42-Story Condo Tower Site Sells In Greater Downtown Miami

MIAMI, FL, June 18, 2010--The development site for the proposed 42-story Pointe At Brickell Village (rendering top left)  condominium tower in the heart of Greater Downtown Miami's financial district has been sold for $5.4 million, or $150 per square foot, according to a new report from CondoVultures.com.

Union Credit Bank, a one-branch Florida chartered institution with assets of $167 million, sold the 36,000-square-foot development site at 1100 S. Miami Ave--a block away from the popular Shops at Mary Brickell Village outdoor mall (top right photo)  -- to a private equity group on June 11, according to the report based on Miami-Dade County and FDIC records.

Union Credit Bank repossessed the property on May 26 after a lengthy foreclosure process against the development company,  Brickell Village Partners with principal J. Kevin Reilly.

At the time of the foreclosure, the bank was owed $7.6 million in principal plus an additional $1.2 million in interest, fees, and court costs, according to the final judgment of foreclosure signed by Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Gerald D. Hubbart on Jan. 22, 2010.

"Nearly 10 high-rise condo development sites in Greater Downtown Miami have been sold in the last two years, and several more are for sale," said Peter Zalewski, (bottom right photo)  a principal with the Bal Harbour, Fla.-based real estate consultancy Condo Vultures® LLC.

 "Private equity groups have been buying up deeply discounted condos in Greater Downtown Miami with great velocity for the last 18 months. As the oversupply of new condos is whittled down, buyers are increasingly broadening their criteria. Land is starting to become acceptable - at the right price - once again."

Besides the development site acquisitions, bulk buyers have completed 50 transactions for more than 4,800 units and 6.5 million square feet in the tricounty South Florida region since July 2008, spending more than $1.1 billion, according to the Condo Vultures® Bulk Deals Database™.

For this latest land deal, the buyer, The Point At Brickell Village Corp with principals Diego E. Manfio and Silverio E. Alberto Manfio, paid an amount equal to the current assessed value of $5.4 million established by the Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser's Office.

Originally, Reilly's group purchased the proposed Pointe at Brickell Village land - four separate lots owned by two different groups - in January 2005 for a combined $7.2 million, or $200 per square foot.

Four months later in April 2005, the City of Miami approved Reilly's plans - which were submitted in December 2004 - to construct a 330-unit condo tower designed by the famed Arquitectonica architectural firm for the site. The tower was to proposed to feature nearly 325,000 square feet of residential space, 42,000 square feet of office space, and 14,000 square feet of retail space, according to government records.

The projected construction cost for the proposed 442-foot tall tower was estimated at $142.4 million, according to government records.

Reilly never developed the proposed Pointe at Brickell Village project as some 22,250 new condo towers were constructed in Greater Downtown Miami between 2003 and 2010 in a 60-block stretch where 11,500 units had been built between 1963 and 2002, according to the Condo Vultures® Official Condo Buyers Guide To Miami™.

At the end of the first quarter of 2010, some 6,600 new condo units were still unsold in Greater Downtown Miami. At the current pace of 240 sales per month, the current unsold inventory will take more than two years to sell, according to a recent Condo Vultures® White Paper™.

For Reilly, this is not the only proposed condo project that he planned but was never was able to build.

In February 2007, a Reilly company, Brickell Citicentre LLC, deeded to the lender 26 lots totaling nearly 247,000 square feet of developable land on both sides of South Miami Avenue between 7th and 8th Streets in Greater Downtown Miami's Brickell Avenue area, according a previous Condo Vultures® Market Intelligence Report™.

The Brickell Citicentre land is three blocks north of the Pointe at Brickell Village land.

Reilly's company had planned to construct a three-tower, mixed-used complex with more than 2,400 condo units, 200,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, and 130,000 square feet of office space to be called Brickell Citicentre at 700 and 701 S. Miami Ave., according to Miami Today newspaper.

Hong Kong-based Swire Properties, which built most of Brickell Key, paid $41.2 million, or $167 per square foot, for the 5.7 developable acres in October 2008. At the time of Swire's acquisition, the land was assessed at $49 million, or $199 per square foot, according to the Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser's Office.

Reilly's company originally purchased the Brickell Citicentre land for $46.5 million, or $189 per square foot, and borrowed $58.1 million, or $236 per square foot, from a Delaware entity controlled by iStar Financial, according to government records.

Contact: Peter Zalewski, Condo Vultures®,  800-750-0517,  peter@condovultures.com