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Delray-based firm buys 313 apartments in Dallas

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View of downtown Dallas from the Alta Farmers Market apartments (Source: ApartmentHomeLiving.com)

View of downtown Dallas from the Alta Farmers Market apartments (Source: ApartmentHomeLiving.com)

Delray Beach-based Mindful Capital Group acquired a new 313-unit apartment complex in Dallas for an undisclosed price.

Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P. (HFF) marketed the rental property, called Alta Farmers Market, on behalf of the seller, Wood Partners LLC.

HFF also secured a 10-year, fixed-rate acquisition loan to Mindful Capital from Barings Real Estate Advisers.

Mindful Group’s apartment property in Dallas is located at 110 South Cesar Chavez Drive, near a redeveloped area populated by restaurants, musical entertainment spots and breweries, called the Farmers Market.

Construction of the Alta Farmers Market apartment complex finished this year. The apartments have balconies or patios, as many as three bedrooms and such high-end features as quartz counters and stainless steel appliances.

Common-area features include a 24-hour fitness center, a resident lounge, and a washing station for pets, plus a rooftop deck and bar that overlooks downtown Dallas. [Dallas Business Journal] — Mike Seemuth


Tech mogul Kyle Vogt buys San Francisco’s most expensive home for $21.8M

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Kyle Vogt and

Kyle Vogt and 2250 Vallejo Street

From the New York site: San Francisco’s most expensive home has traded for $21.8 million to Kyle Vogt, the 30-year-old co-founder of streaming platform Twitch and autonomous driving technology Cruise Automation, Business Insider reported. The deal is the largest of the year so far in San Francisco.

The seven-bedroom home, a contemporary-style mansion on one of San Francisco’s most elevated streets, dates back to 1901 and was originally built for fish-packing mogul James Madison.

The three-story, 9,095-square-foot property, at 2250 Vallejo Street, was first listed for sale with an asking price of $28 million in November 2015 but had its price slashed by $3 million this spring. Vogt appears to have negotiated an even better deal. At the time of the sale, the home was the priciest available to purchase in the city, Business Insider noted.

It’s no wonder Vogt has cash to burn. He sold Cruise to General Motors for approximately $1 billion earlier this year and Twitch to e-commerce giant Amazon for $970 million in 2014. [Business Insider] — Katherine Clarke

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Maturing loans on shaky ground

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DCOTA-570

The Design Center of the Americas in Dania Beach

From the October issueJust beneath the surface of Miami’s strong commercial real estate market, a cluster of troubled pre-financial crisis loans imperiled by shaky shopping centers and half-empty office parks is coming due. To complicate matters, some of these loans were packaged into commercial mortgage-backed securities by now-notorious investment banks that no longer exist — such as Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns.

Several of these commercial properties in the greater Miami region are showing signs of financial stress, according to CMBS data compiled for The Real Deal by New York real estate research firm Trepp. [more]

Jeff Greene lauds WPB rejection of skyscraper plan, continues push for his projects

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OneWestPalm+JeffGreene

Rendering of One West Palm and Jeff Greene

West Palm Beach Mayor Jeri Muoio’s rejection last week of a plan to allow 30-story office towers on the city’s waterfront made billionaire real estate investor Jeff Greene very happy.

Greene, like many others, was concerned that building skyscrapers along the Intracoastal Waterway would kill the city’s small-town charm and generate a traffic nightmare. “You don’t want to close off the water, and there’s already a tremendous amount of traffic,” he told The Real Deal.

If the city had adopted the plan, Greene said he would have questioned going forward with all his various projects in West Palm Beach, where he estimates that he owns about $300 million of real estate.

But now it’s full-steam ahead. “I’m ready to go now” on several projects, Greene said. It’s just a matter of getting approvals from the city. While he recognizes West Palm Beach officials’ need to thoroughly vet proposals, “I wish the city could have a faster track,” Greene said.

He offered TRD an update on the status of projects that he’s already announced.

One West Palm: This mixed-use development at 550 Quadrille Boulevard represents Greene’s top priority. He submitted foundation plans Thursday and hopes to begin construction in the first quarter.

The office component of the project has been reduced to 200,000 square feet from the original plan for 400,000 square feet, and the number of apartments has been increased to about 345 from 85.

The decrease in office space came after Greene spoke to real estate agents who said that 400,000 square feet is too much for the city to absorb. “It’s not like companies are lined up for this one,” Greene said. “It’s been publicized in the national media, but no one has called me for space.” Still, he’s confident he’ll be able to fill the Class A space with 30-40 quality tenants.

As for increasing the residential component, “downtown West Palm Beach keeps getting better,” Greene said. “If you have apartments in a viable city, there will be people to rent them.” Given the raft of residential building downtown now, rents may fall. But ultimately, they will rebound, he said.

Northwood: Greene also seeks approval for a mixed-use project on 5 acres of property in Northwood. But this development is still in an early phase. “We have some amazing ideas, but they’re just ideas at this point.” Redesigning the area’s park, moving roads and swapping land with the city are major issues, Greene said. “We’re coming along. It’s a slow process.” Ideally construction would start 18 months from now, he said.

Celmatis-330x250

Rendering of 530 Clematis Street

Micro apartments and Clematis Place: Greene plans a 12-story building at 550 Banyan Boulevard with 400 micro apartments at reduced rents and another 12-story residential building just a block away at 530 Clematis Street with 162 apartments or condos at market prices.

The plans are basically in the hands of the city now, and Greene said he’s working with officials to get an easement to build over and under the alley next to Clematis Place. He said he hopes to begin construction on both projects within 12 months.

Blue Road buys another boutique South Beach property for $12M

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Hotel 18 (Inset:

Hotel 18. Inset: Jorge Savloff and Marcelo Tenenbaum

Gemini Real Estate Advisors sold a boutique South Beach hotel to an affiliate of Blue Road for $11.69 million, records show. 

Blue Road is adding to its portfolio of boutique properties with the purchase of Hotel 18, a two-story, 44-room hotel at 1775 James Avenue. Built in 1948, the property was renovated in 2005 and comes with approved plans to add up to 69 hotel rooms, according to a Loopnet listing.

Records show the Gemini entity, 1775 James Avenue LLC, paid $12.9 million for the 15,557-square-foot property in late 2014, which means it sold at a loss.

Hotel 18 currently has studios and one-bedrooms averaging 310 square feet with kitchens. The building wraps around a central courtyard.

Blue Road, led by Argentinian natives and principals Jorge Savloff and Marcelo Tenenbaum, has been picking up properties in the area. In September, Blue Road added its 10th property with the acquisition of The Crest at 1670 James Avenue for $24 million. It’s back-to-back with Blue Road’s Greenview Hotel at 1671 Washington Avenue.

The hotel owner and operator is also developing the Highlands, a condo project in North Miami Beach, and the Palms in Bay Harbor Islands.

Gemini, based in Huntersville, North Carolina, owns a portfolio of shopping centers, hotels and other investment properties valued at about $700 million, according to the company. Earlier this month, a judge dismissed some of the claims filed against Gemini’s president and vice president over claims of infringement, fraud and more, according to a press release about the suit.

Hotels, micro apartments? Tony Cho talks the next wave of Wynwood development: VIDEO

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Video by Alistair Gardiner

Tony Cho has big plans for Wynwood, and if all goes according to plan, the end result is going to be small — very small. The Metro 1 CEO and founder stepped aside to catch up with The Real Deal Managing Web Editor Hiten Samtani to talk about his upcoming micro apartment project with the Related Group, and the kinds of development Wynwood watchers can expect in the next year.

Cho recently partnered with the Related Group to launch a rental project called Wynwood 29, which he said would house units ranging in size from 500 to 600 square feet.

“I don’t think that it’s going to replace the family apartment,” he said. “But it’s certainly going to cater to a need that is increasing.”

The broker and developer said hotel development in Wynwood is “imminent,” and he’s eyeing several sites for a hotel deal, depending on if he can find the right concept and operator. Cho also dished on his most ambitious project yet called Magic City, a massive redevelopment in the planning stages for Miami’s Upper East Side. He said he’s already assembled 15 to 16 acres, and while the overall scope of the project is not yet decided, he plans to adaptively re-use roughly 200,000 square feet of existing buildings on the land.

Cho was one of more than a dozen panelists assembled by TRD at Wynwood’s Soho Studios on Oct. 20 to break down their perspectives of the market, point out the hottest neighborhoods and predict where Miami’s real estate market is headed. More than 4,500 brokers and developers showed up to browse the latest South Florida projects and network. — Sean Stewart-Muniz

Javier Cervera buys waterfront Gables Estates property for $8M

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301 Arvida Parkway. Inset: Javier Cervera

301 Arvida Parkway. Inset: Javier Cervera

Javier and Jennifer Cervera picked up a waterfront Gables Estates home for $7.76 million. 

Theresa Pearl’s trust sold 301 Arvida Parkway to the Cerveras, records show. Javier Cervera is part of the Cervera family’s second generation and president and founder of Cervera R.E. Ventures, an investment and management firm. Jennifer Cervera is a Realtor associate with Cervera Real Estate.

Their Gables Estates home, built in 1967, has five bedrooms, four bathrooms and spans 4,382 square feet. It sits on 0.9 acres on a corner lot on Arvida Parkway with 370 feet of waterfront. The listing describes the property as a development opportunity with direct ocean access and a deep boat basin.

The sale breaks down to $1,770 a foot for the house and nearly $200 per square foot for the land.

EWM International Realty agent Judy Zeder brokered the sale, according to Realtor.com. Zeder’s team ranked fourth in The Real Deal‘s ranking of top residential agents earlier this year.

The home was listed for $8.95 million and reduced to $8.35 million in October.

Robert and Michael Pearl signed the deed transfer of ownership on behalf of the Pearl trust. Previous sales information was not available online.

Just last week, a Gables Estates mansion sold for nearly $26 million. The ritzy Coral Gables neighborhood is home to owners like auto magnate Alan Potamkin and Benjamin Leon of Leon Medical Centers.


The Real Deal’s South Florida print edition is going quarterly!

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The Real Deal South Florida's latest October 2016 magazine

The Real Deal South Florida’s latest October 2016 magazine

Your most trusted resource for South Florida real estate news is getting bigger. Twice as big, to be exact.

After years of publishing two magazines a year, we’re answering your call for more coverage on one of the country’s hottest markets. The Real Deal South Florida’s print edition is going quarterly, bringing you four issues each year packed with in-depth market analysis, rankings of industry heavyweights and insider info you can’t find anywhere else.

Real estate players know better than anyone else that timing is everything, so reserve your advertising space for the upcoming issues ahead of time, starting with our March 2017 market report. The deadline for reservations is Feb. 17.

Here’s our tentative list of editorial coverage for the March issue:

  • Ranking the top residential agents in South Florida
  • Deep dive into Miami’s Design District, including the top retail deals and developments
  • A breakdown of the commercial market along Miami’s Flagler Street
  • Highlighting the most unusual luxury condo amenities
  • Spotlight on Brickell

Check out our latest October 2016 magazine here.

To get a copy of the inaugural print edition or for a media kit — and for all other advertising inquiries — please call our advertising director Chris Cuomo at 786-334-5052 or email fladvertising@therealdeal.com.

UK property prices to flatline in 2017: Savills

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Georgian houses in London

Georgian houses in London (credit: Getty Images)

From the New York website: Britain’s property prices could flatline in 2017 thanks to uncertainty caused by Brexit and weaker consumer confidence, according to an industry forecast cited by the Guardian.

International brokerage Savills projected zero growth in home prices in Britain next year, followed by a paltry 2 percent uptick in 2018, the report shows. In London, prices are expected to remain flat.

Savill’s UK head of residential research, Lucian Cook, attributed the market’s sluggishness in large part to the EU referendum, noting that he anticipated the volume of U.K. sales to fall by 16 percent next year.

“The effect of Brexit is complicating a natural shift towards the later stages of the housing market cycle, when the strongest growth is seen beyond London and the south-east,” he said. “What is clear is that the housing market does not like political and economic uncertainty and this points to a lower growth, lower transaction market across the board.”

Savills predicted the average price of a UK home will increase by £27,900, or $34,926, by December 2021, to £241,900, or $302,822. [Guardian]Katherine Clarke

South American buyer pays record $5.5M for “The Ark” in Golden Beach

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480 Ocean Boulevard and Chad Carroll

480 Ocean Boulevard and Chad Carroll

If it’s good enough for Noah and his eclectic animal collection, it’s probably worthy of Miami’s luxury real estate market.

A South American buyer just paid $5.5 million for a Golden Beach spec mansion known as “the Ark,” marking the ritzy oceanfront town’s highest price for a non-waterfront home.

Listing agent Chad Carroll of Douglas Elliman told The Real Deal that a South American — whom he declined to name — closed on the 8,350-square-foot mansion at 480 Ocean Boulevard on Friday. The sale works out to just below $659 per square foot.

Carroll represented the seller, a limited liability company controlled by attorney Mark Pomeranz. County records show Pomeranz’s company picked up the 15,000 square feet of land where “the Ark” was built for $800,000 in 2011.

The six-bedroom, eight-bathroom home’s most striking feature is its angular architecture. Unlike most modern homes that are square, Carroll said, 480 Ocean Boulevard’s facades are sharply pointed.

The home’s main living space is where it earns its namesake: a massive 20-foot glass atrium, formed in the shape of a ship’s bow, juts out of the home’s northern exposure above a small reflecting pond.

Other features range from imported Italian marble to a rooftop deck and smart home systems. The buyers also picked up a roughly $385,000 furniture package from Italian supplier Meridiani.

The Ark first hit the market in mid-year 2015 with a preconstruction asking price of $7.7 million, according to the owner’s development consultant Jacob Abramson of Miami Golden Properties. Carroll and his team came on board in March with a fresh ask of just under $6 million, which he said drew a contract within 30 days. The closing took five months.

Though the deal came at a discount of more than $2 million from the original ask, Abramson said the difference was made up through a $2.75 million loan from the seller at a 10 percent interest rate.

The sale also pushes past Golden Beach’s previous record for a dry-lot home, which Abramson said was set by $5.45 million purchase of 584 Ocean Boulevard in July 2015.

Brickell City Centre opens its doors: PHOTOS

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Swire Properties packed it in for the grand opening of Brickell City Centre, hosting thousands of people with performances by Pitbull, dancers and other artists last week.

The celebration marked the opening of the last — and largest — piece in Brickell City Centre’s first phase, a 500,000-square-foot outdoor shopping center anchored by Saks Fifth Avenue. About a dozen stores, Saks included, have either opened or were near opening out of a planned 120 stores, including Cole Haan, Pandora, Victoria’s Secret and Sephora.

A night-time bash featuring a live performance from Pitbull was held Tuesday night, followed by a formal ribbon cutting ceremony Wednesday.

The shopping center’s retail space spans three levels, with two stories of underground parking. The first shopping level will have luxury stores like Armani Collezioni, Chopard and Kiton, with premium and contemporary retailers on the second and third floors. Check out a full list of announced stores here.

Saks Fifth Avenue’s 107,550-square-foot store offers an open floor plan with a mix of top designers, contemporary fashion, a shoe salon, cosmetics area and a full floor devoted to men, which will include a New York-based John Allan’s men’s salon. The store will also have the first Casa Tua Food Hall, which will open on the first floor.

Cinemex, also an anchor, aims to open CMX theater in time for the holidays. The dine-in movie theater will be the first in the U.S. for the Mexico-based chain.

The project is certified LEED Gold and stars the Climate Ribbon, a $30 million, 1,000-foot long twisted strip of steel, glass and fabric. The shops, developed with Simon Property Group and Whitman Family Development, are part of the $1.05 billion, mixed-use development that also includes residential, hotel and office components. – Katherine Kallergis and Sean Stewart-Muniz

 

Follow the money: Palm Beach residents donate more to Clinton than to Trump

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Palm Beach, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump

Palm Beach (Credit: Michael Kagdis). Inset: Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump (Credit: Gage Skidmore, Gage Skidmore)

On the cusp of the presidential election, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is ahead of Republican nominee Donald Trump in at least one respect: collecting direct donations from residents of Trump’s part-time hometown — Palm Beach, according to filings from the Federal Election Commission and the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-partisan, independent nonprofit that tracks money in U.S. politics.

Between April 2015 and Oct. 21, Clinton received $439,381 in direct campaign contributions from the wealthy Palm Beach 33480 zip code, according the Palm Beach Daily News, citing the center’s data. Trump garnered just $164,496 during the same timeframe from his neighbors in Palm Beach, the publication reported. Individual donors can give up to the legal limit of $2,700 in the primary and general election.

Even Republicans Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio raised more than Trump from Palm Beach for their failed presidential campaigns. Bush garnered $245,350 before leaving the race in February; Rubio got $198,470 before dropping out in March, the Palm Beach Daily News reported. And by comparison, 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney gleaned nearly $2.2 million in direct contributions from Palm Beach’s 33480 zip code between April 2011 and November 2012, according to FEC filings cited by the publication.

In Palm Beach, philanthropists Ginny Burke and Diana Ecclestone, longtime GOP stalwart Gay Gaines, commercial real estate developer Murray Goodman, Landmarks Preservation Commissioner Page Lee Hufty, Preservation Foundation chairwoman Pauline Pitt, investor Wilbur Ross and former Jos. A. Bank CEO Robert Wildrick are among the largest contributors directly to Trump’s campaign, according to the Palm Beach Daily News.

Trump’s largest holding in Palm Beach is Mar-a-Lago. The private club, built in the 1920s as a home for cereal tycoon Marjorie Merriweather Post, was last valued by Forbes at $150 million. [Palm Beach Daily News]Ina Cordle

The week in luxury: A map of Miami-Dade’s priciest condo sales

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While the country — and its varied real estate industries — fret over the upcoming presidential election Tuesday, Miami-Dade County’s condo market held mostly steady last week. Sales volume shifted upward by nearly $1.4 million, and a handful of units broke the $1 million price barrier.

At the top of the heap was the $2.4 million sale of unit 920 at the recently opened 1 Hotel & Homes project in South Beach. The two-bedroom, two-bathroom condo and its ocean views fetched a hefty $1,620 per square foot after sitting on the market for 71 days with Justin Rubin of Douglas Elliman.

Rubin was also the listing agent for last week’s second-priciest deal, penthouse 15 at the St. Regis Bal Harbour, which sold for $2.3 million. Much like the 1 Hotel & Homes unit, this two-bedroom, two-bathroom condo boasts ocean views and modern style. It came in at a significantly cheaper $1,288 per square foot, however, and sold in 86 days.

In third place was unit 1802 at the 6000 Islands Boulevard building in Aventura, which traded for $1.6 million, or about $563 per square foot. The three-bedroom, 3.5-bathroom unit has wood floors, a spacious kitchen and views of both the Intracoastal Waterway and the ocean. The deal took 327 days to come together. Mohey Elsayed of Williams Island Realty had the listing.

After those top three deals, the remainder of Miami-Dade’s 10 priciest condo sales ranged from $1.325 million to $860,000.

The county recorded 154 unit sales last week for $47.63 million. That’s a $1.37 million boost in volume from the previous week, which saw 122 sales. Average prices were $309,282 per unit and $253 per square foot.

Here’s a breakdown of the data for the week of October 30 to November 5. Click on the map for more information: CondosandProperty_Updated

Most expensive
1 Hotel & Homes #920, South Beach | 71 days on market | $2.4M | $1,620 psf | Justin Rubin of Douglas Elliman

Least expensive 
Onyx on the Bay #PHI-03, Edgewater | 284 days on market | $860,000 | $603 psf | Devin Kay of Douglas Elliman

Most days on market
Artecity #PH607, Miami Beach | 461 days on market | $970,000 | $786 psf | Mark Witten of Keller Williams Realty

Least days on market
Kenilworth #201, Bal Harbour | 32 days on market | $895,000 | $384 psf | Paul Kenner of Estelle Stern Realty

JP Morgan sells Centrepark buildings in West Palm to group of investors

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Centrepark office building. Inset: CBRE's Chris Lee

Centrepark office building. Inset: CBRE’s Chris Lee

New York-based Colonnade Properties and affiliates of Grace Development and Flagler Realty just acquired the Centrepark East and West office buildings in West Palm Beach.

Entities managed by JP Morgan Asset Management sold the nine buildings, which total 479,145 square feet of Class A office space near I-95, according to CBRE. The properties sold for more than $65 million, records show. 

CBRE’s Christian Lee, Jose Lobon, Amy Julian and Marcos Minaya represented the seller. NAI Merin Hunter Codman’s Neil Merin handles leasing for the park, according to the firm’s website. Merin could not be reached for comment.

The properties are: 1400 and 1450 Centrepark Boulevard; 1475, 1720 and 1801 Centrepark Drive; 1661 Worthington Road; 2101, 2301 and 2400 Centrepark West Drive. They were built between 1988 and 2004, and include a 10-story tower, three low-rise buildings and five single-story buildings. They’re located in the mixed-use Centrepark corporate park, a 41-acre campus, according to CBRE.

Centrepark is 82 percent occupied by 64 tenants, including Ocwen Financial, SV Microwave, Conroy Simberg, Seacrest Services and Earthlink, the firm said. Lee said in a statement that rent is projected to grow by 27 percent of the next five years. About 86,000 square feet of space is available.

The Palm Beach County office market has seen a consistent decline in vacancy rates, which are down by 2.6 percentage points year-over-year to 16.7 percent, CBRE previously said.

The buildings last sold for a combined $109.25 million between 2006 and 2008, according to the South Florida Business Journal. The sellers, all entities controlled by JP Morgan, were previously tied to TA Realty.

Colonnade, Grace Development and Flagler financed the purchase with a $36 million mortgage from Rialto Mortgage Finance for five buildings on the east side and $18.45 mortgage from NXT Capital for the west portfolio, records show. CBRE arranged the financing.

Last year, Colonnade Properties sold the Phillips Point office towers in West Palm for $246 million along with Prudential Real Estate.

Both the buyers and seller could not immediately be reached for comment.


The Wrap: Mill Creek wants to build rental project in Edgewater, amusement center/warehouse could be redeveloped into apartments…and more

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Trump is bad news for Miami’s Latin American investors, experts say

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Donald Trump (Credit: Gage Skidmore)

Donald Trump (Credit: Gage Skidmore)

A day before the Nov. 8 election, a pair of Latin American legal experts warned a Donald Trump presidency would have a negative impact on South Florida’s real estate market, cautioning that investors from the region would no longer feel welcome in the U.S.

Akerman LLP partners Luis A. Perez and Pedro A. Freyre told The Real Deal the billionaire New York developer’s anti-trade, anti-immigration policies would severely damage Miami’s development as a gateway to Latin America. Perez and Freyre were among the featured speakers at the annual ALM-Akerman U.S. Latin America Legal Summit, held Monday inside the Four Seasons Hotel Miami at 1435 Brickell Avenue.

“A victory by Trump would mean more restrictions and more scrutiny of money coming in,” Perez said. “If he prevails, Latin Americans would see it as the U.S. rejecting investments and immigration originating from Latin America. That would have a profound impact in Miami.”

Freyre echoed Perez’s comments. “Trump’s proposed policies send the message that the U.S. is not interested in building bridges to Latin America,” Freyre said.

The summit, dubbed Key Transformational Moments in Latin America: A Region in Flux, focused on the obstacles and opportunities in countries struggling to reposition their floundering economies including Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela.

Keynote speaker and Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Richard Feinberg kicked off the summit by noting that relations between the U.S. and several Latin American nations have improved under the Obama administration. He highlighted the progress the U.S. government has made in normalizing relations with Cuba. Five other panels focused on new anti-money laundering and other banking regulations, international trade and litigation trends in the Western Hemisphere.

Nevertheless, Perez said Miami’s real estate market has really not been impacted by more government scrutiny – such as the Treasury Department’s new rules requiring title companies to reveal the identities of all cash buyers of luxury condos in Miami and Manhattan. “Money that is transparent and can be traced to a legitimate source is not much of a problem,” Perez said. “I think investment continues to come into Miami. Just look at the level of construction that is still going on.”

Freyre said Miami continues attracting investors from Argentina, Colombia and Venezuela who are financing the development of commercial buildings. “We are still seeing capital flight from these places, although it’s not as prevalent as it was three, four years ago,” he said. “But the U.S., particularly Miami, remains a good place for Latin Americans to invest.”

During the international trade panel discussion, Juan Pablo de Luca, a partner with the Argentinian law firm Rattagan Macchiavello and Arocena, said his country’s new president, Mauricio Macri, is committed to undoing policies of the previous Kirchner administration that sent the national economy into a recession, restricted foreign investment and made it difficult for Argentinians to move their money to other countries.

“The new administration has set ambitious goals in several areas to create favorable economic conditions,” de Luca said. “However, it’s not easy to change a lot of years of detrimental policies.”

After the panel, de Luca told TRD that Miami is poised to benefit from Argentina’s transformation as more companies will look to south Florida to establish their U.S. operations. “Things are getting better,” de Luca said. “But it’s still early.”

Lending experts trace the money in South Florida’s real estate market: VIDEO

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Big or small, almost every development and property purchase has one thing in common: someone is providing the cash.

With financing just as important to a deal as the buyers or developers themselves, The Real Deal convened a panel of lending experts to gauge the financing market’s health, and break down the potential problems looming over South Florida’s real estate market.

Panelists included Ezra Katz, CEO and founder of the Aztec Group; Brent Truscott, partner at Bloomfield Capital; and Daniel Kaweblum, acquisition specialist for FM Capital.

One of the discussion’s main takeaways is that traditional construction financing is turning out to be an Achilles’ heel for condo developers. Katz said lenders have become reluctant to take on preconstruction borrowers because of market conditions, and more importantly, new financial regulations that make signing off on a loan more difficult.

“Nearly 50 percent of the lenders that were out there in the last 10 years are effectively out of business,” Katz said. “Or their criteria is very difficult to meet.”

But while traditional lenders like national banks are taking a step back, the void is ripe for private financial firms like hedge funds — albeit with a few extra strings attached.

Truscott said the first thing his firm wants to know is “what’s the exit strategy.” Private lenders like his firm are typically involved in a deal for only six to 24 months, he said, which means vetting a borrower and having other financing lined up are key to putting a deal together.

The panel, titled “Lenders & investors perspective: What to expect in an environment of strict regulatory standards and headwinds in the capital markets,” was one of five at TRD’s biggest-ever Showcase & Forum hosted at Wynwood’s Soho Studios on Oct. 20. More than 4,500 brokers, developers and taste makers came to network and get an in-person education from some of the industry’s biggest figures. — Sean Stewart-Muniz

President of Brazil’s golf federation pays $5M for Fendi Château condo

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Rendering of the Fendi Chateau Residences. Inset: Paulo Cezar Pacheco (Credit: Getty)

Rendering of the Fendi Chateau Residences. Inset: Paulo Cezar Pacheco (Credit: Getty)

The president of the Brazilian Golf Confederation and founder of a medical products company paid $5.06 million for a condo at the Château Group’s Fendi Château Residences in Surfside.

Records show Catita-One LLC, an entity controlled by Paulo Cezar Pacheco, closed on unit 402 at the newly completed luxury condo building.

Pacheco was elected president of Brazil’s golf federation in 2012 and re-elected in 2014 to focus on the 2016 Olympics, where golf was included as a game for the first time in more than 100 years, according to published reports. He’s also founder of CEI Group, a medical products distribution company based in Brazil.

Pacheco’s new condo is a 3,616-square-foot oceanfront unit with four bedrooms and staff quarters, according to marketing materials. That means the price breaks down to about $1,400 per square foot.

Banco do Brasil Americas provided the LLC with a nearly $3.3 million loan, records show.

Fendi Château, which began recording closings in September, has attracted a number of high-profile buyers, including a pair of Brazilian software firm executivesNew York investor Irving Langer and Russian soprano Yelena Dudochkin.

The beachfront development was designed by Arquitectonica and includes pools, a Jacuzzi, 12 private cabanas, a restaurant and bar, a fitness center and a spa, kids’ club, private theater, a private dining room, wine cellar and Shabbat elevators.

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