Prime Minister Mette Fredriksen and President Donald Trump (Credit: Getty Images and iStock)

Over the last week, a story that’s entirely emblematic of the Trump era gained momentum and died shortly thereafter: the president made headlines with his stated aim to buy Greenland from Denmark. But it’s a deal that the Danish government has made clear is not on the table. Now, bitter recriminations are all that’s left of the new U.S. territory that was never to be.

Below are the events that transpired.

Aug. 16, 8:09AM: The Wall Street Journal reported that the president had been floating the idea of purchasing Greenland — which was never listed for sale — to advisors for months. Current and former White House officials observed in the article that adding Greenland to U.S. territory would be tantamount to Andrew Jackson’s acquisition of Alaska for Trump; the idea also aligns with the Pentagon’s recent efforts to block China from building airports on the island.

August 19: “Greenland is not for sale,” Prime Minister Mette Fredriksen told a Danish newspaper earlier this week. “Greenland is not Danish. Greenland belongs to Greenland. I strongly hope that this is not meant seriously.”

Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen: “Thankfully, the time where you buy and sell other countries and populations is over.” pic.twitter.com/JOCASC5TEK

— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) August 21, 2019

Aug. 19, 8:07 p.m.: Trump shared a photo of a giant golden Trump-branded tower plopped on a rocky shoreline along with the text “I promise not to do this to Greenland!” At that time, the visit was still on.

I promise not to do this to Greenland! pic.twitter.com/03DdyVU6HA

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 20, 2019

Aug. 20: On Tuesday evening, White House spokesman Judd Deere confirmed that Trump would no longer be traveling to Denmark.

Aug. 20, 7:51 p.m.: Trump announced via Twitter that he had cancelled an upcoming trip to Copenhagen, where he had been invited by Queen Margrethe II, following Prime Minister Mette Fredriksen’s statement that there was “no interest in discussing the purchase of Greenland.”

Denmark is a very special country with incredible people, but based on Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s comments, that she would have no interest in discussing the purchase of Greenland, I will be postponing our meeting scheduled in two weeks for another time….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 20, 2019

Aug. 21, 1:24 PM: Before departing on a trip to Kentucky, Trump told reporters outside the White House that Fredriksen was “nasty” in her comments about not selling Greenland. “I thought it was not a very nice was of saying something. But all they had to do is say, no, we’d rather not do that or we’d rather not talk about that.” He added that the slight was to America, not him personally.

Aug. 21, 2:10 p.m.: As of the time of this posting, Greenland is still not for sale.

Every day, The Real Deal rounds up South Florida’s biggest real estate news, from breaking news and scoops to announcements and deals. We update this page at 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. ET. Please send any tips or deals to tips@therealdeal.com

This page was last updated at 9 a.m.

Casa Bonita at 21573 El Bosque Way

Marketing guru Tom Gruber is taking his Boca Raton estate to auction without a reserve. Gruber, former chief marketing officer of AutoNation, Blockbuster and McDonald’s, previously listed his 6.6-acre property at 21573 El Bosque Way, known as Casa Bonita, for nearly $7 million. Concierge Auctions will handle the auction. Bidding begins Thursday and ends on Tuesday, Aug. 27. Gruber’s home features a home theater, custom wet bar, fitness center, a wood-paneled billiards room, a tennis court, stables, and a 2,500-square-foot sundeck, according to the auction house.

Stephen Ross (Credit: Getty Images)

The Miami Dolphins broke ground on a new $135 million training complex and sports performance clinic next to Hard Rock Stadium. Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, who recently came under fire for hosting a fundraiser for President Trump, is funding the project. The 125,000-square-foot complex, spanning 20 acres, will feature three fields, meeting rooms, locker rooms and offices, and a 30,000-square-foot site for Miami’s Orthopedics and Sports Medicine Institute. It follows a $600 million renovation of Hard Rock Stadium. [Sun Sentinel]

Here’s how the toxic findings at Melreese golf course could affect David Beckham’s stadium project’s rent. After a new report found pollutants to be above the legal limit, city officials shut the golf course down. While the final remediation costs are unknown, under the terms of the proposed lease, the development group could have to pay less in rent if the environmental cleanup costs are higher. [TRD]

Homebuilder Toll Brothers looks to higher-earning millennials amid down Q3 results. Amid a softening luxury market, Toll Brothers is developing lower-priced properties as it reaches out to higher-earning millennials. But the company is still enduring a difficult period, and its third quarter results released Wednesday saw a nearly 25 percent drop in net income, year-over-year. [TRD]

Compiled by Katherine Kallergis

Home sales rose in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties in July 2019. (Credit: iStock)

Temperatures kept rising in July in South Florida, and home sales followed suit. The tri-county area saw annual increases in residential sales last month, according to the Miami Association of Realtors.

Miami-Dade
In Miami-Dade County, residential sales increased 6.9 percent, year-over-year, to 2,490. Single-family home sales rose 15 percent, up to 1,270, while condo sales decreased 0.4 percent to 1,220 — a difference of five sales from the previous year.

The sales volume for single-family homes rose by 31.5 percent to $805.3 million in July. Condo dollar volume increased 2 percent to $466.9 million.

Though sales rose, price growth slowed. The median price of a single-family home in Miami-Dade increased only 0.7 percent to $372,000. Condo prices increased 2.7 percent to $249,500.

Broward
Total residential sales in Broward increased 9.7 percent year-over-year to 3,181. Single-family home sales jumped nearly 12 percent to 1,634. Condo sales increased 7.4 percent to 1,547.

The total sales volume for single-family home sales last month totaled $775.8 million, a 20.3 percent increase, year-over-year. Condo dollar volume grew by 13.8 percent to $344.1 million.

Home price growth in Broward fared better than in Miami-Dade. The median single-family home price was $380,000, a 5.6 percent increase. The median condo price rose by 4.5 percent to $172,500.

Palm Beach
Residential sales in Palm Beach County in July surpassed 3,000, marking a nearly 11 percent gain from the previous year. Single-family home sales increased 15.7 percent to 1,775. Condo sales increased 4.4 percent to 1,232.

The total dollar volume for single-family home sales rose by 29 percent to $1 billion, while condo dollar volume increased 21.3 percent to $361.2 million. A number of ultra high-end sales in the town of Palm Beach closed in July, which likely boosted the county’s total home sales volume.

Single-family home prices climbed to about $355,000, a 1.4 percent increase. The median condo price rose by 4.5 percent to $185,000.

Homebuilding shares are close to their highest levels of the year thanks to low mortgage rates (Credit: iStock)

Signs may be pointing to a potential recession, but low mortgage rates have boosted homebuilding shares, which are nearing their highest levels of the year.

A composite of homebuilding stocks — known as the SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF — is up 29 percent in 2019, far surpassing the S&P 500’s 17 percent gain, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Texas-based LGI Homes, which focuses on first-time buyers, has seen its stock jump 77 percent this year, while Miami-based homebuilder Lennar has increased 32 percent and KB Home has risen 47 percent, the Journal reported.

The rise in homebuilder stock prices is largely due to the fall of mortgage rates which have dropped to their lowest levels since late 2016. This has made it cheaper for homebuyers to buy and refinance a home.

The Federal Reserve’s decision to lower interest rates last month also helps homebuilding stocks because it makes financing cheaper for developers to build homes.

Not all homebuilders are faring well, however. Toll Brothers, which develops luxury homes, saw third quarter net income drop 25 percent from the same time last year. The company which released earnings on Wednesday, said overall contracts were down, but it saw positive signs in a recent move to develop lower-priced properties as it reaches out to higher-earning millennials.

The renewed interest in homebuilders comes as many indicators show the housing market continues to slow because of affordability concerns and rising construction costs.

Just last month, a Case-Shiller index showed home price growth slowed to 3.4 percent in May on a yearly basis, down from 3.5 percent in the previous month.

BuildFax also recently reported that that single-family housing permit authorizations nationally decreased by 2.75 percent in June, year-over-year. [WSJ]  — Keith Larsen

BBX Capital’s Alan Levan and Altis at Bonterra

BBX Capital Real Estate and Altman Companies sold the 314-unit Altis at Bonterra apartment complex in Hialeah to AvalonBay Communities for $90 million.

The joint venture sold the property at 3645 West 98th Street for $286,624 per unit, records show.

The property spans 14 acres off of I-75 in the far western side of Miami-Dade County. Construction began in the first quarter of 2016 and was completed during 2017, according to a press release from BBX Capital.

Amenities include a heated saltwater pool, a fitness center, a movie theater, a Starbucks lounge and internet café, and a game room. Monthly rents for one-bedroom apartments start at $1,590, according to Altis at Bonterra’s website.

Arlington, Virginia-based AvalonBay Communities is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that invests in apartments and has owned over 78,365 multifamily units. In October, AvalonBay purchased Alexander Living, a 20-story, 205-unit rental building in West Palm Beach for $103 million.

BBX Capital Real Estate’s parent company, Fort Lauderdale-based BBX Capital, is a diversified portfolio company led by Alan Levan. The company owns a 90 percent interest in Bluegreen Vacations, a timeshare vacation rental company. In December, BBX Capital’s real estate arm purchased a 50 percent interest in Altman Companies, a Boca Raton-based multifamily housing developer, for $22.7 million.

Hialeah is seeing an influx of new development. Just this month, Coral Rock Development Group and Arena Capital Holdings secured a $12.75 million loan from BB&T Bank for Pura Vida Hialeah. The 9-acre development will have 260 apartment units and 51,000 square feet of retail space at 2901 to 3099 West 16th Avenue and 1571 West 29th Street.

(Credit: iStock)

A Miami-Dade judge ruled the developers of Regalia, a luxury condo tower in Sunny Isles Beach, must turn over 100 percent interest in the companies that own the remaining two – and most expensive – unsold units, The Real Deal has learned.

The ruling is a blow to the developers who failed to sell the top-priced penthouse and beach house, each currently listed at more than $15 million, amid a stagnant luxury condo market. Such units typically provide the highest profit to the developer.

Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Michael Hanzman issued an order granting a motion for turnover to a receiver on Aug. 13, documents show. In June, Regalia Beach Developers LLC, led by Brazilian developer Gilberto Bomeny, Kevin Venger and other partners, had been ordered to turn over membership interest of its subsidiary, Regalia Units Owner LLC. The order came after Regalia Beach Developers failed to pay a $3 million judgment to Louis Montello, its former attorney, plus interest.

Attorney Roniel Rodriguez, who represents Montello, said that the receiver typically takes over the debtors’ interest between 60 and 90 days. The sheriff will handle the sale of the ownership interest in the subsidiary, the proceeds of which would go to Montello.

Regalia developer Bomeny, who is in Brazil, referred comment to the developer’s representative, Mario Golombek. Golombek did not respond to requests for comment. Venger also did not respond to a request for comment.

The two units are the crown jewels of the 47-story building. The penthouse, a six-bedroom, six-bathroom unit with a $1 million master bathroom, as well as a kosher kitchen, a 540-bottle wine cellar, and a lounge with a backlit smoky quartz bar imported from Israel, was once listed for $39 million.

Coldwell Banker’s Jills Zeder Group, then called The Jills, relisted the three-story penthouse unit for $29.5 million a year ago and have since reduced the price to $22.5 million.

The beach house is a two-story, six-bedroom, six-bathroom condo that hit the market for $35 million, only to be brought down to $22.5 million when The Jills took it over in September 2018. The unit, with a double-height great room that opens onto a large terrace with glass-faced pool and integrated Jacuzzi, is now asking $15 million, according to a spokesperson for the Jills Zeder Group.

Condo market slowdown

While the 39-unit building at 19575 Collins Avenue was completed and delivered in 2014, the beach house and penthouse weren’t finished until 2016 – just as new luxury condo inventory began to pile up in Miami-Dade County.

“Both large units and expensive units have very thin demand. And Regalia has both large and very expensive units, so they got hit twice,” according to Ana Bozovic, a broker who owns the real estate data firm Analytics Miami.

In Sunny Isles Beach, the entire condo market has a little over 32 months of inventory as of the end of the second quarter, she said. The monthly volume of inventory increases with price points. For units price at just $3 million and up, there is currently more than 100 months of inventory.

By the end of the second quarter, there were 201 active listings in Sunny Isles Beach of condos priced at $3 million and up, with an average rate of two sales per month, according to Bozovic’s data, which is based on the Multiple Listing Service.

The luxury condo market is speculative, and requires “an expensive marketing machine to reach remote buyers and to move units,” Bozovic said.

Josh Migdal, a partner at the Miami law firm Mark, Migdal & Hayden, who is not involved in litigation involving Regalia, said the order to give up ownership interest in the company that owns the remaining units gives “an interesting signal about the demand and value of the units.”

“If there was demand for the units at value sufficient to satisfy the judgment and leave some profit, then the developer would have chosen that path,” he said.

Litigation

The legal saga dates back to 2016, when Regalia Beach Developers LLC filed a lawsuit against Montello and his companies, MVW Management LLC and Montello & Associates, alleging that Montello illegally enriched himself at their expense, and that Montello had a conflict of interest to represent the developers as their attorney while also representing them as a “boots on the ground” developer representative.

In addition to being their attorney, Montello was hired by Regalia Beach Developers LLC to oversee development responsibilities for Regalia and One Thousand Museum, the Zaha Hadid-designed luxury condo tower that was recently completed in downtown Miami.

“Montello had a flagrant conflict of interest which he never disclosed: while purporting to zealously represent the interests of the plaintiffs, his true loyalty was to only himself, since Montello’s own companies were the adverse parties,” the original complaint alleges.

The complaint also stated that the principal owners of the development company behind Regalia live outside the U.S. and are “sometimes unavailable to attend to the day-to-day ‘boots on the ground’ type issues as a local developer might.” Because they worked and lived outside of the U.S., Regalia Beach Developers LLC relied on their lawyer to have a fiduciary duty to his clients.

By recommending his own company serve as the exclusive manager of Regalia, Montello and his law firm, Montello & Associates, had a direct conflict of interest, the lawsuit alleged.

Montello’s financial agreement with the developer included a $20,000 monthly salary and bonuses of $1 million and up if the project provided a profit of at least $75 million. Montello allegedly demanded an additional 25 percent developer’s fee and a 6 percent net profit fee, according to the suit.

In early 2016, the developers eventually terminated the management and consulting agreements they had with Montello’s MVW Management LLC.

Montello did not respond to requests for comment.

Debt heavy

In August of last year, Regalia Beach Developers secured a $29 million condo inventory loan for the penthouse and beach house units.

Atalaya Capital Management, a New York-based alternative investment advisory firm, provided the non-recourse financing. It has a four-year loan term and was intended to pay off a previous loan and cover carrying costs. The previous loan dates to 2015, when the developers took out a $27 million from C1 Bank, now Bank OZK, to finance the two units, plus unit 18. That loan was boosted by $2 million to $29 million in 2016.

Montello’s attorney Rodriguez said that Bomeny used the funds to purchase the Holiday Inn across from Bayfront Park. Bomeny is the leaseholder of the roughly 1-acre development site in downtown Miami. His 340 Biscayne Owner LLC paid $65 million for it in 2014.

A potential resolution

In the legal case, both sides appeared to have come to an agreement last year. In May 2018, days before the case was set to go to trial, they settled the suit during court-ordered mediation in a confidential agreement, court documents show.

Montello’s former attorney, Scott Cosgrove, withdrew as counsel about a year ago, and his firm filed a lien for more than $800,000 in unpaid bills. He declined to comment.

In May of this year, Montello and his companies requested the court enforce the settlement agreement. Court documents show the agreement called for a three-payment settlement. Regalia agreed to make a $250,000 first installment wire transfer, which the company did.

The second and third installments were based upon the sale of the penthouse and beach house. They called for $1.5 million within three business days of the closing of the sale of either the beach house or the penthouse; and another $1.5 million within three business days of that closing. But those payments were never made.

“They made every effort not to satisfy the judgment,” Rodriguez said.

In late July, Judge Hanzma appointed Drew Dilworth the receiver to take control of Regalia Beach Developers LLC and Regalia OTM Inc. Dilworth was not immediately available for comment.

Additional lawsuits

Meanwhile, litigation involving Regalia has piled on.

In November of last year, Regalia’s condo association filed suit against the developer, contractor, architect and a laundry list of subcontractors for alleged design and construction defects and damage to the tower. A trial is set for next year, according to attorney David Haber, who is representing the association.

The developer had an owner-controlled insurance program, in which all subcontractors were enrolled, which would kick in for a case like this. Haber said the association is seeking claims exceeding $30 million. The major defects, he said, are to the balcony railing system, sliding glass doors and curtain wall system and plumbing in the bathrooms.

In February 2018, unit owner Reid Nagle filed a lawsuit against Regalia Beach Developers LLC and Clarksdale LLC. Nagle owns unit 41. The defendant Clarksdale owns unit 42 and the developer owns unit 43. Nagle’s lawsuit alleges that “efflorescence,” which occurs when water leaves behind salt deposits, from the developer-owned penthouse damaged his balcony. That case is still open.

Fotis Dulos stands during a court hearing in June in Stamford. (AP Images/ Erik Trautmann)

The only thing certain in the mystery involving a Connecticut developer is that after more than two months, Jennifer Farber Dulos has yet to be found.

On the morning of May 24, the estranged wife of Fore Group CEO Fotis Dulos dropped her children off at school in New Canaan and was due in New York for doctor appointments. She never made it to a single one. Later that evening, having not heard from her, friends reported her missing.

While the police don’t have a complete picture of what happened that day, they did find gruesome evidence suggesting sinister events, and they did make arrests: Dulos and his lover Michelle Troconis.

Since then, Dulos and his company’s fine-tuned images have entered the spotlight — but they’ve grown shadier and shadier at the same time.

Before being pushed into national focus, Dulos was mostly known as a successful developer in Connecticut’s Farmington Valley luxury home community. And he has the trophies to prove it.

Dulos and his company, Fore Group, had racked up nearly three dozen awards over 10 years from the Home Builders and Remodelers Association of Connecticut. The CEO leaned heavily on this recognition in his marketing to burnish his company’s image — a common strategy in the homebuilding industry.

RELATED:
— Listing agent for home of embattled Connecticut developer speaks out

“We are so saddened by the situation and press reports that have come out to date regarding Fotis Dulos,” Joanne Carroll, the chair of the association’s sales and marketing council, told TRD. “Although we know the builders on a professional level, the Home Building Industry Awards program is about the quality of the submitted projects.”

Despite all the accolades, court documents allege that the firm has existed largely on financing from Farber Dulos’ parents: Hilliard Farber, who died in early 2017, and Gloria Farber, who now represents her late husband’s estate.

Gloria Farber has filed three civil lawsuits against Dulos, claiming he failed to repay $3 million in loans — funds she said were used to buy and develop homes in Farmington, New Canaan and Avon. The documents allege Dulos stopped making payments and defaulted on the loans. He contends the loans were actually gifts. 

One of the properties the loans helped pay for, according to the lawsuits, is the 15,000-square-foot house at 4 Jefferson Crossing in Farmington where Farber Dulos lived until the couple separated in 2017, after which Troconis and her daughter moved in.

The home is also recorded as the headquarters of Fore Group and is one of five properties the firm currently lists for sale.

A representative from Fore Group declined to comment.

Inside the investigation

That isn’t the only ongoing litigation Dulos is involved in: He and Farber Dulos had been in the midst of a two-year divorce proceeding. The couple was locked in a contentious legal battle over custody of their five children, with a litany of claims and counterclaims. Among the statements Farber Dulos made were that she feared for her and her children’s safety and that Dulos had exhibited irrational, bullying behavior, according to the Stamford Advocate.

The proceedings were ongoing when Farber Dulos disappeared, leading police to suspect that Dulos might be involved with her disappearance.

On June 1, Connecticut State Police arrested Dulos and Troconis and charged them with evidence tampering and hindering prosecution.

Through a spokesperson, defense attorney Norm Pattis declined requests for an interview with Fotis Dulos. Andrew Bowman, defense attorney for Michelle Troconis, didn’t return a call seeking comment.

According to the arrest warrant police filed for Dulos, investigators said that when they searched Farber Dulos’ home in New Canaan, they found multiple stains on the garage floor that tested positive for human blood, multiple areas of suspected blood splatters elsewhere and evidence of attempts to clean up what they labeled as a crime scene.

“Investigators came to the consensus that a serious physical assault had occurred at the scene,” the warrant said, “and Jennifer Dulos was the suspected victim.”

Her empty 2017 Chevrolet Suburban was found later, three miles from her home at a local park just north of the Merritt Parkway — the major east-west thoroughfare in southern Connecticut that is part of a direct route to Hartford, the state’s capital.

Hartford comes into play because that’s where two people who matched the descriptions of Dulos and Troconis were allegedly caught on police surveillance cameras in a black Ford Raptor truck on the evening of her disappearance, driving along a four-mile route down Albany Avenue and stopping more than 30 times to dump unidentified items in trash cans and a storm drain, according to the arrest warrant.

Police said a 2014 black Ford Raptor was registered to Fore Group and that Fotis was seen on residential surveillance cameras returning to his house that night in the truck. Later, according to police, a search warrant provided them with tracking data that put Dulos’ phone at the locations and times where the two people in the truck were seen. The revelations triggered an exhaustive search of Albany Avenue as well as a three-week hunt by police who painstakingly dug through a trash plant that handled pickups from the area, according to multiple media reports.

During their search, police found evidence in a garbage bin along the Albany Avenue route that included a Vineyard Vines T-shirt stained with Farber Dulos’ blood that they believe she had worn the morning she dropped her children off at school, the Hartford Courant reported. The T-shirt was reportedly found in a black contractor bag with a bra, two mops and some sponges also stained with blood.

After pleading not guilty, Dulos and Troconis are free on $500,000 bond. They face separate pretrial hearings for the tampering and hindering charges. Authorities have not filed any additional charges.

Charles Githler and 7721 North Military Trail at Woodbine Commons (Credit: Linkedin, Google Maps)

A company tied to Sarasota real estate developer Charles Githler bought an office complex in Riviera Beach for $7.8 million.

Githler bought the 32,981-square-foot Woodbine Commons at 7721 North Military Trail for $236 per square foot, records show. The seller is Woodbine Commons 7721 LLC, which is managed by Danny and Alan Willard of Port St. Lucie.

The property was last purchased in 2015 for $4.1 million, records show. It was built in 2004 and sits just west of I-95 and West Palm Beach.

Tenants at the complex include Optimal Health Choice, the office of Dr. Emmanuel Orelus and other medical offices.

Githler leads Githler Development in Sarasota, where he is co-developing the 18-story Auteur condo tower at 1000 Boulevard of the Arts.

Developers are increasingly buying properties in central and western Palm Beach County. In December, Sam Zell’s Equity LifeStyle Properties bought the Palm Lake Mobile Home Park near Riviera Beach for $48.96 million. In May 2018, the Silverman Group paid about $7 million for the Flamingo Commerce Center at 7656 Byron Drive near Riviera Beach.

Rendering of the Brickell hotel development, Tony Cho and Robert Finvarb

Co-developers Robert Finvarb and Tony Cho closed on a $67 million loan for a mixed-use hotel near Brickell City Centre, records show.

C-F Brickell Owner LLC secured the financing from City National Bank to build on the assemblage of nearly 29,000 square feet of land at 115 Southwest Eighth Street in Miami.

Last year, the Miami Urban Development Review Board approved plans for a 21-story, 264-key dual-branded hotel on the property. The project, designed by Arquitectonica, would also feature 25,000 square feet of retail space, structured parking and a rooftop terrace.

It will be built near the Underline, a linear park that will run underneath the Metrorail tracks, beginning in Brickell and south to Dadeland.

The partnership paid $18.4 million for the site in 2017, according to property records.

Finvarb, a Miami Beach developer, is also planning a 250-unit apartment building in North Beach. The project, with ground floor retail, restaurants and a fitness component, would be similar to Sunset Harbour. In July, the Miami Beach Planning Board unanimously approved a land swap tied to the development.

Cho, president and CEO of Metro 1, is part of the development group behind the Magic City Innovation District, a $1 billion planned mixed-use project in Little Haiti.

From left: Paul Manafort with Trump Tower, Jeffrey Epstein, and Bernie Madoff with 133 East 64th Street (Credit: Getty Images, CityRealty, and Wikipedia)

In early July, after an unsealed criminal indictment revealed that New York prosecutors would move to seize Jeffrey Epstein’s Upper East Side mansion, broker Jason Haber, of Warburg Realty, put in a phone call to the Southern District.

“I said if there is going to be a process for the disposition of real property, I’d like to be considered for that,” he said.

In the wake of the financier’s suicide, there has been intense speculation about what will happen to his luxury properties in New York, Palm Beach, New Mexico, Paris and the Virgin Islands. The criminal case against him has been dismissed — a defendant’s death means a pending case can’t proceed — but the government could still mount a civil forfeiture case against any one of his US properties, in which case they could be seized and sold, and proceeds would go to victims.

If Epstein’s Upper East Side mansion was forfeited, Haber is one of many New York brokers who would be interested in selling it. But how would they get such a listing?

A representative from the United States Marshals Service — an agency within the Department of Justice — said the Marshals’ asset forfeiture division contracted with a third party, Colliers International, to oversee the sale of forfeited properties.

It’s Colliers, rather than the government, that has the responsibility to select brokers.

Dan Feldman is the director of the firm’s government services department. He said that when a property is forfeited, his team will do an assessment, looking at location, price, demand and other factors. From there, they conduct interviews with a select pool of brokers.

“We want someone who has made a name for themselves selling that type of product,” he said. “We get a lot of people coming up to us and saying, ‘I’d love to list a $10 million property for you,’ and we’ll say, ‘Great, what have you done?’ And then they’ll send their experience and they’ve sold $200,000 houses.”

Colliers secured its contract in 2017 and commenced work on it in early 2018. (Before Colliers won the contract, the sale of forfeited properties was outsourced to multiple different companies.) The commercial brokerage oversees the sales of an estimated 600 to 700 forfeited properties per year on behalf of the government. Brokers’ names are included in each listing.

According to Colliers, Feldman’s team is “the only comprehensive services platform focused on government real estate on a national basis.” In addition to the Marshals, they also have a contract with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to market and sell properties.

While high-profile homes get the most attention, Feldman said the average sales price for forfeited properties was under $500,000. He said the stigma of forfeiture didn’t hurt their asking price, and most went for “at or above” what the previous owner paid.

Commissions were taken from the sales proceeds to cover both the buy and sell sides of the transactions, and fees varied, based on the product type. (Feldman said they were calculated based on a formula laid out in its initial proposal to the Marshals.)

All the forfeited properties currently on the market are showcased on a nondescript website called Real Look, in addition to StreetEasy and other websites. A quick search of the New York properties on Real Look brings up a listing for the Soho apartment that once belonged to Paul Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chair, now serving a seven-year prison sentence for a raft of criminal offences. The 2,061-square-foot condo was one of five properties forfeited as part of a plea deal with the Department of Justice in 2018.

Manafort’s other seized properties, worth an estimated $21.7 million in total, include a one-bedroom condo in the Trump Tower, listed for $3.6 million, and a 5,564-square-foot Hamptons estate that features hundreds of red flowers planted in the shape of an M.

The agent associated with Manafort’s Trump Tower and Soho listings, Kenneth Laino of the Manhattan Network, declined to comment for this article, saying he had referred The Real Deal’s questions to his employer. He would not clarify who his employer was.

Asked about this, Feldman clarified that brokers who work on forfeited properties are made to sign confidentiality agreements.

Jason Haber has never worked on a forfeited listing, but Epstein’s mansion was not the first inquiry he’d made about a property connected to crime. In 2009, he pitched himself to market Bernie Madoff’s penthouse apartment, which had been seized after the investment advisor’s multi-billion-dollar Ponzi scheme was discovered in late 2008.

After the call, Haber said he was invited to view the penthouse.

“The apartment was covered with US Marshals,” he said. “In the bathroom, Madoff’s electric razor was still out. In his closet, there must have been 15 white polo shirts: the exact same polo shirts, just stacked. It was kind of surreal because it was as he left it.”

Haber didn’t get the listing, which instead went to Sotheby’s International Realty brokers Anne Corey and Serena Boardman. (It sold for $14.5 million in 2014.) In the years since, he has been contacted multiple times about other forfeited properties. “I guess my name is on file,” he said.

Feldman said Colliers received a lot of calls from brokers about forfeited properties, particularly after they’d been in the news. He declined to comment on whether the firm had received any calls about Epstein’s portfolio.

Inside the Epstein home

According to The New York Post, Epstein signed a will and testament just two days before his death. In it, he left his nearly $600 million fortune to a trust, though no beneficiaries of the trust were named. His brother, Mark, was listed as the sole heir.

Lawyers for Epstein’s accusers have vowed to pursue civil claims against his estate, and two lawsuits have already been filed. In one, Jennifer Araoz accuses Epstein of sexually abusing her from the age of 14, and her account offers a rare glimpse inside the Upper East Side townhouse where much of the abuse is alleged to have taken place.

Araoz says Epstein’s “massage room” had a ceiling “painted to look like a blue sky with clouds and angels to give the appearance that you were in heaven.” His master bedroom, meanwhile, featured “a large jacuzzi and prosthetic breasts on the wall in the bathroom that he could look at or play with while in the bathtub.”

Jed Garfield, managing partner of Leslie J. Garfield, said he had shown the house as many as eight times in recent years, and while the interior was over the top, he didn’t find it creepy.

“People want to fit the interior into the story of depravity,” he said. “But if Epstein didn’t live there, you wouldn’t say, ‘Wow this is some pedophile’s house.’”

In the wake of Epstein’s death, Garfield said he planned to contact Darren Indyke, a longtime employee of Epstein and one of the executors of his will, to ask about the mansion.

“I would say, ‘I have no idea what the estate’s planning on doing but I’m very familiar with that house and, prior to Epstein’s death, I was showing it on a semi-regular basis. Would you be interested in hiring me to sell it?’” he said.

Haber said the seven-story townhouse would certainly attract interested buyers, given its size and location, but brokers could have a difficult time overcoming the property’s past.

“You’d probably have to de-Epstein it,” he said, adding that any future sale was likely still a long way off. “Take out as much stuff as you can.”

But Garfield thought the property’s former owner wouldn’t make a difference to buyers.

“I don’t think people care,” he said. “It may even add to the attraction of it.”

“It becomes a house with a personality — not just another house.”

Donald Trump at Trump National Doral (Credit: Getty Images)

Ex-members of Trump National Doral have been waiting to inch forward on the refund list at the Doral golf course and resort — and they may have to wait decades more.

To move up on the list by one spot, four new members need to join the golf club, and the list is more than 265 people long, according to the Miami Herald. The deposits range from $10,500 to $19,000.

The Trump Organization bought the 800-acre golf resort out of bankruptcy in 2012. At the time, now-President Trump agreed to honor the membership and refund waiting list. At that point, there were nearly 500 active members and roughly 200 on the waiting list.

Since the president was elected and took office, Trump National Doral has suffered, blaming its losses on hurricanes and the Zika virus. Some members have left, the saying the club became too political or that they no longer wanted to support the president, the Herald reported.

Few members have joined between December 2017 and January 2019. One member said that he moved up by two spots, which means only eight members had joined, according to the Herald.

In an attempt to reduce the property’s tax bill, Tax consultant Jessica Vachiratevanurak told a Miami-Dade County official that the property is “severely underperforming” compared to other resorts in the area.

In 2018, Trump reported that the resort and golf club made 34 percent less than two years prior, down to $76 million.

One member told the Herald that after he met with the director of membership operations in December 2018, the wait for a refund would have been about 12 years. That means that those who left after the 2016 election could be waiting about 85 years to get their deposits back. [Miami Herald] – Katherine Kallergis

Next week brings a couple of new real estate events:

Host: CCIM Florida Chapter
Date: August 28th
Time: noon to 1:30 p.m.

CCIM’s Florida Chapter is hosting a networking lunch at Morton’s Steakhouse, 5000 East Broward Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale from noon to 1:30 p.m. Come to this event to connect with industry professionals and listen to Broward County’s assistant county manager Alan Cohen speak about initiatives in Broward.

Host: Miami Finance Forum
Date: August 29th
Time: 7:30 a.m. to 10 a.m.

The Miami Finance Forum is holding a breakfast event at Bilzin Sumberg, 1450 Brickell Avenue in Miami from 7:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. Attend to hear discussion on the future of the hospitality sector in 2019 and beyond. Speakers include Joao Woiler of Cambridge Landmark and Boaz Ashbel of Aztec Group.

To search for future industry events or browse past ones, click here. And to submit more industry events, please reach out to events@therealdeal.com.

Wayne Goldberg and a rendering of Sabbia Beach

In 2017, the former CEO of La Quinta Holdings plunked down a $1.87 million deposit to buy a penthouse at Sabbia Beach, a luxury condo development under construction in Pompano Beach with sweeping views of the Atlantic Ocean.

But two years later, the project at 730 North Ocean Boulevard is still not complete and the former hotel executive, Wayne Goldberg, is suing the development group Fernbrook Florida. He alleges the developer falsely induced him to purchase a condo for $5.35 million. He is now seeking to close on the penthouse and recover compensation for the harm he and his family have suffered.

The complaint filed this week in Broward County Circuit Court alleges that Fernbrook Florida falsely represented that only seven units at Sabbia Beach were still available at the condo development, driving up the sales price.

The developer “held units off the market in order to create the appearance that units were in high-demand and to inflate sales prices,” including the price of the penthouse, according to the complaint.

The suit also alleges that that the construction of all units was supposed to be finished by May 2018. The project, however, is still under construction, despite repeated reassurances it would be finished. When Goldberg visited the penthouse in November 2018 to do an inspection, he “observed multiple severe, material deviations from the agreement and its amendments,” according to the suit.

One of these alleged deviations included that his personal elevators were being installed in the wrong location. Instead of being near the front entry of the unit, it was in front of the “much-vaunted windows of the penthouse overlooking Pompano Beach.”

Fernbrook Florida is a joint venture between Concord, Ontario-based Fernbrook Homes, led by Danny Salvatore, and Grupo Fernandez. Fernbrook Homes did not immediately return a request for comment.

This week, Fernbrook Florida filed a lawsuit against the contractor, Verdex Construction, alleging that the project is delayed due to faulty work by the construction company. The development group alleges these delays have cost it at least $200,000 a month.

Verdex president Rex Kirby said in a statement, the company is unaware of the lawsuit and “therefore have no ability to comment until we are able to see what the issues are.”

The 19-story, 68-unit tower officially broke ground in May 2016. Condos were initially priced from $1 million to over $5.3 million. The units range in size from 1,850 square feet to 4,900 square feet, or an average of $685 per square foot.

Arquitectonica designed the Pompano Beach tower, which has interiors by Steven G. and tropical landscaping by ArquitectonicaGEO. Amenities include 200 feet of beach, an oceanside heated pool, fitness center, spa, 3,600-square-foot social room and 24-hour valet parking.

Instead of the typical 50 percent deposit required by the vast majority of South Florida pre-construction condos, Sabbia Beach required a 20 percent deposit, then another 15 percent at groundbreaking and the rest at closing.

David Koch, 740 Park Avenue and 110 East 76th Street (Credit: Getty Images, StreetEasy, Google Maps)

David Koch, the billionaire industrialist who was a major funder of conservative politics and New York City’s second-richest resident, died Friday. He was 79.

With a net worth of $50.5 billion, he was tied with his brother Charles as the 11th-richest person in the world, according to Forbes. In June 2018, Koch retired from Wichita-based Koch Industries, his family’s massive company whose businesses ranged from paper manufacturing to oil refineries.

Born in Wichita in 1940, Koch made New York his home in recent decades — and he made some splashy real estate plays in the city.

740 Park Avenue (Credit: StreetEasy)

In the 1990s, Koch spent $9.5 million to buy the former home of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis at 1040 Fifth Avenue. He sold it for $32 million in 2006, two years after moving to larger digs at 740 Park Avenue.

Koch paid $18 million for the Park Avenue co-op — an 18-room duplex at one of Manhattan’s most exclusive addresses. Dubbed “the world’s richest building,” the board reportedly requires buyers to have a net worth of at least $100 million. Koch’s neighbors included Blackstone’s Stephen Schwartzman and hedge funder Israel Englander.

But in 2016, a fire that started in the sixth-floor apartment of Ezra Merkin, former associate of Bernie Madoff, resulted in extensive water damage to the Koch’s abode. The family was forced to live in a hotel while it was repaired, according to Page Six. A few months later, the co-op was stripped of its limestone facade, after part of the stone crumbled and crashed to the ground. In 2016, Koch placed the unit in a trust, property records show.

Last year, Koch and his wife, Julia, paid $40.25 million in cash for an Upper East Side townhouse sold by developer Joseph Chetrit. The 36-foot wide mansion at 110 East 76th Street spans 15,000 square feet with a sprawling master suite, two wet bars and courtyard with inlaid tile.

880 Meadow Lane (Credit: Google Maps)

Koch also had homes in the Hamptons, Palm Beach and Aspen. He owned a $23.2 million mansion on Meadow Lane in Southampton (which drew protestors to some political fundraisers hosted there.)

150 South Ocean Boulevard (Credit: Google Maps)

In Palm Beach, Koch paid $10.5 million for an estate at 150 South Ocean Boulevard in 1998. The 13-bedroom, 20,378-square-foot mansion was built in 1920 on nearly 2 acres of land across the street from the ocean, according to property records.

The impact of Koch’s money was felt throughout New York. He believed he had a “moral obligation” to give charity, he previously told the Wall Street Journal. He referred to himself as a “sugar daddy” for charitable causes, and said he’d rather spend his fortune to support great institutions over a “bigger house or a $150 million painting.” He donated more than $1.3 billion to charity, including hundreds of millions of dollars to the city’s hospitals and cultural institutions. That was along with some other pet causes, including advancing libertarian candidates and spending heavily to counter efforts to address climate change.

Katherine Kallergis contributed reporting.

John Giannone and Jac Credaroli (Credit: iStock)

Two Douglas Elliman agents are taking on Compass with a new platform that overlaps with the VC-backed brokerage’s non-traditional lending service for sellers.

Cousins John Giannone and Jac Credaroli last month launched a loan origination platform, dubbed Feeasy, that provides quick cash to renters, sellers or buyers who need some extra liquidity to seal a real estate deal.

Giannone and Credaroli, who work on the Lauren Muss Team at Elliman, said they came up with the idea after two years of working as agents and running into countless situations where renters, buyers and sellers struggled to come up with cash for brokers fees, staging or didn’t have enough funds to guarantee a lease.

They teamed up with family friend Stanley Moskowitz, the former CEO of Petroleum & Franchise Capital, a commercial finance lender, who is now Feeasy’s chairman and a “significant” minority shareholder.

“There was a need for liquidity in the market that most people just didn’t have,” said Moskowitz. He pointed to the nearly $15,000 average cost it currently takes to rent a New York City apartment as an example.

Feeasy facilitates loans earmarked for services related to real estate, including moving costs, first month’s rent, security deposits, painting and staging. The Feeasy platform connects borrowers with a lending partner that provides unsecured fixed-rate loans of up to $50,000 to borrowers for five year terms. According to Feeasy’s website, the lending partner is San Francisco-based lending platform, Upgrade, whose loans are originated by Utah industrial bank WebBank.

Annual percentage rates and applicable fees depend on the lender’s algorithm which assesses applicants’ credit history. According to Upgrade’s site, APRs for an unsecured loan ranges from nearly 8 percent to more than 35 percent plus origination fees of between 1.5 percent and 6 percent. Feeasy receives a flat fee for every approved and funded borrower, according to its founders. To date, founders say the platform has facilitated $450,000 in loans.

The loan application is processed instantly and uses the borrower’s credit history to determine whether the borrower gets approved. Beyond sending Feeasy’s website to a client, the broker has no further involvement in the loan, and Feeasy itself does not have any involvement in the application once it has been submitted to the lender.

“We created the product really for ourselves, made by brokers for brokers,” said Giannone. “It was really a means of us adding value to our deals and adding value to our clients.”

Rival brokerage Compass has tapped into a similar idea with the launch of its own quasi-lending service, Compass Concierge. The program allows sellers who list with Compass agents to have the brokerage pay for upfront costs related to services that will help sell their home, such as painting or staging. Upon sale, Compass sends the client an invoice for the services. If a sale does not occur, the client is still invoiced. A spokesperson noted that Compass does “not take any kind of collateral or security interest.”

Feeasy, however, is not limited to a brokerage or transaction type, and, its founders argue, the terms of the loans they facilitate are more flexible.

“You could pay [the loan off] or hold the note for three to five years,” said Moskowitz.

Its founders say they’re aiming for the platform to be used nationally and not just by real estate agents.

Feeasy also has agreements in principle with staging company, Showhomes, and Brooklyn-based real estate agency Bedford Brownstone Realty. The founders claim they have 35 such agreements, however they clarified that Feeasy does not pay referral fees to its partners.

Credaroli said they told Muss and “management” at Elliman about Feeasy before it launched in early July, but there is no agreement between the two companies. Elliman declined to comment. Muss told TRD that Feeasy is a “totally separate business” from her team.

Nationally, unsecured personal loan debt is skyrocketing, despite being considered risky. It’s the fastest-growing type of consumer debt and the market hit an all-time high last year, according to consumer reporting agencies.

Moskowitz declined to comment on the credit scores of would-be borrowers who apply for loans through Feeasy, remarking that its the lender, not their platform, that approves loans.

“It’s their money they can do what they want,” he said. “My goal is to hit nine figures of annual volume.”

CocoWalk at Coconut Grove

Cote | Miami Design District
Cote, a high-end Korean barbecue steakhouse, is coming to Miami. The Michelin-starred restaurant will open in a 5,892-square-foot space at 3930 Northeast Second Avenue in the Design District, according to brokers Lyle Stern and Sara Wolfe of Koniver Stern Group.

Wolfe brokered the deal. The restaurant is expected to open in the fall of 2020, she said.

New restaurants in the Miami Design District include chef Brad Kilgore’s Ember, which opened in May, and Pura Vida, which opened last week. Joël Robuchon’s Le Jardinier opened a week ago, and his L’Atelier is opening on Wednesday. Robuchon, a famous French chef and restaurateur, died last year.

Sushi Garage, Botanico Gin & Cookhouse | Coconut Grove

A platter from Sushi Garage

Federal Realty Investment Trust, The Comras Company and Grass River Property signed two new restaurant tenants at CocoWalk, the open-air shopping center that the owners have been redeveloping to include new office and retail space. The re-opening is scheduled for the spring of 2020, according to a release.

Sushi Garage, owned and operated by The Juvia Group, is led by chef and partner Sunny Oh, Kaoru Chang and pastry chef Gregory Gourreau. At CocoWalk, the restaurant will take 3,310 square space. The group owns Juvia at 1111 Lincoln Road, Sushi Garage and Sunny Poké in Miami Beach, as well as La Estación American Brasserie at Virgin MiamiCentral.

Botanico Gin & Cookhouse is leasing 2,951 square feet at CocoWalk. The bar and restaurant is led by executive chef and co-owner Gerardo De Negri. It’s the eighth food and beverage concept for De Negri.

Michael Comras, Irma Figueroa and Sam Noddle at The Comras Company are handling leasing along with Stuart Biel at Federal Realty Investment Trust.

Tommy Bahama Marlin Bar | Fort Lauderdale and Dania Beach

Tommy Bahama is opening two Tommy Bahama Marlin Bar locations in Fort Lauderdale and Dania Beach.

The retailer is bringing its hybrid retail-restaurant concept to 740 East Las Olas Boulevard in a 7,500-square-foot space, and in a 6,900-square-foot space at Dania Pointe, a new luxury entertainment, restaurant and retail destination. Both locations are expected to open in late November, according to a release.

Seventeen of Tommy Bahama’s 160 retail locations include a restaurant and bar or the Marlin Bar concept.

Tap 42 Craft Kitchen & Bar | Coral Springs

Tap 42 Craft Kitchen & Bar signed a 10-year lease with Bristol Group to open a new location at 3111 North University Drive. Tom Prakas, owner of Prakas & Co., brokered the deal.

Tap 42 is leasing 5,000 square feet, plus an outdoor patio, for the new restaurant. It’s expected to open in January 2020, according to a release. The restaurant will mark the seventh for Tap 42.

Mila | Miami Beach

Mila

Mila hired a general contractor, RCC Associates, to build out its space at 800 Lincoln Road in Miami Beach. The restaurant, lounge and mixology bar is taking 13,000 square feet at the Lincoln Road building. It will have a 150-seat dining room, and a 5,000-square-foot waterfront terrace with two bars.

Construction is underway and the restaurant is expected to open in the fall, according to a release.

Ovlo Eats | Plantation

Ovlo Eats opened in a 2,500-square-foot space at 7626 Peters Road in Plantation. Saladino Design Studios designed the interiors. The fast-casual meets fine dining California-style restaurant is owned by Steven Stolberg, Josh Bernstein and chef Jeremy Shelton. They plan to expand to 10 locations, according to a release.

Howard Cohe of Atlantic | Pacific and downtown Miami (Credit: iStock)

Atlantic | Pacific Real Estate Group and Blue Arch Advisors closed a $140 million portion of a fund that invests in multifamily properties in the Southeast and Southwest U.S.

The fund is looking to raise a total of $300 million, which will give it buying power of over $750 million. Investors in the fund include domestic and international institutional investors as well as high net worth individuals, according to a release.

The fund is focusing on investing in properties in affluent suburbs of major cities and value-add opportunities. The joint partnership has acquired about $1 billion worth of multifamily properties since 2016.

Bay Harbor Islands-based Atlantic | Pacific Real Estate Group’s parent company owns and manages more than 41,000 multifamily units across the country, according to the release.

In July 2018, Atlantic | Pacific, led by Howard Cohen, won a bid to develop a $172.8 million mixed-use project with a total of 600 residential units on a 90,000-square-foot parking lot at 152 Northwest Eighth Street in downtown Miami near the Brightline station in Overtown.

In October, an Atlantic | Pacific partnership paid $22.6 million for a 220-unit waterfront affordable senior housing complex in Sunny Isles Beach, known as the Marian Towers.

Leslie Wexner and Erik Nordstrom (Credit: Getty Images)

Ahead of new tariffs on Chinese goods set to hit everything from tracksuits to ski gloves, second quarter earnings reports from big retailers have been a mixed bag. Affordable, big box and discount brands like Target fared relatively well, while sales from higher-end companies such as Victoria’s Secret and Nordstrom disappointed yet again.

Razor-thin profit margins call for creative tactics from the retail industry, and some are experimenting with partnerships and e-commerce fusions. Kohl’s, for example, is rolling out a new “Amazon returns” partnership, while Nordstrom is investing in e-commerce and apparel on-demand by expanding the “Pick Up in Store” option.

Here’s a run-down of how some key players fared, and what it means for retail landlords:

Victoria’s Secret

With the online retail takeover, new tariffs and a destructive news cycle, Victoria’s Secret has been having a difficult time. The lingerie brand’s net income was down seven percent in the second quarter after four straight quarters of decline. Victoria’s Secret parent company L Brands told investors that it has $3.2 billion in lease obligations. Same-store sales were down 1 percent overall.

Victoria’s Secret was criticized after chief marketing officer Edwart Razek told Vogue in a 2018 interview that trans models should not be cast for the lingerie brand, famous for the array of supermodels it has featured over the years. After hiring openly trans model Valentina Sampaio earlier this month, L Brands CEO Leslie Wexner announced Razek is stepping down.

But that may be just the surface of Victoria’s Secret’s clash with the political and cultural zeitgeist. Wexner, an associate of the deceased sexual predator, hosted Epstein at his Ohio mansion, where a woman accused Epstein of assaulting her. Wexner also “turned over” a massive Manhattan mansion he bought for $13 million to Epstein — without an exchange of money.

While representatives for L Brands have denied that Epstein was ever employed by the brand, others report that the pedophile, popular with celebrity scientists and the political elite, served as a “talent scout” for the lingerie brand. L Brands’ well-documented connections to Epstein are unlikely foster consumer goodwill as Victoria’s Secret prepares for new tariffs.

L Brands announced in March that it would close 53 Victoria’s Secret stores across the country, about 4 percent of its total number of stores. Analysts have said the brand is particularly exposed to the decline of shopping malls in the U.S., and the second quarter results only further solidified those troubles.

Luxe layaway at Nordstrom

Nordstrom, which operates 381 stores in the U.S. and Canada and will soon open a flagship at Extell Development’s Central Park Tower, reported second quarter sales of $3.87 billion, down from $4.07 billion the same time last year. Still, that beat Wall Street’s estimates and sent the stock up 5 percent the day after its disclosure.

Nordstrom hopes to increase its foothold through its local market strategy — enticing consumers with amenities and services — and sees New York City as a key part of the initiative. Along with the flagship store, which will open in October, Nordstrom will add two “neighborhood hubs” in NYC in September, the largest market for online sales, according to the company’s second quarter filings. The stores will be located at 13 Seventh Avenue in Greenwich Village and 1273 Third Avenue.

Nordstrom may be looking to increase its “Buy Online and Pick Up in Store” sales in New York City, which tripled in the Los Angeles market in July. Nordstrom expects to see a significant increase in Manhattan sales this year and next.

Kohl’s, Target, TJ Maxx

Despite citing “increased traffic” from their novel idea to partner with Amazon to allow customers to return goods purchased from Amazon to any of their stores, Kohl’s continued to slip for the third consecutive quarter. Online shipping costs and deep discounts to clear out stale inventory were responsible for a 43 percent decline in share price since last year. In all, though Kohl’s beat Wall Street’s expectations at $1.55 adjusted earnings per share, net sales fell short at $4.17 billion ($4.22 billion was estimated).

Target, meanwhile, was steady Eddie once again. For stores that had been open for more than a year, the retailer reported 3.4 percent uptick in sales, with nearly half of that attributed to same-day fulfillment. Overall profits jumped 17 percent and it beat Wall Street’s estimate forecast across the board.

Target lists $36 billion in land and building assets, up from $34 billion last year. Over the last year, Target has been paring down the size of its large stores, which comprise most of its portfolio. But Target has expanded its smaller-sized stores, at 49,000 square feet and below, from 1.6 million to 2.3 million square feet. The retailer also seems to be weathering the e-commerce and tariff storm, although it may just be in the eye of the hurricane.

“Off-price” brand TJX, parent company of TJ Maxx and Marshalls, did well in Europe and Australia, but had just a modest showing in the U.S., its top market, especially when compared to its excellent second quarter in 2018. Comparable-store sales growth rose just 2 percent in the U.S., with rising supply costs contributing to narrowing profits. Overall, TJX reported a six percent increase in sales during the second quarter, though it excludes e-commerce sites, another sign that while specialty and luxury retailers may falter, consumers are still buying everyday items.

TJX has $7.7 billion in long-term lease liabilities, according to its second quarter earnings report.

James Batmasian and 22973-23071 State Road 7

A company tied to real estate developer James Batmasian bought a Publix-anchored shopping center in Boca Raton for $16 million.

Batmasian bought the 70,524-square-foot West Boca Plaza at 22973-23071 State Road 7 (US 441) in Boca Raton for $226 per square foot, records show. Sandalfoot Plaza Associates, which is managed by attorney Fred Fechheimer of Huntington Woods, Michigan, sold the property.

Avison Young’s David Duckworth, John K. Crotty, Michael T. Fay and Brian C. de La Fé represented the seller in the deal.

West Boca Plaza sits between a Bank of America-anchored office building and two-fully-occupied retail centers. The property is 95 percent occupied and has 700 feet of frontage on State Road 7, according to a release.

The retail center was built in 1987. In addition to Publix, tenants include Little Caesars, Cricket Wireless and 441 Animal Hospital.

James Batmasian is one of the largest commercial property owners in Boca Raton. Last year, Batmasian and his wife Marta became embattled in a controversy that led to former Boca Raton Mayor Susan Haynie’s suspension by the Florida Commission on Ethics. The Commission found that Haynie concealed her financial ties to the Batmasians while also voting on their projects.

Publix-anchored shopping centers are highly valued by real estate investors since the grocery store brings consistent traffic.

Over the past few years, Publix has been buying up retail centers to become its own landlord. The company owned 31.8 percent of its stores at the end of 2017 and is buying more than 30 stores a year, nationwide.

From left: Alejandro Arias, Keren Marti, Avra Jain, Carolina Herrera, Luis Gonzalez, and Melissa Rose (Credit: Brett Hufziger Photography, Google Maps)

Developer Avra Jain is looking to bring back the glory days of Hialeah, a working class, predominantly Hispanic city in central Miami-Dade, just southwest of Miami International Airport.

Jain is planning a major adaptive re-use commercial development on about 6 acres of land in east Hialeah, she said during a panel hosted by CREW Miami at Four Seasons Hotel Miami earlier this week. Jain, who acquired the property last year, is still finalizing plans for the property, but said that it would have about 200,000 square feet of space.

Jain was joined by former Hialeah City Council president Luis Gonzale; Carolina Herrera, vice president of land acquisition of the Southeast Florida division of Lennar Homes; and moderator Alejandro Arias, associate attorney at Holland & Knight.

Development has been ramping up in Hialeah. Recently, a partnership of developers that includes Michael Wohl, Stephen A. Blumenthal and Oscar Rodriguez closed on construction financing for Pura Vida Hialeah, a 9-acre development with 260 apartment units and 51,000 square feet of retail space at 2901 to 3099 West 16th Avenue and 1571 West 29th Street.

Tenants will include a Wawa convenience store and gas station, a Taco Bell restaurant, a Dollar Tree store and a two-story YouFit Health Club.

Jain is partnering with David Martin of Terra to refurbish an aging industrial complex at 4800 Northwest 37th Avenue. The site is just north of the Hialeah Market Station and Tri-Rail/Metrorail Transfer Station, where the city recently up-zoned 300 acres to allow for more commercial and residential development. A year ago, Hialeah’s city council unanimously approved a land-use amendment that will rezone the property from industrial to transit-oriented development.

Gonzalez said a common misconception about Hialeah is that it’s overbuilt.

“If you look at Hialeah, we have no high-rises. What we have is multifamily complexes, but nothing more than five stories and they’re not all condensed,” he said.

Earlier this month, BBX Capital Real Estate and Altman Companies sold the 314-unit Altis at Bonterra apartment complex at 3645 West 98th Street in Hialeah to AvalonBay Communities for $90 million.

Lennar has been active in the city since 2014, Herrera said. She and the other panelists touted the city’s accessibility to major highways and central location in the county as one of the reasons developers choose to invest there.

“After the downturn, we were fortunate enough to have cash in hand to buy properties from our competitors,” Herrera said. “A lot of families living in Hialeah did not have options for new homes. The city welcomed us. We came in and developed over 1,500 homes.”

Herrera added that Lennar’s Next Gen homes, which include a single-family unit and a roughly 500-square-foot apartment, are popular in Hialeah.

“Now you have abuela’s quarters, el primo, the kids coming back from college.… The intent is for them to bring in family,” she said.

The panelists said that the city government makes it easier to build than in other municipalities.

“We’re there because the leadership is supportive,” Jain, founder of the Vagabond Group. “The process is timely. In the city of Miami it can take years. In fact, we don’t even bother [with some projects].”

Entertainment will be a component of Jain’s and Terra’s project. “We think the entertainment space is lacking,” she said.