Boom or Bust: Miami

Thank You Giants

Continue Reading 12 comments February 4, 2008

A New Gym and Three Clowns

The other morning, I stumbled upon the Jose Marti Gymnasium construction site and thought it was a great public amenity for the neighborhood. With this in mind I stopped my car, rolled down the window, and began snapping some shots. Before I could finish, some where in the distance I heard shouts. It seemed to be coming from above me because no one was on the street. I rolled down the window further and heard…

Continue Reading 13 comments January 29, 2008

Collins Avenue Development Activity Expanding

Image: Formerly Fairwind Seafood Bar and Grill

On May 17, last year, I wrote a post on the Collins Avenue Shopping District’s relatively rapid emergence and unique attributes. I ended the post by stating:

“The shopping district currently ends at 10^th street, but there is room for it to expand northward. Collins, between 10^th and 15^th streets represents an underutilized segment of the storied avenue.”

Since then, the area north of 10th street on Collins has begun to transform as the anticipated northward expansion of new retail and hotel activity takes place. Structures are getting bought, restored, or demolished to make way for new businesses.

South Beach as a neighborhood and international brand has continuously redefined itself. It’s in these subtle changes, the motifs within the theme, that you see the redefinition taking place, so that every time a New Yorker or Londoner visits SoBe they feel like the experience has improved. This adaptability, along with the endowments nature has granted the island, is the key to its continued success.

Let’s see what this expansion looks like on the ground:

Continue Reading 2 comments January 29, 2008

Jacobo Cababie Dies of a Massive Heart Attack

4 comments January 28, 2008

Foram Group Bullish on Miami’s Class A Office Market

Condo Boom Stimulating Class A Office Development

Loretta Cockrum, President of the Foram Group (builders of the Brickell Financial Center) has said that the condo market boom has impacted the demand for Class A office space. Most agree that the condo boom, with all of its problems, does have one major positive aspect: the improvement of Miami’s demographics. For Miami, the status quo means mostly low income. Although not likely to quickly change, the incoming occupancy waves in and around the urban core will bring up income levels so that they are more compatible with declining home prices. This demographic improvement, according to Loretta, has and will continue to result in significant high quality commercial development.

Local Small Business Owners Uninterested in Green

Regarding the “Green” or LEED aspects of the Brickell Financial Center, Loretta stated that local small business owners have been mostly indifferent to…

Continue Reading 2 comments January 28, 2008

Jorge Perez’s $1 Billion ‘Opportunity Fund’

Cash is King

At Friday’s ULI Conference Related Group principal Jorge Perez announced plans for a $1 billion “opportunity” fund for the purpose of bailing out troubled buyers and expanding assets. Mr. Perez emphasized the scarcity of prime land and claims that the next upswing, whenever that may be, will involve significantly higher acquisition prices–prices that will make today’s per square foot values seem minimal in comparison. In a market where cash is king, he aims to demonstrate that his crown shines the brightest…

Continue Reading 7 comments January 28, 2008

Not Closed

21 comments January 17, 2008

Is Miami Home to the Most Foreign-Born Residents?

Technically, no. That unique distinction is reserved for Sweetwater, FL. Although in Miami-Dade County, City-Data (the source of the list) factors it in as an independent municipality. This is the same for all municipalities within Miami-Dade. In Fact, in the City-Data U.S. Top 100 list of Cities with the Highest Percentage of Foreign Born Residents, the City of Miami ranks fifteenth. Let’s take a look at the top twenty:

Continue Reading 17 comments November 20, 2007

Commercial Development Outook: Central Business District

Using the latest DDA Development Activity Report, I created the chart below. It represents commercial space that has been built since 2002, current active construction, and commercial projects that have been approved but remain inactive.

Chart: Derived from the DDA Development Activity report, the chart above, which is separated by retail and office use, represents new commercial space added to the market since 2002, current construction, and approved but inactive commercial development.

As is the case with Brickell Village, 2008-09 represents a significant hike in new commercial space for the CBD market. At 803,000 sq. ft. of new construction, the Central Business District, ironically, falls short of Brickell Village’s over 1.4 million sq. ft. of new office space coming into the market…

Continue Reading 1 comment November 20, 2007

Commercial Development: Brickell Village Outlook

The chart below is one of several I prepared that are based on the latest DDA Development Activity Breakdown Report. It represents office/retail development (built, under construction, and approved) from 2002 to mid-2007 in Brickell Village. In an effort to compare DDA data with with an alternative source (to get the best overall picture), I deferred to CBRE’s market outlook. Let’s look at the DDA derived chart first:

Continue Reading 4 comments November 14, 2007

The Height Factor

Brickell Village is seeing the most high density development (mainly residential) with over 13,000 units built or under active construction since 2002, but what about the height race? Let’s see what the figures say:

Continue Reading 6 comments November 12, 2007

Residential Development: Actual vs. Speculative

The graph below is based on the DDA Development Activity Breakdown Report 2002-2007:

Chart: Each bar represents one of the three primary urban core segments. Brickell is combined with West Brickell; the CBD with Parkwest and South East Overtown; the Media and Entertainment District with Wynwood, Edgewater, and the Midtown vicinity). Red means speculative development–approved but inactive/unbuilt. Blue means real development–units built or under active construction.

HIGH DENSITY RESIDENTIAL IN THE THREE CORE AREAS

The chart above (2002 to 2007) is intended to weigh actual development against speculative development. Speculative constitutes approved but inactive projects–not under construction. Actual development represents projects built or under active construction. Let’s see what the numbers say about the three primary areas of the urban core:

Continue Reading 2 comments November 12, 2007

Wake Up, Fisher Island! A Documentary

4 comments November 8, 2007

Tracking Densification and Building Height Distribution (Intro)

Urban Core, Defined

When the term “urban core” is used here, it refers to three areas or segments in the center of Miami:

• Uptown (north of the I-395 & south of the I-195)
• Central Business District area (north of the Miami River & south of the I-395)
• Brickell Village (south of the Miami River).

Some would argue that the core’s boundaries exceed what I’ve mentioned. Others that it is less. For now, I feel comfortable with the three segment approach…

Continue Reading 1 comment November 8, 2007

Pondering Parcel B

Map: Parcel B, highlighted in red, is almost in the center of the proposed Baywalk path (blue line) and is even closer to being in the center of the entire Core.

As per the 2004 PPS report, there are several propositions for this excellently situated parcel’s use:

1. Restaurants such as an outdoor bar and grill
2. An outdoor market, farmer’s market, or collector’s market
3. Soccer field
4. Bait and tackle shop for nearby marinas
5. Dancing Ballroom
6. An open area for T.V. events
7. Science Museum Wildlife facility
8. Recreational activities pavilion
9. Bay of Pigs Museum

I like none of them. Whatever goes on Parcel B needs to be alluring to residents, visitors, and tourists. It should…

Continue Reading 11 comments November 6, 2007

Early Week Links

Add comment November 6, 2007

Parkwest and Falcone Further Considered

The New Landlord of Parkwest

Under normal circumstances, Falcone’s plans for Parkwest would be astounding, but in Miami, normal circumstances are hard to come by. There are other projects that resemble Falcone’s vision for a city-within-a-city nearby: CitiSquare, Omni, and Midtown. In fact, his vision is simply the latest of Miami’s mega projects. This does not change the fact that his vision is unprecedented in scale and scope…

Continue Reading Add comment November 6, 2007

Social Networking Site for Miami’s Urbanites

Miamiurbanlife.com allows members to share ideas, gossip, images, and videos regarding anything related to living in urban Miami. Although brand new, the site has managed to gain members from 16 of Downtown’s newest condos. Check it out. If your building isn’t registered, be the first to sign up. It’s free and connects you to the emerging urban social sphere.

Continue Reading 6 comments November 5, 2007

Shanghai and the 305

Content is drawn in part from Stella Dong’s, Shanghai, The Rise and fall of a Decadent City.

Opium and Cocaine

Miami’s role in the cocaine trade during the 1980’s heavily influenced the evolution of the city just as the Opium trade in the late 1800’s shaped Shanghai’s.

“Even as late as 1914, when the amount of foreign opium entering Shanghai had been drastically cut, the North China Herald declared, ‘Practically every foreign bank and every big Chinese piece goods, yarn or metal dealer is involved [in the opium trade]‘” (SD, Shanghai, p. 61).

In Miami, during the 1980s, billions were being generated from the cocaine trade. Foreign banks sprang up all over Brickell Avenue. Miami was, as Shanghai was with Opium, the main entry point for Cocaine for the entire country. I’ve mentioned this comparison here before.

Foreign Investment, Booms, and Busts

During the late 19th century, foreign investment in Shanghai was…

Continue Reading Add comment November 5, 2007

Baywalk Blues

Pedestrian Access Denied

At what point is the Baywalk project going to move forward? Plans were submitted to the City in 2004. What has happened since then? Not much. Contrary to what some might think, this is no fantasy project and shouldn’t be a distant prospect. A Bay Walk is a common aspect of coastal cities throughout the world–large and small, obscure and renown. It represents a fundamental connection between city life and the bay. Biscayne Bay, being one of the defining natural characteristics of the city, is at the core of Miami’s identity, yet Miamians are largely blocked from walking its shores.

Image: Photograph I took of the waterfront promenade at La Coruna, Spain

The plans for Miami’s Baywalk are astounding. It would link together three major waterfront Parks, the Miami River, Bayside Marketplace, American Airlines Arena, and proposed Science and Art Museums. This would make for one of the most distinctive waterfront promenades in the U.S., yet the City has made no encouraging progress since the PPS report was submitted in 2004.

Continue Reading 2 comments November 5, 2007

One Year Later

I started this blog about one year ago. At the time, I knew little about blogging, bloggers, or the blogosphere. I didn’t anticipate many readers. For me, the blog represented a sort of project or personal experiment where I could use it as a virtual notebook–the purpose of which was to track and analyze Miami’s urban evolution. I had long since recognized the historic nature of the construction boom and was compelled to document its long and short term effects…

Continue Reading 25 comments November 2, 2007

Excuse Me (UPDATED)

22 comments October 2, 2007

Development Outlook: Midtown Miami & Vicinity

Image: Midtown Four and Midblock

The Foremost Symbol of Miami’s Emerging Urbanism

Midtown Miami is, in many ways, the most obvious symbol of Miami’s rapid urban transformation. It exhibits Miami’s architectural star power, represents the most ambitious push west for urbanism in the city thus far, sits on a formerly blighted and infrastructureless area of the city, and incorporates large-scale commercial and residential elements. For all intensive purposes, it is a city-within-a-city.

Image: The shops at Midtown Miami’s northwest side

The Skeptics Viewpoint

Yet, despite this, there are those that recall the past failure of the much hyped Omni Mall when considering Midtown’s prospects for success. However natural this historic allusion may seem, the Omni, which never had the residential component Midtown has, is currently owned by a New York-based firm with billion dollar plans that span 10-15 years. Suffice to say times have changed. Then there are those that claim the project is…

Continue Reading 29 comments September 25, 2007

Back to Regular Programming

Add comment September 21, 2007

Mid Week Links

Add comment September 19, 2007

Bogus Ammenities at Casablanca Villas?

Image: Casablanca Villas

Casablanca Villas is a new mid-rise development on Indian Creek and 63rd street on Miami Beach. It doesn’t have beach front access but claims to offer its buyers exclusive access to the ocean and rights to other ocean front amenities via a neighboring building. Take a look:

Continue Reading 9 comments September 18, 2007

3rd Quarter 07′ Construction Tour: Miami Beach

Let’s take a tour through Miami Beach to take a look at the third quarter status of recently topped off buildings, ongoing construction, and recently started foundation work:

Continue Reading 14 comments September 17, 2007

Biscayne Blvd. Planned Resurfacing & Uptown’s Retailization

Image: Section of Biscayne Boulevard in the Upper East Side undergoing an extensive reconstruction.

Biscayne Boulevard is undergoing extensive work along the CBD, but the area north of the I-395 up to 36th street, represents a separate phase of Biscayne Boulevard’s enhancement, and is currently unaffected by the Boulevard’s improvement initiative. According to DDA records, the work in the Uptown section of Biscayne Boulevard is expected to begin sometime this year with completion slated for 2008. An area that is currently affected by resurfacing work is Biscayne Boulevard north of 55th Street where stores with US-1 frontage are facing bulldozers, barricades, and crawling auto traffic. There’s little doubt as to the negative effect that the resurfacing initiative is having on those businesses. As a retailer, you don’t want a construction site situated on your front door step. As a consumer, you don’t want to have to traverse through construction traffic, dust clouds, and fragmented roads unless you have to…

Continue Reading 3 comments September 14, 2007

Signs of Urban Life: Retail Oulook (Uptown’s Pros - M&E)

Image 1: An under utilized retail structure with blue awnings on NE 24th street and Biscayne Boulevard is shown in the foreground with new developments surrounding it.

Continued from Signs of Urban Life: Development Outlook (Uptown’s Woes)

Uptown is the largest of the three primary urban core segments (CBD and Brickell Village being the other two). It contains four unique sub-segments:

1. Media and Entertainment District
2. Edgewater
3. Wynwood Arts District
4. Midtown Miami & vicinity

Map: Uptown and its four subsegments are shown above. The Media and Entertainment District is shown in blue, the Midtown Miami vicinity is shown in yellow, Edgewater in green, and Wynwood in red.

Continue Reading 5 comments September 12, 2007

Another Downtown Logo

A BoB reader from NYC, Joe, has submitted what he thinks should be the Downtown logo:

As a Gothamist living the hectic Big Apple lifestyle, he sees his second home in Brickell Village’s the Plaza as an outlet for relaxation, hence the upside down “A”, which represents a drink. Joe even included the skyline gap for realism. I’m not sure the DDA’ll dig the whole alcohol undertone, but I do. Cheers and thanks for submitting Joe!

Continue Reading 4 comments September 11, 2007