ICON Brickell Project Slashes Prices As Much As 51%

MIAMI, FL--Prices at the ICON Brickell (centered photo below) three-tower condominium project in Greater Downtown Miami have been slashed to as little as $261 per square foot, a 51 percent discount on the average closed sales price in the complex to date, according to a new report from CondoVultures.com.

Prices vary in each of the three towers (Tower One, Tower Two, and Tower Three) based on the floor and the view in the 1,793-unit complex comprised of a pair of 57-story skyscrapers and a 50-story tower with 10 floors of condo-hotel units, according to the Condo Vultures® Official Condo Buyers Guide To Miami™.

The ICON Brickell project represents eight percent of the nearly 22,250 new condo units constructed in Greater Downtown Miami since 2003, according to the Condo Vultures® White Paper™.

To date, there have been nearly 150 combined closed sales in the ICON Brickell complex at an average price of $538 per square foot, with the super majority of sales occurring in the 713-unit Tower One (North).

 There have been nearly a dozen closed sales in the 560-unit Tower Two ( South), and no closed sales in the Tower Three (West), where the Viceroy Hotel is located, according to the Condo Vultures® White Paper™.

"ICON Brickell is a one-of-a-kind project with above-average amenities that several buyers really like," said Peter Zalewski, (middle right photo)  a principal with the Bal Harbour, Fla.-based real estate consultancy Condo Vultures® LLC. "To date, the pricing, not the product, has been the biggest hurdle for buyers to overcome in completing a deal. The new pricing could go a long way toward bridging the gap between the bids and asks.

"Watch for the closed sales to spike at the ICON Brickell in the first half of this year."

This latest round of price cuts comes three months after the October 2009 announcement that original preconstruction contract buyers in Tower One (North) were being offered 30 percent discounts to close, according to a recent CondoVultures.com report.

A couple of months later in December 2009, the ICON Brickell's developer, the Related Group, surprised market pundits by beginning closings in the Tower Two (South) despite have more than 600 units still not closed in the Tower One (North), according to a recent CondoVultures.com report.

ICON Brickell appears to be adopting the same individual retail sales approach that proved successful in 2009 at a host of other new struggling condo projects in Greater Downtown Miami, including the Brickell on the River South Tower, the 1060 Brickell, and Ivy.

By reducing prices, developers were able to close on more than 2,350 units in Greater Downtown Miami - the epicenter of South Florida's housing crash - in 2009, according to the White Paper™.

The 2009 buying activity combined with the recent cancellation of the proposed 32-story Loft III project (bottom right rendering )  in Downtown Miami by the Related Group leaves less than 7,300 new condo units, or 34 percent of the product, still in the hands of developers and lenders.

The ICON Brickell project represents about 23 percent of the total remaining developer inventory.

At the end of 2008, developers controlled 43 percent of the new condo inventory in Greater Downtown Miami submarket, Condo Vultures® Official Condo Buyers Guide To Miami™.

Contact: Peter Zalewski,  800-750-0517 or by email at peter@condovultures.com

33rd Bulk Condo Sale Recorded in Miami in Past 18 Months

(MIAMI, FL)—Bulk condo buyers continue to rule the roost in Miami-Dade County’s high-rise shelter market.

CondoVultures.com reports a newly created South Florida entity has purchased 20 units in a new Greater Downtown Miami condo tower for $2.9 million, or an average $169 per square foot---one of the lowest prices in the past two years.

The price represents a 59 percent discount off of the average closed sales price in the project up to that point, according to a new report from CondoVultures.com.

The Aventura-based Kypros Holdings LLC with principals Ramon Cierco and Blanca Palau purchased nearly 17,400 square feet of space in the 18-story Gallery Art condominium  (top right photo) on Northeast 24th Street in Greater Downtown Miami's Biscayne Boulevard Corridor.

The 20 units have an assessed value for tax purposes of $5.6 million, according to the Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser's Office.

The seller was Gallery Art Condominium LLC with Harvey Hernandez as principal. Hernandez signed the deed, which was recorded Dec. 8, 2009, according to Miami-Dade County and Florida Secretary of State records.

"On the surface, the price seems attractive compared to previous closed sales in the building," says Peter Zalewski, (middle  right photo)  a principal with the Bal Harbour, Fla.-based real estate consultancy Condo Vultures® LLC.



However, "after a closer review, the bulk buyer ended up paying a premium over another investor who purchased a bundle of 50 units for only $4 million in a project located just two blocks down the street,” Zalewski points out.

"The quality of the two new projects differs but it is up for discussion if the differences are worth the premium," he adds.

In November, a South Florida entity called 2200 NE 4th Avenue LLC with David Garfinkle and Adam N. Pollock paid $4 million for more than 40,400 square feet of space in the Edgewater Lofts condominium (top left photo) located on Northeast 22nd Street, according to a recent CondoVultures.com report based on Miami-Dade County records.

Mercantil Commercebank assigned its outstanding debt on the original $12.3 million loan for construction of the Edgewater Lofts to the bulk buyer, 2200 NE 4th Avenue LLC, in October 2009. No price was recorded for the transaction with Miami-Dade County, according to government records.

“Bulk deals have been closing at a rapid pace, making it a challenge to stay apprised of the latest pricing,” says Zalewski.

The Gallery Art bulk purchase is the second deal to close in December, and the 15th transaction this quarter in the tricounty South Florida area.

Since July 2008, buyers have closed on 33 bulk deals (including five note sales) for more than 2,900 units and 3.47 million square feet, according to the Condo Vultures® Bulk Deals Database™.

At Gallery Art, the Kypros Holdings' bulk purchase represents only a fraction of the units that have closed at the condominium that recorded its first recorded sale in February 2008.

Of the 119 closings recorded in the 176-unit tower, 58 units -- including the 20 units in the bulk purchase -- have closed since November 2009, according to Miami-Dade County records compiled by CondoVultures.com.

At the end of the third quarter, only 35 percent of the units in the Gallery Art had been recorded as sold, with pricing averaging $331,000 per unit and $410 per square foot, according to the Condo Vultures® Official Condo Buyers Guide To Miami™.

With the flurry of closings in the last month, the average closed sales price for the project is $301 per square foot. The average closed sales price since November is $191 per square foot, according to the Condo Vultures

To date, the Gallery Art condominium has generated nearly $29 million in transactions.  (Biscayne Bay bottom left photo)

Mercantil Commercebank in Coral Gables provided a $40.3 million construction loan to the project in June 2006 that has not yet been repaid or assigned, according to Miami-Dade County records.

Contact:  Peter Zalewski, Condo Vultures® Realty LLC, Office: 305-865-5629, Cell: 305-321-7383, eFax: 1-305-832-0311, Peter@CondoVultures.com,   http://www.condovultures.com/