Miami Condo and High-rise Photos Megga Thread

[BryanSereny]

Everyone knows Miami is on fire with new construciton. There are some beautiful new projects under development, and many that have been completed. Over the past few years I've photographed just about every building and here are some of my favorite building photos that show the beauty of this city.

Post any questions you have about anything related to any of these photos, and you may find I have the answer.


- Bryan Sereny

Blue Condo near Miami Design District
http://www.bryansereny.com/articleimages/blue-condo-pool.jpg

6000 Indian Creek in North Beach. Really strange new building!
http://www.bryansereny.com/articleimages/6000-indian-creek.jpg

Blue Green Diamond in Miami Beach
http://www.bryansereny.com/articleimages/blue-green-diamond1.jpg

Ten Museum Park, a Chad Oppenheim loft skyscraper
http://www.bryansereny.com/articleimages/ten-museum-park-nov-06.jpg

Marina Blue
http://www.bryansereny.com/articleimages/marina-blue-condos1.jpg

Downtown Miami
http://www.bryansereny.com/articleimages/1a.jpg


Conrad on Brickell
http://www.bryansereny.com/articleimages/2.jpg

Tip of South Beach!
http://www.bryansereny.com/articleimages/1b.jpg


Fontain Bleau Condo Hotel
http://www.bryansereny.com/articleimages/1g.jpg

Brickell on Biscayne Bay


Setai South Beach
http://www.bryansereny.com/articleimages/setai-south-beach-condos.jpg

[BryanSereny]

I guess no one really cares about the Miami Skyscrapers anymore. :eek:
I think they are stunning!

[antinimby]

Welcome and thanks for showing us just some of the things that are going up in Miami.

Yes, Miami is sprouting beautiful modern towers all over the place.

Isn't there suppose to be a proposal for a thousand-footer there also?

As a New Yorker, I'm kinda envious.

[pianoman11686]

I'm pretty sure the bursting of the real-estate bubble put an end to many of the more ambitious proposals...

[Punzie]

Bryan, I know that you think that your sky scrapers are stunning, but not all people would agree. I think they are architectural eyesores and are ruining the appearance of that part of Miami.

[ablarc]

South Beach is wonderfully urban and walkable; it's also mostly small-scale and low-rise. And it's stylish.

Suburban-style blockbusters threaten all that. They substitute towers-in-a-park for streetwall, garage ramps for shops, and humdrum familiarity for local color; and they offer nothing to the pedestrian.

Why turn a great little city into just another beachfront resort in the endless sprawl of Suburbia?

[ryeler]

I'm not sure about right in Miami, but we stay in Ft. Lauderdale every few months. It's very nice, but it can be dangerous. Not directly where we're staying, but down the street and into the side streets theres some freaky areas. It's like in the hotels and around is gorgeous, safe, and amazing. But a few blocks away and it's ridiculus. Miami ( and the surronding area) need to work on infostructure of there city before these massive hotels are built by forgien real estate moguls. Or else they could become the next detroit. Beautiful city, but terrible parts of it.

Just my two cents.

[Punzie]

. . .
Why turn a great little city into just another beachfront resort in the endless sprawl of Suburbia?

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i130/Rapunzel61/EWNY/billion-teddy.gif

[ablarc]

^ Yeah sure, but my point was: why applaud it?

Actually, most of Miami Beach is safe from high-rise exploitation; it's the country's biggest historic district (a square mile). That high-rise stuff only occurs around the perimeter, and it doesn't really wreck the ambience or views, though it clearly creates Autopia for its residents. (I'm sure they don't care; they think they're in Miami.)

[lofter1]

How deep down into the sand do they sink the pilings for these big towers on the ocean down there in Florida?

[Punzie]

What provisions do the towers have for hurricanes and tidal waves?

If there's a hurricane alert, are the residents supposed to evacuate? Or can they stay inside and watch it with that great view they have?

What assurance is there that the towers can withstand a Class 5 hurricane?

[SilentPandaesq]

The quick answer is "not good enough". Hopefully they have learned something in the year since the article was printed.

P.S. - While I might not like the buildings, I think the Photographs were very nice, thanks.



Posted on Wed, Oct. 26, 2005
Glass failure in high-rises shocks experts

High-rise windows in Miami-Dade and Fort Lauderdale did not live up to safety expectations, leaving experts wondering what went wrong.

BY CURTIS MORGAN AND MATTHEW HAGGMAN

cmorgan@herald.com (cmorgan@herald.com)

Wilma was the first real test in decades of how the glittering, fast-growing skylines of Miami and Fort Lauderdale would hold up in a hurricane. The result stunned and troubled emergency managers and building experts.
Hundreds of windows blew out in dozens of high-rises, causing extensive and expensive damage to such centers of public life as the Broward County Courthouse and heralded new Miami landmarks such as the Espirito Santo Plaza and Four Seasons Tower.

On Tuesday, panes were still falling from the posh Miami hotels, recently completed under the strictest building and wind codes. They posed such a public safety danger that Miami police closed five blocks of Brickell Avenue to traffic.

''This looks like Berlin after the war,'' said Miami Police Chief John Timoney, as he surveyed more than a half-dozen ravaged buildings on Brickell. ``I don't know what to make of it. These buildings are supposed to resist winds up to 150 miles per hour.''

The destruction perplexed structural engineers and contractors as well, who were groping for causes that may not be pinpointed until inspectors and engineers examine each structure.
Some pointed to one obvious suspect -- an assault of wind-driven debris, perhaps gravel from surrounding high-rise roofs or trash from surrounding construction sites -- but there were many possibilities.
In older buildings, it could be as simple as glass never designed to withstand hurricane winds. In newer ones, it might be anything from poor construction techniques to faulty materials to specific designs of some buildings to the dynamic of wind moving among buildings and possibly ''tunneling,'' or multiplying, its force.

`DUMBFOUNDED'
No less of a construction authority than Herb Saffir, a Coral Gables structural engineer who co-developed the Saffir-Simpson scale used to rate hurricane intensity, pronounced himself ''dumbfounded'' by the widespread window losses -- particularly to newer downtown Miami buildings such as the JW Marriott hotel, constructed after Miami-Dade beefed up its building codes following Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

Wilma, Saffir pointed out, wasn't even a major hurricane when it hit the Southeast coast, but a Category 2 or even 1. The highest reported gusts in downtown Fort Lauderdale barely topped 100 mph. Downtown Miami got off even lighter.
'
'Even if it had been the pre-Andrew code, I think those windows should have stayed in place,'' he said.
Most of the damage in Miami-Dade and Broward was the familiar kind -- damaged house and condo roof or tiles, downed trees, felled fences -- but few expected so many high-rise blowouts.

NOT ISOLATED CASES
In Miami, in addition to the newer JW Marriott, Four Seasons and Espirito Santo Plaza, there were dozens of other buildings that lost windows. The most notable damage: The southern side of the Colonial Bank building at 1200 Brickell was punched out, as were windows on the southern side of the Greenberg Traurig building at 1221 Brickell across the street.
In North Bay Village, Wilma blew through dozens of units at the Grand View Palace apartments, and the unoccupied South Shore Hospital in Miami Beach lost more than 100 panes.

While some of the newest apartments and condos seemed to survive intact, many of the tallest buildings in downtown Fort Lauderdale had damage.
Among the worst-hit were the Broward Financial Center, at U.S. 1 and Broward Boulevard, and the school district headquarters on Southeast Third Avenue at Southeast Sixth Street. Nearly all of the windows were blown out on the west faces of both buildings.

The Broward County Courthouse also suffered severe damage, as did one of the New River Village apartment buildings on Sixth Street west of U.S. 1. The Bank of America building, at Broward Boulevard and Northeast Third Avenue, had a large hole halfway up the south face.

The way many high-rises are built, with windows affixed to a strong building skeleton in what archtitects call ''a curtain wall,'' experts say window blowouts don't typically threaten the stability of building. But window failures can gut offices or living spaces and put them out of commission for months.
Before Andrew, Saffir said, a building's ''cladding,'' or outer shell, fell into a poorly regulated gray area. After Andrew, Miami-Dade and Broward adopted a tougher building code, adopted statewide for coastal areas in 2001.
Under that code, high-rises' windows are supposed to withstand not only the higher pressure of more powerful upper-level winds but some debris as well.
Like home windows, they also are supposed to withstand impact tests, including the two-by-four fired from a cannon. But windows above 60 feet are supposed to be designed to withstand small debris flying at Category 3 levels, or around 120 mph.

Still, because of the wide amount of damage to old and new buildings, several experts say some sort of debris remains the most plausible explanation.

Scott Schiff, a professor of civil engineering at Clemson University, said his chief suspect would be gravel used on some -- particularly older -- high-rise roofing systems. The rock, applied atop tar and paper to protect the waterproofing, can be easily blown off a roof into that building or surrounding ones.

GRAVEL SENT ALOFT?
Roof gravel did extensive damage in downtown Houston during Hurricane Alicia in 1983, he said, and blew out windows in Cutler Ridge and at the Homestead Air Force Base during Andrew as well.
On the base, he said, ''it was like someone went around for 36 hours with a shotgun and shot every single building,'' he said.
Once a window breaks, the flying shards can become missiles themselves, he said, and also expose other windows to internal pressure blowouts as hurricane winds howl inside.

Tom Murphy, Jr., president of Coastal Construction in Miami, who was out of town and had not seen the damaged buildings, wondered if debris from the many condos under construction got caught up in the wind and damaged the buildings.

'Debris is the likely culprit, but I would not know without seeing it,'' he said.
But Murphy added that, despite wind tests and careful design, how high-rise buildings respond to hurricane-force winds remains -- as a practical matter -- uncertain.
''There is a big difference between wind that is 30 feet off the ground and wind that is 130 feet off the ground.'' said Murphy, whose company has a host of high-rise towers under construction.

Tim Reinhold, vice president of engineering for the insurance-industrysupported Institute for Business and Home Safety in Tampa, suspected debris was largely to blame as well. But he said it was critical for the state to determine what failed and why -- particularly with the newer structures because South Florida's condo boom is putting more people in similar high-rises in a hurricane zone.

''There is going to be a need to go through and evaluate what were the forces and failures, the designs of the buildings, the codes,'' he said. ``If they were built right and still failed, then we've got some real trouble. We might need to seriously reevaluate our standards.''

Herald staff writers Andres Viglucci, Amy Sherman and Sara Olkon contributed to this report.

[BryanSereny]

Welcome and thanks for showing us just some of the things that are going up in Miami.

Yes, Miami is sprouting beautiful modern towers all over the place.

Isn't there suppose to be a proposal for a thousand-footer there also?

As a New Yorker, I'm kinda envious.

There was a proposed 110 story condo tower but the FAA has blocked the approval. If the developer ever gets past this, they will have to wait 4-8 years for the market to recover from the "bubble bursting".

[BryanSereny]

Bryan, I know that you think that your sky scrapers are stunning, but not all people would agree. I think they are architectural eyesores and are ruining the appearance of that part of Miami.

I agree, not all towers in Miami are nice, however there are some that in recent years have won National Architectural Awards!

[Ed007Toronto]

What provisions do the towers have for hurricanes and tidal waves?

With global warming and ocean levels rising this area will become extremely vulnerable to hurricane storm surges. I wouldn't buy here.

[Lafayette]

If you are talking about Global Warming, not just Miami but all coastal areas are in danger and that includes most US major cities, which are located near the coast.

[Ed007Toronto]

True but areas that experience severe storm surge due to hurricanes are most vulnerable. A large surge could swamp Miami Beach. Not so likely in Brooklyn.

[pianoman11686]

That's only true if you assume that a hurricane powerful enough to hit Brooklyn would never form in the first place. With rising sea temperatures, that's becoming increasingly likely. Forecasters have estimated that a category 3 hurricane would, upon a direct hit, submerge JFK airport under more than 20 feet of water.

[Ed007Toronto]

Well then no condo for me at JFK.

[lofter1]

What to ask Santa for X-Mas this year ...

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h87/fingerpuppet123/rowboat.gif

[MidtownGuy]

what a horrifying thought!

[BryanSereny]

That's only true if you assume that a hurricane powerful enough to hit Brooklyn would never form in the first place. With rising sea temperatures, that's becoming increasingly likely. Forecasters have estimated that a category 3 hurricane would, upon a direct hit, submerge JFK airport under more than 20 feet of water.

Not to mention that condos in NY are not built with Hurricane Impact Glass. If a serious storm hit NY there would be more dammage than the same storm hitting Florida. In any event, global warming has the potential to really mess up every city and all economies.

[Punzie]

Not to mention that condos in NY are not built with Hurricane Impact Glass. If a serious storm hit NY there would be more dammage than the same storm hitting Florida. In any event, global warming has the potential to really mess up every city and all economies.

I could put more holes in this argument than Dick Cheney shoots into birds.

Instead, I am going to offer you one of the wisest pieces of marketing advice you'll ever get:

The best way to "sell" a thing or idea is to thoroughly research your consumer and apply a marketing technique that works with that consumer.

If you had thoroughly researched this site before posting your pictures, you would have discovered that the members of this site, as a whole, are very intelligent and shrewd, and know a lot about real estate. With these potential consumers, it doesn't work when you proudly display your upscale but controversial property, and keep on saying how great it is and arguing when members find flaws. It only challenges them strengthen their arguments against the property.

Here's the trick with potential consumers like we:

Have consumers "sell" the idea of your property for you.

If you had thoroughly researched this site, you would have noticed that many of us can't resist helping. You should have turned that to your advantage. You should have started your topic saying (in as many words):

"I have a potential dilemma. I have condo property in Miami that I think is beautiful and would make a great investment for others. [Post pics below.] But there are a few issues that potential investors keep bringing up, and many are never quite satisfied with the answers. Seeking your advice."

You see, you'd be putting us into "help mode." Even if we didn't like your property, most of us would be on "your side."

If you stayed in the role of opinion-seeker -- and I know how hard this is to do -- then you would get some advice that would cost a fortune if you hired a consulting firm.

I don't know if it's too late to do this on WNY, but it is a marvelous strategy for potential consumers who are similar to us site members.

I have spoken my piece.

[BryanSereny]

I could put more holes in this argument than Dick Cheney shoots into birds.

Instead, I am going to offer you one of the wisest pieces of marketing advice you'll ever get:

The best way to "sell" a thing or idea is to thoroughly research your consumer and apply a marketing technique that works with that consumer.

If you had thoroughly researched this site before posting your pictures, you would have discovered that the members of this site, as a whole, are very intelligent and shrewd, and know a lot about real estate. With these potential consumers, it doesn't work when you proudly display your upscale but controversial property, and keep on saying how great it is and arguing when members find flaws. It only challenges them strengthen their arguments against the property.

Here's the trick with potential consumers like we:

Have consumers "sell" the idea of your property for you.

If you had thoroughly researched this site, you would have noticed that many of us can't resist helping. You should have turned that to your advantage. You should have started your topic saying (in as many words):

"I have a potential dilemma. I have condo property in Miami that I think is beautiful and would make a great investment for others. [Post pics below.] But there are a few issues that potential investors keep bringing up, and many are never quite satisfied with the answers. Seeking your advice."

You see, you'd be putting us into "help mode." Even if we didn't like your property, most of us would be on "your side."

If you stayed in the role of opinion-seeker -- and I know how hard this is to do -- then you would get some advice that would cost a fortune if you hired a consulting firm.

I don't know if it's too late to do this on WNY, but it is a marvelous strategy for potential consumers who are similar to us site members.

I have spoken my piece.



I am glad open forms like this exist so that we may all express our opinions and share ideas. Although I appreciate your kind words and advice, I respectfully must decline. See, I am a Realtor in Miami, however I am also a Photographer. I enjoy sharing photos online with people around the world and chatting about architecture, etc. My opinion you quoted above was based on a simple factual observation that the building code in Miami requires impact-resistant windows and glass whereas in NY the requirements are lower.

Instead of jumping the gun and assuming I am trying to sell something, which I am not, you could have assumed I was simply sharing some of my favorite photos of buildings that in “my opinion” think look nice. Fortunately, I don’t foresee any point in time where I would market, advertise, or in any way seek customers through a medium such as WNY.

I have no hidden agenda and am not interested in the politics and positioning you suggest.


Happy Holidays! :rolleyes:

ps. I took these photos of these buildings as well but just dont find them as interesting.

http://flickr.com/photos/bryansereny/323861425http://www.bryansereny.com/construction-photography/trump.jpg


http://flickr.com/photos/bryansereny/323861421http://www.bryansereny.com/construction-photography/ny.jpg
http://flickr.com/photos/bryansereny/323861425


http://flickr.com/photos/bryansereny/323861421

[BryanSereny]

"Glass failure in high-rises shocks experts"


One of my friends lives in the Espirito Santo building (mentioned in the article, and one of the photos I posted), she was in the building when the glass blew out, and witnessed that it was indeed a tornado that caused the damage rather than simple hurricane winds. This explains why older buildings just blocks away did not lose a single pain of glass. It was gravel from the rooftops of older buildings that was picked up by the tornado and damaged the newer buildings. Since this event, gravel has been removed from the tops of old buildings. That storm was crazy! I had another friend who had the same thing happen at Palm Bay Yacht Club on 69th street, and another that saw a tornado go buy in Sunny Isles. Global warming surely is the cause of such a freak occurrence.

[BryanSereny]

lets make 2007 a great year! Happy New Year everyone!

[BryanSereny]

:eek:
http://www.bryansereny.com/construction-photography/mei-miami-beach-worker.jpg

[BryanSereny]

Like it or not, Miami's financial district is growing fast! http://www.bryansereny.com/miami-luxury-condos/m-2.jpg
http://www.bryansereny.com/miami-luxury-condos/m-3.jpg

[BrooklynRider]

It suffers from Dubai syndrome: Build it and hope they will come.

[lofter1]

Like it or not, Miami's financial district is growing fast!

not :cool:

[alonzo-ny]

is that really offices? looks like a bad condo development

[BryanSereny]

It suffers from Dubai syndrome: Build it and hope they will come.

Sounds just about right. Only time will tell. ;)

[homeandaway]

some very nice and cool shots there!.
~Alex~

[BryanSereny]

2 New Pics I took the other day.

Continuum 2 about to be topped off. ;)

http://www.bryansereny.com/construction-photography/continuum2.jpg

http://www.bryansereny.com/construction-photography/sofi.jpg

[Luca]

Have they changed to color of one of those ugly condos at the tip of South Beach? I seem to remember somethign a bit more exotic looking.... The one with the "flying saucer" at the top...

[BryanSereny]

Yes! The short white building, "South Point Tower", was pink a year ago. White paint must be less costly :confused:

[BryanSereny]

Where is the love NY?

[BryanSereny]

Downtown Miami taken 9 2007
http://www.bryansereny.com/miami-luxury-condos/downtown-miami-9-07.jpg

[alonzo-ny]

Looking dense!

[czsz]

With the right size telephoto, even Pheonix could look good.

[lofter1]

If that shot shows your definition of "good" then not so sure I want to see the opposite ...

[Jasonik]

Boom of condo crash loudest in Miami

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/media/graphic/2007-08/32141533.jpg

Multiple construction cranes fill the skyline off Brickell Avenue in downtown Miami, where the nation's most glutted condo market can be found. Orlando has 4,440 condos listed for sale; Miami has 23,000.

Maya Bell | Sentinel Staff Writer
August 27, 2007 (http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/orl-condobust2707aug27,0,1497121.story?)

MIAMI - The champagne-popping days are over for Natalie and David Luongo, who banked enough money flipping a South Florida condo three years ago to stage a $100,000 wedding.

Now the couple are spending restless nights wrestling with the question that looms like a guillotine: Should they walk away from the $117,000 deposit they plunked down on another investment condo in the ritzy Miami-Dade enclave of Bal Harbour?

Or should they close on the one-bedroom unit, which is similar to others now on the market for less than the $585,000 they agreed to pay?

"It's painful and scary," Natalie Luongo, 31, said. "We saw the frenzy, and we bought in. Now we're paying the consequences."

Just how many other speculators face the same dilemma in the nation's most glutted condo market will become clear during the next two years. That is when 25,000 new condo units, most of them rising in or near Miami's downtown, will flood an area already saturated with 23,000 condos listed for sale. An additional 40,000 units have been approved, but analysts doubt the majority will break ground. (See map with condo locations.)

Orlando and other Florida cities -- Naples, Fort Myers, Tampa and Sarasota among them -- also have huge condo gluts. With 4,440 condos listed for sale, Orlando has an unprecedented 29-month supply, and last month sales plummeted 64 percent lower than a year ago.

But Miami, with its unmatched volume and untold number of speculative buyers, is ripe for the hardest fall in the U.S.

"Miami is the poster child for the condo bust," said Jack McCabe, CEO of McCabe Research & Consulting, a real-estate market-analysis firm located in Deerfield Beach. "There are probably only two cities in the world with more construction: Shanghai and Dubai. Unfortunately, there is going to be a lot of foreclosures . . ., and developers, lenders, title companies and real-estate companies will go under."

Many analysts, McCabe among them, predict the area's condo collapse will drag the rest of the state into recession. Other experts scoff at that notion. But nearly all agree grim times lie ahead.

Usually joyous milestones, closings in Miami are about to become somber days of reckoning for electricians, waiters, retirees and other amateur speculators who counted on making a quick killing in a market they thought would rise forever.

No one knows how many units speculators bought. But as early as 2004, McCabe and Lew Goodkin of Miami-based Goodkin Consulting warned that up to 70 percent of the condos rising in Miami were being snapped up by people who didn't plan to hold on to them, much less live in them.

That was evident from the hordes who camped overnight, fought over lottery numbers, even paid homeless men $20 and a pack of cigarettes to hold their places in long lines, all for the chance to put 20 percent deposits on condos that existed only in brochures. The frenzy for some projects was so fevered that some developers raised their prices hourly.

"It was a nightmare. Lines around the corner. People screaming into phones. I would look at them, and think, 'You don't know what you're doing,' " said Mark Zilbert, president of Zilbert Realty Group.

Many told a similar story: They had a friend who made $100,000 flipping a new condo, and they planned to ride the same wave of escalating prices. All they had to do was put down $60,000 on a $300,000 pre-construction unit and resell it when the value climbed to $400,000 -- before the building opened, and before closing and mortgage payments, maintenance fees, insurance and taxes kicked in.

That meant anyone could risk $60,000 and pocket $100,000 without actually buying anything.

Some investors were experienced players like Barry Beschel of Aventura. After the dot-com stock-market crash in 2000, he said he had no trouble persuading his buddies to park their money in Miami's sizzling condo market.

"All my guys in New York were like, 'Yeah, flipping condos in Miami.' It was a sexy commodity, and it was fun to make money," Beschel said.

It was also easy. Beschel, 50, said his group followed well-known developers such as The Related Group's Jorge Perez to their next project. The king of Florida's condo market, Perez has built or manages more than 55,000 units in the state and is building at least nine new towers in Miami as well as a 441-unit, luxury condo hotel in Celebration.

From 2001 to 2005, Beschel said his group bought about 50 pre-construction condos, sometimes 10 or 12 at a time. They would pay about $300 a square foot and, once the building sold out, return the condos to the developer, who would resell them at $350 a square foot. The difference between the original contract price and the new one -- $100,000 on a 2,000-square-foot unit -- would go to Beschel's group, minus a commission.

"The developer would take his commission, and we'd take our profit and everybody was happy. When the market was cranking, it was a brilliant business model," Beschel said.

But beginning in 2006, Goodkin said, it became clear the market was saturated. Speculators, at least the wise ones, had fled. Buyers stopped walking through the sales-office door. Some developers halted resale programs to concentrate on their own inventory.

And whoever held a contract was stuck -- with prices at their peak. Now, foreclosure filings are up by 30 percent in greater Miami over last year.

For Beschel, whose group still holds contracts on two condos with falling values and looming closing dates, financial ruin isn't a worry. He figures his group made "a few million dollars," so walking away from two $100,000 deposits is no big deal.

But for untold others, such as the Luongos, losses could be devastating. Owners of a gourmet shop, the transplanted New Yorkers poured their life savings into deposits on four condos they had planned to flip for a quick profit.

The plan worked for a one-bedroom condo conversion at The Residence in Hollywood. They agreed to buy it in 2004 for $207,000 and sold it before closing for $330,000.

But they were forced to close on a condo in Boynton Beach, where they now live, and they face the prospect of losing nearly $200,000 they put down on two condo conversions at the Harbour House in north Miami-Dade County. One is a $350,900 studio, which Natalie Luongo said is smaller and in a different location than the one she agreed to buy in December 2005. It is the subject of litigation.

The other is a $585,000 one-bedroom unit similar to others now available for about 25 percent less. As the September closing looms, the Luongos are distraught. If they can't secure another mortgage, the decision will be made for them. They will have to walk away from their $117,000 deposit.

But if they secure financing, they know they will be stuck with a property that could be as difficult to rent as it is to sell.

Gregg and Mary Mullins, 70-year-old retirees living near Fort Myers, learned that the hard way.

Last month, they finally rented out the two-story $885,500 penthouse they closed on last year in Blue, a concave tower overlooking Biscayne Bay. But the $2,800-a-month rent they're collecting is less than half their monthly mortgage payment, maintenance fees and property taxes. Yet, as Mary Mullins said, something is better than nothing.

The couple never planned to live in the condo, but jumped at buying it at pre-construction prices in 2004 after friends shared a familiar story.

"They said they made lots of money, so they told us to try it and maybe we could make lots of money, too," Mary Mullins said. "But that didn't happen. We don't know what happened."

A sheepish Tom Leon says he knows. The retired businessman from Illinois said he knew he had made a mistake about six months after he put down $200,000 on two $500,000 condos at the end of 2004.

"Every 2 inches, I'd see another [construction] crane, and I knew: There is no market that can absorb these many units," said Leon, 72. "It doesn't take a rocket scientist to say, 'Gee, who's going to live in all these buildings?' "

Jerry Jackson of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report. Maya Bell can be reached at mbell@orlandosentinel.com or 305-810-5003.

[macreator]

If that shot shows your definition of "good" then not so sure I want to see the opposite ...

The architecture isn't exactly captivating, but I've got to admit that the density in construction is pretty stunning. Our little Dubai :rolleyes:

[MikeW]

The big question is, when is the crash going to hit bottom, and when is it going to be time to bargain hunt?

[Eugenious]

Lol, that's crazy...how much are 1br avg sqf going for now? Last I heard people were losing crazy money there and most of these condos are/were bought by amateur flippers.

[BryanSereny]

Lol, that's crazy...how much are 1br avg sqf going for now? Last I heard people were losing crazy money there and most of these condos are/were bought by amateur flippers.

$275/sq ft and up to $2000/sq ft with most in the $300 to $500/ sq ft range.
http://www.bryansereny.com/miami-luxury-condos/downtown-miami-9-07.jpg

[BryanSereny]

The big question is, when is the crash going to hit bottom, and when is it going to be time to bargain hunt?

Some think the bottom will hit in 12 to 24 months from now.

The time to bargain hunt is just before the NY Times article titled "Miami Condo Market Hits Rock Bottom" goes to print. After that point, all the people who are waiting will rush back into the market and prices will go up. :rolleyes:

[BryanSereny]

This proposal is simply amazing! See the photo on the top of this page to get an idea of the scale.

A mixed used building that will house a large expansion of Miami City College's downtown Wolfson Campus, including a bookstore, classrooms, and atheltic facility. It will feature 146,000 square feet of retail space, including a House of Blues resturaunt. The project also includes nearly 800,000 of affordable rental apartments, all of which will be studios or 1-bedrooms (total 1,142 units). There will also be a 270,000 square foot midrange hotel, 250,000 square feet of office space, and a 41,000 square foot open air plaza on the third floor. A rarity for Miami, parking will be underground. The design literally "frames" Miami's most historic skyscraper in view as people approach it from the bay or on Biscayne Boulavard. Designed by Oppenheim.
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c275/dmoore305/CollegeStation1.jpg
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c275/dmoore305/CollegeStation4.jpg
http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/1395/wolfson01tt1.jpg

[alonzo-ny]

Koolhaas rip off, cool tho.

[macreator]

I actually like this project better than the Koolhaas one. It's got more flair. Wouldn't mind seeing this built on the Con Ed site on the East River. Suck on that "out-of-context" proposal NIMBY's! :D

[lofter1]

No chance in hell that this will ever get built in Miami given the current oversaturation of that market.

[Archit_K]

The big question is, when is the crash going to hit bottom, and when is it going to be time to bargain hunt?

Thats not a nice way of looking at it... Prices have already dropped 10% or even more of the asking price, people are suffering here.

[Archit_K]

This proposal is simply amazing! See the photo on the top of this page to get an idea of the scale.

A mixed used building that will house a large expansion of Miami City College's downtown Wolfson Campus, including a bookstore, classrooms, and atheltic facility. It will feature 146,000 square feet of retail space, including a House of Blues resturaunt. The project also includes nearly 800,000 of affordable rental apartments, all of which will be studios or 1-bedrooms (total 1,142 units). There will also be a 270,000 square foot midrange hotel, 250,000 square feet of office space, and a 41,000 square foot open air plaza on the third floor. A rarity for Miami, parking will be underground. The design literally "frames" Miami's most historic skyscraper in view as people approach it from the bay or on Biscayne Boulavard. Designed by Oppenheim. http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c275/dmoore305/CollegeStation4.jpg

What is the correct name of this proposal??? I can't find anything on Oppenheim's site... It's nice to fantasizs about, but its not going to happen. Its way to advance for Miami, you don't see New York having skyscrapers like this one.

[BryanSereny]

No chance in hell that this will ever get built in Miami given the current oversaturation of that market.

I'd have to agree + a few additional reasons one being this thing would be way to costly to build.

Miami does dream big though. :rolleyes:

[Jefferson Stevens]

Haven't been to the forum in awhile. ArchitK, don't worry, I am not peddling any goods. Just thought you all might enjoy a few of these images. Any feedback would be great. Enjoy.

Flickr gallery here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/14469880@N04/sets/72157602250836649/

Main site here: www.totus360.com

[BrooklynRider]

The photos on the main site are lovely. The Flickr gallery is noted as "private."

[BrooklynRider]

As the Republican crooks evacuate Washington over the next two years, these buildings will fill up.

[Jefferson Stevens]

Brooklyn,

Try the link again. All should be public now.

[BryanSereny]

The photos on Totus are way cool! Your Flicker Account appears to be deactivated.

[JCMAN320]

WOW that's all I can say about that proposal for Miami right outside American Airlines Arena. Will make for a hell of a gateway to the AAA if built.

[investordude]

NYT claims high end in Miami holding up OK because of foreign buyers and aging wealthy Americans. They're talking more about South Beach and the exclusive islands I think. But still, I think the properties on Biscayne in downtown will do OK - look at all the retirees moving to Phoenix - wouldn't they move to Miami if it is cheap enough?

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/27/business/27home.html?ref=business

[BryanSereny]

The big problem is the 2% property tax. Many retirees rather move to a state with lower tax.
NYT claims high end in Miami holding up OK because of foreign buyers and aging wealthy Americans. They're talking more about South Beach and the exclusive islands I think. But still, I think the properties on Biscayne in downtown will do OK - look at all the retirees moving to Phoenix - wouldn't they move to Miami if it is cheap enough?

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/27/business/27home.html?ref=business

[lofter1]

Miami condo at ground zero in mortgage fraud

REUTERS (http://www.reuters.com/article/inDepthNews/idUSN1246626320071113?feedType=RSS&feedName=inDepthNews&rpc=22&sp=true)
By Tom Brown
Tue Nov 13, 2007

MIAMI (Reuters) - At first glance, the 43-story building in Miami's international banking district seems little different from other high-rise condominiums overlooking the turquoise waters of Biscayne Bay.

But the 643-unit condo known as the Club at Brickell is a leader in mortgage foreclosures and it appears also to stand at ground zero in a blizzard of fraud that may lie behind many of the failed loans threatening to bury the U.S. property market.

America's subprime mortgage crisis is partly due to predatory, or aggressive, lenders, hard-sell tactics by mortgage brokers and an easing of underwriting standards in the $10 trillion home-loan industry.

But fraud accounts for a sizable share of the bad bets on mortgages, according to many industry experts, and lenders may have been victimized as much as anyone else.

"The lenders are holding the bag now, that's what we're finding out," said Glenn Theobald, head of a mortgage fraud task force formed in south Florida's Miami-Dade County in September.

Mortgage scams involve a cartel of inside players -- colluding property appraisers, real-estate brokers and accountants willing to draw up fake income statements and tax returns -- who recruit people with good credit histories to serve as a decoy or "straw buyer" in a real-estate deal.

The conspirators inflate the price of the property, to get the biggest loan possible, pay the sellers the original price and then pocket the excess loan money as "cash back" at the closing of the deal.

The decoy buyer is paid off -- often with just $5,000 -- and the property is quickly abandoned to foreclosure, said Theobald, a senior official with the Miami-Dade Police Department.

'EPIDEMIC'

"It's an epidemic," said Nancy Hogan, a veteran realtor and former head of the Florida Real Estate Commission.

"The cash back, the fraud for profit, is what has been so rampant," she said.
The Club at Brickell has the highest current number of foreclosure proceedings involving any single south Florida property.

There may be other properties in the United States that hold the distinction of being riddled with more cases of apparent mortgage fraud than the Club.

But Doug Dewitt, a real estate broker contracted to work with several lenders on the valuation and disposal of foreclosed properties, said nearly 70 percent of the sales or closings at the Club over the last 18 months were questionable.

That works out to more than 200 possibly shady deals in a single building, he said.

The dubious transactions all fit a pattern that Theobald said should trigger "bells and whistles" for law enforcement anywhere -- time and time again properties that failed to sell for months when listed at around $450,000 were pulled from the market and then suddenly sold for more than $800,000.

Florida leads the nation when it comes to mortgage fraud, according to the Virginia-based Mortgage Asset Research Institute, a group that works closely with the U.S. Mortgage Bankers Association.

Many apartments could wind up being sold at auctions like one held last month for bank-owned properties in Fort Lauderdale, further depressing prices in a market suffering its biggest condo glut in decades.

"You've seen some of it already. They are actually having auctions to try and sell units," said Theobald, when asked about discount sales involving recently foreclosed properties.

"I don't know where it's going to end up," Theobald said. "I don't know when the bottom is going to be."

Ken Thomas, a Miami-based banking expert and lecturer at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, said there was little surprise Florida led the country in mortgage fraud.

It stems, at least in part, in the way lenders plowed "easy money" into the local condo market before Florida's recent housing boom turned to bust, Thomas told Reuters.

"We're going to see a lot more of this fraud being exposed, especially as these units go into foreclosure," Thomas said.

"We were the poster child of the housing bubble ... maybe we should have expected more of this."

(Editing by Michael Christie and Eddie Evans)

© Reuters 2007All rights reserved

[Skylimitone]

I'd love to see more updates from Miami.