South Florida report

No gawkers allowed at LeBron’s listing

To get a peek at the Miami mansion LeBron James put on the market last month, prospective buyers will have to be serious.

Opulence International Realty senior vice president Tomi Rose, who has the listing, has no plans for the sort of lavish open house that some brokers might be tempted to stage at the six-bedroom Coconut Grove home, which has an asking price of $17 million.

The basketball superstar, who led the Miami Heat to two championships before returning to play in his hometown of Cleveland this season, paid $9 million for the waterfront spread four years ago. The nearly 17,000-square-foot mansion includes a wine cellar, custom theater, guest home and rooftop sun deck. The property also has enough dockage to accommodate two 60-foot yachts.

Rose is also marketing a 49th-floor condo at downtown Miami’s Marquis Residences for James’ former teammate Mario Chalmers, who purchased the duplex unit for $2.4 million from hip-hop star Drake. Chalmers wants $4 million for the five-bedroom condo.

Chetrit’s huge river bet

An offshoot of New York’s Chetrit Group is moving forward with plans for “Miami River,” a new neighborhood between Downtown and the financial district.

Developers Joseph and Meyer Chetrit and their Miami partner Ari Pearl spent nearly $100 million to assemble 6.5 riverside acres. They received $55 million in short-term financing from UBS Real Estate Securities, coming due in August, for use while working to get the project approved. The firm wants to build four 60-story towers with offices, retail space and more than 1,600 residences in five phases. A marina and 300-room hotel is also planned.

Current zoning allows for only about 800 units, so they’ll have to obtain a Special Area Plan designation to build as proposed. In a move that should help its chances, the firm partnered with the city to incorporate an adjacent park into the project and pledged $22 million in public improvements or cash.

Big mall, bargain price

Discount property acquisitions are scarce in South Florida these days, but a San Diego investor was able to get a large Palm Beach Gardens mall for nearly $60 million less than what the site traded for in 2007.

Excel Trust paid $141.5 million last month for Downtown at the Gardens, which hosts The Cheesecake Factory, cinema chain Cobb Theaters and Whole Foods Market. The 340,000-square-foot mall off PGA Boulevard changed hands for more than $200 million in 2007. The mall, which is 90 percent occupied, was built by Menin Development of Palm Beach in 2005.

A REIT, Excel, raised $168 million in June to purchase numerous properties; it used most of that for this acquisition.