It could go fine. Or the ex-mayor could live in the property and refuse to vacate, as happened to Billy Makedonsky.
By David Smiley
dsmiley@MiamiHerald.com
Billy Makedonsky thought he’d found the perfect retirement home for his 75-year-old mother. Better yet, buying it required just a few mouse clicks. His only concern about the bank-owned house with the terracotta driveway and barrel-tiled roof — other than the fact he’d never bought a home online before — was this caveat on GoHoming, the site auctioning off the property as is: “Please DO NOT DISTURB the occupant.”
Turns out he had good reason to be worried. For $159,000, what Makedonsky got was a house wrapped up in multiple bankruptcies, foreclosed in protested proceedings, and shrouded by allegations of fraud.
The home is also the residence of El Portal’s former mayor, Joyce A. Davis, who said she wasn’t about to leave it in the middle of her comeback campaign.
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“There were signs up all over El Portal: ‘Elect Joyce Davis for Mayor,’ and she was squatting in my home,” marveled Makedonsky, a 41-year-old flight attendant.
Makedonsky’s tale is just one buyer-beware among many in the digital age, when reams of distressed and bank-owned properties are added daily to online auction sites, making the business of vulturing real estate cheaper and more accessible.
The flipside: Establishing clear title and control of the home, which some cash buyers have never set foot in, can mean sorting through a thicket of foreclosure filings, fraud allegations, bankruptcies, other mortgages, association liens, creditors and combative tenants.
“People don’t realize there’s a lot more to it than ponying up some money,” said Dennis Donet, a Miami foreclosure defense attorney.
Makedonsky’s adventure began in August, when his mother gave him permission to spend her nest egg on the house just around the corner from Horace Mann Middle School despite warnings on the private site GoHoming, now called HubZu.com, that someone was still living there.
Worried that “occupant” was a real estate euphemism for “crack heads,” Makedonsky drove to the Northeast Dade village of El Portal and knocked on the door. He was relieved to find not some strung-out vagrant, but Davis, El Portal’s 69-year-old former mayor. So he bought the house, thinking he would offer Davis $1,000 to leave, a transaction known in the business as “cash for keys.”
“She didn’t go for it,” said Makedonsky, who sued in October to evict her. Davis says in court filings that she is a widow living on a fixed income with nowhere else to go, that she is the victim of fraud, and that Makedonsky’s claims that she is squatting are bogus.
“I don’t care what he’s calling me, that doesn’t make it true,” said Davis, who ultimately lost the Nov. 6 election to Mayor Daisy Black, netting just 18 percent of the vote. Davis, who was El Portal’s vice mayor from 2004 to 2008 and then mayor until 2010, has so far been successful in fending off Makedonsky’s eviction attempts.
Makedonsky received a judgment for removal of tenant from Judge Shelley Kravitz on Nov. 13. The next day, Davis filed for protection based on her ongoing bankruptcy case, which can halt eviction proceedings. Her motion was dismissed, but Davis filed an emergency motion Nov. 27 saying she was the victim of fraud. Kravitz then issued a stay, putting things on hold pending the results of a hearing scheduled for Tuesday.
In filings, Davis said she and her husband, David Davis, lived in the home starting in 1997. She said she sold the property just before her husband died in 2005 to a family member, who allowed them to stay but defaulted on his payments.
“Once he defaulted on the loan, I found out that fraudulent documents had been passed,” Davis wrote in court papers. “I have been trying to fight this thing for two years to no avail. I have proof because the mortgage person that brokered the deal is now in prison.”
Her motion does not mention the name of the “mortgage person,” and Davis declined to explain how she’d been defrauded when a reporter visited the home.
Records on file with the Miami-Dade County Recorder and Property Appraiser show that Davis and her late husband paid $20,000 in 2000 for the home via a quit claim deed, which transfers a grantor’s interest in a property without guaranteeing they own it or have clear title. Five years later, they sold the property for $375,000 to an Andre L. Williams, and signed over a warranty deed.
Williams sold the home a year later to a Joel Mena, who after finishing bankruptcy proceedings, was foreclosed on in 2010 by U.S. Bank N.A., which purchased the property at auction. Davis, however, fought the foreclosure. She appealed to Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal, which dismissed her case. Davis is still fighting. She filed suit Dec. 6 against the bank over the foreclosure.
Makedonsky doesn’t believe her story. He thinks Davis is finding ways to stall eviction so she can live rent-free in his mother’s retirement home.
“This is a sophisticated squatter. She was mayor of the town, and she’s playing the system,” Makedonsky said.
While Makedonsky bought his home on a private auction, attorneys say more horror stories come from the clerk’s foreclosure auction in Miami-Dade, a county where there is a backlog of 53,000 foreclosure cases. Nearly 100,000 properties have been listed on the clerk’s online auction since it opened three years ago.
Last year, an average of 100 properties were sent to auction each day. Properties can be pulled off of auction or purchased at the last minute by the distressed home’s owner, so not every property listed was auctioned. But Donet, the foreclosure attorney, said the vast new real estate frontier is attracting a new clientele, many of whom haven’t done the proper research on the properties they’re trying to buy.
“There are riches for sure,” he said. “But you may be opening up a can of worms that’s very expensive to get out of.”
Attorney Ferrer Shane said the most common mistake buyers make is not understanding what it is they’re buying. Many clients drop thousands on a home thinking they’re buying a foreclosed mortgage when they’re actually buying an association lien that will be trumped by the lender when the bank finally forecloses. That’s what happened to Maria Alonso, who spent $9,100 in May on a 2,600-square-foot home in The Hammocks.
The home was at auction because of a $7,482 judgment held by the Panache Homeowners Association over unpaid assessments by the previous owner. Alonso, however, thought she’d bought the home outright and after fighting for three months to evict the previous tenants, she leased the home out, according to daughter-in-law Dayana De Latorre. And then they got a notice that their new property was to be auctioned again on Dec. 13, this time due to a judgment held by Wells Fargo. De Latorre said her in-laws, who bought the house with settlement money from a personal injury claim, have challenged the sale and have a court date set for Wednesday. But they’re not sure what will happen next.
“It’s been very confusing. There’s not a lot of help out there,” she said. For investors who have already bought a problem property, that’s true, said Shane, the attorney. “You’ve got to win the war before the first shot’s fired,” he said. “You got to know what you’re getting into.”
In Makedonsky’s case, he didn’t know enough about Florida’s landlord-tenant laws, which favor the occupant, said Shari Olefson, a real estate attorney and the author of Foreclosure Nation: Mortgaging the American Dream. Occupants can delay and delay because evicting someone from a home requires a sheriff — in this case the Miami-Dade police — and a court order.
“The burden is on the landlord to dot their I’s and cross their T’s, and a tenant who is savvy can take advantage of that,” she said.
Until the case is resolved, Makedonsky is splitting his time in South Florida between a friend’s El Portal house and a North Miami Beach home owned by Swacarioca, an investment company that buys foreclosed houses. He and his mother are listed among the owners of the company. Meanwhile, his mother, JoAnn Makedonsky, is living in an Arizona retirement community. She said most of her belongings are packed up in boxes or have been sold off to make the move to Florida cheaper — whenever that happens.
“It’s ridiculous,” she said. “I never heard of such a thing, that you buy a house and then people don’t want to leave.”
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/01/05/3169510_p3/the-perils-of-buying-a-foreclosure.html#storylink=cpy
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Why We Do Not Meet Clients Anywhere But Our Office, No Exceptions - March 10, 2012
6 Crimes Committed Against Real Estate Agents and How to Stay Safe
By LYNEKA LITTLE
April 15, 2011
The murder of 27-year-old real estate agent Ashley Okland in a suburban Iowa model home is the latest example of rising violence in an industry that has been buffeted by the mortgage meltdown.
Okland was found inside a model home in West Des Moines, Iowa, last week after being shot by an unknown assailant. The victim is one of more than a hundred in the real estate profession who have been killed on the job since the foreclosure mess began in 2008.
"A real estate agent makes a living meeting a complete stranger in an empty home," says Tracey Hawkins, owner and safety product speaker at Safety and Security Source.
The recent recession hasn't improved safety as agents show properties much more often to make a sale and visit rougher areas for distressed or abandoned properties.
"Agents may encounter squatters, angry former homeowners or even encounter abandoned pets that may be aggressive," says Hawkins. "These properties are often meth labs, or pot houses, and encroaching upon them is dangerous."
To keep agents safer, Hawkins created a program for selling foreclosed, real estate owned (REOs) and abandoned homes called Real Estate Agent Safety for Distress Properties.
Social media is increasingly becoming a tool used by criminals to track their prey as agents leave a Web trail on places like Facebook and Twitter. "They announce their open houses, therefore would-be criminals know where they are," says Hawkins. Stalkers can target them at an open house or go rob their homes, thanks to the information divvied out on social media Web sites, says Hawkins.
In the group that Hawkins moderates on Linkedin called The Real Estate Agent Safety Forum, the 209 members discuss violence taken from news headlines. After a real estate agent was choked and robbed in Seattle, one member posted, "I would have reached into my ankle holster, pulled out my gun and shot him. End of problem."
Violence is quite a problem in the field. The real estate and rental and leasing occupation has seen an average of 75 deaths a year from 2003 to 2009, according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. Hawkins is seeing more agents carrying pepper spray, guns and Taser guns as safety measures.
To stay safe she recommends first meeting clients at the office where others are around. "Criminals don't want witnesses," says Hawkins. She advises agents to get a copy of a client's driver's license and keep someone informed about your whereabouts at all times.
"Agents must trust their instinct. If they have a bad feeling about a person or situation, instead of being politically correct, they need to listen to their bodies," says Hawkins. And, don't be afraid to call 911.
"Police officers will tell you they rather come to a false call than a crime scene."
6 Crimes Against Real Estate Agents
Andrew VonStein, a 51-year-old real estate agent in Ohio's Portage County, was shot dead by a disgruntled client in one of the homes listed by the agent. The top agent was allegedly lured to the home by Robert W. Grigelaitis, who was upset about a sour deal that resulted in his wife losing her home.
Vivian Martin, the owner of Essence Realty, was found dead in a listed home engulfed in flames in Youngstown, Ohio. The real estate agent, a colon cancer survivor who was battling liver cancer at the time, was robbed of $56 and strangled by men claiming to be home buyers.
40-year-old Sarah Anne Walker was hosting an open house at a model home in McKinney, Texas, when she was stabbed 27 times by a felon out on parole. Her alleged killer was later arrested.
The body of Brenda Wilburn was found bound inside the closet at her home in Pulaski, Tenn. The real estate agent was allegedly murdered and robbed by Robert Wayne Garner, who will stand trial on August 8.
71-year-old Ann Nelson was robbed, strangled and beaten with a fireplace poker in 2008 while showing a home to a man she believed was a prospective home buyer.
An Orange County real estate agent was raped and bludgeoned by a man masquerading as a prospective home buyer. The man raped the agent after finding her photo online. The agent was able to survive the brutal attack by alleged assailant Shawn David Yates after pretending to be dead.
(Click here to read original article)
*A note from Miami Real Estate Realty: Please understand that when we require potential buyers and sellers to come to our office, we are not trying to be lazy, or inconsiderate, or to inconvenience our clients. We are living in dangerous times, and we put the safety of our agents first. Thank you.
By LYNEKA LITTLE
April 15, 2011
The murder of 27-year-old real estate agent Ashley Okland in a suburban Iowa model home is the latest example of rising violence in an industry that has been buffeted by the mortgage meltdown.
Okland was found inside a model home in West Des Moines, Iowa, last week after being shot by an unknown assailant. The victim is one of more than a hundred in the real estate profession who have been killed on the job since the foreclosure mess began in 2008.
"A real estate agent makes a living meeting a complete stranger in an empty home," says Tracey Hawkins, owner and safety product speaker at Safety and Security Source.
The recent recession hasn't improved safety as agents show properties much more often to make a sale and visit rougher areas for distressed or abandoned properties.
"Agents may encounter squatters, angry former homeowners or even encounter abandoned pets that may be aggressive," says Hawkins. "These properties are often meth labs, or pot houses, and encroaching upon them is dangerous."
To keep agents safer, Hawkins created a program for selling foreclosed, real estate owned (REOs) and abandoned homes called Real Estate Agent Safety for Distress Properties.
Social media is increasingly becoming a tool used by criminals to track their prey as agents leave a Web trail on places like Facebook and Twitter. "They announce their open houses, therefore would-be criminals know where they are," says Hawkins. Stalkers can target them at an open house or go rob their homes, thanks to the information divvied out on social media Web sites, says Hawkins.
In the group that Hawkins moderates on Linkedin called The Real Estate Agent Safety Forum, the 209 members discuss violence taken from news headlines. After a real estate agent was choked and robbed in Seattle, one member posted, "I would have reached into my ankle holster, pulled out my gun and shot him. End of problem."
Violence is quite a problem in the field. The real estate and rental and leasing occupation has seen an average of 75 deaths a year from 2003 to 2009, according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. Hawkins is seeing more agents carrying pepper spray, guns and Taser guns as safety measures.
To stay safe she recommends first meeting clients at the office where others are around. "Criminals don't want witnesses," says Hawkins. She advises agents to get a copy of a client's driver's license and keep someone informed about your whereabouts at all times.
"Agents must trust their instinct. If they have a bad feeling about a person or situation, instead of being politically correct, they need to listen to their bodies," says Hawkins. And, don't be afraid to call 911.
"Police officers will tell you they rather come to a false call than a crime scene."
6 Crimes Against Real Estate Agents
Andrew VonStein, a 51-year-old real estate agent in Ohio's Portage County, was shot dead by a disgruntled client in one of the homes listed by the agent. The top agent was allegedly lured to the home by Robert W. Grigelaitis, who was upset about a sour deal that resulted in his wife losing her home.
Vivian Martin, the owner of Essence Realty, was found dead in a listed home engulfed in flames in Youngstown, Ohio. The real estate agent, a colon cancer survivor who was battling liver cancer at the time, was robbed of $56 and strangled by men claiming to be home buyers.
40-year-old Sarah Anne Walker was hosting an open house at a model home in McKinney, Texas, when she was stabbed 27 times by a felon out on parole. Her alleged killer was later arrested.
The body of Brenda Wilburn was found bound inside the closet at her home in Pulaski, Tenn. The real estate agent was allegedly murdered and robbed by Robert Wayne Garner, who will stand trial on August 8.
71-year-old Ann Nelson was robbed, strangled and beaten with a fireplace poker in 2008 while showing a home to a man she believed was a prospective home buyer.
An Orange County real estate agent was raped and bludgeoned by a man masquerading as a prospective home buyer. The man raped the agent after finding her photo online. The agent was able to survive the brutal attack by alleged assailant Shawn David Yates after pretending to be dead.
(Click here to read original article)
*A note from Miami Real Estate Realty: Please understand that when we require potential buyers and sellers to come to our office, we are not trying to be lazy, or inconsiderate, or to inconvenience our clients. We are living in dangerous times, and we put the safety of our agents first. Thank you.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Low Prices, High Anxiety: WalMart Comes to Midtown - March 5, 2012
Some fear Walmart’s first Miami store is a goliath that will squash an eclectic, thriving neighborhood. But others like the inexpensive goods.
By CHARLES RABIN
crabin@MiamiHerald.com
Carrie Price, on her way into Target at Midtown Miami to buy a remote control for her television, could easily have been a walking Walmart ad when she learned the world’s biggest retailer had plans to build just down the street.
“Excellent!” Price, 60, practically shouted. “It’s the prices, baby, the prices!”
A block away, Robert Leclerc was straightening up outdoor furniture and touching up Asian gargoyles at his store Living In Art. Just hearing the name Walmart caused him to roll his eyes.
“Just like CocoWalk killed the entire neighborhood in Coconut Grove, Walmart can’t help me, it can only hurt me,” Leclerc said.
Views on the world’s largest retailer, supermarket and employer are about as divergent as the massive inventory that could fill the building at the southern end of Midtown Miami by 2014.
Discussions regarding Walmart usually have very little middle ground: It’s either the behemoth that sucks the life out of nearby small businesses with low wages and unfair labor practices, or the lifeblood of communities reeling from high unemployment and stalled construction.
Entering the inner-city Miami market is part of a growing trend for Walmart, which made a name for itself building in — and appealing to — suburbia. The chain is opening its fourth store in Philadelphia, and recently signed a contract to build 30 Walmarts in the Chicago area.
The Midtown location would be Walmart’s 10th in Miami-Dade, with three stores in unincorporated Miami-Dade, two in Miami Gardens, and one each in Florida City, North Miami Beach, Hialeah and Hialeah Gardens.
Those locations couldn’t differ more from trendy Midtown Miami, a thriving new retail and dining destination mixed with residential towers that is one of the city’s latest success stories.
It is surrounded on the west and south by modest residential communities, in the midst of the emerging Wynwood arts district, which draws thousands to the annual Art Basel show. To the north is the city’s Fashion District. To the east, there are train tracks before hitting Northeast Second Avenue and then Biscayne Boulevard.
Interviews with nearby retailers found both support for and fear about the expected flood of new customers Walmart will attract. Retailers inside Midtown seem a tad nervous, while store owners outside the complex welcome the growth potential.
Melissa Watts, a supervisor at Ross Dress for Less in Midtown, said her store offers fancier brands than Walmart. Still, she said, when Walmart comes to town, everyone should take notice.
“I don’t think anybody’s safe. Everyone shops at Walmart. I shop at Walmart,” she said.
Yet Anis Sur has no worries. The owner of Discount Supermarket a few blocks southeast of the proposed Walmart site believes the retail giant will bring more people to the neighborhood — and he’s ready to carve out his niche.
“That’s good,” he said of the news. “And Walmart won’t sell single beers.”
Veteran real-estate analyst Mike Cannon calls Walmart’s impending move to Miami part of a growing trend, as large retailers chase residents to the urban core and scramble to reconstitute their stores.
“What it’s going to do is create a tremendous amount of [foot] traffic, and that’s good,” he said.
It’s not the first time Walmart has made plans for the rectangular, 4.9-acre parcel at the southern end of Midtown, bounded by Northeast 29th and 31st streets, North Miami Avenue and First Avenue, also known as Midtown Boulevard.
Back in 2005 when cranes and bulldozers began excavating Midtown, which runs to 36th Street on the north end, the retailer proposed a swanky design with a two-story garage. That plan was shot down by then-Commissioner Johnny Winton, who said the outlet’s “image” wasn’t appropriate for Midtown’s plans.
The plot of land has remained empty, surrounded by a six-foot chain-link fence covered with a dark green screen.
The parcel is owned by leasing giant Developers Diversified Realty, known as DDR, which rents or manages most stores in Midtown Miami. The firm did not respond to repeated interview requests. But it has undertaken a traffic study that hints at what the megastore could mean to one of the city’s newest and most vibrant communities.
Walmart entering the Midtown picture would provide the seven-block retail center with a southern anchor to go along with Target, another big retailer, at its north end.
Early plans, according to the traffic study, call for a two-story, 164,525-square-foot store that would sell groceries as well as typical wares, and above-ground parking that could accommodate 650 cars. In addition, there would be ground-floor space for almost 6,000 square feet of specialty retail.
The food market would compete with Target, which also sells groceries but could be undercut by Walmart’s prices. Target declined to comment.
Price-conscious shoppers Jose and Milagros Rivera, two seniors buying blood- pressure medicine recently at Target, said they would not hesitate to switch to Walmart.
“It’s very much cheaper,” Jose said. “That would be excellent.”
Still, Buena Vista resident Wendy Stephan says Walmart is not the type of retail envisioned for Midtown Miami when the public was sold on development of the area.
“I am perfectly happy with the Target for my needs," said Stephan, responding to a query from The Miami Herald. “Walmart in North Miami [Beach] is a really depressing scene."
Joel Soldinger, who also lives nearby, has never been inside a Walmart and wouldn’t go to the new one. That’s despite his giving Walmart credit for its commitment to organic products; it’s the No. 1 organic retailer in North America and buys from local farmers.
“I know other communities have succeeded in keeping Walmart out and I hope we can do the same,” he said.
The project has already generated enough neighborhood opposition that DDR last week withdrew a request to the city seeking zoning modifications along Midtown Boulevard — meant to be the district’s pedestrian-friendly spine — where Walmart trucks would have entered a loading bay and shoppers’ vehicles entered and exited a garage.
An online petition against the project started by activist Grant Stern, president of Morningside Mortgage, has already collected 642 signatures. Midtown Opportunities, an adjacent landowner, is waging a similar fight.
Stern says even worse than the traffic that Walmart would create is the pain in store for local small businesses. Walmart “has a pricing power that no one can match. These retailers, they don’t know what’s coming,” he warned.
Shimon Bokovza, managing partner at Sugarcane Raw Bar Grill, a hot spot at Midtown and the closest establishment to where Walmart would build, calls the retailer’s impending arrival “unfortunate.” He said Walmart’s effect would go well beyond tying up traffic in front of his restaurant.
Bokovza said Walmart would “hurt the local economy by driving out competitors, forcing the rest of the industry to lower wages, halting the area’s further development and eventually costing the taxpayers more money."
To quash some of the concerns, Walmart released a pair of preliminary architectural renderings last week showing a modern two-story concept, with tall windows off set by dark shutters, light-colored bricks, tree-lined streetscapes and an open-air entrance in the existing style of Midtown Miami.
Stephen Restivo, spokesman for the Little Rock, Ark.-based company, said the renderings show the company has become more flexible with its design to better reflect local aesthetics. “It’s a lesson we learned the hard way, in the past,” he said.
Despite the opposition, “We continue to think a Walmart store makes sense for Midtown,” Restivo said. “We want to have a full conversation with folks who live around that area. People will have an opportunity to weigh in.”
He declined to discuss potential changes, but said Walmart expects to file a formal application reflecting its latest plans in the next few weeks.
The giant retailer has become such a phenomenon that books have been written about it. Perhaps the most famous, The Walmart Effect by Palmetto High graduate Charles Fishman, determined that Walmart is so powerful that it forces companies it does business with to send jobs overseas where production costs are lower.
Restivo called concerns that the chain runs local retailers out of business nothing more than “urban myth,” saying Walmart’s “wages and benefits have always been competitive with people we compete with."
He said a store of the size expected for Midtown could mean at least 300 permanent jobs.
Though Restivo would not go into specifics about the Miami location, when asked about design considerations, he also provided an architectural rendering of a hip, 120,000-square-foot Walmart built in Washington, D.C. Its exterior of navy blue and gray tile, and large glass windows, make the building look more like a modern condo than a traditional big-box Walmart, and it blends well with the neighborhood.
Restivo noted that not all Walmarts are supercenters, which the size would suggest is planned for Midtown Miami. Adjusting to local demands, Walmart now has 167 U.S. stores ranging from 30,000 to 60,000 square feet that the company calls “neighborhood markets." Miami officials, challenged by the city’s high unemployment and stalled construction sector, seem more willing to embrace Walmart now than a decade ago.
“At the end of the day, it brings jobs to the community and more people to Midtown,” said Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado. “I’m glad Walmart is investing in Midtown.”
Commissioner Marc Sarnoff, who represents the area, isn’t quite sold on Walmart, saying “it’s basically not what Midtown is about.” Still, he’s willing to hold off judgment. Sarnoff’s main concern is the traffic congestion along Midtown Boulevard.
“As it crystallizes, I’ll know more,” he said.
But nearby small-business owner Diego Castro knows what’s coming, and he can’t wait.
For eight years he has owned AAA Locksmith, in a small strip mall on Northeast Second Avenue just below 36th Street.
Castro said he’s well aware Walmart will have a hardware section, selling some of the very same goods he has in his small store and probably at a lower price.
Still, he said, “If more people come to this area it’s better for my business, and for everyone else’s.”
This article includes comments from members of HeraldSource, part of the Public Insight Network. To learn more about the network or to join, visit MiamiHerald.com/insight.
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/03/03/v-fullstory/2674406/low-prices-high-anxiety-walmart.html#storylink=cpy
By CHARLES RABIN
crabin@MiamiHerald.com
Carrie Price, on her way into Target at Midtown Miami to buy a remote control for her television, could easily have been a walking Walmart ad when she learned the world’s biggest retailer had plans to build just down the street.
“Excellent!” Price, 60, practically shouted. “It’s the prices, baby, the prices!”
A block away, Robert Leclerc was straightening up outdoor furniture and touching up Asian gargoyles at his store Living In Art. Just hearing the name Walmart caused him to roll his eyes.
“Just like CocoWalk killed the entire neighborhood in Coconut Grove, Walmart can’t help me, it can only hurt me,” Leclerc said.
Views on the world’s largest retailer, supermarket and employer are about as divergent as the massive inventory that could fill the building at the southern end of Midtown Miami by 2014.
Discussions regarding Walmart usually have very little middle ground: It’s either the behemoth that sucks the life out of nearby small businesses with low wages and unfair labor practices, or the lifeblood of communities reeling from high unemployment and stalled construction.
Entering the inner-city Miami market is part of a growing trend for Walmart, which made a name for itself building in — and appealing to — suburbia. The chain is opening its fourth store in Philadelphia, and recently signed a contract to build 30 Walmarts in the Chicago area.
The Midtown location would be Walmart’s 10th in Miami-Dade, with three stores in unincorporated Miami-Dade, two in Miami Gardens, and one each in Florida City, North Miami Beach, Hialeah and Hialeah Gardens.
Those locations couldn’t differ more from trendy Midtown Miami, a thriving new retail and dining destination mixed with residential towers that is one of the city’s latest success stories.
It is surrounded on the west and south by modest residential communities, in the midst of the emerging Wynwood arts district, which draws thousands to the annual Art Basel show. To the north is the city’s Fashion District. To the east, there are train tracks before hitting Northeast Second Avenue and then Biscayne Boulevard.
Interviews with nearby retailers found both support for and fear about the expected flood of new customers Walmart will attract. Retailers inside Midtown seem a tad nervous, while store owners outside the complex welcome the growth potential.
Melissa Watts, a supervisor at Ross Dress for Less in Midtown, said her store offers fancier brands than Walmart. Still, she said, when Walmart comes to town, everyone should take notice.
“I don’t think anybody’s safe. Everyone shops at Walmart. I shop at Walmart,” she said.
Yet Anis Sur has no worries. The owner of Discount Supermarket a few blocks southeast of the proposed Walmart site believes the retail giant will bring more people to the neighborhood — and he’s ready to carve out his niche.
“That’s good,” he said of the news. “And Walmart won’t sell single beers.”
Veteran real-estate analyst Mike Cannon calls Walmart’s impending move to Miami part of a growing trend, as large retailers chase residents to the urban core and scramble to reconstitute their stores.
“What it’s going to do is create a tremendous amount of [foot] traffic, and that’s good,” he said.
It’s not the first time Walmart has made plans for the rectangular, 4.9-acre parcel at the southern end of Midtown, bounded by Northeast 29th and 31st streets, North Miami Avenue and First Avenue, also known as Midtown Boulevard.
Back in 2005 when cranes and bulldozers began excavating Midtown, which runs to 36th Street on the north end, the retailer proposed a swanky design with a two-story garage. That plan was shot down by then-Commissioner Johnny Winton, who said the outlet’s “image” wasn’t appropriate for Midtown’s plans.
The plot of land has remained empty, surrounded by a six-foot chain-link fence covered with a dark green screen.
The parcel is owned by leasing giant Developers Diversified Realty, known as DDR, which rents or manages most stores in Midtown Miami. The firm did not respond to repeated interview requests. But it has undertaken a traffic study that hints at what the megastore could mean to one of the city’s newest and most vibrant communities.
Walmart entering the Midtown picture would provide the seven-block retail center with a southern anchor to go along with Target, another big retailer, at its north end.
Early plans, according to the traffic study, call for a two-story, 164,525-square-foot store that would sell groceries as well as typical wares, and above-ground parking that could accommodate 650 cars. In addition, there would be ground-floor space for almost 6,000 square feet of specialty retail.
The food market would compete with Target, which also sells groceries but could be undercut by Walmart’s prices. Target declined to comment.
Price-conscious shoppers Jose and Milagros Rivera, two seniors buying blood- pressure medicine recently at Target, said they would not hesitate to switch to Walmart.
“It’s very much cheaper,” Jose said. “That would be excellent.”
Still, Buena Vista resident Wendy Stephan says Walmart is not the type of retail envisioned for Midtown Miami when the public was sold on development of the area.
“I am perfectly happy with the Target for my needs," said Stephan, responding to a query from The Miami Herald. “Walmart in North Miami [Beach] is a really depressing scene."
Joel Soldinger, who also lives nearby, has never been inside a Walmart and wouldn’t go to the new one. That’s despite his giving Walmart credit for its commitment to organic products; it’s the No. 1 organic retailer in North America and buys from local farmers.
“I know other communities have succeeded in keeping Walmart out and I hope we can do the same,” he said.
The project has already generated enough neighborhood opposition that DDR last week withdrew a request to the city seeking zoning modifications along Midtown Boulevard — meant to be the district’s pedestrian-friendly spine — where Walmart trucks would have entered a loading bay and shoppers’ vehicles entered and exited a garage.
An online petition against the project started by activist Grant Stern, president of Morningside Mortgage, has already collected 642 signatures. Midtown Opportunities, an adjacent landowner, is waging a similar fight.
Stern says even worse than the traffic that Walmart would create is the pain in store for local small businesses. Walmart “has a pricing power that no one can match. These retailers, they don’t know what’s coming,” he warned.
Shimon Bokovza, managing partner at Sugarcane Raw Bar Grill, a hot spot at Midtown and the closest establishment to where Walmart would build, calls the retailer’s impending arrival “unfortunate.” He said Walmart’s effect would go well beyond tying up traffic in front of his restaurant.
Bokovza said Walmart would “hurt the local economy by driving out competitors, forcing the rest of the industry to lower wages, halting the area’s further development and eventually costing the taxpayers more money."
To quash some of the concerns, Walmart released a pair of preliminary architectural renderings last week showing a modern two-story concept, with tall windows off set by dark shutters, light-colored bricks, tree-lined streetscapes and an open-air entrance in the existing style of Midtown Miami.
Stephen Restivo, spokesman for the Little Rock, Ark.-based company, said the renderings show the company has become more flexible with its design to better reflect local aesthetics. “It’s a lesson we learned the hard way, in the past,” he said.
Despite the opposition, “We continue to think a Walmart store makes sense for Midtown,” Restivo said. “We want to have a full conversation with folks who live around that area. People will have an opportunity to weigh in.”
He declined to discuss potential changes, but said Walmart expects to file a formal application reflecting its latest plans in the next few weeks.
The giant retailer has become such a phenomenon that books have been written about it. Perhaps the most famous, The Walmart Effect by Palmetto High graduate Charles Fishman, determined that Walmart is so powerful that it forces companies it does business with to send jobs overseas where production costs are lower.
Restivo called concerns that the chain runs local retailers out of business nothing more than “urban myth,” saying Walmart’s “wages and benefits have always been competitive with people we compete with."
He said a store of the size expected for Midtown could mean at least 300 permanent jobs.
Though Restivo would not go into specifics about the Miami location, when asked about design considerations, he also provided an architectural rendering of a hip, 120,000-square-foot Walmart built in Washington, D.C. Its exterior of navy blue and gray tile, and large glass windows, make the building look more like a modern condo than a traditional big-box Walmart, and it blends well with the neighborhood.
Restivo noted that not all Walmarts are supercenters, which the size would suggest is planned for Midtown Miami. Adjusting to local demands, Walmart now has 167 U.S. stores ranging from 30,000 to 60,000 square feet that the company calls “neighborhood markets." Miami officials, challenged by the city’s high unemployment and stalled construction sector, seem more willing to embrace Walmart now than a decade ago.
“At the end of the day, it brings jobs to the community and more people to Midtown,” said Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado. “I’m glad Walmart is investing in Midtown.”
Commissioner Marc Sarnoff, who represents the area, isn’t quite sold on Walmart, saying “it’s basically not what Midtown is about.” Still, he’s willing to hold off judgment. Sarnoff’s main concern is the traffic congestion along Midtown Boulevard.
“As it crystallizes, I’ll know more,” he said.
But nearby small-business owner Diego Castro knows what’s coming, and he can’t wait.
For eight years he has owned AAA Locksmith, in a small strip mall on Northeast Second Avenue just below 36th Street.
Castro said he’s well aware Walmart will have a hardware section, selling some of the very same goods he has in his small store and probably at a lower price.
Still, he said, “If more people come to this area it’s better for my business, and for everyone else’s.”
This article includes comments from members of HeraldSource, part of the Public Insight Network. To learn more about the network or to join, visit MiamiHerald.com/insight.
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/03/03/v-fullstory/2674406/low-prices-high-anxiety-walmart.html#storylink=cpy
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Start Your Engines - Miami's Preconstruction Condo Market Heats Up Again - February 23, 2012
By Andy Wang
Developer Gil Dezer isn’t launching sales of his 132-unit Porsche Design condo tower in Sunny Isles Beach until June. He’s spending $3 million on a swanky sales center that won’t be ready until then. He still doesn’t have a Web site for his building. He’s not planning to break ground on the 57-story development until the second or third quarter of 2013. And he says the building won’t be ready until the second quarter of 2016.
But word has spread about the Porsche Design building, with a robotic parking system that allows owners to store multiple cars next to their apartments, and many would-be buyers have expressed interest.
“We’re now taking private meetings with those who are interested in buying units,” says Dezer, who’s come up with a way to ensure he’s meeting with serious customers.
Dezer is requiring that potential buyers deposit $100,000 in escrow before they can schedule a meeting to discuss the luxurious condos, which are priced around $1,000 per square foot and range from $3.9 million to $14.5 million.
That money is refundable, of course, but nobody’s asked for a refund yet.
Dezer’s had 27 interested parties put $100,000 into escrow and is making appointments as far as 60 days out. So far, 15 meetings have resulted into 15 reservations for units, with the buyers — all Latin American, except for one US buyer and one Russian — each putting 10 percent down. This means deposits of around $400,000 or more for product that won’t be ready for more than four years.
And Dezer is also making buyers put another 10 percent down when they go into contract and another 10 percent beyond that when construction starts.
“That’s one of the selling points,” Dezer says of the building’s timetable. “We’re helping people plan for the future.”
It’s not just beach properties that are selling based on plans. Miami’s downtown, which had the feeling of an overbuilt wasteland just a couple years ago, is seeing buyers swoop in to buy units at bargain prices. And one can make the case that downtown could use more inventory.
A Miami Downtown Development Authority study in 2009 revealed that only 62 percent of the more than 23,000 condos downtown were occupied. That number climbed to 74 percent in 2010 and 85 percent in 2011. The 2012 study hasn’t been released yet, but Miami DDA executive director Alyce Robertson has “heard a rumor” that the occupancy rate will be upwards of 90 percent.
The Related Group, known for massive condo buildings all over Miami, started taking reservations for units at its MyBrickell condo building in September. Construction starts in March, but MyBrickell is close to 90 percent reserved and has increased prices due to high demand.
“We started selling units just under $300 per square foot,” says Carlos Rosso, president of Related’s condominium division. “We’ve raised prices from about $300 per square foot to $350 per square foot. We’re 192 units, 170 reserved. We’ve started converting to contracts, and 120 units have signed contracts.”
Related is asking buyers to put up 80 percent of the purchase price throughout the construction of the project and the final 20 percent at the closing table.
With the success of MyBrickell, Related is now planning Millecento Residences downtown, with about twice as many condos as MyBrickell and slightly higher prices of around $370 per square foot.
Nearby at BrickellHouse, a condo project that’s breaking ground in the summer, there are reservations with 10 percent deposits for 50 percent of its 374 units in less than four months of sales.
This, sales director Alicia Cervera Lamadrid says, is happening despite limited marketing resources.
“Our Web site is still under construction,” she says. “We don’t have a sales office.”
There was an on-site event with food trucks and a DJ last week, but it was on “basically a vacant lot,” Cervera Lamadrid says. “And we still don’t have a full-scale model of the building.”
But none of this has slowed down sales.
“We started with a target price right around $400 per square foot,” says Cervera Lamadrid, and BrickellHouse is hitting the target.
“One thing I like about it is that it’s very modern,” says Vince Pileggi, a BrickellHouse buyer from Toronto who’s purchasing an 800-square-foot one-bedroom condo with a terrace.
“I’ve always wanted to buy in Miami, and now there’s no better time with the prices,” says Pileggi. “With the location, and with the price it is right now, I think it’s basically the bottom [of the market] or starting to come back. And because it’s preconstruction, I have some time to save up some money.”
BrickellHouse developer Harvey Hernandez, who’s asking for 70 percent of each unit’s purchase price during the project’s construction, says he’s considered raising prices, but: “We don’t want to stop the momentum,” he says. “It’s a very fine line between raising prices and jeopardizing your sales.”
This measured approach to sales is just one example developers and brokers offer as a way of explaining how the upswing in Miami’s new-construction market doesn’t resemble the overheated days of 2007 and 2008. Many downtown apartments were selling for well upwards of $500 per square foot then, and projects all over Miami had many more condos to unload.
Dezer’s three Trump Towers buildings in Sunny Isles Beach alone have more than 800 units, about seven times what Porsche Design has. Related’s Icon Brickell has nearly 1,800 units, almost 10 times what MyBrickell has.
“The days of launching a project with 1,000 units and then another with 1,800 units, those days are long gone,” Rosso says.
Up in Hollywood, north of Miami, Related has started construction on Apogee Beach, which has 40 of its 48 condos under contract with 40 percent deposits.
“We started at $400 per square foot and are now close to $600 per square foot,” says Rosso, who adds that Related is now planning another condo development in nearby Hallandale.
Hollywood is also home to the preconstruction Positano Beach, which was announced this month and has reservations for about half of its 15 units, which average 3,600 square feet and start at $1.4 million. Marketing brochures still haven’t been printed. Positano Beach is the sister project of Hollywood’s sold-out Villas at Positano.
Of course, buyers who want new product they can move into sooner also have options in every price range.
Cervera Lamadrid is selling the Ocean House complex, on Ocean Drive in South Beach’s coveted South of Fifth area. Ocean House, which has sold about one-third of its 18 beachfront units, features high-priced residences including a nearly 5,000-square-foot, Artefacto-furnished model unit listed for $7.25 million.
Two buyers are already living in Ocean House while the development is being finished. The common amenity spaces will be ready in April.
And broker Diane Lieberman of SBI Realty has sold five out of 12 units in one month at Baylights on the north end of Miami Beach. The ready-for-occupancy new development offers condos priced around $350 per square foot, with some apartments featuring outdoor spaces that are larger than the interiors.
“Inventory is drying up in Miami, which is something people can’t imagine,” Lieberman says. “It’s a pretty strong market.”
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/realestate/residential/start_your_engines_996aLokV4JlUTn5iHEPlaI#ixzz1nEFFv1j0
Developer Gil Dezer isn’t launching sales of his 132-unit Porsche Design condo tower in Sunny Isles Beach until June. He’s spending $3 million on a swanky sales center that won’t be ready until then. He still doesn’t have a Web site for his building. He’s not planning to break ground on the 57-story development until the second or third quarter of 2013. And he says the building won’t be ready until the second quarter of 2016.
But word has spread about the Porsche Design building, with a robotic parking system that allows owners to store multiple cars next to their apartments, and many would-be buyers have expressed interest.
“We’re now taking private meetings with those who are interested in buying units,” says Dezer, who’s come up with a way to ensure he’s meeting with serious customers.
Dezer is requiring that potential buyers deposit $100,000 in escrow before they can schedule a meeting to discuss the luxurious condos, which are priced around $1,000 per square foot and range from $3.9 million to $14.5 million.
That money is refundable, of course, but nobody’s asked for a refund yet.
Dezer’s had 27 interested parties put $100,000 into escrow and is making appointments as far as 60 days out. So far, 15 meetings have resulted into 15 reservations for units, with the buyers — all Latin American, except for one US buyer and one Russian — each putting 10 percent down. This means deposits of around $400,000 or more for product that won’t be ready for more than four years.
And Dezer is also making buyers put another 10 percent down when they go into contract and another 10 percent beyond that when construction starts.
“That’s one of the selling points,” Dezer says of the building’s timetable. “We’re helping people plan for the future.”
It’s not just beach properties that are selling based on plans. Miami’s downtown, which had the feeling of an overbuilt wasteland just a couple years ago, is seeing buyers swoop in to buy units at bargain prices. And one can make the case that downtown could use more inventory.
A Miami Downtown Development Authority study in 2009 revealed that only 62 percent of the more than 23,000 condos downtown were occupied. That number climbed to 74 percent in 2010 and 85 percent in 2011. The 2012 study hasn’t been released yet, but Miami DDA executive director Alyce Robertson has “heard a rumor” that the occupancy rate will be upwards of 90 percent.
The Related Group, known for massive condo buildings all over Miami, started taking reservations for units at its MyBrickell condo building in September. Construction starts in March, but MyBrickell is close to 90 percent reserved and has increased prices due to high demand.
“We started selling units just under $300 per square foot,” says Carlos Rosso, president of Related’s condominium division. “We’ve raised prices from about $300 per square foot to $350 per square foot. We’re 192 units, 170 reserved. We’ve started converting to contracts, and 120 units have signed contracts.”
Related is asking buyers to put up 80 percent of the purchase price throughout the construction of the project and the final 20 percent at the closing table.
With the success of MyBrickell, Related is now planning Millecento Residences downtown, with about twice as many condos as MyBrickell and slightly higher prices of around $370 per square foot.
Nearby at BrickellHouse, a condo project that’s breaking ground in the summer, there are reservations with 10 percent deposits for 50 percent of its 374 units in less than four months of sales.
This, sales director Alicia Cervera Lamadrid says, is happening despite limited marketing resources.
“Our Web site is still under construction,” she says. “We don’t have a sales office.”
There was an on-site event with food trucks and a DJ last week, but it was on “basically a vacant lot,” Cervera Lamadrid says. “And we still don’t have a full-scale model of the building.”
But none of this has slowed down sales.
“We started with a target price right around $400 per square foot,” says Cervera Lamadrid, and BrickellHouse is hitting the target.
“One thing I like about it is that it’s very modern,” says Vince Pileggi, a BrickellHouse buyer from Toronto who’s purchasing an 800-square-foot one-bedroom condo with a terrace.
“I’ve always wanted to buy in Miami, and now there’s no better time with the prices,” says Pileggi. “With the location, and with the price it is right now, I think it’s basically the bottom [of the market] or starting to come back. And because it’s preconstruction, I have some time to save up some money.”
BrickellHouse developer Harvey Hernandez, who’s asking for 70 percent of each unit’s purchase price during the project’s construction, says he’s considered raising prices, but: “We don’t want to stop the momentum,” he says. “It’s a very fine line between raising prices and jeopardizing your sales.”
This measured approach to sales is just one example developers and brokers offer as a way of explaining how the upswing in Miami’s new-construction market doesn’t resemble the overheated days of 2007 and 2008. Many downtown apartments were selling for well upwards of $500 per square foot then, and projects all over Miami had many more condos to unload.
Dezer’s three Trump Towers buildings in Sunny Isles Beach alone have more than 800 units, about seven times what Porsche Design has. Related’s Icon Brickell has nearly 1,800 units, almost 10 times what MyBrickell has.
“The days of launching a project with 1,000 units and then another with 1,800 units, those days are long gone,” Rosso says.
Up in Hollywood, north of Miami, Related has started construction on Apogee Beach, which has 40 of its 48 condos under contract with 40 percent deposits.
“We started at $400 per square foot and are now close to $600 per square foot,” says Rosso, who adds that Related is now planning another condo development in nearby Hallandale.
Hollywood is also home to the preconstruction Positano Beach, which was announced this month and has reservations for about half of its 15 units, which average 3,600 square feet and start at $1.4 million. Marketing brochures still haven’t been printed. Positano Beach is the sister project of Hollywood’s sold-out Villas at Positano.
Of course, buyers who want new product they can move into sooner also have options in every price range.
Cervera Lamadrid is selling the Ocean House complex, on Ocean Drive in South Beach’s coveted South of Fifth area. Ocean House, which has sold about one-third of its 18 beachfront units, features high-priced residences including a nearly 5,000-square-foot, Artefacto-furnished model unit listed for $7.25 million.
Two buyers are already living in Ocean House while the development is being finished. The common amenity spaces will be ready in April.
And broker Diane Lieberman of SBI Realty has sold five out of 12 units in one month at Baylights on the north end of Miami Beach. The ready-for-occupancy new development offers condos priced around $350 per square foot, with some apartments featuring outdoor spaces that are larger than the interiors.
“Inventory is drying up in Miami, which is something people can’t imagine,” Lieberman says. “It’s a pretty strong market.”
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/realestate/residential/start_your_engines_996aLokV4JlUTn5iHEPlaI#ixzz1nEFFv1j0
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Midtown Walmart Plans: Developers Want Road Changes To Protect Pedestrians - February 3, 2012
By Tim Elfrink
Since Riptide broke the news in October that an Ohio-based developer wants to build a massive new Walmart in booming Midtown Miami, the firm has kept quiet about the plans. That doesn't mean they've backed down after residents angrily flooded our story and others with anti-Sam Walton comments. This week, the company's attorneys sent the city a request to make some changes to the nearby neighborhood to help the giant retailer fit in.
Specifically, Walmart wants permission to re-build a 350-foot segment of NE 1st Avenue so Walmart's delivery trucks can get in and out without changing the area's "pedestrian friendly" feel.
Calling the changes "minor modifications," local attorney Neisen Kasdin -- who represents Walmart's builders, Developers Diversified Realty (DDR) -- asks the city for permission to include roadwork in the retailers' pending request for a permit.
The modifications seem designed to snuff out complaints that are sure to bedevil Walmart's proposal -- namely, that the giant, car-friendly store doesn't match the walkable aesthetic of the rest of the Midtown development.
DDR proposes a number of changes to NE 1st Avenue between 30th and 29th Streets to address such concerns, including adding a crosswalk, heightening cubs and adding new landscaped areas near the street.
They also propose similar changes along 29th Street, on the north border of their proposed site.
"(The proposal) prioritizes pedestrian traffic to create a comfortable pedestrian environment," Kasdin writes.
It's not clear when Walmart will officially apply for a permit to start building on the site, but the letter makes it clear that DDR and city officials are working toward a plan.
Since Riptide broke the news in October that an Ohio-based developer wants to build a massive new Walmart in booming Midtown Miami, the firm has kept quiet about the plans. That doesn't mean they've backed down after residents angrily flooded our story and others with anti-Sam Walton comments. This week, the company's attorneys sent the city a request to make some changes to the nearby neighborhood to help the giant retailer fit in.
Specifically, Walmart wants permission to re-build a 350-foot segment of NE 1st Avenue so Walmart's delivery trucks can get in and out without changing the area's "pedestrian friendly" feel.
Calling the changes "minor modifications," local attorney Neisen Kasdin -- who represents Walmart's builders, Developers Diversified Realty (DDR) -- asks the city for permission to include roadwork in the retailers' pending request for a permit.
The modifications seem designed to snuff out complaints that are sure to bedevil Walmart's proposal -- namely, that the giant, car-friendly store doesn't match the walkable aesthetic of the rest of the Midtown development.
DDR proposes a number of changes to NE 1st Avenue between 30th and 29th Streets to address such concerns, including adding a crosswalk, heightening cubs and adding new landscaped areas near the street.
They also propose similar changes along 29th Street, on the north border of their proposed site.
"(The proposal) prioritizes pedestrian traffic to create a comfortable pedestrian environment," Kasdin writes.
It's not clear when Walmart will officially apply for a permit to start building on the site, but the letter makes it clear that DDR and city officials are working toward a plan.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Miami Takes up Proposed Development That Would Transform Coconut Grove - November 18, 2011
A massive mixed-use redevelopment seeks to remake the deteriorated face of Miami’s historically black West Coconut Grove, but longtime residents fear they will be pushed out.
BY ANDRES VIGLUCCI
aviglucci@MiamiHerald.com
The city of Miami appears poised to approve a massive redevelopment project in historically black West Coconut Grove that promises to radically transform its down-at-the-heels main street, by replacing six blocks of vacant lots and rundown apartments on Grand Avenue with multi-story shops, offices, new homes and a major supermarket — the first in the heart of the Grove in decades.
The Grove Village proposal, which will be reviewed Thursday by the City Commission, has sharply divided the West Grove, where some say it will resuscitate a dying neighborhood, while others fear it could gentrify it out of existence.
Developer Peter Gardner, who grew up and lives in Coconut Grove, says the project is as much labor of love as business proposition, noting that the West Grove has long been starved for new investment.
“I was born in the Grove and I live on the same street I grew up on, and some day my grandkids will walk down Grand Avenue, so it’s incredibly meaningful to me to make this the best possible project," Gardner said.
“I’ve watched other areas of Miami get a shot in the arm: Miami Beach got a rebirth, and downtown Miami and Brickell got the same, and most recently South Miami, and I think it’s now time for the Grove."
In four years of planning, Gardner says he has met scores of times with Grove residents, neighborhood groups, pastors and activists. That, city planners say, has led to significant redesigns to ensure the massive project better blends into the surrounding duplex and single-family neighborhoods.
West Grove, one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city, is a long-established working- and middle-class enclave that is home to many descendants of the Grove’s original Bahamian settlers, though it has lost significant population in recent years amid cratering property values, extensive vacancies and a persistent street drug traffic in some areas.
Gardner has also promised to set aside 40 of the project’s planned 257 homes and apartments as affordable housing, and to train and hire local residents for construction jobs as well as the permanent jobs he expects to be generated by the new businesses the project will draw.
Gardner said he is in a position to make good on those promises because his company, Pointe Group Advisors, will manage as well as build the development.
But some activists and residents are skeptical, noting Gardner has spurned requests to guarantee those promises in writing. They also contend that the project won’t come close to replacing the dilapidated but low-cost apartments that have been or would be razed along the six blocks, which take up both sides of Grand from Margaret Street west to Plaza Street.
In effect, the critics contend, the project would extend the reach of the more-affluent, mostly white Coconut Grove into the poorer, black neighborhood.
“It excludes rather than includes the historic residents," Jihad Rashid, director of the Coconut Grove Collaborative, recently complained to members of the city planning and zoning board.
The result, Rashid and others fear, is that long-time residents will be priced out of the neighborhood, erasing the Bahamian heritage that the project’s architecture attempts to echo.
“They’re going to keep the architecture but not the people," said Pierre Sands, president of the main West Grove resident group.
The planning board recommended approval 7-0 after two hours of often-contentious debate and sharp questioning by some members concerned about the impact of new five-story buildings on the single-family homes behind them. Though the developer has purchased and demolished homes on the back sides of the six blocks, some “holdouts" have declined to sell.
City planners say they have ensured those remaining homes are separated from the project by park-like landscaping and that no building entrances will impinge on them. The backs of the new buildings will also sit back from neighboring homes.
“The question is, can this be done sensitively," asked planning board member Patrick Goggings, before concluding the plan represents “a good compromise."
If the commission approves the project and a related package of zoning changes necessary for Grove Village’s extensive mix of uses, Gardner said, the first two blocks to be erected would be the two easternmost.
One, a vacant lot on the south side of Grand where an organic farmer’s market is held regularly, would be anchored by a grocery store and contain some affordable homes at the rear. Across Grand would rise a rental apartment building.
The rest of the six blocks would be built in phases and would include retail and restaurant space, offices, homes and more apartments, as well as a possible hotel.
The project would be approved under an unusual scheme that would effectively lock in the current plan, preventing the developers from seeking major changes in the future.
Because the project was initially submitted before approval of the city’s new Miami 21 code, it was designed under the old code while incorporating many of the new rulebook’s pedestrian and neighborhood-friendly features, including concealed parking garages, with entrances on side streets only, and active storefronts at ground level on Grand.
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/11/17/v-fullstory/2505687/miami-city-commission-takes-up.html#ixzz1e5jcskMN
BY ANDRES VIGLUCCI
aviglucci@MiamiHerald.com
The city of Miami appears poised to approve a massive redevelopment project in historically black West Coconut Grove that promises to radically transform its down-at-the-heels main street, by replacing six blocks of vacant lots and rundown apartments on Grand Avenue with multi-story shops, offices, new homes and a major supermarket — the first in the heart of the Grove in decades.
The Grove Village proposal, which will be reviewed Thursday by the City Commission, has sharply divided the West Grove, where some say it will resuscitate a dying neighborhood, while others fear it could gentrify it out of existence.
Developer Peter Gardner, who grew up and lives in Coconut Grove, says the project is as much labor of love as business proposition, noting that the West Grove has long been starved for new investment.
“I was born in the Grove and I live on the same street I grew up on, and some day my grandkids will walk down Grand Avenue, so it’s incredibly meaningful to me to make this the best possible project," Gardner said.
“I’ve watched other areas of Miami get a shot in the arm: Miami Beach got a rebirth, and downtown Miami and Brickell got the same, and most recently South Miami, and I think it’s now time for the Grove."
In four years of planning, Gardner says he has met scores of times with Grove residents, neighborhood groups, pastors and activists. That, city planners say, has led to significant redesigns to ensure the massive project better blends into the surrounding duplex and single-family neighborhoods.
West Grove, one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city, is a long-established working- and middle-class enclave that is home to many descendants of the Grove’s original Bahamian settlers, though it has lost significant population in recent years amid cratering property values, extensive vacancies and a persistent street drug traffic in some areas.
Gardner has also promised to set aside 40 of the project’s planned 257 homes and apartments as affordable housing, and to train and hire local residents for construction jobs as well as the permanent jobs he expects to be generated by the new businesses the project will draw.
Gardner said he is in a position to make good on those promises because his company, Pointe Group Advisors, will manage as well as build the development.
But some activists and residents are skeptical, noting Gardner has spurned requests to guarantee those promises in writing. They also contend that the project won’t come close to replacing the dilapidated but low-cost apartments that have been or would be razed along the six blocks, which take up both sides of Grand from Margaret Street west to Plaza Street.
In effect, the critics contend, the project would extend the reach of the more-affluent, mostly white Coconut Grove into the poorer, black neighborhood.
“It excludes rather than includes the historic residents," Jihad Rashid, director of the Coconut Grove Collaborative, recently complained to members of the city planning and zoning board.
The result, Rashid and others fear, is that long-time residents will be priced out of the neighborhood, erasing the Bahamian heritage that the project’s architecture attempts to echo.
“They’re going to keep the architecture but not the people," said Pierre Sands, president of the main West Grove resident group.
The planning board recommended approval 7-0 after two hours of often-contentious debate and sharp questioning by some members concerned about the impact of new five-story buildings on the single-family homes behind them. Though the developer has purchased and demolished homes on the back sides of the six blocks, some “holdouts" have declined to sell.
City planners say they have ensured those remaining homes are separated from the project by park-like landscaping and that no building entrances will impinge on them. The backs of the new buildings will also sit back from neighboring homes.
“The question is, can this be done sensitively," asked planning board member Patrick Goggings, before concluding the plan represents “a good compromise."
If the commission approves the project and a related package of zoning changes necessary for Grove Village’s extensive mix of uses, Gardner said, the first two blocks to be erected would be the two easternmost.
One, a vacant lot on the south side of Grand where an organic farmer’s market is held regularly, would be anchored by a grocery store and contain some affordable homes at the rear. Across Grand would rise a rental apartment building.
The rest of the six blocks would be built in phases and would include retail and restaurant space, offices, homes and more apartments, as well as a possible hotel.
The project would be approved under an unusual scheme that would effectively lock in the current plan, preventing the developers from seeking major changes in the future.
Because the project was initially submitted before approval of the city’s new Miami 21 code, it was designed under the old code while incorporating many of the new rulebook’s pedestrian and neighborhood-friendly features, including concealed parking garages, with entrances on side streets only, and active storefronts at ground level on Grand.
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/11/17/v-fullstory/2505687/miami-city-commission-takes-up.html#ixzz1e5jcskMN
Thursday, October 27, 2011
WalMart Coming to Midtown Miami - October 27, 2011
The discount retailer expects to submit site plans for approval to the city before the end of the year. This is the same location where city officials scuttled a proposed Walmart in 2005.
By ELAINE WALKER
ewalker@MiamiHerald.com
Six years after Walmart first tried to open a store at The Shops at Midtown Miami, the discount retailer is back again and planning to move forward on what would be its first store in the city of Miami.
Walmart Florida spokeswoman Michelle Belaire said the company has a contract with Developers Diversified Realty to buy five acres of land and is working on a site plan to be submitted to the city in the next couple of months. Walmart doesn’t need any zoning change or land use variances for the site, she said.
“We are working with a world-renowned architect to produce a one-of-a-kind Walmart that would be consistent with the design of the area,” Belaire said. “We’re fleshing out the plan to ensure that we meet all the necessary requirements before submission.”
Preliminary plans call for a 155,000-square-foot store with a full-service grocery store, which would be just slightly larger than the center’s existing Target; it would be located on undeveloped property at the south end of Midtown Miami on North Miami Avenue. The store would likely open in late 2013 or early 2014.
This is the same location where Walmart in 2005 had proposed a nontraditional, design with a multilevel parking garage that was shot down by then Miami City Commissioner Johnny Winton and other city officials. At that time, Midtown Miami was still under construction. While the Walmart deal was never officially voted down by city officials, Winton made it clear he didn’t believe Walmart’s “image” was suitable for the project.
“That site is not one we want to be known as a Walmart site,” Winton told the Herald in 2005.
The location was later designated for a JCPenney, but that store never materialized.
This time around Walmart hopes to build a store with a two-level parking garage above, Belaire said. The garage would have at least 600 spaces for free use by shoppers. The design also is expected to include some small retail shops lining the front of the store and opening out to the street, to coincide with Midtown’s pedestrian-friendly orientation, she said. The store would employ up to 350 people.
For years Walmart has been looking at locations throughout Miami’s urban core.
“Miami is a tremendously underserved community for us,” Belaire said. “We know the City of Miami residents shop our stores. Right now they’re leaving the city and coming into our stores elsewhere in Miami-Dade County.”
Walmart would join the lineup at Midtown Miami that includes Target, Marshalls, HomeGoods, PetSmart, Ross Dress for Less and The Sports Authority.
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/10/25/2471835/walmart-coming-to-midtown-miami.html#ixzz1bzlhhDxB
By ELAINE WALKER
ewalker@MiamiHerald.com
Six years after Walmart first tried to open a store at The Shops at Midtown Miami, the discount retailer is back again and planning to move forward on what would be its first store in the city of Miami.
Walmart Florida spokeswoman Michelle Belaire said the company has a contract with Developers Diversified Realty to buy five acres of land and is working on a site plan to be submitted to the city in the next couple of months. Walmart doesn’t need any zoning change or land use variances for the site, she said.
“We are working with a world-renowned architect to produce a one-of-a-kind Walmart that would be consistent with the design of the area,” Belaire said. “We’re fleshing out the plan to ensure that we meet all the necessary requirements before submission.”
Preliminary plans call for a 155,000-square-foot store with a full-service grocery store, which would be just slightly larger than the center’s existing Target; it would be located on undeveloped property at the south end of Midtown Miami on North Miami Avenue. The store would likely open in late 2013 or early 2014.
This is the same location where Walmart in 2005 had proposed a nontraditional, design with a multilevel parking garage that was shot down by then Miami City Commissioner Johnny Winton and other city officials. At that time, Midtown Miami was still under construction. While the Walmart deal was never officially voted down by city officials, Winton made it clear he didn’t believe Walmart’s “image” was suitable for the project.
“That site is not one we want to be known as a Walmart site,” Winton told the Herald in 2005.
The location was later designated for a JCPenney, but that store never materialized.
This time around Walmart hopes to build a store with a two-level parking garage above, Belaire said. The garage would have at least 600 spaces for free use by shoppers. The design also is expected to include some small retail shops lining the front of the store and opening out to the street, to coincide with Midtown’s pedestrian-friendly orientation, she said. The store would employ up to 350 people.
For years Walmart has been looking at locations throughout Miami’s urban core.
“Miami is a tremendously underserved community for us,” Belaire said. “We know the City of Miami residents shop our stores. Right now they’re leaving the city and coming into our stores elsewhere in Miami-Dade County.”
Walmart would join the lineup at Midtown Miami that includes Target, Marshalls, HomeGoods, PetSmart, Ross Dress for Less and The Sports Authority.
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/10/25/2471835/walmart-coming-to-midtown-miami.html#ixzz1bzlhhDxB
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