A group of unit owners hired brokers to sell their waterfront building in North Bay Village, near Related Group and Macklowe Properties’ planned two-tower luxury condo tower project.
Nearly all of the Harbor Condominium owners tapped Blanca Commercial Real Estate and MSP Group to sell the 29-unit, circa-1951 building at 7909 to 7911 East Drive on Harbor Island, said Blanca’s Cary Cohen, and Deme Mekras and Sam Mekras of MSP.
The 0.54-acre property is unpriced, but “We expect this to shatter the North Bay Village record,” Cohen said. Deme Mekras said the current record for land sales is $744 per square foot, which would come out to more than $17.6 million.
A developer could build 38 units and up to 150 feet tall, or about 15 stories; or up to 50 units with 195 feet of transferable development rights that the buyer could purchase from the city or a private seller, the brokers said.
Deme Mekras said the property will be a short walk to the planned island walk promenade that’ll be part of Sunbeam Properties’ planned development. The billionaire Ansin family’s Sunbeam Properties owns 14 acres in the village and plans to build a 7.3 million-square-foot development with roughly 2,000 residential units, 300 hotel keys and commercial space.
“To be walkable to that, it’s going to be pretty special,” he said.
Condo associations that may have deferred maintenance, repairs and the full funding of their aging buildings for years are now playing catch-up, thanks to condo safety laws passed after the deadly condo collapse of Champlain Towers South in Surfside more than four years ago. The cost of insurance has also soared.
“Rather than maintaining aging structures that require substantial capital investment, they are making the strategic decision to capitalize on the soaring value of their location,” Cohen said in the release, adding in an interview that the association’s monthly dues would create “more of a burden than a benefit.”
Some unit owners and associations have instead opted to sell their condos to developers in bulk.
Related and Macklowe bought out the owners of the Biscayne Sea Club co-op and the Majestic Isle condo building on the northern tip of Harbor Island, though both deals were previously tied up in litigation. The developers plan two nearly 500-foot condo towers on their assemblage of more than 4.1 acres. In July, North Bay Village commissioners unanimously passed a zoning ordinance via a special area plan that will allow the project to move forward. Arquitectonica, led by Bernardo Fort Brescia, is the architect.
On the west side of Harbor Island, S2 Development recently sold the 1-acre development site at 7913 West Drive to El-Ad National Properties. The waterfront lot is approved for a 22-story, 94-unit residential tower.
North Bay Village, a three-island town sandwiched between Miami and Miami Beach, has a number of other residential and mixed-use projects planned.
The Eichner family’s Continuum Company controls 4.5 acres in North Bay Village, including the former Shucker’s and Best Western property. This summer, the commission unanimously approved a special area plan, site plan and development agreement for the entire Continuum Waterfront District, which calls for two condo towers, a 200-key Continuum hotel and a marina. One tower can now be up to 440 feet tall.
Mikael Hamaoui’s Riviera Horizons plans the 28-story, 70-unit Pagani-branded condo tower at 7940 West Drive on Harbor Island, marking the first condo development for the Italian hypercar brand. Shoma Group plans Shoma Bay, a mixed-use condo tower with a Publix supermarket, at 1872 79th Street Causeway.
Developer Vivian Dimond also took over a stalled 21-story, 54-unit condo project at 7918 West Drive on Harbor Island, with plans to complete the building next year.
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