Current reader favorites:
1. Sam Herzberg buys entire block in Wynwood: $22M
2. Bal Harbour Shops seeks access to official’s private email accounts
3. South Florida home prices still far from peak: report
4. Miami Design District retail property trades for $21.5M
5. Waterfront lot across from Beckham’s proposed MLS stadium sells for $6.7M

16355 Biscayne Boulevard

CK Prive added to its North Miami Beach assemblage with a $12.6 million purchase of a liquor store along Biscayne Boulevard.

The joint-venture between Prive Land Banking and CK Holding Group now owns nearly 7 acres on Biscayne Boulevard in North Miami Beach, county records show.

CK Prive closed on the ABC Fine Wine & Spirits at 16355 Biscayne Boulevard in mid-March. The one-story, 10,871-square-foot building sits on a 47,611-square-foot plot.

Together with its property across the street on the west side of Biscayne Boulevard, and the property abutting the ABC store to the south, CK Prive now owns 6.9 acres of land in those two blocks.

ABC Fine Wine & Spirits sold the building, according to Miami-Dade County records. The Orlando-based liquor store chain paid about $2.5 million for the 1-acre lot in 2009, which means CK Prive paid five times the property’s previous sales price.

CK Prive hired Miami-based Arquitectonica to design a mixed-use project that will replace the Dean’s Gold strip club, which is next to the ABC. And across Biscayne Boulevard, the developer plans to redevelop its land into a mixed-use project with 400 rental apartments and ground-floor retail.

The city of North Miami Beach, long known for its mid-rise apartment buildings and traditional shopping centers, is undergoing a transformation. According to the preconstruction condo website CraneSpotters.com, there are nearly 8,000 new condo and rental units in the planning and presale phases of development on and around a stretch of Biscayne Boulevard between Northeast 151st Street and Northeast 176th Street, as of December. Moishe Mana, a key player in Wynwood and downtown Miami, purchased a property on Northeast 167th Street in February.

On the same block as the ABC store, Biscayne Park Development LLC has entered into an agreement to buy two parcels totaling nearly 4 acres. The LLC is controlled by Transamerican Development Corp. principal Albert Benalloun.

The Fort Lauderdale development site along Northeast 7th Street (Inset: Fairfield Residential CEO Greg Pinkalla)

Fairfield Residential, a multifamily builder based in California, just broke ground on its newest apartment community in downtown Fort Lauderdale after receiving a $50 million loan.

The loan, issued by Mercantil Commercebank, covers about 2.5 acres of land in the 200 block of Northeast 7th Street, Broward County records show.

Fairfield assembled the parcels for an unknown amount mid-year 2015 through separate deals with Pacific National Bank and local landowners.

Now with financing in hand, Fairfield has started construction of an apartment building with 292 residences.

Dev Motwani of Merrimac Ventures told The Real Deal in June that he was one of the property owners who sold to Fairfield. He had obtained approvals for a luxury apartment building on the property before trading it to the California builder.

Fairfield owns eight apartment communities in South Florida, though none are located in Fort Lauderdale. The company was founded in 1997 and has since built roughly 104,000 units throughout the United States, according to its website.

Marriott’s Arne Sorenson, Starwood’s Thomas Mangas and Anbang’s Wu Xiaohui

From the New York website: The bidding war for Starwood Hotels & Resorts may finally have come to an end.

The hospitality giant accepted a new, juiced-up takeover offer from Marriott International, totaling about $13.6 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Marriott’s is a counterbid; it follows news last week that Beijing-based Anbang Insurance Group – which recently bought 16 hotels from the Blackstone Group, and owns the Waldorf Astoria hotel – had offered $13.2 billion, or $78 per square, a billion higher than the figure Marriott and Starwood agreed to in November, and about $370 million above its own bid earlier in the week.

Under the new deal, Starwood’s shareholders will get $21 in cash and 0.8 shares of Marriott for every Starwood share they own, valued at Friday’s closing price of $79.53. After the merger, Starwood’s shareholders will own about a third of the combined entity, which will be the world’s largest hotel chain.

Anbang – a massive insurance firm international ambitions and ties to the Chinese state – paid $6.5 billion last month to the Blackstone Group for the 16-property Strategic Hotels & Resorts portfolio, which included the JW Marriott Essex House at 160 Central Park South. [WSJ] – Ariel Stulberg

The home at 5045 Lakeview Drive in Miami Beach

Tom C. Murphy is hoping to leave his waterfront Miami Beach mansion behind while also making a solid chunk of change.

The Coastal Construction co-president just placed his mid-century home on the market for $12.9 million — $10.1 million more than what he and his wife Suzanne paid for it four years ago.

Located at 5045 Lakeview Drive in the ritzy Lakeview community of Mid-Beach, Murphy’s 8,306-square-foot home was built in the 1950s on a large 33,150-square-foot lot. It has six bedrooms, six bathrooms and two half-baths.

Tom C. Murphy

Two years ago, the Murphys completely renovated the single-story home with luxe finishes like white marble floors, Calacatta Gold marble countertops in the kitchen and modern appliances. The master bedroom’s closet is also decked out in custom Zebra wood closets, and a newly installed Creston smart-home system controls everything from the home’s security systems to its lighting, according to the listing.

It’s also wrapped in floor-to-ceiling pocket doors that open to the backyard.

Besides the interior finishes, the home also boasts a private dock, waterfront pool, and housekeeper’s quarters.

The Jills, a Coldwell Banker real estate team, has the listing.

Murphy and his wife bought the home in 2012 for $2.8 million, or about $337 per square foot. After only four years, the couple hopes to rake in $1,533 per square foot with this sale — more than triple what they originally paid.

Rendering of Harry and Celia Litwak Chabad Center

The battle over a synagogue and museum complex in East Boca Raton is intensifying.

Last May, the Boca Raton City Council approved the $10 million, 18,000-square foot Harry and Celia Litwak Chabad Center for 770 E. Palmetto Parkway, east of the Intracoastal Waterway. The decision followed tense debate. 

And since then, two Boca Raton residents—Kathleen MacDougall and Gerald Gagliardi—sued the city in Federal District Court in February, claiming the project resulted from secret dealings and special religious treatment that violated citizens’ First Amendment rights. Earlier this month, the city and the Chabad Center filed motions for the suit to be dismissed.

The original arguments against the project included concerns about the building’s size, increased traffic and noise, parking problems and proximity to surrounding homes.

MacDougall and Gagliardi’s lawyers declined to comment to The Real Deal. But their suit accuses the city of “engaging in activities that have established and continue to establish religion contrary to the prohibition contained in the First Amendment.” The city’s actions denied the plaintiffs’ rights to equal protection and due process in land-use decisions by exercising religious preference, the suit says.

“This discriminatory preference, favoring one religious organization, violates the right of citizens — believers and non-believers alike — to government neutrality” in violation of the 14th amendment, the suit reads. “Any secular proposal of similar size and impact would not have received the special treatment accorded to the Chabad by the city,” according to the complaint.

City officials also declined to comment. But the city’s motion for dismissal makes its views clear. “Neither the city’s amendment to its zoning code nor its approval of Chabad’s development for a religious center give rise to constitutional violations,” the motion says. 

Rabbi Ruvi New of Chabad East Boca Raton, also had harsh words for the suit. “It has no merit whatsoever, not legal, not moral,” he told TRD.

“What motivates people is between them and their hearts, but any objective observer would see” there is no basis for a suit, New said.

The city of Boca Raton gave Chabad permission to build a 40-foot-tall building in a neighborhood that generally has a 30-foot height limit. Some residents wanted a smaller project. The plan is for a two-story building with a 26,265-square-foot parking garage underground. The project includes a sanctuary with seating for up to 156 on the ground floor and a 5,967 square-foot interactive museum, My Israel, on the second floor. The top floor also holds another portion of the sanctuary with seats for 66.

If the center comes to fruition, it would represent the first religious building in Boca east of the Intracoastal.

CMC Group held a ceremonial groundbreaking on Wednesday for Brickell Flatiron, a 64-story tower in Miami’s Brickell neighborhood.

Cervera Real Estate is the exclusive sales and marketing for Brickell Flatiron, at 1001 South Miami Avenue, with prices starting at $465,000. More than half of the units are sold to domestic and foreign buyers from 10 countries, according to a press release.

The 549-unit project is the last to break ground in the neighborhood this cycle, according to the Miami Downtown Development Authority. It was designed by Luis Revuelta along with Italian designer Massimo Iosa Ghini and artist Julian Schnabel. Schnabel will work on large-scale artwork for the building’s public spaces.

Units in the building will have panoramic views of Biscayne Bay and the Miami skyline and wide, elliptical terraces. Amenities will include a lap pool and a rooftop swimming pool, fitness club and spa offering 360-degree views of Miami’s landscape.

CMC purchased the site for $21 million in 2013. In May, Colombo put 830 Brickell on the market. CBRE is listing the property, which includes development rights and plans. – Katherine Kallergis and Sean Stewart-Muniz

Spring Garden neighborhood in Miami (Credit: Creative Commons user Pietro)

From the New York website: Sales of existing homes in the U.S. fell in February from the prior month, but are still higher than the same time period last year.

Last month, sales in all four regions of the country dropped 7.1 percent from January with a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.08 million, according to the National Association of Realtors.

The decrease is attributed to rising prices coupled with low inventory, the Wall Street Journal reported. Despite an increase of 3.3 percent from January, the number of existing homes on the market fell to 1.9 million, a 1.1 percent decrease from a year earlier, the Journal reported.

The 7.1 percent drop is higher than what economists surveyed by the Journal had forecast at 2.6 percent.

Still, the sales are 2.2 percent higher than February 2015 and the national median sale price continues to make year-over-year gains. In February, the median sale price was $210,800, up 4.4 percent from a year earlier, according to the Journal.

The month’s numbers were a “meaningful slowdown,” Lawrence Yun, the chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, told the Journal. However, Yun also said the average for both January and February — 5.25 million — was comparable to the same period last year.

The Northeast was hit the hardest, falling 17.1 percent to 630,000, and then the Midwest, which saw a 13.8 percent decrease to 1.12 million. In the West there was 3.4 percent dip and the South saw a 1.8 percent decline, the Journal reported.

The Real Deal reported on Friday that roughly 14,500 new units of housing are expected to hit the Manhattan market between 2015 and 2017, creating more than five years of excess inventory. [WSJ] — Dusica Sue Malesevic

For much of the new year, Miami-Dade County’s condo market has fluctuated between highs and lows in terms of sales volume week-to-week. Last week was no different: sales dipped, with only a handful passing the $1 million mark.

The week’s most-expensive deal was for a waterfront residence at the Ocean Tower I building in Key Biscayne. Unit 1101, with its three bedrooms and bathrooms, fetched $3.27 million, or $1,085 per square foot, after spending 183 days on the market with Douglas Kinsley of Fortune International Realty. The unit boasts ocean views, a formal dining room and marble floors

In second place was the $2.1 million sale of Penthouse 5 at the Sunset Harbour North complex in Miami Beach. After being listed for 135 days with Juan Pulido of Parinvest, the sale closed at $817 per square foot. Some of the three-bedroom, three-bathroom home’s features: two private balconies, a modern kitchen and views of downtown Miami.

And the week’s third priciest deal — also its longest on the market — included unit 908 at the Jade Ocean tower in Sunny Isles Beach. The three-bedroom, three-bathroom corner unit was for sale for more than a year with Gabriel Souza of Ictus Realty before closing at $1.8 million, or $632 per square foot. According to its listing, the unit came with roughly $400,000 worth of furnishings and decorations. It boasts a modern kitchen and beach views.

After those top three sales, the week’s most expensive deals ranged in price from $1.53 million to $760,000.

Miami-Dade as a whole had 122 condo sales last week for $41.75 million. That’s a $6 million drop from the previous week, which also saw 23 more units close. Average prices were $345,046 per unit and $264 per square foot.

Here’s a breakdown of the data for the week of March 13 to March 19. Click on the map for more information:

Most expensive
Ocean Tower I, Key Biscayne | $3.27M | $1,085 psf | 183 days on market | Douglas Kinsley of Fortune International Realty

Least expensive 
The Cosmopolitan, South Beach | $760,000 | $635 psf | 72 days on market | Massimo Palombo of Beachfront Realty

Most days on market
Jade Ocean, Sunny Isles Beach | 364 days on market | $1.8M | $632 psf | Gabriel Souza of Ictus Realty

Least days on market
Palm Bay Tower, Upper East Side | 66 days on market | $820,000 | $438 psf | Jack Coden of Keller Williams

An aerial view of Miami’s Brickell neighborhood (Credit: creative commons user Towpilot)

Sales for Miami-Dade County’s slew of newly listed existing condos continued to fall in February, a newly released report shows, all while prices for residential real estate steadily climb across the board.

The county saw 1,063 closed sales for condos during February, a 10.4 percent decline year-over-year, according to the report from the Miami Association of Realtors. Meanwhile, the median price for a unit grew 9.5 percent to $206,950.

Even sales for single-family homes, which have typically fared better than the slowing condo market, held practically even compared to February 2015. There were 979 home sales last month, decreasing only by three transactions year-over-year.

Median prices for single-family homes also spiked by 10.3 percent to $270,221, according to the report.

Miami-Dade’s residential market has been a mixed bag these past few months. Single-family home sales have remained strong despite high prices pulling more inventory into the market, all while the floodgates opened up for existing condos in terms of supply.

Listings for existing condos hit a whopping 13,853 units during February, up 16 percent from the previous year. Single-family homes also had a 4.7 percent bump in supply with 6,557 houses up for sale last month.

Even though a county-wide perspective shows the residential market is cooling, sales for certain price points are actually picking up speed.

In the $200,000 to $600,000 bracket for single-family homes, sales jumped 18.5 percent to 583 last month, representing about half of all February’s home sales.

And for condos priced between $150,000 and $300,000, sales grew a sizable 8.6 percent to 403 units, or about 38 percent of all multifamily sales last month.

Miami-Dade’s residential market is still finding its footing amidst turbulent economic times. A strong U.S. dollar is discouraging foreign investors, long considered a major buyer pool for Miami, and shifting stock markets are causing some wealthy domestic buyers to hold off.

A rendering of the project and the land at 300 Biscayne Boulevard Way

A company tied to the Coto family of Argentina submitted plans for a 70-story, 384-unit condo tower on the former Epic East site in downtown Miami once owned by developer Ugo Colombo.

Alfredo Coto

Riverwalk East Developments LLC revealed details of the residential tower at the Miami River Commission’s Urban Infill & Greenways Subcommittee last week, the Next Miami reported. As planned, the 817-foot tower would also include 561 parking spaces and a lighthouse on the top floor.

The luxury condominium, designed by Revuelta Architecture and Argentina’s Bodas Miani Anger, will include a spa and pool deck on levels 53 through 55, and units with private elevators. The Miami River subcommittee recommended approval with conditions that include a widened public riverwalk, riverwalk improvements and a public benefits payment.

Riverwalk East paid $125 million for the 1.25-acre parcel in 2014, emerging from a group of 15 bidders. Alfredo Coto’s family runs the large Coto Supermarkets chain in Argentina. They bought the site from developers Ugo Colombo and Diego Lowenstein, who originally planned to build EPIC’s second phase.

Coto also owns a 1-acre site south of the Miami River and near Brickell City Centre, at 195 Southwest Ninth Street and 161 Southwest Ninth Street. He paid $16.45 million for the parcels between 2014 and 2015. [The Next Miami] – Katherine Kallergis

Clockwise from top left: Gil Dezer, Phil Soper, Sharif El-Gamal, Jay Parker, Michael Stern and Michael Wekerle

Were you one of the many Americans who Googled “how to move to Canada” after Donald Trump’s Super Tuesday blowout?

While we’re not ditching the good ol’ U.S.A. for good, The Real Deal is giving you a better reason to head north — our U.S. Real Estate Showcase & Forum in Toronto at the Sony Theatre of the Performing Arts on March 30!

TRD is gearing up for an action-packed day filled with networking, dealmaking and previewing the hottest new developments with the top names in residential and commercial real estate. Our three fascinating panels will dive into the hottest real estate trends and opportunities in key investment markets:

• 1 p.m.: Q&A with the Wek: Investor and entrepreneur Michael Wekerle of “Dragon’s Den” talks Canadian real estate
• 2:30 p.m.: Vacation properties: A look at the South Florida real estate market
• 4 p.m.: Where’s best to invest in the U.S.? Examining residential and commercial markets in NYC and other large U.S. cities

Panelists include Canadian finance “rock star” Michael Wekerle of Difference Capital Financial, Michael Stern of JDS Development, Sharif El-Gamal of Soho Properties, Phil Soper of Canadian mega brokerage Royal LePage, Mark McLean of the Toronto Real Estate Board, Rick Rush of Hodges Ward Elliott, J.D. Parker of Marcus & Millichap, Gil Dezer of Dezer Development, Carlos Rosso of Related Group, Jay Parker of Douglas Elliman Florida, and Dev Motwani of Merrimac Ventures.

The event will bring together 3,000 of Canada’s top residential and commercial real estate players for a day of networking, and the exclusive opportunity preview more than 30 U.S. developments.

To buy tickets to the event that has become mandatory for the industry, click here. If you’re interested in participating as a sponsor, please contact Toronto@TheRealDeal.com.

For more information on The Real Deal’s U.S. Real Estate Showcase & Forum, click here.

Renderings of Russell Galbut’s “Waves” project in Miami Beach

1. Galbut wants to increase height of “Waves” project in Miami Beach [The Next Miami]
2. Five Wellington projects to watch out for [Palm Beach Post]
3. South Florida brewery will nearly double in size [SFBJ]
4. Condo owners face financial losses under receivers’ watch [Miami Herald]

— Sean Stewart-Muniz

Current reader favorites:
1. Commercial real estate credit crunch coming?
2. Peebles accuses ex-CIO of misusing inside info
3. Argentinian developer submits plans for condo tower on former Epic East site
4. Starwood expands into Cuba in historic deal
5. Legal battle brewing for the Sagamore Hotel: two signed contracts at $70M and $63M

Surf Club Four Seasons, Ileana de la Torre and Joyce Gato

The Surf Club Four Seasons made additions to its sales team, which will be led by sales director Ileana de la Torre. Joyce Gato was also brought on as a sales agent. Surf Club Realty and Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group are handling sales for the luxury hotel and residential project in Surfside. 

The development, now 80 percent sold, will include an 80-room Four Seasons hotel, two 12-story residential towers, a private club, two restaurants, four swimming pools, cabanas, a gym, oceanside gardens and a park. It topped off last June. De la Torre was previously with ONE Sotheby’s International Realty, while Gato has about 25 years of real estate experience, including helping to launch Robert K. Futterman’s Miami office.

Douglas Elliman named Ingrid Carlos as managing broker in the company’s Boca Raton office, and Howard Marcus as a broker sales associate in Elliman’s Aventura office. Carlos will lead development and recruitment in the Boca office. She was previously branch manager at Coldwell Banker’s Coral Gables office. Marcus, who has more than 40 years of experience with residential and commercial real estate, also left Coldwell Banker.

Meanwhile, Coldwell Banker tapped Sheryl Hodor as a sales associate in the brokerage’s downtown Boca Raton office. Hodor has been in the industry for 28 years, and currently specializes in luxury waterfront homes.

ONE Sotheby’s International Realty named Sasha Ezquerra as the Broward County regional director of sales for the development division. Ezquerra joined ONE Sotheby’s from Douglas Elliman, where she was last the business development and sales and marketing director for the Elliman’s Realty Marketing International team. Ezquerra will focus on expanding the brokerage’s Broward portfolio, which includes Metropica and Riva Fort Laurderdale. ONE Sotheby’s opened an office in Weston in February.

Plaza Construction tapped Jonathan Holzer as a project executive in the company’s southeast regional office, based in Miami. Holzer was previously project executive for commercial projects. Plaza completed 1100 Millecento, Icon Bay, W South Beach and 1 Hotel & Homes South Beach, and it is currently working on One Thousand Museum, One Ocean and Marea, and the Ritz-Carlton Residences Miami Beach.

Florida Realtors named Brad O’Connor as its chief economist and head of industry data and analysis department. O’Connor has worked at the Realtors organization since 2011 when he helped form the data department. He was most recently director of economic research. O’Connor also has experience working on a large-scale, data-driven market and analysis project for the Walt Disney Company.

Enrique “Henry” Piñeiro joined the Allen Morris Company as director of property management and leasing, where he oversees the real estate firm’s portfolio. He previously owned Ros Realty Group, a full-service real estate brokerage. Piñeiro is a licensed real estate broker, instructor and community association manager, as well as a licensed mortgage loan originator, according to a press release.

Avatar Real Estate Services brought on broker associate Richard S. Green in its South Miami office. Green has more than 40 years of experience and will focus on Miami, Pinecrest, Palmetto Bay, Coral Gables and South Miami.

Jo Castro left the media industry and joined CBRE as a sales manager. Castro was previously a senior account manager at iHeart Media and a senior sales manager at Cox Media Group. At CBRE, she will focus on business development, including recruitment, strategy and client care.

Holland & Knight brought on Gloria M. Velazquez as senior counsel in the law firm’s Governmental Advocacy and Development practice group, where she will focus on land acquisition due diligence, land use, zoning, permitting and governmental affairs. She was previously senior land acquisition manager at Lennar Homes. Holland & Knight also hired Kimberly Ginsburg as senior counsel in the firm’s real estate practice group. Ginsburg joins the law office from Ehrenstein Charbonneau Calderin, where she was a partner.

From left: Starwood’s Thomas Mangas, the W Hotel South Beach and Anbang’s Wu Xiaohui

From the New York website: The drama around the sale of Starwood Hotels & Resorts may yet continue.

Anbang Insurance Group has the will and the capital to top Marriott International’s $13.6 billion bid, made public Monday, experts told Bloomberg.

“I have to believe there is at least one more act to this play,” Frank Aquila, a partner the at law firm Sullivan & Cromwell, who has no part in the negotiations, told the news service. “Anbang seems to be very aggressive in its recent bids and if it’s worth this much to Marriott, Anbang may well come back with a little bit more.”

Marriott’s bid topped Anbang’s Friday offer of $13.2 billion, which itself was a sweetened version of a previous $12.6 billion bid. As it stands now, Marriott will buy Starwood — which operates hotel brands such as W, Sheraton, Westin and St. Regis — for about $21 in cash and 0.8 Marriott shares for every share of Starwood.

The new agreement also ups the deal’s breakup fee to $450 million, from $400 million.

“I think there is room for the Anbang consortium to come in at a higher price, even with the $50 million increase in the breakup fee,” Lukas Hartwich of Green Street Advisors told Bloomberg. “It doesn’t appear the market expects a much higher offer, which is interesting given Anbang’s aggressive track record.”

Anbang, which paid $1.95 billion for the Waldorf Astoria hotel in 2014, is flush with cash, with international ambitions and strong ties to China’s government. The company paid $6.5 billion to the Blackstone Group for the 16-building Strategic Hotels & Resorts portfolio earlier this month. [Bloomberg] — Ariel Stulberg

Havana, Cuba (Credit: Krestavilis) (Inset: Jorge Perez, CEO of the Related Group)

President Obama’s diplomatic visit to Cuba this week has captured the minds of many Miamians, whose ties to the island nation are arguably stronger than those of any other city in the United States.

But while most of the trip so far has been handshakes, photo ops and speeches, a delegation of U.S. business magnates reportedly landed on the island to meet with their Cuban counterparts on Monday.

Among them: South Florida’s own billionaire condo king Jorge Perez, CEO of the Related Group, and Cuban-born billionaire Mike Fernandez, founder of private equity giant MBF Healthcare Partners.

Several business talks were held at a brewery/restaurant in Havana where U.S. executives, Cuban entrepreneurs and government officials from both nations mingled and networked, according to a Miami Herald report.

President Obama also made an appearance and called for an embargo lift, along with reforms in Cuba like a dual-currency system and allowing professionals to start their own business, according to the report.

Perez, once an adviser of Bill Clinton’s on Cuban policy, has long stood for the relaxing of ties between the U.S. and the island. His parents are Cuban and though he was born in Argentina, he lived on the island nation as a child before his family fled during the revolution in 1959.

He’s even mentioned in past interviews with the Herald that he’d love to have a hand in redeveloping the island if possible. Foreign ownership of property in Cuba is still a tricky business, however, and only in 2011 did the government allow for its citizens to sell and buy property.

“There’s a lot of change happening in Cuba,” said Fernandez, according to the Herald report. “There’s been a quiet revolution over the last few years that some in our hometown don’t want to see it.” [Miami Herald] — Sean Stewart-Muniz

Hyde Resort & Residences in Hollywood Beach is in the midst of topping off with a completion date for this fall.

The 40-story, beachfront tower will include 40 condominium units and 367 hotel rooms when it opens by the end of the year. Construction crews are expected to finish topping off the tower by April 1, according to a spokesperson.

Fortune International Group handled sales for the 40 units, which have been fully sold.

Residents of the condo-hotel will have access to Hyde Beach Kitchen + Cocktails, a three-story beach club on site. Sbe, a partner along with the Related Group and Fortune, will also release a select number of memberships open to non-residents, a spokesperson told The Real Deal. The beach club will feature food and beverage outposts, a Ciel spa and a poolside lounge. The hotel will be managed by hospitality company sbe, which has also partnered with Related to build the Hyde Hotel and Residences in Midtown Miami, along with the SLS and SLS Lux Hotel and Residences in Brickell.

In December 2014, the developers closed on a $102 million construction loan from the Blackstone Group. At the time, the project had an estimated sellout of $200 million. Units ranged from $600,000 to $1.8 million.

Hyde Resort & Residences’ neighbor, Hyde Beach House, is currently under construction. Prices for those units range from $400,000 to $1.3 million. It is 55 percent presold, according to a press release.

Palazzo del Sol

A 59th new condo tower — the Palazzo del Sol At Fisher Island — has been completed east of I-95 in the tri-county South Florida region of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach since this current cycle began in 2011.

Deed transactions for three units in the newly completed 10-story Palazzo del Sol tower located in the 7000 block of Fisher Island Drive on the north side of the ultra-wealthy island enclave began to be recorded on March 18, according to Miami-Dade County records.

A sister project — the Palazzo della Luna — is currently under construction next door to the west.

Proposed by PDS Development with president and CEO Heinrich von Hanau, the pair of new Palazzo condo towers — the only Fisher Island preconstruction buildings announced during this cycle — are slated to have 43 residential units and one commercial unit with a total of more than 231,000 square feet of space, according to government records.   

At the Palazzo del Sol tower, buyers have paid nearly $24 million for the first trio of units for an average price of more than $1,515 per square foot, according to government records.  

The individual unit sales have ranged in price from more than $7.3 million to nearly $8.6 million, each. On a price-per-square-foot basis, the transactions have ranged from less than $1,085 to more than $2,000, according to government records.  

Currently, 10 condo units in the Palazzo del Sol tower are listed for sale in the Multiple Listing Service database at an average asking price of $15.3 million each as of Monday. On a price-per-square-foot basis, the current average asking price for a unit is nearly $2,300, according to data from the Southeast Florida MLXchange.

Fisher Island was created in 1906 when the U.S. government dredged — or cut — the island away from the barrier island of Miami Beach in order to build “deep water docks” connecting Miami with the Atlantic Ocean, according to FisherIslandClub.com.

Fisher Island is a residential community with more than 650 families from 42 countries who enjoy a variety of services and amenities including a day school, nine-hole golf course, 18-court tennis center, two deep-water marinas with more than 100 slips, observatory, aviary, private beach, seven restaurants and a 24,000-square-foot spa and fitness center, according to the website.

In 2013, Fisher Island completed a $60 million “restoration initiative” to improve the amenities, boutique hotel and common grounds. The multi-year effort that began in 2007 focused on restoring Fisher Island “up to the demanding standards of today’s discriminating resident, member and guest,” according to FisherIslandClub.com.

The Fisher Island residential real estate market trends are closely aligned with Miami Beach, which ranks as the seventh most active preconstruction condo market east of I-95 in South Florida based on more than 50 new condo buildings with nearly 2,050 units announced as of Monday, according to the preconstruction condo projects website CraneSpotters.com. (For disclosure, my firm operates the website.)

The pipeline of new Miami Beach condo units currently stands at 13 new towers with more than 385 units completed and 18 new towers with nearly 535 units under construction as of Monday, according to the data.

An additional 21 new condo towers with nearly 1,125 units are currently in the planning or presale phase of development in the Miami Beach market during this cycle.

Overall in South Florida, developers have completed 59 new condo buildings — including the Palazzo del Sol tower  — with more than 4,350 units, and are constructing at least 132 new condo buildings with more than 14,225 units located east of I-95 as of Monday.   

An additional 223 new condo buildings with nearly 31,650 units are currently in the planning or presale phase of development in South Florida during this cycle, according to the data.

As South Florida moves into the final month of the current winter buying season, the Fisher Island market has nearly 60 condo units —including residences in the Palazzo del Sol tower  — available for purchase at an average asking price of nearly $1,700 per square foot as of Monday, according to the data.

In 2015, buyers acquired less than 20 Fisher Island condo units marketed in the Multiple Listing Service database at an average price of about $1,227 per square foot, according to the data.

Based on the 2015 transaction pace of 1.5 units monthly, the Fisher Island market currently has nearly a 39-month supply of condos being marketed for purchase, according to the data.

A balanced market is considered to have about a six months of unit supply available for purchase. More months of condo supply suggests a buyer’s advantage, and less months of units indicates a seller’s market.

The unanswered question going forward is whether today’s buyers — who are faced with dramatically different global economic and currency conditions compared to the start of this current South Florida real estate cycle more than five years ago — have the same level of interest in acquiring ultra-luxury condo units in a high-end market such as Fisher Island.    

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.

Doral Costa office park

From the New York website: Is the boom about to bust? U.S. commercial real estate sales took a dive last month in what may be the clearest sign that six years of growth is leveling off.

In February, $25.1 billion worth of commercial property was sold compared with $47.3 billion in February 2015, according to Real Capital Analytics.

Sales were $46.2 billion in January, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Since 2009, prices for apartment complexes, office buildings, stores and other commercial property climbed, but there are indications that they are now falling in certain sectors, according to the Journal.

“Clearly there has been a plateauing,” Jonathan Gray, global head of real estate for Blackstone Group, told the Journal.

Green Street Advisors, a real estate research and advisory firm, compiled an index of hotel values and found it was 10 percent lower in February than during the same time last year. The decline was partly attributed to reduced business and international travel.

Green Street’s broad valuation index was 8.7 percent higher in February than a year earlier, however, the previous year the index increased 11 percent, the Journal reported.

Still, Gray emphasized to the Journal that the market is healthier than before the crash and “it’s too early to call the end of the cycle.”

While volume sales nationwide dipped, in Manhattan, commercial real estate property activity is on the same level as early 2014, albeit down from last year. Last January and February, there was a combined 11.2 million in sales, compared with 6.7 million during the same time period, according to Real Capital Analytics. [WSJ] — Dusica Sue Malesevic