Jeffrey Epstein and 358 El Brillo Way (Getty, Corcoran Group)
Spec home developer Todd Michael Glaser is under contract to buy the Palm Beach property owned by the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The waterfront mansion at 358 El Brillo Way hit the market in July for $22 million, along with Epstein’s New York townhouse, which is asking $88 million. Kerry Warwick of the Corcoran Group has the Palm Beach listing.
Glaser, who previously said he believed the home would sell for its land value – closer to $16 million – predicted it would be a teardown. Glaser told the Wall Street Journal that he plans to replace the home with a 14,000-square-foot Art Moderne mansion.
“Palm Beach is going to be very happy that it’s gone,” Glaser, who declined to disclose his offer amount, told the Journal. Glaser, a co-developer of One Thousand Museum, built 22 Star Island Drive, which Lennar Corp. Executive Chairman Stuart Miller sold earlier this year for $49.5 million.
Epstein paid $2.5 million for the Palm Beach property in 1990. The six-bedroom, 14,000-square-foot house was designed by architect John Volk.
Epstein allegedly used both properties in New York and Palm Beach to sexually abuse dozens of young girls, luring them for naked massage sessions and sometimes paying them hundreds of dollars in cash, according to prosecutors. He died in his Metropolitan Correctional Center jail cell in New York in August 2019.
The Palm Beach Daily News first reported Glaser’s offer.
Condo sales jumped last week, with closed dollar volume rising slightly in Miami-Dade County.
A total of 177 condos sold for $63.1 million last week, up from 116 condos that sold for $57.1 million the previous week. Condos last week sold for an average price of about $357,000 or $278 per square foot.
The most expensive sale was for lower penthouse 1 at Parque Towers Condo in Sunny Isles Beach. The unit sold for $3.4 million, or $810 per square foot, after 224 days on the market. David Koster represented the seller.
The second most expensive sale of the week was for unit 402 at Palau Sunset Harbour. The Miami Beach condo sold for $1.75 million, or $901 per square foot, after 98 days on the market. Paul Basile represented the seller, while Loreley Perez Diaz represented the buyer.
Here’s a breakdown of the top 10 sales from Oct. 25 to Oct. 31.
Most expensive
Parque Towers Condo #LPH1 | 224 days on market | $3.4M | $810 psf | Listing agent: David Koster
Least expensive
Brickell Bay Club | 144 days on market | $950K | $381 psf | Listing agent: Iliana Abella | Buyer’s agent: Christine Gonzalez del Valle
Most days on market
Mosaic on Miami Beach #1101 | 1,056 days on market | $1.7M | $932 psf | Listing agent: Daniel Falcon | Buyer’s agent: Lourdes Dechoudens
Fewest days on market
Bal Harbour 101 #1705 | 13 days on market | $1.3M | $389 psf | Listing agent: Stacie Chavin | Buyer’s agent: Stacie Chavin
Axel Jordan with 601-607 Northeast 29th Drive and 999 Northeast 23rd Drive (Linkedin, Google Maps)
A South Florida real estate investment firm bought a portfolio of six multifamily properties with 94 units for $13.1 million.
Rental Asset Management, based in Fort Lauderdale and managed by Axel Jordan and German Guzman, spent about $140,000 per apartment for the properties, according to Marcus & Millichap, which brokered the deal.
The portfolio sold at 97 percent of the collective asking price. It was on the market for 17 days and spent three months from listing to closing. Marcus & Millichap’s Joseph P. Thomas, Adam Duncan and Tyler Carbonelli brokered the deal. The buyer plans to renovate and improve the properties, Thomas told The Real Deal.
The portfolio includes two properties in Wilton Manors and four in Fort Lauderdale.
The Wilton Manors properties are the 38-unit Villa Teresa at 601-607 Northeast 29th Drive and the 12-unit Flats at Five Points at 999 Northeast 23rd Drive.
The Fort Lauderdale properties are the 16-unit La Siesta at 1409-1413 North Dixie Highway, the 12-unit Holiday Park Place at 745 Northeast 15th Avenue, the 11-unit Middle River Terrace at 899 1041-1045 Northeast 15th Street, and the five-unit Lake Ridge Flats at 1040 Northeast 10th Avenue,
The sellers are companies affiliated with Maven Real Estate, run by developers Marc and Barry Schwarzberg and Jose Ortega. The sellers paid more than $5 million assembling the portfolio between 2011 and 2015, according to records. The buildings were constructed in the 1960s and 1970s.
In 2019, Ubiica LLC and Maven Real Estate paid $12 million for the AmTrust Bank office building and three adjacent lots in Coral Gables.
In March, Rental Asset Management bought the 26-unit complex known as Oak Landing & Town Square townhomes at 4002-4082 Oak Landing Drive for $228,846 per unit.
Other recent multifamily deals in Fort Lauderdale include the $13.13 million sale in March of a portfolio of apartments in Fort Lauderdale’s Victoria Park and Las Olas neighborhoods, and apartment giant AMLI Residential’s sale in September of a rental complex in Fort Lauderdale’s Flagler Village for $67.5 million.
Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield CEO Christophe Cuvillier, Westfield Century City in Los Angeles and Westfield World Trade Center in New York (Getty, iStock, Google Maps)
Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield saw U.S. rental income tumble 39 percent year-over-year in the third quarter, the company disclosed Sunday.
The retail landlord and investor reported that rental income from U.S. operations, including from 39 Westfield-branded malls, fell to $464 million. Across its overall portfolio, which includes major retail holdings across Europe, the company’s rental income fell to $1.43 billion in the first nine months of 2020, 38 percent lower than the same period last year.
The company also reported that the current gross market value of its assets is $67.6 billion, down a whopping 11 percent from December 2019. Other giant mall operators are also grappling with declining asset values in the pandemic’s wake.
Factoring in the drop in asset values, URW reported that it’s operating at a $6.3 billion net loss.
“This is bad news for the company, worse news for management because it challenges their stewardship, and bad news for investors,” said James Cox, a securities law expert at Duke University.
“These changes in valuation do not occur that much,” Cox added, “But when they do occur it is sobering to see it happen as you know management is not enthusiastic about the change.”
URW CEO Christophe Cuvillier made some general remarks about the firm’s financials during its third-quarter earnings call Monday.
“In October, a worrying increase in Covid-19 infections has led to a return of government restrictions, including renewed lockdowns, hence adding further uncertainty,” Cuvillier said, alluding to both recent crackdowns in the U.S. and EU.
The changes in shopping center hours could disrupt URW’s main bright spot: Rent collections improved in the third quarter.
While the company does not break out quarter-to-quarter financials, Cuvillier said URW collected 79 percent of retail rents in the third quarter, compared to 52 percent in the second quarter.
The tenants who didn’t pay rent, the company noted, are largely in the U.S. Indoor malls did not reopen in L.A. County until Oct. 7, executives noted. Foot traffic and tenant sales “continued to recover through the third quarter” Cuvillier noted in prepared remarks, “except in California.”
James Curnin and 66 La Gorce Circle (Getty, Google Maps)
A member of the Jack Parker real estate family bought a waterfront Miami Beach teardown for $7.5 million.
Clara Homes LGI LLC, managed by James Curnin, bought the house at 66 La Gorce Circle from Robert and Lisa Frankel, according to records. Clara Homes took out a $13.5 million loan from Maxim Credit Group LLC.
Curnin, the great-grandson of developer Jack Parker, founded Miami-based Clara Homes in 2017. Clara Homes focuses on high-end homes, multifamily assets and workforce rental communities, according to its website.
Records show the Frankel family bought the home for $455,000 in 1985.
Mick Duchon and Eloy Carmenate of Douglas Elliman brokered the recent sale. The 3,148-square-foot house, built in 1951, has four bedrooms and three bathrooms. It sits on a 0.44-acre lot.
Lisa Frankel, originally from Boston, is the founder of Miami-based jewelry company Phillips House.
Curnin has developed spec homes in the past. In 2019, he paid $7.25 million for a waterfront property on Allison Island, with plans to build two spec homes.
In September, luxury homebuilder Bart Reines bought a waterfront home on La Gorce Island for $6.8 million, and in August, a La Gorce Island mansion once owned by Cher listed for $22 million.
President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joseph Biden (Getty, iStock)
For many in the real estate industry, having a developer in the Oval Office has brought an uncomfortable amount of media attention to a long-standing practice: avoiding taxes.
A series of recent articles in The New York Times and other outlets have showcased the many ways developers and investors use tax breaks to lower their bills — sometimes to zero. And with the election in motion, some are feeling nervous.
“It kind of reminds me of when you’re in grade school and there’s one kid in the class that brings attention to something and ruins it for everybody,” said Peter Elias, a partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman who specializes in tax law.
Joe Biden has already signaled he wants to axe certain tax breaks beloved by real estate, and with the pandemic and media coverage pushing income inequality back into the national conversation, industry insiders are steeling themselves for changes.
In July, Biden announced he would eliminate 1031 “like-kind” exchanges for high-earning investors to help pay for his $775 billion “Caring Economy” plan. The popular exemption, which is so ubiquitous it is often used as a verb, allows real estate investors to defer capital gains taxes by swapping one investment for another.
Announcing his plan at a fundraiser hosted by a top Blackstone executive, Biden called the tax program “unproductive.” Real estate professionals, however, call it a key driver of investment.
Francis Greenburger, CEO of real estate firm Time Equities, wrote to the Biden campaign, arguing that the Democrat’s intention to eliminate the real estate exemption for 1031 tax exchanges would hinder investment when the economy is struggling. Others warn that eliminating like-kind exchanges could also lead companies to hold assets and rely more on debt financing; and an industry study from 2015 predicted its elimination could reduce GDP by $8.1 billion.
The Biden campaign has not announced plans to eliminate other tax provisions that favor real estate. Still, investors suspect that some of their favorite tax provisions are in the campaign’s sights — especially given the coverage of Donald Trump’s use of the policies to pay no federal income tax for years and only $1,500 over two years of his presidency.
Many observers expect Biden would roll back a rule that lets heirs wipe out the tax liability on capital gains by resetting the value of the property they inherit.
Allowing heirs this stepped-up basis plays a major role in building multi-generational wealth. Repealing it, coupled with the elimination of the 1031 exemption, would increase real estate taxes and affect property owners’ decisions, said Alvin Schein, a partner at New York City development firm Seiden and Schein.
“It is likely that many properties whose owners would face huge tax hits on sale would simply not be sold,” he said.
In their 2017 tax law, Republicans also doubled the estate tax exemption, shielding from taxation the first $22.8 million a couple leaves behind. (In 2001, that number was $1.35 million.) Between that and the stepped-up basis, a family can pass appreciated real estate from one generation to the next without ever paying a dime in capital gains tax.
Through media coverage of Trump’s finances, more Americans became aware of a tax-reducing technique called depreciation, which provides for a write-off as purchases such as machinery lose value over time. But landlords can take depreciation on their buildings, even if they increase in value. Depreciation was not only preserved but accelerated — twice — during Trump’s presidency.
Some industry players, including Greenburger, are concerned that if a Biden administration were to alter property tax rules beyond the 2017 Trump overhaul, it could severely disrupt economic activity.
“Hopefully the Biden administration would be listening to consider the overall effect on the economy, not just what seems politically advantageous,” Greenburger said.
Such arguments largely succeeded in protecting real estate’s coveted tax breaks after the 2008 election — and the financial crisis — swept Democrats into power in Washington. (When the economy is humming, business interests warn tax increases would kill the golden goose.)
One factor which could intensify pressures to roll back the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is its projected cost. The Congressional Budget Office found that the law will add $1.9 trillion in debt over 11 years, starting in 2018. Nevertheless, details of the Biden tax plan remain unclear, and decisions after the election, including cabinet appointments, could determine the extent of any rollbacks.
“It’s one thing for [the Biden administration] to go back through all the Trump tax cuts. It’s another thing to start tinkering with every specific regulation affecting real estate,” Greenburger said. “The result of that will be severe economic destruction, which is the last thing we need.”
But such concerns may be overblown.
“Biden is not exactly Elizabeth Warren,” said Brian Lancaster, a senior lecturer at Columbia University Business School, noting that Biden, a moderate, has a reputation for being more pro-business than many of his colleagues.
“If you think about the Democratic Party, a lot of their support comes from urban centers and urban centers are where most commercial real estate value is,” Lancaster said, adding that if the party wants to support cities, either by eliminating the SALT tax deduction cap or providing federal aid to depleted states, the real estate industry would actually benefit from a Biden presidency.
What’s not up for debate, however, is that the election winner will have the unenviable responsibility of getting the economy back on its feet as virus cases are surging across the country.
Washington may be reluctant to take aim at the real estate industry — an economic driver — when it is in such a weakened state.
In the meantime, with major social and political movements reshaping the country, media coverage of Donald Trump’s tax avoidance and the economic tools deployed by the rich are laying the groundwork for changes to America’s tax code, which has long favored real estate.
“I do think it could put some pressure on it,” Lancaster said. “It’s just a question of where.”
Americans are polarized on a raft of issues, but they have found common ground on one: NIMBYism.
More than 75 percent of U.S. residents oppose policies to increase housing density in their own neighborhoods, though more than half think the government should provide developers with incentives to build more housing. Opposition to more tightly-packed communities is bipartisan and holds true for homeowners as well as renters.
That’s according to a survey released last week by Redfin.
Although Joe Biden supporters were more likely to favor other pro-housing policies, they were joined by Donald Trump supporters in their rejection of denser housing in their own neighborhoods, the survey found.
Only 32 percent of Biden supporters and 24 percent of Trump supporters approve of policies that would increase density in their communities.
“Housing is one of the few types of policies that does not fall neatly into liberal or conservative camps,” said Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather. “While many Americans across both major parties can agree that there’s a need for more housing — particularly affordable housing — both Democrats and Republicans are reluctant to see their own neighborhoods become more dense.
Trump and Biden backers are split on other housing issues, however. Higher shares of Biden supporters than Trump supporters approve of increasing down payment assistance for working-class families and policy incentives for the development of low-income and market-rate housing.
The issue of newer and denser housing being built nearby may be more pressing for Americans in Democrat-leaning counties. Over the last four years, 56 percent of building permits issued in blue counties were for multifamily projects, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Building Permits Survey. In red and purple counties, only 16 percent and 31 percent, respectively, of all new building permits were for multifamily projects.
Renters and homeowners, while split on other issues, also oppose denser housing in “their own backyards.” About 62 percent of renters support down payment assistance compared to just 48 percent of homeowners. Yet renters are only slightly more likely to support low-income housing or higher density housing in their own neighborhoods than homeowners. Only 31 percent of renters support denser zoning in their neighborhood, compared with 26 percent of homeowners.
President Trump has touted himself as the person who will protect the suburbs against encroaching low-income housing, though critics call his vow little more than a racist dog whistle. In July, he announced that the Department of Housing and Urban Development would repeal an Obama-era rule requiring localities that receive federal funding to eliminate barriers to fair housing. Trump’s support in 2016 was typically higher in smaller counties with high homeownership rates, according to a Real Deal analysis of election results and American Community Survey data.
As of January, the U.S. faced a housing shortage of nearly four million homes. Although housing starts and construction spending is up over last year, most of that is for private single-family residences.
Deutsche Bank AG reportedly wants to end its relationship with President Donald Trump after the U.S. presidential election in an attempt to quash negative publicity from its association with the developer-in-chief.
Deutsche Bank has about $340 million outstanding on three loans to the Trump Organization, Reuters reported, citing senior bank officials. In total, Deutsche Bank has loaned Trump over $2 billion.
The loans are backing Trump’s golf course in Miami, as well as hotels in Washington and Chicago. They’re personally guaranteed by the president and are current on their payments. The Trump Organization has only had to pay interest on the loans so far, and the entire principal is outstanding, two of the three bank officials told Retuers. The loans are due in 2023 and 2024.
The bank first started lending to Trump in the late 1990s and has come under scrutiny because of investigations over the President’s alleged connections to Russia. One senior executive called those probes into Trump’s business “serious collateral damage” for the bank, according to Reuters.
But the bank’s plan to sever ties with Trump may depend on the result of Tuesday’s elections. If Trump loses, senior Deutsche Bank executives believe that the investigations into Trump’s financial records could restart. Bank officials believe it would be easier to seek repayment or foreclose on the assets if he can’t pay off the loans. The bank could also try to sell the loans, according to two of the three bank officials Reuters spoke with.
Deutsche Bank could also seize the president’s assets if he could not repay the loans, since the president personally guaranteed the loans.
But if Trump wins, the bank may end up extending the loans until he leaves office for good, according to Reuters..
Corcoran Group severed ties with a broker who was filmed calling a woman a vile term and giving her the finger during a confrontation over political signs last weekend.
Long Island woman Alethea Shapiro posted a video on social media Saturday that showed broker Roy Silber walking back to his car after allegedly ripping out a pro-Biden sign she had planted.
“Take a picture,” he is filmed telling Shapiro, his middle finger raised at the camera. “Fucking cunt,” he adds.
The confrontation, on Glen Cove Road in Nassau County, continues after Silber rolls down his window and moves slowly forward, saying, “watch me, watch me,” his middle finger still raised. “For you and everyone in your family.”
Yesterday when legally placing @JoeBiden signs on a public road in LI a man named @roysilber w/ @corcorangroup pulled up parked his car besides me, illegally ripped up the sign & threw it in2 a puddle.Since I was alone I immediately grabbed my phone.This scary incident ensued. 1/ pic.twitter.com/HVBOllN77O
Contacted about the incident, which sparked scores of angry responses on social media, a spokesperson for Corcoran said the brokerage was “appalled by the abhorrent behavior an independent sales agent displayed.”
“Corcoran in no way condones his conduct, and we immediately disassociated him from our firm,” the spokesperson said.
Attempts to reach Silber were unsuccessful, but in a Facebook post Sunday that is no longer online, the broker said he was “deeply sorry for the language that I used and I truly regret that I said those words in the heat of the moment.”
Silber claimed on Facebook that the two “have a history,” and the incident was “not a random event.”
It is unclear how well Silber and Shapiro know each other. In the video, Silber tells her “you should know who I am,” and when she asks him who he is, he tells her, “you’ll find out.” When she persists, he says, “don’t worry, just follow me; all the signs are coming down.”
Shapiro said on Twitter that she found out later that Silber lives in her neighborhood. She said she had blocked him on Facebook two years ago. She also accused Silber of pulling out four of the political signs she put up on the day the video was recorded.
The broker, who was wearing a red sweatshirt that read “I’d rather get Covid-19 than Biden-20,” posted that he “regularly passes signs supporting Biden-Harris and other issues I don’t agree with,” adding that “this was about my history with Ms. Shapiro — not her signs.”
Shapiro, who did not respond to requests for comment, posted that she plans to file a restraining order against Silber.
Among the thousands of people who have seen and responded to the video is Corcoran founder Barbara Corcoran, who tweeted that she thought Silber’s behavior was “absolutely outrageous and breaks my heart!”
“It insults each of us who believe in our most precious right to free self-expression,” she wrote. “Hate and divisiveness must be stopped if this country is to move forward again as a united family.”
1396 Northwest 36th Street with Integra’s Paulo Tavares de Melo and EHDOC’s Melanie Ribeiro (Photos via Getty; LinkedIn)
A partnership between a private equity group and a nonprofit broke ground last week on a 271-unit affordable senior housing project in Miami’s Allapattah neighborhood.
Integra Investments and Elderly Housing Development & Operations Corp., or EHDOC, plan to invest $58 million to develop the 13-story building at 1396 Northwest 36th Street, according to a press release. They expect to deliver the project in 18 months.
Miami-based Integra is a private equity and real estate developer, led by Paulo Tavares de Melo. EHDOC is a national nonprofit organization that develops and manages affordable housing for seniors. Based in Fort Lauderdale, it is led by Melanie Ribeiro.
A company tied to Integra bought the land in 2017 for $3.8 million, according to records.
The development, called Mosaico, will sit on 1.2 acres. It was financed with 4 percent low income housing tax credits and a $45.5 million in tax exempt bonds issued by the Housing Finance Authority of Miami-Dade County. The project will have a HUD project-based voucher subsidy administered by Miami-Dade County Public Housing & Community Development, according to the release.
Boston Capital provided the LIHTC equity capital and R4 Capital Funding provided the construction and permanent financing.
The community will include 179 one-bedroom units, 92 studios and four townhomes. Amenities will include a fitness center, library, computer center and rooftop community garden. Mosaico was designed by CC Hodgson Architectural Group, which specializes in elderly housing.
Integra last month secured approval from Monroe County for a 280-unit workforce housing development on Stock Island near Key West. In July, Integra Investments and two partners purchased an 8.2-acre waterfront development site just north of Miami Shores for $15.5 million.
Other multifamily projects slated for Allapattah include a 105-unit building by the Richman Group and three rental projects developed by Lissette Calderon that will have a total of more than 1,000 units.
Pension fund investors are seeking to take cash out of real estate funds as property values fall, like at Water Tower Place in Chicago (Photo via iStock; Wikipedia Commons)
Pension fund investors are seeking to take cash out of real estate funds as property values fall, putting managers of those funds in a difficult position.
More than 15 of the 25 open-ended “core” funds tracked by the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries have investors seeking to collect on tens of billions of dollars worth of investments, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing industry insiders.
Those 25 funds had a total of $267.1 billion gross real-estate assets at the end of September.
Those conservative real estate funds have attracted billions of dollars from pension funds and other institutional investors, but since real estate values have plummeted, investors are seeking to cash out, according to the Journal. As a result, funds must either sell those properties or restrict how much money investors can take out.
In one case, the San Diego Employees Retirement System attempted to cash out about $85 million from AEW Core Property Trust in the first quarter. But a pension fund consultant said only about 16 percent has been paid off, and it will likely take several quarters to secure the full amount, the Journal reported, citing a report from the Townsend Group.
An AEW spokesperson told the Journal that the fund suspended all payouts in late March due to the pandemic, but it resumed fulfilling a portion of requests in the second quarter.
Chicago’s Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Retirement Fund is also seeking to withdraw $32 million from the UBS Trumbull Property Fund, according to an August report by Marquette Associates, a consultant to the pension. UBS Trumbull has been selling off properties at steep discounts, the Journal reported. The fund sold half of its stake at the Water Tower Place mall in Chicago to its partner Brookfield Asset Management.
Redeeming public pension funds could be a nightmare given that these investors held $4.93 trillion less than the cost of promised future obligations.
Rich Hume and Joseph Badia with 2200 Northwest 112th Avenue in Sweetwater (Google Maps; Tech Data; Twitter/BadiaSpices)
Talk about mixing sugar and spice.
Badia Spices bought a warehouse in Sweetwater for $44 million.
The Doral-based spices and herbs manufacturer paid about $141 a square foot for the 313,000-square-foot building at 2200 Northwest 112th Avenue in Dolphin Commerce Park, according to a press release.
It is the largest warehouse sale by both size and price to a user-occupier in South Florida in the past four years, according to Newmark, which brokered the deal.
Newmark’s Steve Medwin and Nick Wigoda represented Badia, according to the release.
Tech Data, a publicly traded IT products and services distributor based in Clearwater, sold the warehouse. The Class A industrial building was completed in 2002 and sits on nearly 16 acres, according to the release.
Tech Data, led by Rich Hume, acquired the building in 2017 as part of a $156 million deal to buy six properties it leased from SunTrust Bank, including its headquarters, according to documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The documents did not break down the value of each building. The other properties were in Texas, California, Georgia, New Jersey and Indiana.
Badia Spices manufactures, packages and distributes spices, seasoning blends, marinades, sauces, teas, health items and other products to more than 70 countries around the world, according to the release. The company is led by Joseph “Pepe” Badia.
In 2018, Badia bought a Doral warehouse for $9.5 million.
In 2017, Pepe Badia paid $12.4 million for a waterfront Coconut Grove estate.
Other industrial deals in South Florida include a company tied to motivational speaker and author Tony Robbins buying a West Palm Beach warehouse for $4.4 million and Blackstone buying eight industrial properties in Miami-Dade County from Elion Partners as part of a $93.5 million South Florida portfolio deal.
Rendering of The Ocean Six Terraces (Credit: Rex Nichols Architects)
GT Homes USA, a joint venture between Canadian builders Greenpark and Treasure Hill, launched sales of an oceanfront townhouse project in Pompano Beach, as developers increasingly target the beachfront town.
The six-unit project, called The Ocean Six Terraces, is under construction and is expected to be delivered by December 2021, said Nicholas Fidei, president of Treasure Hill. Douglas Elliman’s Stefano Fontana Group is handling sales and marketing of the development at 700 Briny Avenue.
Property records show Carlotree L.P. paid $4.9 million for the Pompano Beach lot in 2018.
Two units have been presold, and the developer has put two additional units on the market, Fidei said. It will release the final two in about a month. Prices start at $4.3 million.
Stefano Fontana and Patrizia Infante are leading sales of the project. Fontana said that local buyers as well as prospective buyers from the Northeast have shown interest in purchasing townhouses.
Rex Nichols Architects is designing The Ocean Six Terraces, which range from three to four bedrooms and from 3,389 square feet to 4,048 square feet. They include rooftop terraces, sunset and sunrise terraces, pools, and customizable finishes, Fontana said. Units will come with Miele appliances and Kohler fixtures.
Fidei said the development will have homeowners association fees at under $1,000 a month, or about 30 cents per square foot.
Pompano Beach is seeing more waterfront residential development. Related Group recently launched sales of Solemar, a luxury condo building planned for 1116 North Ocean Boulevard in Pompano Beach. The 105-unit, 20-story oceanfront building would mark the second large new development to be built on the beach in Pompano since Sabbia Beach was completed in 2018.
Fortune International Group also recently acquired a site on the beach. The Miami-based development firm, led by Edgardo Defortuna, paid $27.5 million for the 4.6-acre site at 1380 South Ocean Boulevard, with plans for two high-end condo towers.
Fidei said his company is looking to buy land in other parts of South Florida, such as Boca Raton and near Delray Beach. It also owns a property in Fort Lauderdale.
Asked if Donald Trump or Joe Biden would be a better president for real estate, many industry professionals surveyed by The Real Deal picked the president, but more in some cities than others — and not at all in Chicago.
Some 465 brokers, executives, and others who make their living in the industry answered the survey question: “Which presidential candidate will have a more positive impact on the real estate market?”
Nearly half — 49 percent — said Trump would, while 29 percent answered Biden and 22 percent said neither.
But unpacking that number revealed significant geographical divergence. More than two-thirds of Los Angeles-area respondents named Trump and only 15 percent picked Biden, although the sample size was small at just 47 people.
Trump also fared well in Florida, where half of 88 respondents chose him and just under a quarter named Biden as better for the market. Trump’s native New York, with 247 respondents, was closer: 45 percent picked Trump, while 34 percent went for Biden. And Chicago real estate pros split down the middle.
The survey was voluntary and not a scientific poll; it should not be assumed to be representative of real estate professionals as a whole.
Joe Biden and Donald Trump (Illustration by The Real Deal)
UPDATED, 2: 25 a.m., Nov. 4: The presidential election remained too close to call early Wednesday morning, leaving the future uncertain for the real estate industry.
Polls in the final days before the election largely predicted Joe Biden would defeat President Donald Trump in what’s been one of the most divisive presidential races in U.S. history. But hours after polls closed, crucial swing states including Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan had too many uncounted ballots to call.
Trump ended up winning Florida, a key delegate state. Biden performed well below expectations in Miami-Dade — the most populous county — removing any chance he had to capture the state.
“It ain’t over until every ballot is counted, but we’re feeling good about where we are,” Biden said at the Chase Center in Wilmington, Delaware, shortly before 1 a.m. “We believe we’re on track to win this election. We’re going to have to be patient. It’s going to take awhile.”
At the same time, Trump tweeted, “We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election. We will never let them do it. Votes cannot be cast after the Polls are closed!” Twitter quickly labeled the tweet as potentially misleading.
“They’re never going to catch us – they can’t catch us,” Trump said in a speech shortly after 2 a.m., referring to the key battleground state of Georgia. “We were getting ready to win this election – frankly, we did win this election,” he claimed to his supporters, though in fact the race is far from being determined.
Full results may not be available for some time: Millions of Americans voted by mail in 2020 because of the pandemic. Only nine states anticipate having nearly all of their ballots counted by noon on Nov. 4, according to the New York Times. And there could be legal challenges about which ballots to count.
In the months leading up to the election, real estate players — perhaps sensing a Biden win or reacting to the president’s response to the pandemic — donated more money to the challenger than to Trump. Among the industry vets who contributed to Biden’s campaign were affordable housing developer Jonathan Rose, RXR Realty CEO Scott Rechler, Taconic Investment Partners co-CEO Charles Bendit and Tishman Realty’s Dan Tishman.
Still, Trump’s real estate ties earned him support from many industry bigwigs, including Vornado Realty Trust CEO Steve Roth and Related Companies chairman Stephen Ross. Real estate players in South Florida have largely come out in support of the incumbent, though Jorge Perez, Miami’s biggest condo developer and head of Related Group, was one of the few in the region to endorse Biden.
A survey of more than 450 industry professionals by The Real Deal published Tuesday also found that nearly half of respondents believed that four more years of Trump would be better for the real estate market than a Biden presidency. Only 29 percent said Biden would be preferable, and 22 percent said neither candidate would be better.
Though real estate has typically aligned itself with the business-friendly Republican Party, Trump’s last four years have been a mixed bag for the industry. His tenure has drawn attention to how the real estate industry exploits the tax code and has galvanized liberal voters, moving politics in major cities to the left.
If Biden wins, he might look to change some of those practices. The former vice president has already set sights on dramatically reforming 1031 exchanges, a tax break beloved by the industry, in order to fund child care and elderly care. He plans to limit like-kind exchanges to people making less than $400,000 a year. He has also pledged not to raise taxes on households earning less than that amount — which means taxes on the wealthy are fair game.
Biden has also vowed to reform the Opportunity Zones program, created by the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act, which provides capital gains tax breaks to developers who invest in “distressed” areas.
Should Trump clinch a second term, however, the industry could expect to continue reaping the rewards from those breaks, including those created by the 2017 tax overhaul.
The House Committee on Oversight and Reform called that legislation a “windfall” for real estate developers that would lead to $66.7 billion in gains over 10 years. The law doubled the estate tax exemption, exempted commercial real estate firms from a 30 percent limit on interest deducted by large businesses, and exempted real estate companies from limits on like-kind exchanges. The law is projected to add $1.9 trillion in debt over 11 years, starting in 2018.
But in the near term, the next president will be responsible for leading the country through its worst health crisis in a century. Covid-19 has killed more than 230,000 Americans and infected more than 9 million.
The pandemic has also triggered a recession that has wiped out jobs and devastated city and state budgets. The real estate industry has been left reeling, with nearly every single sector — commercial, residential, multifamily, office, hospitality and more — taking big hits.
Some industry bigwigs cited the Trump administration’s handling of the pandemic as a reason to support Biden.
Douglas Durst, chairman of the Durst Organization, was among them. He told TRD in September that “a competent, rational and scientific-based response to Covid is essential for the real estate industry.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Kathryn Brenzel and Georgia Kromrei contributed reporting.
Mortgage Bankers Association’s weekly index shows an increase in loan applications, driven by refinancing once again (iStock)
Homeowners looking to refinance their mortgages drove up the volume of applications last week as homebuyers retreated.
An index tracking the number of applications to refinance increased 6 percent, seasonally adjusted, last week, compared to the prior week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s survey.
The MBA metric, known as the refinance index, was up 88 percent year-over-year.
Meanwhile, the volume of homebuyers applying for purchase loans fell by 1 percent, compared to the week before when the purchase index was flat. The index had decreased each week for the prior month.
Despite the slowdown, Joel Kan, MBA’s head of industry forecasting, said that homebuyer activity remains strong. He said the purchase index was still up 25 percent year-over-year last week and noted that the index had posted annual gains for the past six months straight.
There was some movement in rates, particularly for large loans, according to MBA. The average 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage rate ticked up 1 basis point to 3.01 percent from 3 percent the week before. Jumbo rates dropped 10 basis points to 3.18 percent from 3.28 percent, however.
Despite low rates, however, buyers in New York City are reporting increasing scrutiny from lenders. Nationally borrowers with lower credit are increasingly finding themselves locked out of the market.
Refinancing activity accounted for nearly 69 percent of the home loans surveyed last week, which drove up MBA’s index tracking all home loans by 3.8 percent, seasonally adjusted.
MBA’s survey has been running weekly since 1990 and tracks 75 percent of the residential mortgage market.
PGIM Real Estate CEO Eric Adler (left) and Bridge CEO Steve Poulos with a rendering of the cold storage facility (Photos via PGIM; Bridge; Ware Malcolm)
A joint venture developing a speculative cold storage project in Hialeah scored a $67 million construction loan.
The joint venture between industrial developer Bridge Development Partners and PGIM Real Estate, the real estate investment and financing business of Prudential Financial, plans to break ground on the project later this month, according to a press release.
Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. provided the loan, which was arranged by Steve Roth of CBRE.
The 312,000-square-foot facility will be built on 20.8 acres near the intersection of Northwest 162nd Street and Northwest 102nd Avenue. The joint venture bought the property in July for $11 million and expects to complete the project in the fourth quarter of 2021.
PGIM Real Estate is led by CEO Eric Adler. Bridge Development is led by founder, CEO and partner Steve Poulos.
Recent deals in the cold storage sector of South Florida’s industrial real estate market include Arkadia Property Group paying $5.3 million for a cold storage warehouse in Allapattah last month, and Ivy Realty paying $30.5 million for a cold storage facility leased to Southeast Frozen Foods and SuperValu in March.
The cold storage market appears to be seeing a surge of investor interest nationwide. Lineage Logistics, the world’s largest landlord of temperature-controlled storage, pulled in $1.6 billion in a fundraising round that ended last month, and Americold Realty Trust, the only public real estate investment trust specializing in cold storage, saw a 6 percent increase in net operating income in the second quarter.
Peter Norden 378 East Alexander Palm Road, Boca Raton (Credit: Google Maps)
The CEO of a mortgage lending company bought a waterfront Boca Raton mansion for $12.95 million.
Records show Peter R. Norden and his wife, Barbara, bought the house at 378 East Alexander Palm Road from John F. and Joan Inganamort.
Peter Norden is the CEO of Iselin, New Jersey-based HomeBridge Financial Services, a privately held, non-bank mortgage lending company, according to its website. He’s held the position since 2012.
The Inganamorts paid $925,000 for the property in 1981 and built a new mansion that they completed in 1997, records show.
According to Realtor.com, the 11,492-square-foot house first hit the market at $16.75 million in 2007. After many price changes over the years, the most recent asking price was $13.2 million in May 2018. David W. Roberts of Royal Palm Properties brokered the deal.
The two-story mansion has seven bedrooms, eight-and-a-half bathrooms, a guest house, a boathouse and 248 feet of Intracoastal Waterway and canal frontage, according to the listing.
Other recent sales in Boca Raton include a billionaire building supplies businesswoman buying a Royal Palm Yacht & Country Club mansion for $15.9 million, the owner of a European hotel chain buying a waterfront home for $5.5 million and the COO of a real estate investment firm selling his home for $5 million.
Key Biscayne residents voted to pass a referendum that would allow the village to issue $100 million in general obligation bonds to deal with the effects of climate change.
More than 56 percent of the roughly 6,100 voters in Key Biscayne approved the referendum in Tuesday’s general election.
About $40 million could go toward mitigating the effects of sea level rise and flooding, $23 million toward protecting the beaches and shoreline, and more than $49 million to harden and place infrastructure underground to withstand hurricanes, according to the village’s August town hall presentation.
Critics have called the referendum a “blank check” measure that does not identify specific projects the bonds would fund. Attorney David Winker, who is representing a resident suing the village over the referendum, said his client’s lawsuit is “about what good governance and public participation in decision-making on funding of resiliency measures should look like.”
Winker said it violates the village charter, as well as Florida law requiring that voters be provided with sufficient information about the projects that would be funded.
In 2017, residents in the city of Miami voted to pass the $400 million Miami Forever Bond, part of which was set aside for climate change mitigation efforts, including storm drain upgrades, flood pumps and sea walls.
The following year, Miami Beach voters approved a $439 million general obligation bond, nearly $200 million of which was set aside for neighborhood and infrastructure projects.
In Miami Beach, where resiliency projects have included the installation of stormwater pumps and the controversial raising of roads, a study commissioned by the city found that raising roads and elevating homes increases a property’s value, the Miami Herald reported earlier this year.
While waterfront home sales have surged in coastal markets such as Miami Beach throughout the pandemic, fewer waterfront single-family homes have sold in Key Biscayne. Property values throughout the village have dropped nearly 5 percent over the last three years, according to the Herald.
The last three waterfront homes to trade in Key Biscayne have sold for significant discounts off their asking prices.
Last month, the mansion at 460 North Mashta Drive sold for $13 million, a 33 percent discount of its original asking price of $19 million.
