The office building at 1600 Southeast 17th Street Causeway

Harbor Place in Fort Lauderdale gets $8.9M

Harbor Place, a 36,000-square-foot office building in Fort Lauderdale, just fetched $8.9 million last week.

Located at 1600 Southeast 17th Street Causeway, the building was 100-percent occupied at the same of sale. One of its tenants, Berger Commercial Realty, brought the buyer and represented the seller. The firm will lease and manage the building under its new owners. Other tenants include HSBC Bank, MHG Insurance and Vecenergy.

A company with ties to Hold Thyssen Real Estate Services was the seller. The buyer, Resolve Marine Group, is a marine services company that also has an academy in the building that hosts simulation and training exercises for everything from managing a ship to surviving a hull breach.

“We are moving our high-tech simulators into the building so we can offer our students all of our training modules under one roof,” said Joseph Farrell, Jr., president and CEO of Resolve Marine Group, in a statement.

The industrial building at 10975 Northwest 29th Street

Doral industrial building trades for $2.35M

The former Doral home of Overseas Freight Solutions, a family owned logistics company, has been sold for $2.35 million.

The company had occupied the 16,197-square-foot office and warehouse building at 10975 Northwest 29th Street.

Global Airtech, an aircraft supply company, was the buyer. Tara Banks of Cervera Real Estate represented Global, while the seller was represented by Luis Marquez, Ernesto Casal and Will Falero of the Casal Group.

The Jefferson Street Apartments in Hollywood

Hollywood apartments sell for $1.2M

The Jefferson Street Apartments, a 14-unit complex in Hollywood, has been sold for $1.2 million — or $85,714 a unit.

The complex, built in 1969, is located on a quarter-acre lot at 1928 Jefferson Street. It’s primarily made up of one-bedroom, one-bathroom units.

A private local investor was the buyer, while the seller was a company managed by Bernard Pierre Louis.

Derek R. Gibbs, Daniel J. Cunningham, Evan Richardson, and Tal I. Frydman of Marcus & Millichap had the listing.

The top three most expensive listings to hit each of the tri-county real estate markets — Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach — over the past week ranged from $2.8 million to $38 million, according to Zillow data. Miami-Dade had the priciest property and a condo in Palm Beach was on the low end.

Miami-Dade

#1 A 2,214-square-foot unit at the Residences at Acqualina was listed for $37.9 million. The unit, at 17875 Collins Avenue in Sunny Isles Beach, has three bedrooms and three bathrooms. Roxana Kosberg of CityFirst Realty has the listing.

#2 The entire 17th floor of the St. Regis Bal Harbour Residences was listed for $25 million. Unit 1701, at 9701 Collins Avenue, has seven bedrooms, seven-and-a-half bathrooms, and spans 14,129 square feet. Jeffrey Miller of Zilbert International Realty has the listing for the unfinished unit, which includes a 4,000-square-foot terrace with ocean and Intracoastal Waterway views.

#3 A six-bedroom, seven-and-a-half-bathroom unit at The Palace Bal Harbour was listed for $8.3 million. The tower, at 10101 Collins Avenue, was built in 1994. Anita Bigelman of Harding Realty has the listing for the 7,380-square-foot unit.

Palm Beach

#1 A mid-20th century home in Point Manalapan was just listed for sale at $3.2 million. The home was completely renovated in 2014 with modern finishes and is being sold furnished. Located at 75 Spoonbill Road, the property sits on a canal and has deep-water dockage. Natalie Paavola of Q Palm Beach is the listing agent.

#2 The 4,475-square-foot home at 854 Lilac Drive in Boca Raton is up for sale at $3 million. Described as a gated waterfront estate, the home joins eight others on a cobblestone street in the Walkers Cay at Boca Bay Colony community. It has 110 feet of canal dockage at its front, and another 75 feet of canal at its rear — enough for a 100-foot yacht. The home itself has four bedrooms, five bathrooms, an updated kitchen and a loft area with its own sun deck. The backyard includes a waterfall pool and an outdoor summer kitchen. Listing agent Brian Pearl of Lang Realty is marketing the property.

#3 A four-bedroom, six-bathroom unit at The Carlyle condo building in Jupiter has hit the market with an asking price of $2.8 million. The building, at 19700 Beach Road, is 12 stories tall and sits directly on the beach. Amenities include a heated pool, fitness center, air-conditioned garage with two spaces per unit and round-the-clock security. Vince Marotta of the Marotta Realty Group has the listing.

Broward

#1 A 10,000-square-foot mansion with enough waterfront dockage for two yachts has been put on the market for $8 million. Located on a canal at 1645 East Lake Drive in Fort Lauderdale, the home is described as Mediterranean-style estate. It has six bedrooms, seven-and-a-half bathrooms and its own elevator. The property comes with two parcels, which the listing said could be built out for a guest home or another garage. James Morlock of Fidelity Real Estate has the listing.

#2 The waterfront home at 2543 Mercedes Drive in Fort Lauderdale was just listed for $4.5 million. Built in 2002, the house was meant to host guests: it has a formal living room with a bar, separate guest quarters and an upgraded guest room on the first floor. The master suite is on the second floor, along with a private office with a fireplace. Outside, the pool sits next to a summer kitchen and outdoor fireplace. Julie Jones Bernard of Florida Luxurious Properties is the listing agent.

#3 The Mediterranean-style home at 2554 Lucille Drive has been put up for sale with an asking price of $4.1 million. The residence sits on a quarter-acre waterfront lot in Fort Lauderdale. It has six bedrooms, seven-and-a-half bathrooms, an adjoined studio apartment and a tiled patio and pool at its rear. Barbara Panton of RE/MAX has the listing.

Lincoln Road in Miami Beach

Lincoln Road property owners will vote this summer to create a business improvement district for the bustling pedestrian promenade.

The Miami Beach City Commission this week agreed to allow a vote of property owners to create the special assessment district. The vote will cover the creation of the Lincoln Road Business Improvement District for 10 years, with a goal of promoting, managing and marketing the popular tourist destination.

Ballots will be mailed to affected owners from June 29 to July 24. Fifty percent plus one vote is required for approval, according to city documents.

Stephen Bittel, chairman of Terranova Corp., which with its investment partners is the largest property owner on the street, told The Real Deal that he is “a strong proponent” of the BID.

Terranova Corp. is developing two new three-story buildings near Meridian Avenue in Miami Beach, bringing additional retail stores and a rooftop restaurant. The rumor within the industry is that Marshall’s will be a tenant. The new sites, at 723 Lincoln Lane and 801 Lincoln Road, are geared to expand the Lincoln Road shopping district from the pedestrian promenade to 17th Street.

As rents reach as high as $400 a square foot, the retail area is continuing to pour over onto the side streets.

Meanwhile, Lincoln Road has drawn the attention of New York investors like Thor Equities and David Edelstein’s TriStar Capital. Thor owns 663-667 Lincoln Road and 605 Lincoln Road. And Edelstein is pursuing plans to build a contemporary 15,789-square-foot, two-story tall retail building on land his company leases from the Miami Beach Community Church at the corner of Drexel Avenue and Lincoln Road.

National and international retail tenants are also increasing their presence. New stores for Gap, Intermix, Athleta and Apple have all opened in recent months, developed by commercial real estate developer and broker Michael Comras.

Nike is next. In April, Nike won approval from the Miami Beach Historic Preservation Board to demolish the building that straddles the corner of Lenox and Lincoln Road and develop it into a 30,000-square-foot multistory building. Touzet Studio is designing the Nike store, which will incorporate design elements inspired by Morris Lapidus, including a facade that changes colors depending on sunlight.

Comras, who is developing the Nike store, said he is strongly in favor of the business improvement district.

“Every great city in the country has a BID, and every great city that doesn’t have one should have one,” Comras told TRD. “It’s a way to bring together property owners, tenants and the community to provide a unified product.”

The BID, Comras said, will allow the street to create an overall maintenance and management program. “Here we have an organized community of diverse property owners, in a world class location, one of the top High Streets of the world,” he said. “To be able to bring all that together with a common vision and operate Lincoln Road in a comprehensive way — it’s an amazing thing.”

Robert Quittner, whose grandfather first bought property on Lincoln Road in the late 1940s, and who now owns 532 Lincoln Road to 560 Lincoln Road, along with his children, said he is also backing the BID. He said the improvements, structure and organization will be an advantage.

“I don’t know how Lincoln Road is going to hold up to the competition,” Quittner told TRD.  “I’m concerned about Saks going in at Brickell City Centre, and the Miami Worldcenter, where Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s will be, and the Design District. I’m concerned about the competition.”

An aerial shot of Miami

1. Cost of living rises in South Florida while falling nationally [Sun Sentinel]
2. Developers propose two big hotel projects in Miami [South Florida Business Journal]
3. David Beckham, Donna Shalala to discuss partnering on football-soccer stadium [Miami Herald]
4. Archival photos show the old splendor of Miami’s Shenandoah [Curbed Miami]
5. Despite property-value bump, no Palm Beach County tax-rate cut planned [Palm Beach Post]

— Sean Stewart-Muniz

The Real Deal will take a brief hiatus on Memorial Day Monday, but will keep our eyes peeled for any breaking news. Don’t forget to check back Tuesday morning, when we’ll resume regular posting starting at 7:30 a.m.

Enjoy the sunshine! — TRD

Current reader favorites:
1. Verzasca’s proposed 19-story condo draws ire in Sunny Isles
2. Experts: Will U.S. recession spark next SoFla real estate downturn?
3. The murky world of broker commissions
4. Key Biscayne mayor on boat show: Anywhere but here
5. $750M Miami Worldcenter Hotel & Expo unveiled

Onefinestay CEO Greg Marsh and a screenshot of onefinestay’s website

From the New York website: The hotel industry has fought short-term rental companies like Airbnb tooth and nail. But, in a rare move, Hyatt Hotels has aligned itself with what some might perceive as a rival.

Hyatt has invested in onefinestay, a short-term rental company that matches travelers with luxury homes. While it is unclear preciecly how much Hyatt invested, a source told the Wall Street Journal that the investment “was part of a nearly $40 million round of funding that was completed at the end of last year.”

Onefinestay works with upscale homeowners in London, New York, Los Angeles and Paris. It manages a portfolio of more than 2,500 homes with a combined value of more than $5 billion, according to the Journal.

Onefinestay CEO Greg Marsh declined to comment on his relationship with Hyatt.

A Hyatt spokesperson said in a prepared statement that it is “collaborating with onefinestay” and that it will “continue to test a variety of offerings, work with a number of companies and make investments to continue innovating the guest experience.” [WSJ] – Christopher Cameron

Felipe Valls Jr. and the vacant lot near Miami International Airport

A multifamily developer picked up a vacant lakefront lot near Miami International Airport for $7.6 million, Miami-Dade County records show.

Bravo Partners Blue Lagoon, a Miami-based company tied to Felipe Valls Jr., sold the 7.4-acre lot. The Valls family owns popular Cuban restaurants Versailles and La Carreta.

Ascend Blue Lagoon is the buyer. The LLC is an affiliate of Boca Raton-based Ascend Properties, a multifamily developer. The buyer also obtained a $5.1 million mortgage from Iberia Bank, according to Miami-Dade records.

The property, on Northwest Seventh Street and east of Northwest 65th Avenue, is across the street from an Extended Stay America hotel and adjacent to the Springhill Suites Miami Airport South. It’s zoned industrial for heavy manufacturing. Valls paid $4.5 million for the site in September 2013, according to Miami-Dade property records.

Ascend Properties’ completed projects in South Florida include a 149-unit Metropolitan apartment tower at CityPlace in West Palm Beach and the Jacaranda Club Apartments, a 190-unit development in Plantation.

Miami Beach had another good week for pricey sales, taking up just under half of last week’s most expensive condo closings in Miami-Dade County, according to data from condo.com.

Two of the city’s sales, including the priciest at $2.07 million, were in the Blue Diamond. The Blue and Green Diamonds are twin towers, both having 44 floors. The Melo family of developers have a history with the towers, having purchased several units in the complex.

The Courts at South Beach on Jefferson Avenue and Akoya on Collins Avenue also saw sales, with Miami Beach’s grand total for last week coming in at $6.6 million.

Individual sales for the week hovered between $2.1 million and $1 million, and prices per square foot were between $1,050 and $460.

The county as a whole saw 136 condo sales for a total of $47.5 million — a $26.5 million drop from the previous week. The average price per unit was $349,784 and the average price per square foot was $273, a considerable drop from the previous week’s high of $845 per square foot.

Here’s a breakdown of the data for the week of May 17 to May 23. Click on the map for more information:

Most expensive 

Least expensive

Most days on market 

Least days on market 

Rendering of Restoration Hardware in West Palm Beach

Does a fancy Restoration Hardware store represent an attractive entrance into downtown West Palm Beach? Yes, say area real estate professionals.

The home furnishings store has filed plans with the city for a 51,000-square-foot gallery at 560 Okeechobee Boulevard. That’s a 2-acre site in the median of the main downtown road leading to the Intracoastal Waterway on the east, and I-95 on the west.

“It’s a great architectural showpiece as you enter West Palm Beach,” Jonathan Satter, managing director of Avison Young, a commercial real estate services firm in West Palm Beach, told The Real Deal.

“Aesthetically, if it pans out, it would be a very attractive structure for a gateway,” Satter said.

The parcel sits across the street from CityPlace, West Palm’s popular outdoor mall, where Restoration Hardware already has a 12,000-square-foot store. The Related Group owns CityPlace and the parcel.

The proposed four-story structure looks much like a mansion in a rendering. It includes outdoor courtyards, garden terraces, reflecting pools, a fountain and a rooftop park.

“It’s a fantastic looking proposal,” Neil Merin, chairman of NAI Merin Hunter Codman in West Palm Beach, told TRD. “They have renovated and built several showcase projects from scratch,” he said of Restoration Hardware, which is based in Corte Madera, California. Examples from Boston and Atlanta appear on the company’s website.

Related had plans for an office building at the site, but those plans didn’t pan out. “West Palm needs more office space, but maybe it wasn’t going to work there,” Merin said. “Walkability is difficult.”

The median sits in the middle of a six-lane road (eight with turn lanes), where cars often travel more than 40 miles an hour.

Restoration plans valet-only parking on the site and anticipates many customers will park in one of CityPlace’s garages and then walk across the street.

That leads to a concern of architect Rick Gonzalez, president of REG Architects in West Palm. “It’s a great plan. But I hope they will address a pedestrian connection, creating convenient crosswalks for pedestrians and not cars,” he said. “There should be calmer traffic there and landscaping to the east.”

On the opposite side of the median from CityPlace stands the Palm Beach County Convention Center, and the future home of the convention center hotel. Developing the median parcel should slow cars and help pedestrians get to the hotel and convention center from CityPlace, Gonzalez said.

And will the deal be profitable for Restoration? “You have to sell a lot of furniture to pay for the building and land,” Satter said.

Jason Kalisman and Howard Lorber

From the New York website: Jason Kalisman, the interim CEO of Morgans Hotel Group, has resigned, effective immediately. Howard Lorber has also been named chairman.

Kailsman, who took over Morgans following Michael Gross’ resignation last year, says he wants to spend more time on personal matters and will remain a member of the board. Lorber joined the board in March.

Richard Szymanski, Mirgans’ chief financial officer, will act as interim CEO while the board continues its search for a CEO, according to MarketWatch.

“On behalf of the entire board, I want to thank Jason for his past contributions and for his continuation as a director of the Company,” Lorber said in a press release. “Going forward, we will continue to build on our operational momentum and complete the strategic alternatives process in a timely manner.”

During his tenure Kailsman, had attempted to push Ron Burkle, who owned Morgans’ debt and preferred shares, out of the group. He had also struggled and failed to retain management control of the Mondrian Soho following its sale to Alex Sapir.

“After careful consideration and discussions with the board, I have decided it is in the best interests of the Company to resign from my position as interim CEO to attend to personal obligations,” Kalisman said. “I am incredibly proud of what we achieved during my time as CEO at Morgans and did not want my obligations to inhibit the strategic review process or slow the strong momentum our team has worked so hard to build over the past two years.”

Morgans Hotel Group operates the Delano in South Beach and the Hudson Hotel and Royalton in New York, among others. [Market Watch] – Christopher Cameron

A rooftop shot of downtown Miami

Miami saw some of the country’s largest gains in home prices, according to S&P Case-Shiller’s Home Prices Indices for March 2015.

Home prices in Miami grew 8.7 percent during March compared to the same month last year, outranked only by Denver, San Francisco and Dallas.

On a month-to-month basis, Miami saw only a 1 percent bump in home prices from February to March and a 0.4-percent increase from January to February, meaning price gains have accelerated during the first quarter of 2015 — albeit slowly.

Nationally, the report stated home prices have continued to grow over the past 35 months. Detroit led the pack with 45 months of consecutive increases.

“Given the long stretch of strong reports, it is no surprise that people are asking if we’re in a new home price bubble.”  David M. Blitzer, managing director and chairman of the Index Committee for S&P Dow Jones Indices, said in a statement. “The only way you can be sure of a bubble is looking back after it’s over. I would describe this as a rebound in home prices, not bubble and not a reason to be fearful.” — Sean Stewart-Muniz

Calvin Klein (Credit: David Shankbone) and 4452 North Bay Road

Calvin Klein is reportedly looking to sell his Miami Beach home.

The fashion designer is moving and has a Hollywood Hills, California house under contract, Page Six reported.

“Not to compare apples to oranges, but Miami Beach is a resort,” Klein told Page Six. L.A. is where people work, not only in the entertainment business, but all different walks — the social media world — it’s a new experience.”

Klein has owned the six-bedroom, six-bathroom home at 4452 North Bay Road since December 2005, according to Miami-Dade County property records. He paid an undisclosed price for the property. The 5,802-square-foot house was built in 1929 and sits on a 16,709-square-foot lot.

He won’t sell to “just anyone,” Page Six reported.

“It may sound crazy, but I wouldn’t sell it to just anyone. It would break my heart. I hate to use the word ‘unique,’ but I have never seen another house like it . . . I want to sell it to someone who appreciates the aesthetic.”

North Bay Road has been home to celebrities such as Ricky Martin and Matt Damon. And in January, the founder of Chicken Kitchen listed his newly built home at 5004 North Bay Road for $36 million. [Page Six] — Katherine Kallergis

Back to the Future, an event highlighting past and future development in downtown Miami, was hosted last week at the historic Alfred I. DuPont Building, at 169 East Flagler Street.

Among the developers in attendance were Avra Jain and Moishe Mana. Jain has redeveloped MiMo-style motels such as the Vagabond Hotel and recently purchased the historic Miami River Inn for $8.6 million.

Mana, who founded N.Y.-based Moishe’s Moving, has spent about $80 million on real estate in downtown Miami, spanning 530,000 square feet of retail properties, and nearly five acres of land.

Commercial broker Mika Mattingly organized the event for land and business owners in downtown Miami. — Katherine Kallergis and Sean Stewart-Muniz

A Caribbean vacation home

From the New York website: A strong dollar means it’s time to look for deals abroad, but making international real estate plays also comes with “complications.”

The number of U.S. buyers searching for homes abroad has increased 30 percent in the last year or so, according to data from Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, cited by the Wall Street Journal. But experts recommend doing some hefty research before taking the plunge.

Mortgages abroad often require a larger down payment than in the U.S. And fixed-rate mortgages can be hard to come by in many markets.

In the Caribbean, minimum down payments often range from 30 to 40 percent and loans are typically repaid with 15 years, Anita Ashton, managing director at Caribbean Mortgage Services, a mortgage broker based in St. James, Barbados, told the Journal.

Moreover, if you are renting out your home abroad, you need to report the income to the IRS, and the lease could be considered a foreign financial asset, David Lifson, an accountant with Crowe Horwath LLP in New York, told the Journal.

And if the house is held by an entity like an LLC, it must be reported as a foreign financial asset.

The upshot: be sure to grill local real estate experts regarding taxes and other costs. [WSJ] – Christopher Cameron

CVS Health

CVS/pharmacy is opening 12 South Florida stores catered toward the Hispanic community, the company announced recently.

The CVS/pharmacy y más locations include 11 remodeled CVS stores and one new store. The pharmacies will feature fully bilingual staffs, more than 1,500 Hispanic products, and new services, according to a press release.

Here are the store locations:

• 12180 Southwest Eighth Street (new store)
• 2500 Southwest 22nd Street, Miami
• 8720 West Flagler Street, Miami
• 9720 Southwest Eighth Street, Miami
• 650 Northwest 27th Avenue, Miami
• 690 Northwest 57th Avenue, Miami
• 2599 Southwest 147th Avenue, Miami
• 1200 West 68th Street, Hialeah
• 10700 Northwest 74th Street, Doral
• 7199 Southwest 117th Avenue, Kendall
• 101 Hialeah Drive, Hialeah
• 2780 Campbell Drive, Homestead

The stores will serve “cafecito” at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. daily, according to the press release.

CVS acquired Navarro Discount Pharmacy in September, which included the Hispanic drugstore chain’s 33 retail locations and Navarro Health Services, a specialty pharmacy. — Katherine Kallergis

Bay House and Peter Zalewski

A second new condo tower has been completed in the Edgewater neighborhood of Greater Downtown Miami by the same developer that started this current South Florida preconstruction boom in April 2011.

The Melo Group — which constructed the 23 Biscayne Bay condo tower with 18 floors and 96 units in 2012 — has issued a press release through its marketing firm announcing the completion of its newest project — the 165-unit Bay House — on a site in the 600 block of Northeast 27 Street just east of Biscayne Boulevard.

“The 38-story tower has received its temporary certificate of occupancy and is quickly moving forward with unit closings — more than 30 percent of the building’s units have already closed over the last couple weeks,” according to an emailed statement to The Real Deal from spokeswoman Allie Schwartz Grant.

To date, none of the deeds for the reported transactions are available for online review with the Miami-Dade Clerk of the Court. As a result, transaction price information is not available at the time of the writing of this column.

Additionally, no condo units in the Bay House project are currently on the resale market as of May 26, according to the Southeast Florida MLXchange.

What is known about the Bay House condo tower’s pricing is that the project is “comprised entirely” of three-bedroom units that range in size from “about” 1,581 square feet to 1,720 square feet. Penthouse prices “range” from $2 million per unit “and up,” according to the statement.

For disclosure, my firm has provided consulting serves to the Melo Group on the overall condo market but not on this particular project.

The Edgewater neighborhood is one of the most active areas in Greater Downtown Miami for new condo projects given the amount of developable land available in an area that stretches from the Julia Tuttle Causeway south to Northeast 17th Terrace, and Biscayne Bay west to Biscayne Boulevard.

Currently, 14 new condo towers with more than 3,400 units have been announced or completed in the Edgewater neighborhood since 2011, according to the preconstruction condo projects website CraneSpotters.com. (For disclosure, my firm operates the website.)

A review of the preconstruction projects in the Edgewater area of Greater Downtown Miami shows that two towers with more than 260 units have been completed this cycle. An additional six towers with 1,460 units are currently under construction. The other six towers with nearly 1,700 units are currently in the planning or presale phase.

Overall, developers have announced plans to develop 71 new condo towers with nearly 19,850 units in Greater Downtown Miami, which stretches from the Julia Tuttle Causeway south to the Rickenbacker Causeway, and Biscayne Bay west to I-95.

For its part, Edgewater accounts for 17 percent of the total number of new condo units announced for Greater Downtown Miami of this growth phase.

The Bay House is one of three new condo towers — plus a series of rental projects — announced by the Melo Group during this cycle.

The next condo tower for Melo is slated to be the 51-story Aria On The Bay project with 647 units to be developed in the 1700 block of North Bayshore Drive across from Margaret Pace Park. Site work is currently underway on the Aria On The Bay project but an official groundbreaking ceremony has not yet been held.

On the resale front, more than 375 condo units in the Edgewater area are available for purchase at an average asking price of nearly $445 per square foot as of May 26, according to the Southeast Florida MLXchange.

In the first four months of 2015, buyers acquired nearly 120 condo units in the Edgewater area at an average price of more than $370 per square foot.

The latest average price in the Edgewater neighborhood reflects a 121 percent increase from the bottom of the last South Florida real estate cycle in 2009 when the average condo resale transaction price was less than $170 per square foot in the period of January through April, according to the data.

Back in 2006 at the peak of the last cycle, the average condo transaction price was $345 per square foot for the first four months of the year.

The unanswered question going forward is whether the fast-moving Melo Group will be decide to build any more new condo towers in the Edgewater area of Greater Downtown Miami during this current South Florida real estate cycle.

Peter Zalewski is a real estate columnist for The Real Deal who founded Condo Vultures LLC, a consultancy and publishing company, as well as Condo Vultures Realty LLC and CVR Realty brokerages and the Condo Ratings Agency, an analytics firm. The Condo Ratings Agency operates CraneSpotters.com, a preconstruction condo projects website, in conjunction with the Miami Association of Realtors.

Illesteva has stores in New York’s Soho and in Los Angeles

Illesteva, a New York-based luxury eyewear and accessories brand, will open its first South Florida store in Wynwood, as the neighborhood boosts its retail offerings, The Real Deal has learned.

Jason Weisman, principal of JAW Commercial, told TRD that he has inked a lease to bring the eyewear company to Northwest Second Avenue. The 1,200 square-foot boutique will open this summer, he said.

Illesteva currently has two retail stores in the United States. It launched its first flagship store in September 2014 in Soho in New York, and opened a store in mid-April in Venice, California.

Wynwood has been attracting more retailers in recent months, including the eyewear brand Warby Parker, which opened its first freestanding store in Miami in March, at 215 Northwest 25th Street, leased by Goldman Properties. Other businesses in Wynwood include Panther Coffee, Zak the Baker, Orange Pedal, Frangipani, jugofresh, Junior & Hatter and Del Toro Showroom.

Wynwood properties have attracted buyers like New York-based Thor Equities, which signed a contract to pay $29 million for nearly a square city block in Wynwood in late April. The property, at 2801 Northwest Third Avenue, includes seven parcels that occupy the majority of the space between Northwest 28th Street and Northwest 29th Street, and between Northwest Second Avenue and Northwest Third Avenue. The site totals 105,000 square feet, with 54,000 square feet of leasable space and a parking lot.

“It’s a testament to Wynwood and the core of Miami that Illesteva has chosen this location as a platform for their rapidly growing global dominance in the luxury eyewear sector,” Weisman said in a statement. “This is probably the most important location in terms of exposure as the company is prominent throughout South America.”

New rendering of the Whole Foods on Alton Road, left, and a rendering of the rejected plans, right (Credit: The Next Miami)

Developer Crescent Heights was given the go-ahead on Tuesday by the Miami Beach Planning Board to build a new 50,000-square-foot project that will include a new Whole Foods Market at 1901 Alton Road in South Beach.  

The board gave approval to a new design submitted by Crescent Heights with conditions that will limit deliveries and trash pickups to early mornings and late evenings, during a hearing dominated by traffic concerns in super-congested South Beach. An earlier design was rejected at a hearing in January.

The new design, submitted by architect Chad Oppenheim, will feature a screened front that will cover vegetation, which Oppenheim described as “softening the building.”

As part of its traffic mediation plans, Crescent Heights will build a roundabout at Dade Boulevard and 19th Street. Marisa Galbut, retail development manager for Crescent Heights, described Whole Foods as an “excellent neighbor,” and said she had held discussions with the nearby Sunset Islands homeowners association about plans for the new store.

Whole Foods will have about 40,000 square feet of retail space, 272 parking spaces and a 198-seat café.  Kelly Mills, a project manager at Whole Foods who has designed all of the company’s Florida stores, said it’s not unusual for individual stores to place restrictions on the time that deliveries can take place. He said a smaller existing 18,000-square-foot store at Alton Road and 10th Street will remain open after the new store begins operating.

The site is owned by Wells Fargo Bank, which has a branch there. A new branch will open inside the new building.

The Miami Beach Design Review Board will review the project at a hearing next week. Galbut told The Real Deal that she expects a two-year time frame to completion once final approval is granted.

Whole Foods has been aggressively expanding in South Florida, including launching new stores in Pompano Beach and downtown Miami.

A rendering of the proposed Mount Sinai medical tower (Credit: The Next Miami)

1. Mount Sinai planning to build a new eight story hospital tower in Miami Beach [The Next Miami]
2. All Aboard Florida may go too slow to receive tax exempt bonds [Palm Beach Post]
3. South Florida hotels more crowded than last year [Sun Sentinel]
4. Plan for 1,237 units at Diplomat and Chateau Square among Hallandale Beach proposals [South Florida Business Journal]

— Sean Stewart-Muniz