The developer of Brickell Key is moving ahead on plans for a mixed-use development, which aims to create an urban retail destination.
By ELAINE WALKER
ewalker@MiamiHerald.com
New York City has Rockefeller Center. San Francisco boasts the Embarcardero Center. Now, Miami could have its version of a vibrant urban gathering place called Brickell CitiCentre.
The developer of Brickell Key has unveiled its long-awaited plans for a nearly $700 million urban shopping and mixed-use development spread over 9.1 acres just west of Brickell Avenue and south of the Miami River.
The project would create 1,700 jobs during construction and more than double that once completed.
Swire Properties will take the first steps this week toward a fast-track government approval process necessary for the 4.6 million-square-foot project that aims to create a retail destination unseen before in Miami’s urban core. The project – designed by Miami-based Arquitectonica – would also include restaurants, a hotel, office towers and apartments or condominiums, spread over a four-block area connected by bridges and covered walkways.
“We really see Miami as about to take the next and final step to become a true urban city, but retail is the missing link,” said Stephen Owens, president of Swire Properties. “Retail creates the pedestrian experience. In some ways what we’re trying to create is the Main Street like you have in most urban cities. Our goal is to really become the anchor for the urban area.”
Construction could begin by the end of 2011. Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado is a major advocate for the project.
It’s the first development of this magnitude submitted under Miami 21, the new zoning code designed to encourage more pedestrian-activity through mixed-use development
That vision is similar to what Swire, the Miami-based development arm of a Hong Kong conglomerate, has had in the works for more than two years. Swire acquired the first parcels of undeveloped land for Brickell CitiCentre in October 2008, just after the nation’s financial markets collapsed amid the worst recession in decades and land prices started to drop.
Conservative by nature, Swire Properties chose to sit out much of Miami’s real-estate boom passing on high-profile sites because it didn’t want to get into a bidding war. The company prefers to buy land in the down market and launch new development just in the early stages of a recovery.
“When markets are over heated we tend to not move very fast because the probability of oversupply is very likely,” Owens said. “One of the keys to building now is to be in position when the markets are robust again. If one waits until the obvious indicators are there, then you have a lot more competitors out there and construction costs increase dramatically.”
Swire’s ambitious plans call for trying to obtain final approval from the Miami City Commission in July and beginning construction by the end of this year or early 2012. The bulk of the project would be built over the course of four years, with a second phase featuring the majority of the office space and a second residential tower scheduled for a later date based on market demand.
While some question the ambitious timetable, they believe Swire is the type of developer that can make it happen.
“The size of this development has got to be over a 10-year program or more,” said Michael Cannon, a local real estate industry analyst. “If anyone has the capital to do it, they do. They have patient capital. They apparently have made a commitment to Miami.”
Swire would likely fund the development itself, if it doesn’t secure traditional financing, Owens said.
Brickell CitiCentre is expected to generate $1 billion in overall economic impact, according to a study by Miami Economic Associates. The benefits would include 1,700 construction jobs for each of the four years of construction, plus 3,800 jobs upon the project’s completion.
The city of Miami would receive $5.4 million in annual taxes from Brickell CitiCentre, while Miami-Dade County would get another $9.6 million in annual taxes.
“This is a huge complex that will bring to Brickell Avenue, downtown Miami and East Little Havana an energy it has never, ever seen before,” said Regalado, who will take the nontraditional step of presenting a developer’s project to the City Commission. “I think it needs to carry the clout of the office of the mayor to send a message that this is a huge project for the city of Miami.”
The last major project of this magnitude was Midtown Miami, but that development is being built in phases and spread out over a larger area. Midtown also includes more residential towers and big-box retail.
Brickell CitiCentre is a natural next step for Swire Properties, which bought the deserted Claughton Island in 1980 and turned it into Brickell Key, a secluded haven of high-end condominiums, office buildings, a Mandarin Oriental hotel and a smattering of retail shops and restaurants. With only one undeveloped parcel left on Brickell Key adjacent to the Mandarin Oriental, Swire set its sites years ago on finding a new venture in the heart of the Brickell Financial District.
Swire paid $41 million in an all-cash deal for the first two undeveloped parcels that form the core for Brickell CitiCentre, straddling South Miami Avenue. The land had been on the market during the boom for as much as $110 million and the original plans for a different version of a mixed-used project with the same name were designed by a group headed by J. Kevin Reilly. But Swire acquired the property after the lender iStar Financial took the property back from Reilly.
The final parcels – the Brickell Tennis Center and the Eastern National Bank headquarters – were acquired earlier this year for a total cost of about $27 million. The additional acreage was necessary to get the site over the nine-acre threshold needed to apply for a special area plan under the terms of Miami 21.
Brickell CitiCentre is modeled after similar projects that Swire’s parent company has developed in Asia, including Pacific Place in Hong Kong. The first phase would include about 500,000-square feet of retail shops and restaurants, a 290-room four-star hotel, two eight-story office towers and a residential tower with about 270 units.
The retail would likely be anchored by at least one department store, plus a mix of luxury and moderate retailers focusing on fashion brands and home furnishings, including national and international brands, Owens said. The project would not contain big-box retailers like Target or Best Buy.
Retail industry experts agree that the dense urban area has enough consumers to support the project. The challenge will be luring retailers away from other shopping centers or persuading them to open an another store.
“It’s certainly going to give Merrick Park a run for its money, as well as Dadeland,” said Cynthia Cohen, president of Strategic Mindshare, a retail consultant with a Miami office.
The key, she said, would be the name-brand anchor stores.
“If you’re going to steal retailers from Dadeland or Merrick Park, you’ve got to make them a better deal. Those better deals have a financial impact on your pocket. They have to be willing to play this out for the long term.”
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/04/27/v-fullstory/2188997/new-city-center-on-horizon-for.html#ixzz1KplrRKrF
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Saturday, April 2, 2011
FIU Moves to Bigger Downtown Digs, on Brickell - April 2, 2011
Florida International University is expanding its downtown Miami presence with a new Brickell location.
By Michael Vasquez
mrvasquez@MiamiHerald.com
Florida International University is expanding its downtown Miami presence – adding students, a new global governance program, and a more-prestigious address.
Beginning this fall, FIU’s downtown educational center will operate from a new location: 1101 Brickell Ave.
The new space will house College of Business Administration and School of International and Public Affairs programs, as well as FIU’s Metropolitan Center, a local public affairs think-tank.
Though FIU has offered some master’s degrees downtown since 2004 – occupying office space above Flagler Street’s landmark Macy’s building – the move to a new location will more than double FIU’s capacity to serve students in the area. Right now, FIU serves about 500 students downtown, but the new Brickell location will have capacity for more than 1,000 students. Brickell’s prominence within the business community should also provide FIU’s programs more visibility.
Degrees offered will include business and management-oriented Professional MBA, Healthcare MBA, Master of Science in International Real Estate, and a new Master of Arts in Global Governance that prepares graduates for jobs with internationally-focused groups such as non-profit organizations.
For a long time, the main challenge of remaking downtown Miami was persuading people to live there. Now, with downtown boasting roughly 70,000 residents, attention has shifted to providing the type of neighborhood amenities that people want – places to shop, for example. Places to eat.
And for the upwardly mobile urban professional, places to learn.
"It’s really a very convenient location for downtowners," said Alyce Robertson, executive director of Miami’s Downtown Development Authority. "Brickell is the financial center of Miami-Dade."
Recent changes to state law provided a big incentive for FIU to expand its master’s degree offerings. In 2010, the Legislature authorized state schools to charge "market rate" tuition for certain graduate-level programs. Under the old tuition structure, the school’s MBA programs were losing money, FIU President Mark Rosenberg said.
With the new ability to charge higher tuition, "we expect that this will actually generate some additional revenue to add even more programs," Rosenberg said.
MBA students might be less than thrilled with these legislative changes. Assuming FIU’s new price scale is approved by the state’s Board of Governors, the price of a Professional MBA will jump from $42,000 to $45,000. The cost of a Healthcare MBA will jump from $42,000 to $48,000.
"It gives us greater freedom to offer programs that people demand," Rosenberg said. "And how do you know they demand it? Because they’re willing to pay the higher price for those programs."
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/04/01/2146163/fiu-moves-its-downtown-presence.html#ixzz1IOESs7ih
By Michael Vasquez
mrvasquez@MiamiHerald.com
Florida International University is expanding its downtown Miami presence – adding students, a new global governance program, and a more-prestigious address.
Beginning this fall, FIU’s downtown educational center will operate from a new location: 1101 Brickell Ave.
The new space will house College of Business Administration and School of International and Public Affairs programs, as well as FIU’s Metropolitan Center, a local public affairs think-tank.
Though FIU has offered some master’s degrees downtown since 2004 – occupying office space above Flagler Street’s landmark Macy’s building – the move to a new location will more than double FIU’s capacity to serve students in the area. Right now, FIU serves about 500 students downtown, but the new Brickell location will have capacity for more than 1,000 students. Brickell’s prominence within the business community should also provide FIU’s programs more visibility.
Degrees offered will include business and management-oriented Professional MBA, Healthcare MBA, Master of Science in International Real Estate, and a new Master of Arts in Global Governance that prepares graduates for jobs with internationally-focused groups such as non-profit organizations.
For a long time, the main challenge of remaking downtown Miami was persuading people to live there. Now, with downtown boasting roughly 70,000 residents, attention has shifted to providing the type of neighborhood amenities that people want – places to shop, for example. Places to eat.
And for the upwardly mobile urban professional, places to learn.
"It’s really a very convenient location for downtowners," said Alyce Robertson, executive director of Miami’s Downtown Development Authority. "Brickell is the financial center of Miami-Dade."
Recent changes to state law provided a big incentive for FIU to expand its master’s degree offerings. In 2010, the Legislature authorized state schools to charge "market rate" tuition for certain graduate-level programs. Under the old tuition structure, the school’s MBA programs were losing money, FIU President Mark Rosenberg said.
With the new ability to charge higher tuition, "we expect that this will actually generate some additional revenue to add even more programs," Rosenberg said.
MBA students might be less than thrilled with these legislative changes. Assuming FIU’s new price scale is approved by the state’s Board of Governors, the price of a Professional MBA will jump from $42,000 to $45,000. The cost of a Healthcare MBA will jump from $42,000 to $48,000.
"It gives us greater freedom to offer programs that people demand," Rosenberg said. "And how do you know they demand it? Because they’re willing to pay the higher price for those programs."
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/04/01/2146163/fiu-moves-its-downtown-presence.html#ixzz1IOESs7ih
City Offers Big Rebate for Omni Area Hotel - April 2, 2011
Miami’s redevelopment agency approved a tax rebate of up to $9million to help get developer Tibor Hollo’s long-stalled Omni-area hotel tower off the ground.
By ANDRES VIGLUCCI
aviglucci@miamiherald.com
Veteran developer Tibor Hollo’s long-stalled effort to build a hotel in Miami’s Omni district will get a big boost from the city’s community redevelopment agency, which has agreed to an unusual tax rebate of up to $9 million to help get the project off the ground.
Though providing financial incentives for private development is part of the anti-poverty agency’s mission, the size of the rebate has raised eyebrows among city watchers, some of whom question whether the city is getting enough in return.
In exchange for the rebate, approved by the agency this week, Hollo’s Florida East Coast Realty has pledged to generate at least 268 new full-time jobs in its hotel, with about a third coming from the surrounding area, which includes portions of Overtown.
Hollo and CRA officials say the deal is carefully calibrated to produce real public benefits, including helping re-start development and spur business in the area, generating new property taxes, and creating hundreds of permanent and temporary jobs.
"You’re incentivizing people to build now, to start to see a crane go up," said Miami Commissioner Marc Sarnoff, chairman of the Omni Community Redevelopment Agency. "This makes good strategic sense. It is tied to jobs."
The precise size of the rebate — which would come out of the property taxes generated by the hotel — would depend on the number of jobs actually produced, the size of Hollo’s investment and how quickly he gets the project done. The rebate is capped at $600,000 a year until the expiration of the CRA in 2030, and would kick in after Hollo completes the planned $62 million, 250-room Mikado hotel tower around the end of 2014, and after the project has generated $1.2 million in taxes. Given that timing, CRA administrators say, the project is unlikely to qualify for the maximum rebate of $9 million.
The hotel, which will rise on a vacant lot at Northeast 17th Street and Fourth Avenue, just north of the massive Omni center Hollo built in the 1970s, also includes retail and commercial space.
An analysis by the agency concluded that each job produced would cost the city about $1,100 a year. The city can kill the deal if the project isn’t under way by 2019.
But former CRA director Frank Rollason, echoing some comments on blogs critical of the city administration, questions whether the agency drove a hard enough bargain. For instance, he said, redevelopment agencies often get public parking, office space for city use or other public benefits in addition to jobs in exchange for tax rebates. In this case, Hollo has agreed only to host four CRA meetings a year.
And before deciding to spend its money on Hollo’s project, city officials should analyze whether the hotel could be built without city help, Rollason said.
"I don’t fault Tibor. He’s a shrewd businessman, and there is no harm in his asking," Rollason said. "But if you’re the city, you have to look at this project and see if this is something Tibor would have built anyway, or is it something that won’t come out of the ground if the CRA doesn’t get involved."
It’s definitely the latter, said Hollo’s son and company vice president Jerome Hollo. Since the market crash stalled the project, the developers’ bankers have committed to financing the project, but stricter borrowing requirements make it harder to raise all the money they need, Jerome Hollo said. The CRA money helps fill that gap, and will thus help draw substantial private investment into the district, he said.
"This was one important piece" in bringing the project to fruition, Hollo said. "We feel the timing is right now."
He also noted that the taxes to be rebated will be only a portion of the property’s tax bill, which he estimated at $900,000 to $1.2 million annually, meaning local governments will still receive significant additional revenue from the project.
"What people have to recognize is this is a tax increment that would not be there if not for this project," Hollo said.
The Mikado also includes 119 market-rate apartments for active seniors who can take advantage of the hotel’s services, but the CRA tax rebate will not go to that portion of the project, Hollo said.
The mixed-use Mikado project, which the city commission approved in 2006, is the last piece in a set of adjacent residential towers Hollo built north of the Omni just before and during the real estate boom of the mid-2000s. The hotel, planned to capitalize on the construction of the nearby Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, is named after the famous Gilbert and Sullivan opera set in Japan and will have an Asian theme. Sonesta will manage the hotel.
Jerome Hollo said he is now working on obtaining construction permits from the city and work could begin within weeks "if all goes well."
Sarnoff noted there is precedent for the Mikado deal. The CRA has approved two similar tax-rebate deals in the Omni District, for the Bayview Marketplace retail center and the multi-use Omni Complex project on Biscayne Boulevard, though neither one of those is moving forward at present.
Sarnoff, whose commission district includes the Omni area and who is up for re-election this year, has benefited from campaign contributions by Hollo’s companies. In his last campaign finance report, covering the last three months of 2010, Sarnoff’s campaign reported receiving $10,500 in contributions, including at least $9,000 in contributions from Florida East Coast Realty and 17 other corporate entities listing Hollo’s office address. Each gave the maximum $500. Sarnoff has reported receiving a total of $298,000 in contributions.
Sarnoff said the contributions from Hollo did not influence his decision to support the Mikado tax rebate.
"I don’t sell my vote," he said. "I never have and I never will."
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/04/01/v-fullstory/2146283/miamis-redevelopment-agency-oks.html#ixzz1IOD3XIgw
By ANDRES VIGLUCCI
aviglucci@miamiherald.com
Veteran developer Tibor Hollo’s long-stalled effort to build a hotel in Miami’s Omni district will get a big boost from the city’s community redevelopment agency, which has agreed to an unusual tax rebate of up to $9 million to help get the project off the ground.
Though providing financial incentives for private development is part of the anti-poverty agency’s mission, the size of the rebate has raised eyebrows among city watchers, some of whom question whether the city is getting enough in return.
In exchange for the rebate, approved by the agency this week, Hollo’s Florida East Coast Realty has pledged to generate at least 268 new full-time jobs in its hotel, with about a third coming from the surrounding area, which includes portions of Overtown.
Hollo and CRA officials say the deal is carefully calibrated to produce real public benefits, including helping re-start development and spur business in the area, generating new property taxes, and creating hundreds of permanent and temporary jobs.
"You’re incentivizing people to build now, to start to see a crane go up," said Miami Commissioner Marc Sarnoff, chairman of the Omni Community Redevelopment Agency. "This makes good strategic sense. It is tied to jobs."
The precise size of the rebate — which would come out of the property taxes generated by the hotel — would depend on the number of jobs actually produced, the size of Hollo’s investment and how quickly he gets the project done. The rebate is capped at $600,000 a year until the expiration of the CRA in 2030, and would kick in after Hollo completes the planned $62 million, 250-room Mikado hotel tower around the end of 2014, and after the project has generated $1.2 million in taxes. Given that timing, CRA administrators say, the project is unlikely to qualify for the maximum rebate of $9 million.
The hotel, which will rise on a vacant lot at Northeast 17th Street and Fourth Avenue, just north of the massive Omni center Hollo built in the 1970s, also includes retail and commercial space.
An analysis by the agency concluded that each job produced would cost the city about $1,100 a year. The city can kill the deal if the project isn’t under way by 2019.
But former CRA director Frank Rollason, echoing some comments on blogs critical of the city administration, questions whether the agency drove a hard enough bargain. For instance, he said, redevelopment agencies often get public parking, office space for city use or other public benefits in addition to jobs in exchange for tax rebates. In this case, Hollo has agreed only to host four CRA meetings a year.
And before deciding to spend its money on Hollo’s project, city officials should analyze whether the hotel could be built without city help, Rollason said.
"I don’t fault Tibor. He’s a shrewd businessman, and there is no harm in his asking," Rollason said. "But if you’re the city, you have to look at this project and see if this is something Tibor would have built anyway, or is it something that won’t come out of the ground if the CRA doesn’t get involved."
It’s definitely the latter, said Hollo’s son and company vice president Jerome Hollo. Since the market crash stalled the project, the developers’ bankers have committed to financing the project, but stricter borrowing requirements make it harder to raise all the money they need, Jerome Hollo said. The CRA money helps fill that gap, and will thus help draw substantial private investment into the district, he said.
"This was one important piece" in bringing the project to fruition, Hollo said. "We feel the timing is right now."
He also noted that the taxes to be rebated will be only a portion of the property’s tax bill, which he estimated at $900,000 to $1.2 million annually, meaning local governments will still receive significant additional revenue from the project.
"What people have to recognize is this is a tax increment that would not be there if not for this project," Hollo said.
The Mikado also includes 119 market-rate apartments for active seniors who can take advantage of the hotel’s services, but the CRA tax rebate will not go to that portion of the project, Hollo said.
The mixed-use Mikado project, which the city commission approved in 2006, is the last piece in a set of adjacent residential towers Hollo built north of the Omni just before and during the real estate boom of the mid-2000s. The hotel, planned to capitalize on the construction of the nearby Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, is named after the famous Gilbert and Sullivan opera set in Japan and will have an Asian theme. Sonesta will manage the hotel.
Jerome Hollo said he is now working on obtaining construction permits from the city and work could begin within weeks "if all goes well."
Sarnoff noted there is precedent for the Mikado deal. The CRA has approved two similar tax-rebate deals in the Omni District, for the Bayview Marketplace retail center and the multi-use Omni Complex project on Biscayne Boulevard, though neither one of those is moving forward at present.
Sarnoff, whose commission district includes the Omni area and who is up for re-election this year, has benefited from campaign contributions by Hollo’s companies. In his last campaign finance report, covering the last three months of 2010, Sarnoff’s campaign reported receiving $10,500 in contributions, including at least $9,000 in contributions from Florida East Coast Realty and 17 other corporate entities listing Hollo’s office address. Each gave the maximum $500. Sarnoff has reported receiving a total of $298,000 in contributions.
Sarnoff said the contributions from Hollo did not influence his decision to support the Mikado tax rebate.
"I don’t sell my vote," he said. "I never have and I never will."
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/04/01/v-fullstory/2146283/miamis-redevelopment-agency-oks.html#ixzz1IOD3XIgw
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