Miami-Dade County’s courthouse

A proposal by Brightline’s parent company to build a new Miami-Dade Courthouse has been revived.

The Miami-Dade County Commission on Wednesday unanimously approved a resolution directing Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez to continue negotiating with New Flagler Courthouse Development Partners, or NFCDP, to build a new civic courthouse near the existing courthouse at 73 West Flagler Street. The NFCDP development team includes Florida East Coast Industries, a company that runs the Brightline passenger rail train and is also building the 3-million-square-foot MiamiCentral complex within Miami’s downtown area.

At the same time, the county commission unanimously directed Gimenez to receive bids from other developers interested in building a new courthouse either on Flagler Street in downtown Miami or on county-owned lots near the Children’s Courthouse at 155 Northwest Third Street. The commission also wants a report on the courthouse bid proposals by April 10.

The commission’s vote came against the recommendation of Gimenez, the county’s internal services department, and real estate consultants. Their main concern was that keeping NFCDP’s unsolicited bid would discourage other potential bidders. Gimenez also wanted to limit the site to the county-owned lots near the Children’s Courthouse, arguing that it was ready for development. He also said that the new courthouse could share certain facilities with the Children’s Courthouse. “Gee, two [functioning] courthouses next to each other. What a concept,” Gimenez said to the commission.

Attorneys and judges have been clamoring for a new civic courthouse to replace the current Miami-Dade Courthouse that was built in 1928. Voters, though, rejected a $390 million bond proposal to build a new downtown area courthouse in 2014.

Since then, the county has been trying to figure how to partner with a developer to build a new courthouse.

On January 11, NFCDP made an unsolicited proposal to build a new courthouse. https://therealdeal.com/miami/2018/02/04/owner-of-brightline-operator-offers-to-build-new-miami-dade-courthouse/ The details of that proposal are still unknown as they are covered under a cone of silence. However, on February 6, the county commission directed the mayor to seek bids that would build, at a minimum, a 600,000-square-foot, 26-story building. Tara Smith, director of Miami-Dade County’s internal services, indicated that the courthouse proposal made by NFCDP was somewhat smaller.

Gimenez rejected NFCDP’s bid earlier this month so that a single request for proposal would be put out to build a courthouse near the Children’s Courthouse. The county commission’s vote now effectively overrules that decision.

Rendering of building 35 at Beacon Lakes and Chris Harak (Credit: Blanca Commercial Real Estate)

Swiss travel retailer Dufry just inked a 200,000-square-foot lease at Prologis’ Beacon Lakes business park in northwest Miami-Dade County, where it’s planning to move its regional headquarters.

The building is breaking ground soon and will rise at the southeast corner of Northwest 137th Avenue and Northwest 14th Street, between Northwest 14th and State Road 836, according to a spokesperson for the commercial brokerage representing the tenant.

The build-to-suit warehouse space will add 40,000 square feet to the retailer’s current footprint in the area. It currently occupies about 160,000 square feet at the nearby International Corporate Park in Doral, and plans to move into its new headquarters by the first quarter of 2019.

Chris Harak and Juan Ruiz of Blanca Commercial Real Estate represented the tenant. JLL represented the landlord, Prologis. Harak declined to comment on the terms of the lease, but said rents in the area range from about $9 per square foot to $10 a square foot, monthly.

“The new location made the most sense logistically for the company,” Harak said, adding that most of the employees already live in the area. The new space also offers 6 feet of additional ceiling height, which would allow the company to expand its warehouse space, if needed, Harak said.

Dufry’s office in Doral oversees its operations in Central and South America, as well as in the Caribbean.

The 478-acre Beacon Lakes has signed on tenants such as Amazon, UPS, Ryder System, and NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises. Over the summer, industrial real estate giant Prologis sold land near the campus to developer Stiles Corp., which plans to add about 495,000 square feet of open-air shopping space.

Ugo Colombo, 250 Bird Road and Masoud Shojaee

More than two years after a partnership to develop the Collection Residences fell apart, the Coral Gables development site at the heart of it all is hitting the market.

A county judge ordered the 2.8-acre property be listed for sale as litigation between developers Ugo Colombo and Masoud Shojaee rolls on. Avison Young’s Michael Fay, John Crotty, David Duckworth and Colin Trabold were hired to list the assemblage at 250 Bird Road, 245 Altara Avenue, 4112 Aurora Street, and 4101 and 4111 Salzedo Street, according to the South Florida Business Journal.

The developers originally planned to build the 128-unit Collection Residences, a luxury condo project with ground floor retail. Shojaee filed a lawsuit against Colombo in January 2016, alleging breach of contract, and sued him again a month later for breach of contract tied to the purchase of a Ferrari.

The joint venture paid $27 million for the development site in 2013. It’s zoned for nearly 431,000 square feet of mixed-use development with up to 12 stories with development bonuses. Bids are due in about a week. [SFBJ] – Katherine Kallergis

Illustration by Daniel Nyari

Welcome to the world of AI.

Last March, the online asset manager AlphaFlow launched its first so-called automated investment fund for real estate loans.

Rather than tapping employees to search for investment opportunities, the company uses a computer program to sift through listings services and find mortgages to purchase based on property characteristics, borrower history, recent market data and other criteria.

“We’re not ready to take our hands off [our work],” said Ray Sturm, co-founder of the California-based company, explaining that humans still make the ultimate investment decision.

But, he noted, machine-driven algorithms are doing increasingly more. And a growing cohort of AI-powered companies — including AlphaFlow, Ten-X and Opendoor — is starting to transform real estate investment and brokerage much like passive investment funds revolutionized the stock market in the 1980s.

In its most basic form, AI has been around for decades. But the technology has gone through a recent growth spurt, most notably with machines now more capable of “learning,” meaning they can perform tasks without being programmed to do so. And between 2012 and 2017 alone, AI startups raised $18.74 billion in venture funding, according to research firm PitchBook.

Ten-X, which has raised $141.8 million in funding, per Crunchbase, and was acquired by private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners last year, created its own algorithm to match investors with properties, for instance. The system analyzes investment sales data to determine which properties certain investors tend to buy. It then picks buildings that match their criteria on its site and recommends them.

Ten-X’s Neelika Choudhury, vice president of product strategy and product marketing, said the algorithm creates better, faster and cheaper leads than humans could. But it requires regular maintenance to keep up with investor behavior.

“If we don’t constantly refine our training data, the model won’t work,” Choudhury said.

Meanwhile, California-based Opendoor, which was founded in 2014 and has raised a massive $320 million, buys single-family homes with the help of machine-learning algorithms that identify investment opportunities and determine the price (although sellers generally approach Opendoor first). It then puts those properties up for sale online.

Commercial and rental lease management firms are also turning to AI. Startups like Leverton and Counselytics sell software that sifts through lease contracts, extracts information and even makes decisions.

“It saves an immense amount of time,” said Zach Aarons, an executive at the real estate investment firm Millennium Partners and co-founder of the New York-based tech accelerator and advisory firm MetaProp NYC.

But even Aarons seems to think lease abstraction may not be ready for prime time — at least in the complex New York market. Millennium considered using it, he said, but ultimately decided against it, partly because it was concerned about errors.

“Some of our leases are so complicated we’re not even sure humans would get it right the first time,” he said.

And while AI has yet to infiltrate the construction sector, sources say it’s only a matter of time.

Turner’s Barrett said AI could revolutionize construction by automating the design process, cost calculations and scheduling. While he declined to offer specifics, Barrett said Turner is researching machine-learning technology.

The applications for it in construction abound.

Ardalan Khosrowpour, a New York-based entrepreneur, recently launched OnSiteIQ, which creates 360-degree images of construction sites to track progress and potential hazards. The startup is working on machine learning software that will automatically analyze the images to spot potential safety hazards or other problems.

Khosrowpour said he’s now in talks with several major development firms, which he declined to name. “Machine learning will be the future,” he said. “I have no doubt about it.”

Check out the complete version of this cover story in the February 2018 issue

Privé at Island Estates and BH3’s Charlie Phelan, Greg Freedman and Daniel Lebensohn and Gary Cohen

The developers of Privé at Island Estates closed on $50 million in financing for unsold inventory at the luxury condo project in Aventura.

Property records show New York-based Maxim Capital provided the loan to Prive Developers LLC. The financing is for 41 units at Privé, a 150-unit development at 5000 Island Boulevard. That means the developers, BH3’s Charlie Phelan, Greg Freedman and Daniel Lebensohn and Gary Cohen, have sold at least 73 percent of the units since closings began at the end of last year.

Condos range from 2,500 square feet to 6,200 square feet and are priced from $2.3 million to $8.6 million.

The project has been at the center of litigation between the developers and opposing neighbors.

Last month, BH3 and Cohen won a $26 million jury verdict against the Williams Island Property Owners’ Association, which had sought to stop the luxury two-tower development since 2013. A jury found that the association breached a 1982 agreement requiring it not to object or oppose future developments by Cohen on the 84-acre Williams Island. The association is expected to appeal. Other litigation is still pending.

In January 2017, the developers secured $102 million from Maxim and Austin-based Prophet Capital Asset Management for construction. That was in addition to the $25 million Maxim, which specializes in short-term lending, lent in late 2015.

The building includes about 70,000 square feet of amenities with a large art collection, two 10,000-square-foot fitness centers, pools, Jacuzzis, a private marina, cafe, and guest suites and hobby rooms for purchase.

Worth Avenue, Lucille and Burt Handelsman (Credit: Google Maps and Getty Images)

The divorce of real estate investors Burt and Lucille “Lovey” Handelsman has hit another snag in court – but it’s not tied to the $550 million real estate portfolio the couple owns in Palm Beach County.

It’s about who gets the antique shaving mug collection.

Burt, 90, testified that he was the one who assembled a collection of more than 1,500 mugs, valued at more than $1 million, according to the Palm Beach Post. Lovey, 89, said she has a financial and emotional investment in the mugs and wants to split the collection. But splitting it up would destroy its value, Burt said.

As for the real estate, about $100 million is in dispute, the Palm Beach Post reported. Lovey’s lawyers are hiring an appraiser to determine the value of the properties, which Burt claims he is responsible for assembling.

The couple’s nearly 70-year marriage was officially dissolved in early February when the trial began. Lovey filed for divorce in 2016, which was set off at least in part by Burt’s affair with a Fort Lauderdale attorney who helped the Handelsmans build their family business. Burt also filed a lawsuit against his three adult children that same year, claiming that they “siphoned” funds from his companies by allegedly forging his signature on company checks and distributing unauthorized company payments to themselves.

Lovey’s property appraiser and Burt have until the end of the month to determine the values of the remaining properties in dispute. [Palm Beach Post] – Amanda Rabines

One57, Michael Dell and Gary Barnett (Credit: Getty Images)

It’s been one of the greatest mysteries in the residential world for three years: Who was the buyer behind the city’s most expensive closed residential deal, the $100.5 million penthouse at One57?

The code – no pun intended – has now been cracked. It is Michael Dell, founder and CEO of Dell Technologies, according to the Wall Street Journal. The nine-figure deal puts the technology mogul in a club of one – until far pricier deals at 220 Central Park close.

The sale at the Extell Development property was announced in May 2012, but closed in December 2014, city records show, at about $9,200 a foot. Department of Buildings filings spotted by the Journal show that Dell tapped Miró Rivera Architects to oversee a renovation of the 10,923-square-foot penthouse, which spans the 89th and 90th floors. The deal broke a 2012 record set by the $88 million purchase of Sanford Weill’s 15 Central Park West penthouse in 2012 by fertilizer tycoon Dmitry Rybolovlev’s daughter, Ekaterina Rybolovleva.

Dell, 52, has a net worth of $23.3 billion, according to Forbes. Earlier this month, he confirmed chatter that he was considering taking Dell Technologies public again, after going private in 2013.  Dell’s private investment firm, MSD Capital, is an active real estate investor, backing projects such as Sharif El-Gamal’s 45 Park Place and picking up stakes in properties such as  Grand Central Terminal. And Dell is no stranger to fancy personal real estate either. In November, he entered contract to buy a penthouse at what will become Boston’s tallest residential tower. That deal, too, could set a new record in the city. He also owns the so-called Raptor Residence in Hawaii, a three-lot property recently assessed at $64.7 million.

Leighton Candler represented Dell in the One57 deal, according to the newspaper. That gives the Corcoran Group broker the distinction of handling the city’s record sale, though the deal is expected to be topped by one or more deals at Vornado Realty Trust’s 220 Central Park South. A penthouse there is reportedly in contract to sell for over $200 million to hedge funder Ken Griffin.

It’s apt that Dell has been outed now. Tomorrow is his birthday.  [WSJ] — Hiten Samtani

Marquis unit 4905/4906 (Credit: Douglas Elliman), Drake and Mario Chalmers

It looks like it was all part of God’s plan.

Former Miami Heat point guard Mario Chalmers is selling his downtown Miami condo – a unit he purchased from rapper and producer Drake.

Chalmers, who played for the Heat between 2008 and 2015 and is now part of the Memphis Grizzlies, is set to sell the two-story, 5,475-square-foot unit for $2.3 million on Thursday, a spokesperson for Douglas Elliman told The Real Deal. Chalmers listed the five-bedroom condo in 2014 for $4 million and later took it off the market.  It was most recently asking $2.66 million.

Chalmers is selling the condo at a slight loss. Chalmers’ Team Rio LLC paid $2.4 million for unit 4905/4906 at Marquis, 1100 Biscayne Boulevard, in 2012. The duplex unit features marble and wood floors, a game room, wet bar and a large terrace. The 67-story building was completed in 2010.

The condo was also featured in Drake’s “I’m On One” music video in 2011, which included DJ Khaled sipping a Four Loko on the balcony. Drake recently filmed his “God’s Plan” video in Miami, giving away most of his $1 million budget.

Elliman’s John Sandberg with the Sandberg Nortmann Group represented the buyer, a Boston businessman. Denver Bright, previously with Elliman, represented Chalmers.

Rendering of Paseo Miami

A partnership between 13th Floor Investments and Tricera Capital got the green light from a city of Miami board to build on a prime 2.2-acre site that borders the MiMo Historic District and Miami’s Morningside neighborhood.

Paseo Miami, a mixed-use apartment building, is planned for 5700 Biscayne Boulevard, the site of a cancelled condo project by Unitas Development Group.

The 448,000-square-foot development, designed by Corwil Architects, would include 294 apartments, about 27,000 square feet of retail/commercial space and 517 parking spaces. The project also features an interior courtyard and a pool deck on the top floor.

The Miami Urban Development Review Board on Wednesday approved Paseo Miami with 10 conditions tweaking the design of the proposed eight-story building. The board’s requested changes include incorporating MiMo elements into the structure, enhancing the southern facade, breaking down the massing of the facade to create a multiform building, and placing Oak trees along the paseo.

The developer, a joint venture between 13th Floor and Tricera called BLVD 57 LP, and its representatives must also meet with residents and address their concerns about Paseo Miami’s scale in relation to the MiMo Historic District and Morningside.

“We agree that this an important piece of property that should be developed responsibly with context to the adjacent neighborhoods,” said Brad Colmer, chairman of the Morningside Civic Association’s Biscayne Boulevard Development Committee and a developer in Sunset Harbour. “There has been zero outreach undertaken by the developer.”

Morningside resident Debbie Stander said even though there are no zoning restrictions preventing the developer from building an eight-story structure, the project would dwarf buildings to the immediate north and south of Biscayne Boulevard.

13th Floor and Tricera purchased the site from Unitas in June 2017 for $19.5 million. The previous owner wanted to build 105 condos and 40,000 square feet of retail in eight stories. At Paseo Miami, the unit mix would be 34 studios, 154 one bedroom apartments, and 106 with two and three bedrooms.

Sundance Village, Gardens at Nova and Larry Stockton (Credit: Colliers International South Florida)

Two South Florida apartment complexes just hit the market unpriced – but are expected to nab between $95 million to $100 million, the broker marketing the property told The Real Deal.

The 444-unit portfolio includes Sundance Village, a 304-unit complex at 11325 Northwest 7th Street near Doral; and the Gardens at Nova, a 140-unit property at 6857 College Court in Davie.

Larry Stockton of Colliers International South Florida is listing the property on behalf of the seller, a Coral Gables-based company led by siblings Manuel and Jorge Larrieu and Nitza Gonzalez. Together, the Larrieus head the real estate development and management firm, Poinciana Homes, which focuses on residential development, according to its website.

Records show Poinciana Homes affiliates, Sundance Apartments I Inc. and Gardens at Nova Manor Inc., own the properties, which are all garden-style communities that feature two- to three-bedroom apartments. The complexes were developed between 1988 and 1997, records show.

The owners paid about $7.2 million for Sundance Village in 1997, and $11.8 million in 2003 for the Gardens at Nova rental complex, according to records. The total amounts to $19 million. The properties are being listed individually or together.

The rental complexes have maintained a roughly 94 percent occupancy rate over the past 10 years, Stockton said. He estimates the portfolio will trade for a total of about $95 million to $100 million, “depending on the market,” which he says is strong for multifamily investment deals.

Last year, the majority of the top multifamily deals in South Florida exceeded $100 million, each.

Rendering of Coconut Grove Playhouse (Credit: Arquitectonica)

The fresh redesign of the Coconut Grove Playhouse renovation project got a seal of approval from Miami’s Urban Development Review Board. Six board members voted unanimously on Wednesday to approve a new detailed site plan that includes a fully restored auditorium building.

In December, the Miami City Commission derailed a $20 million proposal by the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs that entailed razing the playhouse’s deteriorated 1,100-seat auditorium and replacing it with a modern 300-seat theater. Instead, the city commission voted to preserve the theater’s exterior facade.

New renderings and the proposed site plan by project architect Arquitectonica now show the front of the theater building would be restored to retain its historical elements. The renovated building would have 311 seats with supportive areas such dressing rooms, administrative offices and costume rooms totaling 28,460 square feet.

A new five-story building with 300 parking spaces and 33,580 square feet of office space would replace a parking lot adjacent to the theater. About 13,000 square feet of existing retail space would be expanded by another 3,175 square feet and given a modernized look with large windows.

The 1926 theater has been shuttered since 2006 when the state-owned facility ceased operations. The county took over the property, and in conjunction with Florida International University, commissioned Coconut Grove-based Arquitectonica to come up with a redevelopment plan for the Playhouse. The cultural affairs department still has to get the new proposal approved by city’s planning and zoning department and the Historic Preservation and Environmental Protection Board.

Earlier this month, a Bendixen & Amandi International poll of 400 Miami residents found that 80 percent favored the county’s $20 million plan to renovate and reopen the playhouse. They selected it over a competing proposal by arts patron Mike Eidson, who wants to restore the entire structure and build a 700-seat theater at a cost of at least $48 million.

Miami Design District and GGP’s Sandeep Mathrani (Credit: General Growth Properties)

General Growth Properties increased its ownership stake in the Miami Design District, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

GGP bought out its joint venture partner, Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp., bringing its total ownership to 22.3 percent. In June, the Chicago real estate investment trust received 7.3 percent of Ashkenazy’s interests in the Design District in full satisfaction of two promissory notes totaling $98 million, documents show.

GGP lent Ashkenazy $40.4 million with a 6 percent annual interest rate in September 2015, which Ashkenazy paid back in June with $1.1 million in accrued interest. It also lent $57.6 million in November 2015. Ashkenazy paid that back at the same time with $2.6 million in accrued interest, according to the filing.

Miami Design District Associates owns about 70 percent of the real estate in the neighborhood. The partnership is led by Dacra and L Real Estate (an affiliate of LVMH), which have an equal share of just under 40 percent each. GGP and Ashkenazy owned about 22.5 percent of the Design District until June.

In all, the Design District is 62.9 percent leased to tenants that include Gucci, Bulgari, Fendi, Hermes, Louis Vuitton, Prada and Valentino, according to the SEC filing. The high-end retail district has about 848,000 square feet of leasable area.

Developer Craig Robins, president and CEO of Dacra, recently opened Paradise Plaza with new designer shops like the House of Creed, Rag & Bone and Joseph, and public art installations. The long-awaited Institute of Contemporary Art also opened around in December.

In recent years, other major investors have followed Robins’ lead. Brooklyn-based Redsky Capital and its joint venture partner, London-based JZ Capital Partners, are now likely the second-largest land owners, while New York-based Helm Equities, the Gindi family, Thor Equities and David Edelstein’s TriStar Capital are also significant property holders in the district.

Christian Bautista contributed reporting.

From left, Home61 agents Pilar Duque, Gustavo Berastegui and Manfred Velette

A Miami startup brokerage said it will begin charging a flat fee to home sellers, trying to lure customers away from larger agencies that operate on a percentage-based commission scale.

Home61, a technology driven brokerage, will charge the $6,100 fee on the seller side for every transaction no matter the sale price. It is the equivalent of the standard 3 percent commission a broker would earn selling a $200,000 property. So, a $500,000 home sale would save the seller $9,000, said Home61 founder and CEO Olivier Grinda. Home61 focuses on the mass market, with an average sale between $400,000 and $450,000.

The company, which opened in 2015, is trying to seize on a model that major firms in South Florida have refused to adopt, in part they argue, because selling a home is not a one-size-fits-all business.

Home61 will still charge the seller a 3 percent commission to pay the buyer’s agent. So the owner of a $500,000 property would pay a total of $21,100 — $6,100 flat fee plus $15,000 to the buyer’s agent — still less than the traditional 6 percent total, or $30,000.

In the highly competitive brokerage business, upstart Home61 is not the first to try a flat fee. Home Bay, based in San Diego, offers a one-time fee starting at $2,000 for sellers, according to its website. And in England, Purple Bricks uses a flat fee model, charging 849 pounds (currently $1,184) to sellers, or 1,199 pounds ($1,672) in London and surrounding areas, its website shows. The firm also recently entered the California market with a $3,200 seller’s fee, starting with Los Angeles in September; San Diego, Fresno and Sacramento in January; and plans to enter the New York market by the end of June, according to a spokesperson.

But the flat fee commission has yet to really take hold, and industry pros say it’s because the time and effort for brokers differs depending on the property.

Mike Pappas, CEO of the Keyes Company, acknowledges that “in hot markets, there is always a strain on fees.” Still, he said his company operates with the traditional percentage-based commission system.

“What is unique about our industry is we are not selling books or cars that are standard,” he said. “We are selling unique homes — each home is uniquely individual, each seller is uniquely individual and each buyer is uniquely individual, and that is the art of the deal and it takes tremendous expertise.”

Nevertheless, Jay Parker, CEO of Douglas Elliman’s Florida brokerage, acknowledges his agents don’t spend a lot of time or money on listings at the lower end of the market, up to $400,000. “There’s nothing to be said that the concept can’t work if they focus on the lower tiers of the market,” Parker said.

Until now, technology-driven Home61 has focused on the buyer side of the residential market. Now, agents on the seller side will receive a salary plus a bonus for each sale.

The firm has completed $100 million in deals and grown to 65 agents, with plans to reach 100 agents by June, Grinda said. The goal for 2018 is to complete 800 transactions and 200 listings by the end of the year. Even with the flat fee, the three-year-old company says it aims to reach profitability by the end of this year as it expands its volume of transactions.

The brokerage’s goal is to sell at least 200 homes this year and 400 in 2019, Grinda said. It is starting off with four agents on the seller’s side, focusing on houses and condos in the Brickell area and in Coconut Grove, and is recruiting additional agents.

(Credit: Getty Images)

Calm down, realtors: unlike landlines, napkins and video stores, it looks like buying homes will not die out with the millennial generation.

First-time buyers comprised 38 percent of single-family home purchases last year, their biggest share in the market since 2000, according to Bloomberg. They bought 2.07 million new homes in total, a 7 percent jump from 2016, and a big reason for this is that the oldest members of the millennial generation have started looking for houses as they exchange student loan debt for marriages and children.

The rate of homeownership for Americans younger than 35 rose to 36 percent in the fourth quarter, a number that has not been higher since the beginning of 2014, according to census data. [Bloomberg] – Eddie Small

Call it buried tax treasure for homeowners: Deep inside the behemoth 654-page bipartisan budget bill recently signed into law by President Trump are little-noticed extensions of key tax-code benefits that expired in 2016, but now can be used for upcoming 2017 tax filings.

Potentially the most popular is aimed at millions of buyers and owners who pay mortgage-insurance premiums on conventional, FHA and VA loans. Roughly 4.1 million owners took write-offs averaging more than $1,500 during 2015, the most recent year for which statistics are available. Mortgage-insurance industry officials predict that at least that many will be able to qualify for the benefit on their 2017 tax returns — provided they learn the deduction has been revived for the year.

Mortgage insurance is designed to cover a portion or all of a lender’s risk of loss in the event of default on home loans where borrowers make less than a 20 percent down payment. The coverage is especially commonplace — and important — on mortgages made to first-time purchasers and to households with moderate or lower incomes. Fees are either folded into borrowers’ monthly payments or paid in a lump sum up front.

Congress first authorized tax deductions for mortgage-insurance premiums more than a decade ago, but legal authority for the write-offs lapsed at the end of 2016. The new budget bill provides for a retroactive extension for premiums paid during 2017, but it’s silent about future deductions, including for 2018.

To qualify for the benefit, borrowers must pass a couple of tests: The home securing the insured mortgage must have been their principal residence during the year rather than a second home or investment property. And their adjusted gross income must have totaled less than $100,000. Deductible amounts phase down to zero for taxpayers with incomes up to $110,000.

Another popular tax-code provision brought back to life retroactively for 2017 filings: Elimination of tax liability on mortgage debt forgiven by lenders in connection with short sales, foreclosures and loan modifications. Without this special exception to the law, financially distressed homeowners would otherwise be subject to the tax code’s traditional, harsh treatment of canceled debt: Any amounts forgiven are taxed as ordinary income, at regular marginal rates — essentially hitting owners with prodigious tax bills at the very time they are least able to pay, following a foreclosure or short sale. If, for example, a lender wrote off $100,000 as part of a short-sale arrangement, the IRS could demand income taxes on that $100,000, despite the fact that the sellers had lost all their equity and were in bad financial shape already.

Originally passed by Congress during the housing crisis of the last decade, the special exception benefited thousands of owners who struggled with job losses, medical bills and other financial challenges during the Great Recession and the years following. Though foreclosures and short sales have declined steadily during the post-recession recovery, they are still a significant presence in the real estate market. According to ATTOM Data Solutions, lenders started the foreclosure process on nearly 384,000 properties during 2017. The amounts canceled by lenders often range into the tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars; some exceed $1 million.

Though Congress renewed the special housing exception to the debt-forgiveness rule multiple times, it expired at the end of 2016. But under the new budget-bill agreement extension, homeowners who had mortgage debt canceled by their lender during 2017 may be eligible for tax relief. IRS guidelines for the program are spelled out in the agency’s Publication 4681. Maximum eligible amounts of mortgage debt canceled range up to $2 million ($1 million if you’re married filing separately).

Other potentially useful expired tax benefits that were revived retroactively for 2017 under the budget agreement involve energy-conserving improvements made to your home. The new extension allows you to get a tax credit of 10 percent of what you spent on certain improvements such as insulation, energy-efficient windows and doors and roofs. The cost of installing the improvements cannot be included in the calculation of the credit amount.

You may also be eligible for a credit for high-efficiency heating and air conditioning systems, water heaters and stoves that burn biomass fuel. Note that there are limits on the total credit you can claim. To qualify, you’ll need to have installed your “qualified improvements” in your principal residence — no second homes allowed — no later than Dec. 31, 2017.

The Queue Apartments and Robert Given

Miami-based Boardwalk Properties just paid $53 million for a recently completed apartment building in downtown Fort Lauderdale.

The 191-unit Queue Apartments at 817 South East Second Avenue traded for about $277,500 per unit. The seller is a partnership between Urban Street Development and Fazio Properties. In October, the duo began marketing the property with Cushman & Wakefield’s Robert Given, Troy Ballard, Zachary Sackley and James Quinn. The brokerage firm announced the sale.

Alan Hooper and Tim Petrillo of Urban Street Development, in partnership with Quinn Fazio Goodchild and Fred Fazio of Fazio Properties, completed the tower last year.

Records show an entity of Urban Street Development acquired a 10 percent stake in the property in 2014. The partnership scored a $25 million construction loan soon after.

MSA was the architect and Big Time Designs also participated in the project. The building has studio to three-bedroom units ranging from 529 square feet to 1,275 square feet. The rent for an average unit of 806 square feet is $1,930 a month, or about $2.39 per square foot, according to the release.

Rooms have granite countertops, tiled bathrooms and high ceilings. Residents have access to a two-story gym, a courtyard pool, zen garden and a pet-friendly community space and dog park.

The Queue Apartments is nearly fully leased. Boardwalk, based in Miami Beach, owns more than 900 multifamily units, which it began amassing in since its formed in 2014.

The Queue Apartments is one of several rental buildings recently completed in downtown Fort Lauderdale, including the 30-story Amaray Las Olas. A number of others are being planned, such as Zom’s 456-unit Las Olas Walk and Silverback Development’s 35-story mixed-use rental tower. — Amanda Rabines

From left: Ruth Porat, Paul Darrah, David Radcliffe, the Chelsea Market and a rendering of Google’s new headquarters (Credit: Getty Images, Google, the Chelsea Market and BIG and Heatherwick Studio)

More than a decade before Google put together a deal to buy the Chelsea Market building for $2.4 billion, the head of the tech titan’s in-house real estate team in New York was working on another marquee project.

In the early 2000s, Paul Darrah was leading the real estate team at Bloomberg LP, overseeing construction of the company’s new, 750,000-square-foot headquarters at Vornado Realty Trust’s 731 Lexington Avenue. Darrah and his team had to convince Vornado to alter their plans for a primarily residential and hotel tower, and worked to design the building to their own specifications.

It was that Bloomberg project, sources said, that put him on the radar of the city’s biggest real estate players.

“That really made everyone stand up and take notice,” said Mark Weiss, of Cushman & Wakefield. “To deliver a major corporate headquarters like that, on-time and on-budget, is a major accomplishment.”

Since May, Darrah has headed up Google’s real estate and work services department, a position that gives him a voice in  some of the biggest real estate deals in the country: According to Real Capital Analytics, the global real estate assets of Google’s parent company Alphabet have an estimated value of $14.5 billion – roughly 30 percent of which is concentrated in two New York City buildings.

He was a key figure, industry experts said, in Google’s decision to acquire the Chelsea Market building from Jamestown, in what is slated to be the second priciest single-building deal in New York City history.

Darrah is also working on company projects such as the build-out of its 370,000-square-foot offices at Pier 57 on the Hudson River, and its short-term lease for more than 200,000 square feet at the Starrett Lehigh Building. Both properties are co-owned by RXR Realty.

“Google has been on a long-term expansion plan in New York for space close by to 111 [Eighth Avenue] and they have the cash to buy,” said Colliers International’s Joseph Harbert, whose company represented Google in its first lease at 111 Eighth Avenue in 2005. “I believe it has been more difficult than anticipated to empty out 111 and the need for growth-space hasn’t abated, so this is very logical for them.”

Google, LLC

After Bloomberg, Darrah went to work in corporate real estate for Lehman Brothers, where he led the partnership with Tishman Speyer on the developer’s $1 billion bid to develop Hudson Yards in 2008. The year before, Lehman had teamed up with Tishman to buy the national apartment REIT Archstone Smith for $22.2 billion – a deal that ultimately helped sink the investment bank – and part of their Hudson Yards pitch included a new headquarters for Lehman on the Far West Side.

Tishman ultimately lost out to the Related Companies and Oxford Properties Group and Lehman soon after went under. Darrah moved on to Bridgewater Associates, where he oversaw the world’s largest hedge fund’s 6 million-square-foot real estate portfolio.

At Google’s New York City office, Darrah oversees everything from identifying real estate needs, handling transactions and designing those “Googley” workspaces the company considers central to its identity.

But when it comes to opening the coffers for a multibillion-dollar real estate deal, sources familiar with Google’s inner workings said the negotiations go all the way up the corporate ladder to the Googleplex in Mountain View, California.

That would mean Ruth Porat, CFO of Alphabet and also head of the corporate umbrella’s real estate and work services department.

Porat, who was previously CFO and executive vice president of Morgan Stanley, joined Alphabet in 2015. Her take is that all the perks Google offers in its workplaces – such as stocked kitchens, food trucks and cafeterias – are “a core part of the work experience.”

“We’ve looked at it, and we think it’s a really smart way to run the business,” she told Fortune last year. “Our view is if we have people staying on site, hanging out together, the return on that is terrific.”

And while it wasn’t exactly clear which Google executives worked on the Chelsea Market deal and in what capacity, sources said the company’s California-based real estate head David Radcliffe likely played an integral role.

Radcliffe is a Google veteran who had worked on the company’s acquisition of 111 Eighth Avenue for $1.8 billion in 2010. And his fingerprints are all over Google’s other major real estate transactions, such as its $1.16 billion lease of NASA’s massive Moffett Field airfield in Santa Clara County, its $30 million plan to build 9,850 housing units for company employees in North Bayshore and Google’s 2 million-square-foot complex in Hyderabad, India – the company’s largest campus outside the United States.

But the company’s faced competition for prime real estate from tech rivals such as LinkedIn, which spent years battling with Google over expansion plans in Silicon Valley. And in New York, companies like Facebook and Spotify are aggressively growing their footprints at tech-friendly buildings in prime neighborhoods.

After the Chelsea market transaction, RXR’s CEO Scott Rechler told the New York Times that the modern tech industry is going through a significant shift.

“It’s now about the implementation and application of technology,” Rechler said. “And that’s presented an opportunity for New York, the business capital of the world. The talent pool is here.”

(Credit: Pixabay)

Developers hit the ground running at the start of the new year.

Construction spending in South Florida increased 68 percent year-over-year last month to $1 billion, up from $597 million in January 2017, according to a new report from Dodge Data & Analytics.

Though residential construction took a hit last year, the opposite can be said for the beginning of 2018. New residential starts in the region, which include multifamily, jumped 95 percent in January to about $629 million, up from $322 million in January 2017. Single-family home construction recently posted record numbers in the southern United States.

The commercial sector also saw a boost in January. Commercial construction starts increased 37 percent year-over-year last month to $376 million, up from $274 million.

Skorpios | Midtown Miami

Skorpios, a Mediterranean-style eatery, is set to open in the former Bocce Bar space at the Shops at Midtown Miami.

Partners Eric Milon, Stephane Dupoux and Sami Kohen are opening Skorpios at 2352 Northeast First Avenue on Friday. The restaurant spans 4,900 square feet of indoor and outdoor space. Executive chef Erhan Ozkaya previously led the kitchen at Mandolin in the Buena Vista neighborhood.

Milon declined to provide rents, but said the restaurant signed a 10-year deal with two five-year extension options. Michael Silverman of the Comras Company brokered the lease.

The owners were also looking at locations in Edgewater, but ultimately decided to open in Midtown and took over the space about four months ago. Milon is also a partner in Coyo Taco.

Grandview Public Market | West Palm Beach

A new food hall opened in the Warehouse District in West Palm Beach. The 14,000-square-foot Grandview Public Market is home to Celis Produce, Clare’s, Zipitios, Crema, Grace’s Fine Foods, Poke Lab Eatery and more.

Johnstone Capital Partners is developing the Warehouse District, a roughly 85,000-square-foot project, owner representative Will Earl said. He declined to provide asking rents.

Other tenants include the Steam Horse Brewery with 6,300 square feet, the under construction Steel Tide Distillery with about 6,000 square feet, a squash club, barre and cycling studio and an office user. The developer also has plans for a 4,000-square-foot to 6,000-square-foot high-end restaurant.

Tatel | Miami Beach

Tatel, a restaurant owned by partners Cristiano Ronaldo, Enrique Iglesias, NBA player Pau Gasol and Rafael Nadal, closed temporarily at the Ritz-Carlton South Beach. It’s expected to reopen when the hotel, which closed following Hurricane Irma, opens its doors again next winter, according to Miami.com.

Henry’s Sandwich Station | Fort Lauderdale

Henry’s Sandwich Station is opening in Fort Lauderdale’s FAT Village Arts District on Saturday.

The JEY Hospitality Group concept is taking 1,700 square feet at 545 Northwest First Avenue. The company signed a long-term lease for the sandwich shop, which was previously set to open as Proper Sandwich Fine Meats & Provisions. JEY’s other concepts include TacoCraft, Rok:Brgr and Himmarshee Public House.

Glenn Kelman of Redfin.

Redfin narrowed its losses in 2017, but profits remained elusive, the company reported Thursday.

The Seattle-based brokerage lost $15 million for the full year, a 33 percent drop from 2016’s loss of $22.5 million. Its 2017 revenue rose 38 percent year over year to $370 million.

During the fourth quarter, Redfin’s revenue rose 43 percent to $95.8 million with a net loss of $1.8 million.

In a statement, CEO Glenn Kelman called 2017 a year of “break-out traffic growth and new products,” Inman reported. One major strategic shift, Kelman said, was representing both sellers and buyers.

The earnings report was Redfin’s third since it went public in July. The buzzed-about initial public offering pushed Redfin stock up 45 percent on the first day of trading, to $21.70 from $15 per share. Redfin stock closed at $21.30 a share on Thursday. [Inman] — E.B. Solomont