agents and employees and 10 offices in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, is rebranding as Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices EWM Realty amid increased consolidation in the industry. It’s a lateral move for EWM, which was purchased in 2003 by HomeServices of America Inc., the parent company of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices.

EWM Realty President and CEO Ron Shuffield expects that the Berkshire Hathaway brand will attract agents to join the firm.

The company decided to join the HomeServices franchise network to increase its exposure globally, network with other offices, and benefit from HomeServices’ technology. By joining the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices network, the firm will gain access to its “Forever Cloud” tech suite for lead generation, marketing support, social media, video production and more.

“We’ve had a lot of conversations with folks who feel like they could improve our business,” Shuffield said, later adding that, “our highest producing associates will have an opportunity to earn a greater income, not only for their existing business but for new business [as well].”

EWM’s competitors include Coldwell Banker, One Sotheby’s International Realty, Douglas Elliman and the Keyes Company. Of those, Keyes and One Sotheby’s are the only independent firms, though the latter is a Sotheby’s franchise.

In The Real Deal’s most recent ranking of top brokerages in Miami-Dade County, EWM was No. 1 with $1.49 billion in closed sales volume between September 2017 and September 2018.

The brokerage, with 775 agents, is opening in South Beach at 1691 Michigan Avenue, in about two weeks, Shuffield said. Nelson Gonzalez, Riley Smith and Nancy Batchelor are among the firm’s top brokers.

Earlier this year, the Zeder team, led by Judy Zeder, left EWM to join The Jills of Coldwell Banker, and they are now known as The Jills Zeder Group.

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices has nearly 50,000 agents and 1,500 offices in countries that include Germany, England, Italy and in Dubai, according to a release.

Hurricane Irma storm damage in Florida (Credit: iStock)

In some rare good news for South Florida homeowners, the state’s property insurer said it will scale back on its previously planned rate hikes.

Citizens Property Insurance said it will only raise its average personal lines residential premium 4.7 percent in Florida, down from its proposed rate increase of 8.2 percent, according to the Miami Herald. The 8.2 percent rate hike was proposed in December.

In Broward County, 29,215 customers would see an average 9.6 percent increase — from $3,057 to $3,351. In Palm Beach County, 10,907 policyholders would see a 4 percent average increase — from $2,901 to $3,016. Miami-Dade County’s 55,2798 customers will see their rates decrease by an average of 3.5 percent.

The reduced rate hike is due to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ approval of an overhaul to a controversial industry practice known as assignment of benefits, according to the Herald.

Assignment of benefits deals with property owners who sign over benefits to contractors, who then go after payments from insurance companies. Insurance companies say the practice drives up costs and legal fees, while attorneys say the law ensures that claims are fully paid by thrifty insurers. DeSantis approved the legislation in April.

Under the previous bill, South Florida homeowners would see some of the biggest rate increases in the state. Rates for homeowners insurance would have increased 9.9 percent in Broward, 9.4 percent in Miami-Dade and 7.0 percent in Palm Beach County.

Citizens is referred to as the insurer of last resort, providing an option for people who can’t get insurance elsewhere. Nearly a decade ago the number of policyholders neared 1.5 million. But the state sought to push policyholders to private insurers to reduce the cost burden on the government. Citizens now has about 420,000 policies. [Miami Herald] — Keith Larsen

The Midtown Miami building and Jordan Gimelstein of Dwntwn Realty Advisors

New York’s Mood Fabrics, featured in Bravo’s “Project Runway,” is heading to Miami.

The famed fabrics store, owned by the Sauma family, paid $7.13 million, or about $678 per square foot, for two buildings across the street from the Shops at Midtown Miami, near the Design District, The Real Deal has learned.

Dwntwn Realty Advisors broker Jordan Gimelstein represented Sauma Properties of Miami, as well as the seller, Edith Wigoda. The fashion fabric company plans to open a flagship Miami store at the adjacent properties, at 3550 North Miami Avenue and 24 Northwest 36th Street.

The deal includes about 10,500 square feet of building space on nearly 17,800 square feet of land at the corner of North Miami Avenue and 36th Street. It closed on Wednesday.

One of the Midtown properties was originally listed for lease, but Sauma Properties was interested in purchasing both buildings, Gimelstein said. Companies led by Wigoda paid a combined $3.9 million for the buildings in 2012, according to property records.

Mood Fabrics will be renovating the buildings. The property at 24 Northwest 36th Street is currently leased to Mattress 1, and the main building previously housed an office and art gallery.

Mood Fabrics opened in New York’s Garment District in 1991, expanding a decade later to a 40,000-square-foot space at 225 West 37th Street. It was first featured on “Project Runway” in 2002, and opened a store in Los Angeles five years later.

The Miami headquarters will be blocks away from the Design District, where new high-end stores and restaurants continue to open. In all, Miami Design District Associates, a partnership between Craig Robins’ Dacra and L Catterton Real Estate, is developing 1 million square feet of space and has development rights to another 1.5 million to 2 million square feet on its remaining property, Robins has said.

Carlos Gimenez, Francis Suarez and a rendering of the Coconut Grove Playhouse

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez has commenced the next round in the battle with Miami Mayor Francis Suarez over the fate of the Coconut Grove Playhouse.

On Monday, Miami-Dade County filed a court petition seeking to nullify Suarez’s veto of a controversial renovation plan for the historic theater, which was initially approved by the Miami City Commission on May 8. A subsequent city commission vote earlier this month to overturn the veto failed.

Built in 1927, the state-owned Coconut Grove Playhouse went through several alterations during its 75-plus-year run before being shuttered in the early 2000s. In 2004, the state agreed to turn the playhouse over to the county, which partnered with Florida International University to come up with a revival plan to renovate and reopen the theater for performances. A lease signed in 2013 states the county must reopen the playhouse by 2022.

Spokespeople for Gimenez and Suarez could not be immediately reached for comment, but the county mayor previously signaled the county would sue the city to push its $23 million restoration project forward. The petition, the second filed by the county in the past two years, will be taken up by a judicial appellate panel in Miami-Dade Circuit Court.

In 2018, the panel concluded an earlier vote by the city commission regarding the playhouse project improperly sought to force Miami-Dade to save the theater’s interior, which does not have a historic designation. Only some of the exterior has historic protection. The city was forced to give Miami-Dade another shot at approving its proposal.

In March, the Miami Historic and Environmental Protection Board denied the county’s fleshed-out design that includes demolishing the 1,100-seat auditorium behind the playhouse’s architecturally significant front. The new theater would have roughly 300 seats. The county appealed to the city commission, which overturned the board’s denial. Suarez stepped in and overrode the commissioners’ 3-2 vote.

In its recent court filing, Assistant Miami-Dade Attorney James Edwin Kirtley Jr. claims Suarez misapplied the law and deprived Miami-Dade of due process. The county wants the same panel that heard its previous challenge to reinstate the city commission’s approval. The petition alleges Suarez did not disclose he had scheduled meetings with individuals who had been sending him emails about the playhouse during the nine days before he issued his veto.

“It is unclear whether those meetings took place and, if so, what was discussed,” the petition states. “The city mayor’s veto message did not disclose the ex parte communications… The communications thus retain the presumption of prejudice.”

David Winker, an attorney representing Coconut Grove property owners Anthony Vinciguerra and Courtney Berrien, said his clients will be filing an amicus brief in support of upholding Suarez’s veto. The couple own a home within 500 feet of the playhouse, Winker said.

“The county’s arguments that the Mayor’s veto is illegal are without merit,” Winker said. “This is an inappropriate attempt to override the decision of an apolitical historical board decision that found the county’s plan to demolish over 90% of the Playhouse was unacceptable.”

The Daily Business Review first reported the court petition filed by Miami-Dade County.

Camilo Lopez, Phil Gutman and Ofizzina

Brown Harris Stevens Miami is taking on sales of its first new development, an office condo building in Coral Gables.

The brokerage, led in South Florida by Phil Gutman, is handling sales of the remaining 12 units at the 54-unit Ofizzina. It is taking over sales from Engel & Völkers, Gutman said.

TSG Group and BF Group received its temporary certificate of occupancy for the nearly 100,000-square-foot, 16-story building at 1200 Ponce de Leon Boulevard in August. TSG’s managing principal Camilo Lopez said the building was completed with furniture and art in March.

Lopez and Gutman are targeting investors for the remaining 22 percent of the building. Cushman & Wakefield’s Gordon Messinger is handling leasing of the units, and the goal is to sell the remaining office condos with tenants in place.

“Since we saw that the leasing market is super strong, we tweaked the business plan to rent the units out and sell the building to investors,” Lopez said. The developers have three letters of intent signed for gross rents at $48 per square foot, he added.

The project launched sales in 2015. It’s the first new development for Brown Harris Stevens Miami since the New York brokerage opened an office with the 2015 acquisition of Zilbert International Realty. In September, Brown Harris Stevens Miami opened a commercial division.

MKDA designed Offizina’s interiors. Amenities include a two rooftop sunset terraces, electric car charging stations, valet and self parking.

Ofizzina is a few blocks north of the city’s central business district. Development is booming in Coral Gables. Projects under construction include The Plaza Coral Gables, a major mixed-use project at 2901 Ponce de Leon Boulevard, which will have a high-end hotel, Class A office space, retail and luxury rentals.

Grant Cardone and Heron Pointe Apartments 10010 Boynton Place Circle

UPDATED, June 21, 11:50 a.m.: Grant Cardone didn’t make 10 times his investment, but the motivational speaker did sell an apartment complex in Boynton Beach for substantially more than he bought it for three years ago.

A company managed by Cardone sold the 192-unit Heron Pointe Apartments at 10010 Boynton Place Circle for $34 million to an affiliate of Robbins Property Associates, records show. The price equates to $177,000 per unit.

Cardone had purchased the 24,096-square-foot apartment complex in 2016 for $26.7 million, records show. The apartments were built in 1989 and sit on a 12-acre site.

Community amenities include a car wash station, a pool and tennis court, according to its website. The apartments include one to three bedrooms with monthly rents ranging from $1,200 to about $1,700.

Robbins Property Associates is based in Newton, Massachusetts, and owns apartment communities in Florida and Maryland. Its $4 billion portfolio totals 13,000 apartments, according to its website.

Cardone is the author of popular books about sales techniques such as “10X Rules,” “Sell or Be Sold” and “Be Obsessed or Be Average.” He is active in buying and selling apartment developments in South Florida.

In November, Cardone sold a 102-unit property at 1202 and 1300 Southwest First Avenue, and 1150 Southwest Second Avenue for about $17 million.

In October, Cardone’s company paid about $90 million for the 346-unit Atlantic Delray Apartments at 14050 Pacific Point Place in Delray Beach.

Correction: A previous version of this story had an incorrect number of apartments, price per apartment and acreage.

Adam Hyatt and Sobe Hostel

Investor Adam Hyatt bought the SoBe Hostel in Miami Beach for $10 million, with plans to upgrade the property to a hotel.

Property records show Hyatt’s entity bought the 48-room hostel at 235 Washington Avenue from 235 Sobe Hospitality LLC, led by Jack Avid and Steven Oved. The price equates to about $208,000 per room. Hyatt financed the deal with a $7.5 million loan from Dade County Federal Credit Union.

The hostel, which has a bar in the lobby, was last purchased in 2015 for $8.23 million. It was built in 1938.

Hyatt said he plans to spend $2 million to renovate the property while it remains open, including adding a “high-end,” as yet undisclosed cafe to the lobby, updating the bar and replacing furniture in all the rooms. He plans to rebrand the hostel as a hotel in December, but is still working out the details.

The hotel will have a communal space including a shared kitchen. Hyatt, an early backer of hospitality guest management technology provider Intelity, plans to make the hotel more “tech-driven” by having Intelity provide keyless entry, so guests can check in through their smartphones. They can also order from My Ceviche — a tenant at the building — and arrange bikes and kayaks, he said.

Daily room rates will average about $180, Hyatt said.

Hyatt also owns two lots adjacent to the hostel, which he purchased in 2015 for $8.25 million. He said he is still considering plans for those parcels.

In 2015, Miami Beach approved measures designed to increase hotels and expand retail and dining opportunities on Washington Avenue, which have attracted investment to the street. Earlier this year, commercial real estate firm KLNB picked up a CVS-anchored building at 938 Washington Avenue for $18.3 million. Across the street, Lightstone Group’s 202-key hotel is under construction at 915 Washington Avenue. And three blocks south, Imperial’s Michael Fascitelli and Eric Birnbaum are building a seven-story, 300-key hotel at 601 to 685 Washington Avenue.

Former WeWork SVP Lisa Bridges claims the company’s co-president, Jennifer Berrent, told her “men take risks and women don’t”

A former WeWork executive who oversaw compensation and benefits claims she faced retaliation after raising evidence of gender pay discrimination at the co-working company.

In a lawsuit filed Thursday in New York State Supreme Court, Lisa Bridges accused company executives of ignoring “glaring” evidence of pay discrimination.

Bridges, WeWork’s former senior vice president of total rewards, claims the firm’s current co-president, Jennifer Berrent, allegedly responded that “men take risks and women don’t.”

“[Bridges] was told that men are paid more than women because, for example, men take risks and women don’t and women are ‘second earners,’” the complaint read.

The lawsuit also alleges the company used inflated share prices to mislead employees on the value of its stock. It claims that in preparation for its initial public offering, WeWork hired investment bankers who were offered equity in the company before they began working, a move that contradicts the company’s own equity policy.

Bridges could not be reached for comment. Her attorney, Seth A. Rafkin, did not respond to a request for comment.

A spokesperson for WeWork said in a statement that the lawsuit is meritless and that the company intends to fight it.

“[Jennifer] Berrent is of the highest moral and ethical character, and we stand behind her completely,” the statement read. “We will continue to support women leaders.”

The allegations come as WeWork’s parent company, the We Company, powers toward an initial public offering while making efforts to straighten its business practices. The We Company says it is valued at $47 billion. Last week, another lawsuit was filed against the company alleging age discrimination, in which a 62-year-old California-based executive claimed a younger employee was hired to take over his role.

Bridges, who was hired in August 2018, claims in her lawsuit that WeWork “was compensating women significantly less than men, particularly with respect to equity.”

The plaintiff claims she coordinated a study by WeWork’s People Analytics Team in October that found a “glaring” pay disparity between men and women. The findings of the study were allegedly presented to Berrent, who was Bridges’ immediate boss as the company’s head of human resources and chief legal officer.

In one example at WeWork’s UK offices, the company allegedly paid a woman working the same job as a man a salary of $85,000 while paying the man a salary of $123,000, according to the lawsuit. Bridges also claims that two men hired to the human resources department to work alongside her, including one who was more junior, were paid $50,000 more than her.

Berrent, who is named as a defendant in the lawsuit, allegedly later told employees at a company town hall meeting in December that there was no pay disparity between men and women at the company.

Bridges claims that she met with Berrent again in February to express her concerns after she learned the company allegedly approved equity award grants to many employees. Of approximately 58 awards valued over $1 million, only three were given to women, according to her lawsuit.

Bridges claims Berrent then retaliated against her and shut her out of important HR meetings.

WeWork allegedly told Bridges it would investigate her claims and assigned a third-party investigator. After she provided materials to support her complaint to the investigator, Bridges claims she received a letter from WeWork’s general counsel, Jared DeMatteis, saying she had breached the company’s confidentiality policy.

Shortly after, Bridges alleges she was put on leave.

Before joining WeWork last year, Bridges worked at other corporations, including Dropbox and Dell, overseeing compensation. Following a stint at McDonalds from 2006 to 2007, Bridges sued the fast food giant, alleging she was fired after she raised evidence that showed the company had misrepresented executive compensation. That lawsuit was dismissed following a settlement.

A sculpture at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center

In a tony enclave in Palm Beach County, streets have names like Appaloosa Trail and Equine Lane, signs demand that horses have the right of way, and fully outfitted barns sell in the multimillions of dollars.

Welcome to Wellington, considered the winter equestrian capital of the world. It’s the seasonal playground for families of such billionaires as Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg and the late Steve Jobs, as well as celebrities Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen.

Properties trading hands here — usually for many millions of dollars — are anchored by sprawling barns, with riding rings, tack (equipment) rooms, horse treadmills and staff apartments.

The community comes alive during the Winter Equestrian Festival, which runs from January through March, and polo events at the International Polo Club Palm Beach extending into late April or May.

The festival draws thousands of spectators and competitors to the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center for competitions that include hunters and jumpers (hunters use lower fences than jumpers and are judged more on style, while jumpers are judged more on speed), dressage (similar to horses dancing) and polo. It’s often the daughters of magnates who compete, like Georgina Bloomberg, Eve Jobs, Jennifer Gates and Jessica Springsteen.

“Guys like yachts, girls like horses,” said Martha Jolicoeur of Douglas Elliman in Wellington, a former competitive equestrian who closed $65.6 million in sales last year, ranking her as the brokerage’s highest-grossing agent in Florida.

For real estate brokers, the fast-paced winter season marks the busiest time of the year, when most equestrian properties change hands. “Eighty percent of our sales are between Christmas and Easter,” said Thomas Baldwin, broker/owner of the aptly named Equestrian Sotheby’s International Realty. With 40 agents, his brokerage handles about 100 sales — many of them for equestrian properties — totaling $175 million per year.

Brokers say the past season was a strong one. In fact, during the past two years, Baldwin said, he has noticed an increase in sales year-round. He had an $11 million farm and a $6 million farm go under contract recently, both of which are set to close in July.

“In the summer they decide, ‘Let’s buy something — we know we’re going to be in Wellington [for the winter season],’” said Carol Sollak, co-owner of Engel & Völkers in Wellington. Her brokerage has various pending sales set to close this summer, she said. Engel & Völkers, Equestrian Sotheby’s, Douglas Elliman and Keller Williams, are among the most active in the highly competitive Wellington market for equestrian real estate.

The neigh-borhood

Equestrian farms, which generally range from 2.5 acres to 40 acres or more, dominate the 14.4-square-mile Equestrian Preserve in Wellington.

The most valuable properties are within a short “hacking” distance of the showgrounds, eliminating the need to bring the horse by trailer, brokers say. (Hacking is riding a horse at normal walking speed.)

“It’s $1 million an acre with no structure if you’re within a 10-minute hack,”
Baldwin said.

But that’s just the starting price. Already built-out, luxurious farms, which may include a mansion as large as 20,000 square feet, plus a barn with more than two dozen horse stalls and staff quarters, riding rings, a horse treadmill and other equestrian features, can be priced as high as $25 million or more, he said.

Jen Drahan, an agent with Keller Williams’ luxury division in Wellington, said that about 100 Wellington farms are currently on the market. Of a total of about 900 equestrian properties in the village, that’s a drop from about 130 a year ago, brokers say.

“Farms that are updated and modernized and not needing a big renovation or construction tend to move faster,” Drahan said.

According to a Douglas Elliman first-quarter report, 14 single-family homes with two-plus acres sold during the first quarter, up 40 percent from the first quarter of 2018. The average price was $3.5 million, up 111 percent from the same period of 2018.

“The difference we are seeing now is the Trump effect with the tax breaks, and with New York, Connecticut and New Jersey rates increasing, we’re seeing more and more people coming here and becoming full-time residents,” Baldwin said.

Among sales in late April, records show billionaire Andrey Borodin, a Russian exile living in the United Kingdom, paid $23 million for a polo facility that was once home to the Venezuelan polo team Lechuza Caracas. Borodin’s Park Place Polo Fields Corporation bought the 62-acre property at 4370 South Road. Sotheby’s Baldwin brokered the sale, but declined to disclose the buyer.

Netscape founder Jim Clark and wife Kristy’s property, Artemis Farm

Completed in 2015, the equestrian compound includes a 60-stall polo barn, a 12-stall show-jumping barn, tack rooms, feed rooms, an aquatic horse walker, staff apartments with a kitchen and a manager’s office.

Buyers of equestrian properties often hail from the Northeast, the Midwest, California and Canada, as well as from Argentina, Venezuela and Colombia, brokers say. Yet in the hot summer months, the area is largely vacant of residents and horses, as owners take them to Kentucky, North Carolina, Saratoga or Europe to compete.

An extra perk for property owners: They can apply for an agricultural designation to get a discount on property taxes, which could range from 30 percent to 50 percent, brokers say. But if a home is on the property, that portion of the it is not subject to the tax break.

A won horse town

Wellington incorporated in 1985, and the 28-square-mile village now has a population of about 65,000. It is anchored by the 2,200-acre Palm Beach Polo and Country Club, which was initially developed in the late 1970s. Today, it has 1,250 homes, with condos beginning in the mid-$300,000s and single-family homes priced at more than $12 million, Baldwin said. The club does not allow barns.

The club was developed by Bill Ylvisaker, considered a founder of Wellington, who brought polo to the area, said Michael O’Dell, assistant planning, zoning and building director for the village.

“He created a high-end environment, and inside of Palm Beach Polo and Country Club he created the original polo fields and polo stadium, and that’s how he marketed Wellington — the polo lifestyle, the farm operations, the equestrian operations,” O’Dell said.

In the 1980s, the 248-acre International Polo Club was built; Mark Bellissimo and his partners bought it for $72 million in 2016. Bellissimo and his partners also own and operate the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center in Wellington, which they bought for a reported $135 million in 2006. It’s where competition at the Winter Equestrian Festival takes place.

“The big differentiator is the competition,” O’Dell said. “That’s why we have residents like [Bill] Gates who buy properties here. They are here for so long, they want to be living in their own home.”

Among the properties currently on the market is a 4.1-acre estate at 2993 Appaloosa Trail, listed for $13.9 million by Douglas Elliman’s Jolicoeur. She declined to disclose the owner of the property, called Poden Farms, but records show it is Neil Moffitt, the former CEO of Hakkasan Group, whose daughter is a competitive rider.

The recently renovated 8,700-square-foot mansion, built in 2006, comes with a 16-stall barn, two guest apartments, staff quarters, an arena, saltwater pool, summer kitchen, seven paddocks and two horse treadmills, including a water treadmill.

“Neighborhoods that have experienced the biggest growth and highest appreciation are the neighborhoods that the horse people buy in, sell in and reside in when they are here,” Jolicoeur said, “because without the horse people in Wellington, Wellington would be similar to any other town in Florida.”

Even barns without a main residence, but furnished with chandeliers, staff quarters, riding rings and other outdoor areas, can be priced at $8 million to $12 million or more. And a four-month lease can cost $400,000 for a 20- to 26-stall barn, Baldwin said.

Perhaps the largest, most well-known high-end area for equestrian barns is Grand Prix Village, which has 35 properties — just one with a house and all with horse training facilities. Owners include the Firestone family (of tire manufacturing fame) and the Johnsons of Fidelity Bank, area experts say.

There, Sotheby’s Baldwin has an $8 million listing for a four-acre, 26-stall barn built three years ago, at 14878 Grand Prix Village Drive. It comes with an owner’s lounge, sand ring, treadmill for horses, three-bedroom staff quarters and six paddocks.

It’s currently leased out to Legacy Stables. On a recent day, the firm’s trainers and groomers were attending to the stately horses, including Chabentyno, who was getting a laser therapy treatment on a leg, geared to help stimulate circulation.

Show ponies

Buying the house and barn is just the start of the expenses involved in the equestrian life. Most who live the equestrian lifestyle own 12 to 30 horses, and polo “patrons” or teams may have 30 ponies each, Baldwin said. Horses competing internationally can cost $2 million to $5 million each, he added.

The interior of 2993 Appaloosa Trail

“There’s so much money there, it’s mind-boggling,” said Toni Schrager, co-owner of Brown Harris Stevens Miami, whose daughters used to show in Wellington. “The money that people spend on their horses — they have treadmills, they have pools, massages, chiropractors.”

In Wellington, developers also build spec barns, with or without homes on their properties.

Pinecrest-based spec home developer Deniz Ergener and his partner Dan O’Rourke built a spec barn and home in Wellington’s Palm Beach Point a few years ago. They sold the property for $5.15 million in 2015, a couple of months after listing it for $5.35 million, Ergener said. The five-acre property has a 12-stall, 9,000-square-foot barn, an 8,000-square-foot house and a 1,600-square-foot grooms’ quarters, Ergener said.

“A barn is more important than a house, actually,” Ergener said. “Most people love their horses — they care about their horses more than anything else. When they come to a showing, they want to see the barn before the house.”

Nancy Batchelor, a top Miami Beach-based agent for EWM Realty International, is an equestrian who competes in the hunter division in Wellington during the season. “I do it for fun, and it helps me relax and focus,” she said.

In March, Batchelor paid $750,000 for a 2,800-square-foot house with a pool at the Aero Club in Wellington, five minutes from the showgrounds. She keeps her horses separately at East Wind Farms in Southwest Ranches.

“It’s a very horse-friendly community, with horse paths, some of the best vets, anything to do with equine — it’s all there,” she said of Wellington. “During the season, [there are] the events, the parties, the fundraising. It’s really an exciting place to be.”

From left: Dale Reed of Merrimac Ventures, Daniel Lebensohn, the co-founder of Aventura-based BH3, Jorge Gomez-Moller of Driftwood Acquisitions & Development, Jaime Sturgis of Native Realty, and Nick Rojo of Affiliated Development

Developers are finally putting shovels in the ground and deploying capital in Opportunity Zones in South Florida and across the country.

But with 124 qualified Opportunity Zones in South Florida, developers, brokers and investors at a Bisnow panel on Thursday said they are largely focusing their attention on projects near Fort Lauderdale and Delray Beach’s urban core.

Jaime Sturgis of the Fort Lauderdale-based brokerage Native Realty said his company is involved in about 10 Opportunity Zone projects. Most of the projects are around 13th Street and Flagler Village in Fort Lauderdale, where interest in the area was already promising and density is high.

“There is a finite amount of land in Flagler Village,” Sturgis said during the Opportunity Zones event held at Sistrunk Market & Brewery in Fort Lauderdale. That, he said, is another reason Opportunity Zone investors are flocking to the area.

The Opportunity Zones program was part of President Trump’s tax plan, and was designed to encourage investment into low-income and distressed areas. Real estate developers quickly became enamored with the program, and large real estate investment funds such as EJF Capital and RXR Realty sought to raise substantial Opportunity Zone funds. The benefit for developers and investors in an Opportunity Zone is the ability to defer and potentially forgo paying capital-gains taxes.

Yet some owners of property in Opportunity Zones are listing them at prices that are much higher than investors want to pay, panelists said.

“Some folks think that the Opportunity Zone supercharges [the value] of your land,” said Dale Reed, an executive at Merrimac Ventures. “They are unrealistic on what their land deals are worth.”

Daniel Lebensohn, co-founder of Aventura-based BH3, is planning to build a $100 million mixed-use project in an Opportunity Zone on West Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach. He said that high land prices across South Florida will come down in the future once property owners realize that smart investors won’t pay the prices property owners are demanding.

“It’s like the tulip craze” said Lebensohn, referring to tulip mania in the 17th century, when tulips reached ridiculously high prices and then fell sharply.

Panelists also agreed that Opportunity Zone incentives alone would not lead them to invest in a project. Most already had secured the land and had the projects penciled out before the legislation came out in 2017.

Reed said Merrimac Ventures invested in two projects before the regulations were in released. “The two projects we did were because they were in the [Community Redevelopment Agency area] — that’s really the driving force with those projects initially.”

Nick Rojo with Affiliated Development, who is building SIX13, a 142-unit workforce apartment complex at 13 Northwest Third Avenue near Fort Lauderdale’s Flagler Village, pointed out that Affiliated’s project is getting $7 million in gap financing from the Fort Lauderdale Community Redevelopment Agency to complete the project.

Still, Sturgis said the program helps make deals more feasible, especially since rents have gone up in Flagler Village and other areas.

“The Opportunity Zone is the icing on the cake, its makes the pot that much sweeter,” Sturgis said.

Miami International Airport

“South Florida by the numbers” is a web feature that catalogs the most notable, quirky and surprising real estate statistics.

For millions of annual travelers, Miami International Airport (MIA) is both their first and last impression of the Magic City. As its size and global reach grow in step with Miami’s international stature, its role in the region’s economic development remains a constant concern for the real estate and business community. Fortunately, major new plans are underway in and around the airport to accommodate more travelers and make it a showcase for the city’s evolving identity. Hop a flight aboard this month’s “South Florida by the numbers” and let’s see what’s happening at MIA.

$5 billion: Estimated cost of a massive capital improvement plan that will see construction through 2035 and accommodate 70 million to 80 million passengers. (Current capacity is about 60 million.) Major changes include a new centralized check-in hall, security checkpoint, shopping and restaurant areas, plus dramatic changes to the terminals and concourses. [TheNextMiami] 

$16.6 million: Amount of a construction loan secured by an entity affiliated with Baywood Hotel to build a 134-room hotel near MIA. (The developer secured the loan from Ocean Bank, a Miami-based community bank that is one of South Florida’s most active construction lenders.) The future Home2 Suites by Hilton will sit on a 83,200-square-foot lot at 8852 Northwest 26th Street. [TheRealDeal]

5 percent: Amount of traffic growth at MIA during the first quarter of 2019 compared to 2018, which was a record-setting year for the facility. International visitors accounted for more than half of that growth, with more global routes launched this year. [SFBJ]

$680: Cost of a Royal Air Maroc round-trip flight from Miami to Morrocco, a route that just launched in April. The new service marks the first nonstop flight from Miami to the African continent since 2000. [MiamiHerald]

15: Number of hours for a direct flight from Miami to Tokyo. The flight is a possibility if MIA officials on the Asia Task Force can get the proposed route approved for next year. While MIA believes the route would generate $70 million in annual business revenue, the task force needs to determine the extent of demand for the route, as well as a participating carrier. [MiamiToday] 

This column is produced by the Master Brokers Forum, a network of South Florida’s elite real estate professionals where membership is by invitation only and based on outstanding production, as well as ethical and professional behavior.