Developers Pedro Martin and David Martin

Coconut Grove-based Terra Group has become the latest developer to try to purchase a large assemblage of land in the West Grove, entering into an agreement earlier this year to buy about 40 properties for $35 million.

The pending sale is being held up by “a civil war among partners” who have repeatedly tried to sell the assemblage, the Miami Herald reported.

In 2013, the partnership was going to sell the land to developer Peter Gardner for the Grove Village project, a mixed-use development with a supermarket, retail, homes and apartments. When that fell through, they went looking for another buyer, asking $30 million for the land, according to previous reports.

The pending sale to Terra would include the majority of six blocks from Elizabeth Street to Plaza Street, properties made up of vacant lots and apartment buildings.

Meanwhile, the owners, partners Julio C. Marrero, Phillip Muskat and others have been suing their other partner Orlando Benitez Jr. for years, court records show.

Benitez, who reportedly stated that he brought Terra Group to the deal, tried to stop the sale in July. Marrero called him a “rogue stockholder,” according to the Miami Herald. At the time, the city of Miami added itself onto the mounting litigation by suing the owners over poor living conditions and code violations at the dilapidated apartment buildings along Grand Avenue, Hibiscus Street and Florida Avenue. The city attorney and commissioners have spoken out against the living conditions and those displacing residents.

Terra, led by president David Martin, declined to comment to the Miami Herald. The developer recently completed Grove at Grand Bay and has gone vertical on its Park Grove project – both luxury condo developments near the water in Coconut Grove. It’s also active in Doral, Pembroke Pines North Beach and South Beach.

Records show Terra could work with a permit secured by Pointe Group in the late 2000s for the Coconut Grove sites.

Earlier this year, Pinnacle Housing Group opened Gibson Plaza, a senior housing and market-rate complex on Grand Avenue. But West Grove‘s main street has seen little new and affordable development besides Gibson. [Miami Herald] – Katherine Kallergis

Downtown Miami skyline (Credit: Miamiism)

The steady rise of South Florida’s home prices showed no signs of stopping in September, according to a new report, all while housing costs for the nation’s residential market reach a new high.

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller released a report Tuesday that says the cost of South Florida’s housing stock rose 6.7 percent year-over-year in September, marking the sixth-largest jump in prices across the nation. The price index gathers its data from arms-length home sales in metropolitan areas throughout the United States.

Seattle took the lead with an 11 percent spike in housing costs, followed closely by Portland with 10.9 percent, Denver with 8.7 percent, Dallas with 8 percent and Tampa with 7.5 percent.

Though prices in South Florida’s residential market continue to swell — primarily thanks to a lack of distressed sales and quickening sales for mid-level homes — trouble could be brewing for the region’s luxury sector.

EWM International Realty CEO Ron Shuffield recently told The Real Deal that many luxury homeowners will have to drop their asking prices if they seriously want to sell, as the supply of properties listed above $1 million is piling up.

For the nation as a whole, September marked a new peak for prices in the U.S. housing market. The S&P report stated its national home price index swelled 5.5 percent year-over-year, bringing the metric to its highest point since July 2006 before the housing crash. — Sean Stewart-Muniz

Though they’ve yet to become as much of a force as Latin Americans in Miami’s real estate market, the city’s developers are already trying to court investment dollars from across the Pacific Ocean.

Gil Dezer, president of Dezer Development, was doing exactly that last month when he attended The Real Deal’s second annual U.S. Real Estate Showcase & Forum in Shanghai.

Dezer stopped to catch up with TRD’s Managing Web Editor Hiten Samtani to explain why he believes Chinese buyers should be taking more of an interest in his stomping ground, Miami.

Mainly, he said, Miami’s prices are at a heavy discount compared to other major markets like New York. Condos at Dezer’s Hyde Midtown project are asking roughly $550 per square foot, and his oceanfront product is selling for $1,300 per foot — half the price of what can be found in New York, he said.

“With worldwide properties and the values they are, we are a bargain compared to everybody else,” he said.

Thousands of real estate players traveled to Shanghai in November to network with Chinese wealth managers, investors, buyers and realtors as part of TRD’s event. The two-day showcase featured eight discussion panels and workshops that delved into topics like the EB-5 visa program, the health of property investment in the U.S. and managing real estate overseas.

It looks like many of Miami-Dade County’s condo buyers were too busy feasting on Thanksgiving turkey to close on their units last week. A new batch of market data shows sales volume fell by half between last week and the prior week, with only two units trading above $1 million.

Last week’s top sale was unit 4A at the Casa Del Mar building in Key Biscayne, which traded for $1.72 million after spending 125 days on the market with Allison Blumenthal of Avatar Real Estate Services. The three-bedroom, three-bathroom pad boasts ocean views, marble floors and a private wraparound balcony. Its purchase breaks down to $551 per square foot.

In the No. 2 spot was unit 2002 at the Jade Ocean tower in Sunny Isles Beach. This one-bedroom, two-bathroom condo fetched $1.275 million after being marketed for 98 days with Bertha Betty Maya of Decorus Realty. Its features include white porcelain floors, white furniture and in-unit washer and dryer. The deal equates to $1,09 per square foot.

And in third place was the $980,000 sale of unit 3202 at the Waverly South Beach. With its two bedrooms, two bathrooms, bay views and upgraded kitchen, the condo brought in a buyer after sitting on the market for 89 days. The purchase price breaks down to $776 per square foot, and Enrique Tejera of One Sotheby’s International Realty was the listing agent.

After those top three deals, the remainder of Miami-Dade’s 10 priciest purchases range from $855,000 to $575,000.

Miami-Dade had 89 condo sales last week for a total of $25.15 million, marking a drop in volume of about $25 million and 31 sales from the previous week. Average prices were $282,546 per unit and $229 per square foot.

Here’s a breakdown of the data for the week of November 20 to November 26. Click on the map for more information:

Most expensive
Casa Del Mar #4a, Key Biscayne | $1.72M | $551 psf | 125 days on market | Allison Blumenthal of Avatar Real Estate Services

Least expensive 
The Palace #B2303, downtown Miami | $575,000 | $350 psf | 173 days on market | Elizabeth Lima of Prudential Florida Realty

Most days on market
The Towers of Key Biscayne #D1206, Key Biscayne | 458 days on market | $795,000 | $564 psf | Maureen Jauregui of Fortune International Realty

Least days on market
The Waverly South Beach #3202, Miami Beach | 59 days on market | $980,000 | $776 psf | Enrique Tejera of One Sotheby’s International Realty

Rendering of Oceana Bal Harbour. Inset: Eduardo Costantini

Developer Consultatio USA has started closings at Oceana Bal Harbour with all of the units so far selling to foreign buyers. 

London-based Lubomir Blasko and Zuzana Blaskova are the latest to close, paying $6.85 million for unit 1802S at the luxury condo project in Bal Harbour. The deal could be an indication of increased investment from the United Kingdom in South Florida post-Brexit.

Records show Tranquil Invest LLC, an entity controlled by the pair, bought the three-bedroom, 3,592-square-foot unit. Marketing materials listed online show it also has a 745-square-foot terrace. Blasko is a consultant from Slovakia and Blaskova a finance manager at London-based DeepCrawl, according to LinkedIn. They paid about $1,907 per square foot for their unit.

Oceana Bal Harbour, developed by Eduardo Costantini‘s Consultatio, has an estimated $1.3 billion sellout, which would set a record in South Florida.The project would beat out Oceana Key Biscayne, also developed by Consultatio, which generated nearly $580 million in recorded transactions as of earlier this year.

Six units have traded so far at the 10201 Collins Avenue project for a total of about $25 million, records show. It received its temporary certificate of occupancy, a spokesperson told The Real Deal. Here’s a breakdown:

• Jersey-based Upsilon Limited paid $4.49 million for unit 902NE-M
• Panama-based Madresal Trading Inc. paid $2.69 million for unit 703NE-M
• Moscow banker Andrey Boguslavskiy paid $3.78 million for unit 601NE
• Moscow-based Alexey and Olga Shaburov paid $3.25 million for unit 903NE-M
• Bahamas-based Blessed Asset Management paid $3.9 million for unit 301NE

The 28-story, 240-unit development was designed by Arquitectonica, and features large sculptures by Jeff Koons, which developer Costantini purchased for $14 million: “Ballerina” and “Pluto and Proserpina.” It’s opening just in time for Miami Art Week and will debut the sculptures at a private event this week.

In all, Oceana Bal Harbour has four upper penthouses, two of which were under contract for $26 million each earlier this year. Piero Lissoni designed the interiors, the private restaurant and the penthouse bathrooms. Enzo Enea designed the pool deck landscape.

The 5.5-acre site was formerly known as the Bal Harbour Beach Club before Consultatio purchased it in 2012 for $220 million. A year later, the developer closed on a $332 million construction loan from a group of lenders led by HSBC.

Rendering of 11 on Lenox and Masoud Shojaee

Shoma Group’s luxury development, Eleven on Lenox, is switching to Douglas Elliman as its exclusive brokerage firm, as it aims to target the New York market. One Sotheby’s International Realty had previously represented the 11-townhouse project planned near Lincoln Road in South Beach.

Shoma CEO Masoud Shojaee told The Real Deal that he wants to capitalize on Douglas Elliman’s ties to New York, and plans to file an application to register the project with the New York Attorney General’s Real Estate Finance Bureau next week.

“Douglas Elliman is very strong in Miami Beach, really high-end stuff, and One Sotheby’s, because I am a friend of Mayi de la Vega, was the only reason I had a [commitment] to start with her,” Shojaee said. “I knew they were not the right partners for me in my deal, with the concept I have and the type of clientele I am looking for in New York.”

De la Vega, founder and CEO of One Sotheby’s, called it a “mutual termination.”

“It was not a project that I really, honestly wanted to represent anymore,” she said, nor did she want her team to represent it, she added.

Eleven on Lenox, at 1030 15th Street in South Beach, will have 11 three-story townhouses, sized from 4,403 square feet to 4,669 square feet. Prices range from $2.9 million to $4 million.

So far, two units have been reserved, and a sales office will open onsite in three months Shojaee said.

Designed by Zyscovich Architects, with interiors by Charles Allem, Eleven on Lenox‘s units will feature rooftop terraces, Poliform kitchens with Gaggenau appliances, and smart lighting systems. The project will also have a private parking garage and pool.

Shojaee said he is aiming at the New York market because of the development’s similarity to townhouses in SoHo, and the proximity to shops, restaurants and Lincoln Road.

“Douglas Elliman is very well organized, and they give you a great team to work with, and they understand the market and they have great clients,” Shojaee said. “They are very strong in New York, and are based in New York, and I have been really talking to them all along. It was the right timing for me.”

Arjun Waney, the London-based restaurateur and owner of Zuma and Coya, and his partners, held a grand opening party Saturday night for DÔA, a new Latin-Asian dining spot in South Beach.

DÔA, at 2000 Collins Avenue, across from the Setai Miami Beach, was just completed in a 5,200-square-foot space formerly occupied by Barezzito and One Lounge.

Hailing from Zuma and Coya, DÔA’s executive chef Carlos Estarita served a number of signature dishes throughout the evening. Geared to be a casual, affordable fusion of Asian and Peruvian cuisine, DÔA will remain open until 5:00 a.m., seven days a week, offering dinner, weekend brunch and late-night dining.

The 160-seat restaurant is expected to be the concept’s flagship, with future locations planned for Washington D.C., Atlanta, Chicago and Boston, Arman Naqi, vice president and director of development for DÔA, previously told The Real Deal.

In addition to Waney, DÔA’s investors include Tunu Puri and Ferit Sahenk, chairman of the Dogus Group, the largest conglomerate in Turkey — the same investment group as in Zuma and Coya.

Lyle Stern, principal of Koniver Stern Group, brokered the lease, representing the restaurant owners. — Ina Cordle and Sean Stewart-Muniz

The East, Miami hotel pool deck

With the first phase of Brickell City Centre nearly complete, trouble is brewing among some of the firms involved in the project’s construction.

Americaribe-Moriarty Joint Venture, which oversaw the first phase, sued Fort Myers-based Certified Pool Mechanics late last month in Miami-Dade County Circuit for breach of contract and filing a fraudulent lien.

Americacaribe-Moriarty is seeking roughly $1.7 million in damages.

Richard Chaves, a partner with Ciklin Lubitz & O’Connell, representing the joint venture, declined comment on the specifics of the lawsuit.

“We look forward to presenting our client’s claims through that process which includes a mediated settlement conference,” Chaves told The Real Deal.  A woman who answered the phone at Certified’s office said the firm had no comment.

According to the lawsuit, Americaribe-Moriarty signed a $5.3 million contract with Certified for swimming pool and installation work at Brickell City Centre in March 2014. However, the pool subcontractor failed to perform the scope of work in a timely manner and sought unauthorized change orders, the lawsuit alleges.

In addition to using other subcontractors to finish work Certified was supposed to do, Americaribe-Moriarty also had to pay suppliers that were owed money by the pool subcontractor, according to the suit. When the work was finished, Americaribe-Moriarty was forced to pay $622,000 for work Certified did not complete after the subcontractor filed a construction lien on the project in December of last year, the suit says.

The joint venture is between construction firms Americaribe and John Moriarty & Associates of Florida, which were awarded oversight of the first phase’s construction in March 2013. Specifically, Americaribe-Moriarty managed the construction of a luxury shopping center, two residential towers, the East, Miami hotel, serviced apartments, a wellness center and Class A office space at the $1.05 billion, 5.4 million-square-foot project. The shopping center, which was co-developed by Whitman Family Development and Simon Property Group, opened earlier this month.

Clockwise from left: Mural at Brickell Heights, Wynwood Walls, Collins Park installation, and the Ritz Rainbow

Art Week is getting into full swing across Miami and Miami Beach, with openings, parties and events drawing art collectors, real estate investors and art-loving locals.

Here are some of the outdoor art displays open to the public this week:

Ritz Rainbow

Ritz Rainbow, Miami Beach

Lionheart Capital unveiled the Ritz Rainbow on Monday at the Ritz-Carlton Residences, Miami Beach. The 25-mile light beam art installation was designed by artist Yvette Mattern and will be visible from 6 p.m. to midnight until Saturday.

Rendering of Fabian Burgos’ mural

Brickell Heights, Brickell

Related Group, led by avid art collector and Miami condo king Jorge Perez, hired Fabian Burgos to paint a 35,000-square-foot mural for Brickell Heights. The Argentinian artist is painting horizontal mural, similar to the vertical piece by Markus Linnenbrick outside of the newly opened SLS Brickell. That project also features art throughout, including a Botero sculpture outside.

Off we go, not everything fits on the semi, Staging anyone? #stagingdesign #stagingdimension #production #artbaselmiami #artbasel2016

A photo posted by AVER Productions (@averproductions) on Nov 28, 2016 at 9:00am PST

Magic City Sculpture Park, Little River

Sillicon Valley veteran Bob Zangrillo and Metro 1’s Tony Cho are unveiling Magic City Sculpture Park in Miami’s Little River neighborhood on Wednesday. The park will feature a sculpture from Burning Man 2016, “Magic” by Laura Kimpton, and three others, including one by Kimpton’s “@ Sign,” Yelena Filipchuk’s “HYBYCOZO,” Olivia Steele’s “What You Seek is Seeking You” and “You Are Exactly Where You Need To Be.”

The park, on the corner of Northeast 62nd Street and Northeast Fourth Avenue, is part of the first phase of Cho’s mixed-use neighborhood. He told The Real Deal in October 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.

@pixelpancho n’ pals cavorting with robots in front of finished @wynwoodwallsofficial mural. @halopigg @r5imaging 📸 by @marthacoopergram

A photo posted by Wynwood Walls (@wynwoodwallsofficial) on Nov 29, 2016 at 9:21am PST

Wynwood Walls, Wynwood

Goldman Properties is unveiling 12 new murals at the Wynwood Walls on Tuesday, which will be open to the public beginning at 11 p.m. This year’s mural installation is called “Fear Less” and features artists like Audrey Kawasaki of California, Felipe Pantone of Spain, and Tatiana Suarez of Florida.

“Miami Mountain” at the Bass

The Bass, Miami Beach

Art Basel and the Bass Museum will open their “Ground Control” show at Collins Park on Wednesday, free of charge and open to the public starting at 8 p.m. Twenty works by artists like Magdalena Abakanowicz, Alicja Kwade and Tony Tasset will be displayed on the lawns through Sunday, Dec. 4. A handful will remain through March.

The Bass, which will reopen in the spring following renovations, will also reveal a large-scale sculpture by Ugo Rondinone called “Miami Mountain” in the park.

Rendering of Privé at Island Estates

1. Judge rules for residents in Privé condo fight [Daily Business Review]
2. Chinese developers reassess U.S. projects [Wall Street Journal]
3. Why are developers still pouring billions into waterlogged Miami? [Bloomberg]
4. National homebuilder buys development site in Miami-Dade County [SFBJ]

— Sean Stewart-Muniz

Current reader favorites:

1. Rubell Family Collection to move from Wynwood to Allapattah
2. Partridge family picks up Pompano shopping center for $50M
3. Alex Vadia sells Midtown 8 site to Wood Partners for $25M
4. 3 Chefs and a Chicken inks $16M lease, to replace Wendy’s in Coral Gables
5. Stiles Corp. CEO Terry Stiles pays $8M for waterfront Fort Lauderdale home

From the New York website: As experts pondered the future of EB-5 during The Real Deal’s second annual U.S. Real Estate Showcase and Forum in Shanghai, the conversation naturally turned to President-elect Donald Trump. Will his tough stance on immigration affect the controversial visa program’s future?

Former New York Gov. George Pataki said the program would have a powerful friend in Trump.

“There’s a lot of misunderstanding on that,” Pataki told TRD managing web editor Hiten Samtani, who moderated the event’s “EB-5 and U.S. Immigration” panel. “Donald Trump won for a lot of reasons — one was his very strong stance against illegal immigration. and often, in the media and in the public, the distinction between legal and illegal immigration gets lost.”

To see more from TRD’s “EB-5 and U.S. Immigration panel, as well as clips from the event’s keynote speeches, click here.

Aerial view of Treasures on the Bay inset Camilo Miguel

Two months after purchasing the majority of the Treasures on the Bay complex in North Bay Village, Mast Capital and its partners are starting to offer apartments for rent at the North Tower.

Treasure on the Bay’s 160-unit North Tower, at 7525 East Treasure Drive, is now renting one-, two- and three-bedroom oceanfront apartments, starting at $1,700 a month. The tower underwent a $20 million gut renovation before Miami Beach-based Mast Capital, New York-based Angelo, Gordon & Co. and San Diego-based InterWest Capital paid $75.5 million for the three-tower complex in mid-September, Camilo Miguel, Jr., CEO of Mast Capital, told The Real Deal.

Miami-Dade property records show the seller as an affiliate of Owens Financial Group. The firm, led by William C. Owens, bought the properties out of foreclosure in 2010. The buildings were built in 1962 and 1966.

For Mast Capital and its partners, the deal equated to $229,000 per apartment on a property that sits on 1,000 linear feet of bayfront.

“We thought it was a very attractive price per pound,” Miguel told TRD.

The purchase included all of the units at the North Tower, 155 of 178 units at the Point building (or 86 percent of the units) and 15 of 160 units in the middle tower, called the South Tower, Cassie Resnick, Mast Capital’s vice president of acquisitions, told TRD. The Point and South buildings are condos, yet the newly purchased units are all rentals. Overall, the purchase equates to 66 percent of the project’s units, she said.

Treasures on the Bay

At the North Tower, the new apartments feature custom cabinetry, stone counters, stainless-steel appliances, in-unit washer and dryers, new porcelain flooring and waterfront balconies. The five-acre complex includes three bayfront pools, a bayfront boardwalk and fitness center. Additional amenities in the works include new landscaping and a new fitness center, Miguel said.

“Our strategy for the property,” he said, “is to renovate and continue to upgrade the community, continue to rent out the units and continue to improve the lifestyle and offerings for this area.”

Thor Equities’ Joseph Sitt predicts Donald Trump will be able to pull off a major infrastructure spending plan because — unlike President Obama — he has Congress on his side. “We don’t have a president, we have a king,” Sitt told Bloomberg.

“He won’t have the bottlenecks along the way” because he will have the Senate and House of Representatives on his side for at least two years, Sitt argued. “And so he’s got a window of opportunity to really make things happen.”

Sitt claimed that not spending more on infrastructure seven years ago as a post-recession economic stimulus was a lost opportunity and that many developing countries now have more advanced transportation systems than the U.S.

Still, he dismissed the suggestion that now is the wrong time to spend big. “Don’t tell him slow down. Tell him go for it,” he said. [Bloomberg] — Konrad Putzier

Rendering of the Doral DoubleTree by Hilton

With construction well underway at their Hilton-branded hotel in Doral, partners Driftwood Hospitality Management and American Opportunity Regional Center just secured a $16 million loan to help finance the project, including $10 million from EB-5 investors.

County records show the loan was sourced both from an affiliate of Miami’s BridgeInvest and American Opportunity, which facilitates EB-5 investments from foreign nationals.

The developers broke ground on their 150-room hotel in July at 10250 Northwest 19th Street, across the street from the Miami International Mall. It’s slated to be a DoubleTree by Hilton, with an amenities package including three meeting rooms, two full-service bars, a pool, fitness center and a restaurant. Driftood and American Opportunity said in a release that they expect the project to wrap up by summer 2017. The project’s total value is roughly $26 million, the release stated.

According to property records, the two bought the vacant 2.8-acre site for $3.44 million in January of this year.

This financing deal is another sign that the EB-5 visa program, though controversial, is becoming a more mainstream option for real estate loans in South Florida.

Some of its more frequent uses in the region have so far been funding the speculative development of charter schools and hotels, though Jeff Berkowitz has also been an ardent defender of the program and its role in his planned SkyRise Miami observation tower.

Under the EB-5 program, foreign nationals invest a minimum of $500,000 per person in a job-creating venture in exchange for a conditional visa that’s valid for two years. EB-5 was set to expire this year but was extended by Congress until Dec. 9, and is expected to be extended again.

Rendering of the innovation district. Inset: Tony Cho and Bob Zangrillo

A partnership between developer Tony Cho and Silicon Valley entrepreneur Bob Zangrillo aims to bring together technology and culture on a 15-acre site in Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood.

Cho Dragon Management unveiled plans for Magic City, a $1 billion phased, mixed-use development between Northeast 60th and 64th streets and Northeast Second Avenue to the railroad tracks. The first phase will include a sculpture garden (to be unveiled Wednesday), the 30,000-square-foot Magic City Studios and the 15,000-square-foot innovation center, the Miami Herald reported. The innovation center would house startups, co-working space and other collaborations. It’s slated to open in 2018.

Also included would be an office tower, retail space and workforce housing that includes micro units. Down the line, the developers are also considering a boutique hotel. Their goal is to create a walkable neighborhood with retail, office, entertainment and residential components. The project has been self-financed so far, but the developers are looking for private and public financing, the Herald reported.

Cho and Zangrillo have already brought on tenants like the Wynwood-based Salty Donut, Institute of Contemporary Art, Photopia and etnia Barcelona. They’ve been assembling land since 2012, including about 170,000 square feet of industrial space that will eventually be redeveloped into commercial and retail uses. Cho is founder and CEO of Metro 1, and Zangrillo is a venture capitalist and real estate investor.

The Magic City Trailer Park, a property that dates back to the early 1900s, will become the sculpture garden and green space.

New development is already underway in Little Haiti, a neighborhood that has attracted artists and entrepreneurs priced out of Wynwood, but also investors and developers. In 2015, Conway Commercial Real Estate and Urban Atlantic Group opened MADE at the Citadel, a co-working space at 8325 Northeast Second Avenue. [Miami Herald] [WSJ] – Katherine Kallergis

Check out more renderings:

Rendering of the residential component

Rendering of the Dupois building

Donald Trump (credit: Gage Skidmore)

From the New York website: Donald Trump on Wednesday morning claimed he will formally leave the Trump Organization, but offered no details on how the separation will work, who will be in charge or whether conflicts of interest can be fully avoided.

“Legal documents are being crafted which take me completely out of business operations,” he wrote on Twitter. “The President is a far more important task.”

Trump wrote he will hold a news conference on the subject on December 15 with his children. He also claimed that he is leaving the company because it is “visually important” to not have conflicts of interest, but wouldn’t say whether he will put his children in charge.

Trump has previously said he plans to do so, but the move could create conflicts of interest: his three oldest children, Ivanka, Donald Jr. and Eric, are reportedly close advisors and also serve on his presidential transition team.

I will be holding a major news conference in New York City with my children on December 15 to discuss the fact that I will be leaving my …

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 30, 2016

great business in total in order to fully focus on running the country in order to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! While I am not mandated to ….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 30, 2016

do this under the law, I feel it is visually important, as President, to in no way have a conflict of interest with my various businesses..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 30, 2016

Hence, legal documents are being crafted which take me completely out of business operations. The Presidency is a far more important task!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 30, 2016

Fidel Castro in 1998 (Credit: Getty Images)

Last weekend’s death of Cuban strongman Fidel Castro at age 90 raises the possibility of a faster economic opening in Cuba and closer U.S.-Cuba relations.

But analysts suggest caution. They note Fidel had been out of office for 10 years already and that President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to reverse some – if not all – of the Obama administration’s efforts to “normalize” relations with the communist-led island off Florida’s shores.

That means opportunities for significant U.S. real estate development in Cuba — beyond today’s few U.S. management contracts for hotels or offices for U.S. commercial airlines — may have to wait.

From Havana, Fidel’s brother Raul, who became acting president in 2006 and president in 2008, has been slowly opening Cuba’s centrally-planned economy “without haste and without pause,” maneuvering between factions within the leadership who want faster and slower reforms.

“Change, therefore,” wrote Ted Piccone, a senior fellow at Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C, “is likely to happen only gradually under the pragmatic hand of his younger brother Raúl (now 85), who has promised to step down from office in 2018.”

Indeed, Raul may use Fidel’s death as a means to reinforce the government’s role on the island, said John Kavulich, president of the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council based in New York.

“The next months will be focused on confirming for the 11.3 million citizens of Cuba that the “Revolution” was not because of one man or only endured with that one man,” Kavulich told The Real Deal. “It is the fabric that wraps the country, and there will be no holes in that fabric.”

Yet, Washington can influence events on the island.

“A hostile U.S. approach might encourage Havana to turn more seriously toward Moscow and Beijing as lifelines in times of trouble,” said Brookings’ Piccone. “Instead…a better approach for the incoming Trump administration would be to maintain President Obama’s policy of constructive engagement and work with the post-Castro leadership to protect U.S. national interests in a more stable, independent, and open Cuba.”

Trump signaled toughness against Havana in a Twitter post Monday: “If Cuba is unwilling to make a better deal for the Cuban people, the Cuban/American people and the U.S. as a whole, I will terminate deal.”

He also has included hardliners against Cuba in his transition team: Mauricio Claver-Carone, who supports a strict U.S. embargo, and Robert Blau, a former diplomat in Havana under the George W. Bush administration who is fervently anti-communist.

But some analysts note that Trump as a real estate developer might have his eye on business with the Caribbean’s largest island nation, too. Early in his campaign, Trump had said he was “fine” with Obama’s thaw with Cuba, and both Bloomberg and Newsweek have reported that the Trump Organization sent envoys to check on business opportunities in Cuba.

Even Trump’s words on Cuba can be construed in different ways, according to John Price, managing director of Americas Marketing Intelligence in Miami. “Trump did leave open some room to maneuver in the months ahead by promising policies that would improve the lives of Cubans,” wrote Price, “which some in Washington choose to interpret as an olive branch to Havana.”

Meanwhile, U.S. companies active in Cuba, from Marriott to American Airlines, are making their voices heard in Washington and beyond to keep their Cuba business going. That includes members of the Engage Cuba coalition seeking to dismantle the half-century-old U.S. embargo against Cuba.

Said James Williams, president of Engage Cuba: “After nearly six decades, it’s time for Congress to move forward and continue on the progress we have made over the past two years to build a brighter future for both of our countries.”

The 60-story Porsche Design Tower (Inset: Gil Dezer)

Gil Dezer’s Porsche Design Tower has finally begun turning over its units to buyers after more than three years of construction, with its current tally of sales resting at $760 million.

But Dezer, who as recently as October said Dezer Development wasn’t planning on launching a new project in the near future, is already eyeing his next car-branded condo tower.

He told The Real Deal that within the next six months, he plans on announcing plans for another luxury tower with a car elevator, much like the Porsche Design Tower’s, along with a new luxury automobile partnership.

“I was thinking that the cycle was going to come to a lull,” he said. “But now my friend Donald [Trump] is going to be taking office. Now it’s gung-ho time to start doing buildings.”

He declined to disclose where the new project would be built, saying only that it would be in Sunny Isles Beach. He did exclude his 5-acre holdings on the city’s western side because a large part of it is still under contract for the next two years with seller Publix Super Markets.

As far as branding goes, Porsche is off the table because it would dilute the value of his newly opened project, he said. That leaves a host of other luxe cars Dezer has in his personal collection, ranging from Maseratis to Ferraris, all of which he showed off on a recent episode of CNBC’s “Secret Lives of the Super Rich.”

Though the 60-story Porsche Design Tower received its temporary certificate of occupancy this month, which allows closings to take place, Dezer said the building at 18555 Collins Avenue still needs last-minute additions like lobby and pool furniture, as well as paint in certain areas. That will likely take another 30 to 45 days to complete.

So far, 126 of the luxury tower’s 132 units have been sold, totaling about $760 million of the project’s planned $840 million sellout. Of the six remaining units, two are penthouses boasting an ask of $32.5 million. He declined to name the average price per square foot. Dezer broke ground on the building in 2013, and he said the project’s opening came about “three months and a week” late.

Roughly 40 of Porsche’s buyers will live in the building full-time, Dezer said. The developer also claimed 22 billionaires have purchased units in the building, though TRD could not independently verify that fact as closings have yet to be recorded in county property records.

By far, the project’s most widely publicized feature is its car elevator, which hoists residents and their automobiles to any of the tower’s condos. The beachfront project’s other features include balcony plunge pools, racing and golf simulators, plus for-sale “man caves.”

The project and its development team are currently tangled in a lawsuit with Porsche’s neighbor, the Millenium Condo Association, which alleges Porsche’s foundation work left cracks in the Millenium building’s structure.

4445 Lake Avenue in Miami. Inset: Nicola Schon (Credit: Getty Images)

Italian restaurateur Nicola Schon has completed his waterfront, Italian-style home in Miami’s Bay Point neighborhood and hired the Jills to sell it for $13.9 million.

Schon, who owns Quattro Gastronomia Italiana in South Beach, owns the property at 4445 Lake Road through an LLC. Records show the entity paid $2.55 million for the 23,020-square-foot site in 2011 and completed a partial demolition of the 1957 home and made additions to the property.

The Jills of Coldwell Banker are listing the six-bedroom, 7,000-square-foot home for nearly $2,000 a foot, an asking price that’s on par with other new construction in the neighborhood. Architect Luigi Vitalini and designer Fabrizio Cocchi, both of Italy, designed the single-story house overlooking Sabal Lake. It features millwork, marble, appliances and furniture from Schon’s home country, in addition to a fireplace, spa, sauna, steam room and gym, and staff quarters. The property includes 111 feet of lake frontage and a private concrete dock.

Bay Point is home to the “King of Latin Pop” Enrique Iglesias, who upgraded to a waterfront mansion on Sabal Point Road in 2013.

Schon is a partner of the Miami Beach-based KNR Restaurant Group. Quattro, which has locations in New York City and Mexico City, is a high-end restaurant at 1014 Lincoln Road. His Bay Point home includes an outdoor kitchen with a grill, refrigerator, ice maker and wood-burning pizza oven.

Schon is also a real estate investor: in 2010, he paid $1.8 million for a condo at the Epic in downtown Miami and persuaded 19 of his Italian friends to buy units there as well, according to the Miami Herald.  – Katherine Kallergis