Posts filed under 'Commercial Developments'
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 January 28, 2008
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 November 14, 2007
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 September 25, 2007
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:
- Media and Entertainment District
- Edgewater
- Wynwood Arts District
- 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 September 12, 2007
Image: Active construction site for the Shops at 5th and Alton
The Shops at 5th and Alton, which will include 185,000 sq. ft. of vertical retail space and a 943 space parking garage at the 5th street entrance to South Beach, has begun to see activity on its site. U.S. Century Bank is financing development for the Berkowitz Development Group and Potamkin family. The Shops at 5th and Alton will…
Continue Reading September 4, 2007
Image: (from left to right) Infinity, Axis, and Vue on South Miami Avenue
Envisioning Brickell During the Boom
Since the inception of the surge in construction activity that later became known as the boom, I have envisioned how the skyline would transform. As activity picked up, so many projects were being announced that I found it increasingly challenging to remember them all off the top of my head. Still, I would look at the skyline and consider the height and design of those projects that were anticipated to fill in the sky. Now that the boom has dissipated, it has become clear that many projects that were announced may never come to exist. Several examples of this can be readily found on South Miami Avenue. Let’s see what I mean on a map:
Continue Reading August 22, 2007
Map of the area: N.E. 2nd Avenue is shown in green and Midtown Miami in blue
Economic Artery in the Making?
N.E. 2nd Avenue, which runs parallel to Biscayne Boulevard and the FEC Corridor in Uptown, has remained largely untouched by new development. This north-south thoroughfare is important because it links to the Performing Arts Center, Midtown Miami, the Design District, and is next to Edgewater and the Wynwood Arts District. Currently, the Avenue is mostly dotted with vacant lots and decrepit buildings for sale, which indicates a ripeness for transformation, but change, although small, is already turning N.E. 2nd Ave into something of an economic artery. Let’s take a quick gander:
Continue Reading August 21, 2007
One of Brickell’s most impressively designed projects is under going work on its foundation. Capital at Brickell, designed by Fullerton Diaz Architects, has an award winning design, will include retail, office, and residential space, and is situated across from One Broadway. It’s being developed by Cabi Developers.
Image: Foundation work on the site of Capital at Brickell
August 20, 2007
Houston-based Hines has developed world class projects in twelve countries and four continents. The firm’s project portfolio boggles the mind in its use and design versatility. For 19 years two buildings dominated the Miami skyline. Both were built by Hines:
Continue Reading June 22, 2007
The construction of Logik, a two phase Class A office tower project (I.C.E. Development), in the often overlooked Overtown area signals a positive stride in Miami’s office market and the urban core’s evolution. As it stands, Overtown represents an entire under utilized segment of the core. Park West is rising to the east, the CBD is busting at the seams to the south, and the M&E is seeing quite a bit of activity to the north. The well-designed Logik will help to fill in the Overtown development gap with Class A office. Construction is set to begin this year. The towers are slated for completion some time in 2009. Office condos start at the $300’s.
Logik specs:
- 31 floors (352 ft. height)
- 700,000 total sq. feet
- 130,000 sq. ft. for office tower suites
- retail component
June 12, 2007
Developed by Robert Wennett, The proposed 1111 Lincoln Road mixed use development, located across the street from the Zyscovich-designed Lincoln Road Cinema (1100 Lincoln Rd.), is sharply designed and unorthodoxly thought-out. The project combines the architectural brilliance of two preeminent firms: Zyscovich, and Herzog & De Meuron (designing the planned Miami Art Museum and designers of the Allianz Arena in Munich and Beijing Olympic Stadium).
Image: Raymond Jungle courtyard landscaping and unit interior rendering
The project will have 50,000 square feet of curated street-level retail space with 18-30ft
high ceilings and a 300 space parking garage. Located at the west entrance to Lincoln Road, the site offers optimal visibility for its future tenants. The project will include residences that are surrounded by Raymond Jungle landscaped courtyards. This standout project further solidifies Zyscovich’s leading role in innovative design in Miami Beach, introduces a world-class international architectural firm to the Beach, adds Class A commercial space to South Beach, and compliments the westward expansion of Lincoln road.
May 31, 2007
New York-based Morgans Hotel Group, best known locally for the Delano and Shore Club hotels, is expanding its presence in South Beach. This time around, the venture is joint, involving local real estate development firm Sanctuary West Ave LLC. Mondrian South Beach will have a hotel component operated by MHG. The interior design is coming from the creative genius of Marcel Wanders who has conceived the hotel as being a “sleeping beauty castle” where guests will step into a “magical world”. Pretty intensely imaginative stuff. The website’s interior renderings are unprecedented in terms of design: possibly comparable to ICON South Beach in abstract and stark design.
Continue Reading May 31, 2007
Bayview Market, today, seems a visionary proposition. On the DDA map, it sits just outside of the designated Media and Entertainment District. This will change as the M&E expands. Bayview Market’s site is on N.E. 2nd Avenue and 17th Street. This neighborhood had been devoid of development activity for years until Parc Lofts was constructed. Today, Bayview’s site is surrounded by the newly built Parc Lofts, planned MAX Tower (does not appear on the DDA list), Filling Station Lofts, Urbana and Ellipse projects.
Bayview Market has lured Lowe’s as a retail anchor, and now, reportedly, Wal Mart too. If true, this would mark Wal Mart’s first step into Miami’s urban core. Except the M&E District, as recently as 2003, was not the urban core, but on the fringes of it. It represented the frontier of the urban landscape. Buyers at Parc Lofts were the urban pioneers. However, with Wal Mart present, the frontier era will end. Bayview Market will make the neighborhood a destination.
According to the Herald’s Elaine Walker, the Bayview developers are to announce new big-name retailers within weeks. As it stands, a Lowes and a Wal Mart will lure more well-known retailers. Bayview is suddenly at the forefront of Miami’s retail resurgence in the urban core. Wal Mart’s presence there will change the face of the community and attract shoppers from all over the urban core and as far as Miami Beach. Traffic will increase significantly. Owners at nearby developments will be in the center of this increasing activity. Expect more loft projects to be announced in the immediate area. The close proximity to the Omni and City Square project make the area a hotbed of activity with a high degree of potential.
May 6, 2007
The Miami Herald has reported that “real estate giant” Tishman Speyer has bought Courvoisier Centre for $150 million. Tishman Speyer owns the landmark Rockefeller Center and Chrysler Building in NYC, and according to the Herald, the New York firm recently closed on the biggest real estate deal in U.S. history by acquiring an 80 acre apartment complex in Manhattan for $5.4 billion. Tishman Speyer’s reemergence into the Miami office market is not the only exciting news. Chicago-based Equity Office Properties recently acquired stakes in two Miami office buildings. Transwestern Investments, another Chicago-based company, bought a large office complex in the Gables. In the CBD, office vacancies have gone from 14.4% in the year 2005 to %10.2 in the present. On Brickell office vacancies have gone from 15% in 2005 to 7.7% in the present.
The boom in high rise construction in Miami has been mostly residential. This unprecedented vertical growth in the residential sector is highly unusual. Historically, high density booms throughout the globe, for the most part, have been composed of office buildings. Even today, in the major urban centers of the world (Shanghai, Hong Kong, Moscow, New York, Chicago, etc.) the most impressive high rises are commercial. This is not the case in Miami where there are plans for three 1,000ft towers, all residential, along with dozens of other residential skyscrapers taller than 400 ft.
With the economic growth and trade surplus of Miami, the city is primed for office growth. As mentioned here before, an increase in office development in Miami is inevitable and may eventually evolve into a boom.
April 12, 2007
Great news for the Media and Entertainment District. Argent Venture’s plans for the Omni Mall have been approved by the City of Miami. The developer’s legal counsel, Lucia Dougherty, paved the way for the approval, which Marc Sarnoff acclaimed. Mr. Sarnoff said that the project is like a “second Midtown Miami”. It has been stated here before that Uptown has three mega projects. These are massive city-within-a-city developments. Argent’s plans for the Omni will span 15 years and comprise 6 towers:
Continue Reading March 29, 2007
The Real Deal, a New York based real estate publication, has an interesting article regarding office tower development in Miami. I have said in the past that Miami’s current residential boom will likely be followed by a commercial development surge. This seems only natural as, historically, throughout the nation, high density development has been primarily commercial/office. Miami has broken the mold with its mostly residential high density explosion in construction. Now, with the announcement of three new office towers (Brickell Financial Center, Met 2, and 1450 Brickell) the residential status quo could be shifting in favor of office space. The Brickell financial Center has already drawn the attention of MSNBC for its environmental friendliness.
This trend, should it continue and mature into a boom in office development, will likely result in taller skyscrapers than the residential boom has produced thus far. Also, the office towers are all inland and not on the Bay. This is another sign of skyline maturation since Miami’s urban development during its brief existence has been largely confined to bay areas. Two of the three office projects are in Brickell. Again, this signals a potential shift of the Central Business District (CBD) to the south of the Miami River. With so much activity, forecasting urban development patterns becomes rather challenging, but the latest news is good and all should hope that this office-condo pattern continues.
March 28, 2007
Brickell-based Cardinal Development (builder of Baylofts, New Wave, Cocowalk, and Cardinal Symphony), a self touted pioneer in development, has publicized their first press release for 3333 Biscayne
Continue Reading March 28, 2007
By now it should be obvious, Miami has hundreds of projects proposed, planned, in the pipeline, and under construction. At least half of them are high rises over 25 stories in height. But, almost every last one, is residential. Since when has a city undergone such a boom in high density development activity and had it remain almost exclusively residential? Throughout skyscraper history, most of the skyscrapers built were commercial. Now, in Miami, almost all of the dozens of new skyscrapers, 40 stories and higher, are residential. What happened to tradition? Where are all the commercial skyscrapers?
Continue Reading October 21, 2006
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