1101 Brickell

A group of hurricane-proof, environmentally friendly, technologically advanced office towers have cast an imposing shadow over downtown Miami. But it’s not just Brickell Avenue that’s caught in the shade — it’s the Class B office market. While Class A gets most of the attention, and has added the most space to the downtown central business district, Class B is struggling to compete as tenants look for bargains in price brackets that wouldn’t have typically been viable in a stable real estate market. “I think in any soft market, there’s what many would refer to as a ‘flight to quality,’” said Steve Hurwitz, a vice president at Continental Real Estate Companies. “There are several new construction Class A buildings available in downtown Brickell, and you see tenants that have the opportunity to price themselves into higher-quality properties than they’re in today.”
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As the calendar page flipped to a new decade, Commercial Real Estate Women in Miami launched “Make it Happen,” a regional awareness campaign to encourage industry professionals to get deals done.

Suzanne Amaducci-Adams, CREW-Miami’s newly elected president and a partner at law firm Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price & Axelrod, said much more time and effort goes into inking deals now, as opposed to a few years ago. So real estate professionals have to be innovative, she said, and “think outside of the box.”

“You’ve got to be the catalyst,” she said.

In the new year, transactions are going to be complicated and more difficult, with a host of new issues to overcome, she said. So throughout the year, CREW’s workshops and events will focus on educating its members and other professionals on how to make deals in the current market. [more]

Four parcels of land at the entrance to Miami International Airport are slated for a $665 million transformation in the Miami-Dade Aviation Department’s quest for additional revenue. Following a call for proposals from developers, a team led by construction firm Odebrecht is set to build a commercial complex on the site. “Airport City,” for which the proposal could change over the course of a six-month negotiation period, is currently expected to include a Florida International University medical compound, a 400-room Pullman Hotel, a lounge for cruise passengers, a 1,900 space parking garage, and an energy supply center. The county must give its final approval before the project can move forward. [Miami Today News]

Marina Khoury, a project director for Miami 21

Proponents of the ambitious Miami 21 plan to rezone the city to a more pedestrian-friendly, less car-dependent metropolis now have a few thousand more reasons to make their case.
Walkability, it seems, pays. That might bode well for the plan, which last month was passed by the Miami City Commission. A study of 15 cities around the country concluded that homes located in neighborhoods that consist of a mix of common daily shopping and social destinations within a short distance command price premiums of $4,000 to $34,000 more than similar homes in areas less friendly to folks on foot. The study, titled “Walking the Walk,” was conducted by CEOs for Cities, a national bipartisan alliance of mayors, corporate executives, university presidents and non-profit executives dedicated to guiding urban development in sustainable directions.
The vision of Miami 21 evokes side-street driveways, skylines that transition from tall towers to smaller homes and hide condo garages with storefront facades. These and other elements in the redrawn zoning code aim to localize neighborhood designs that get people out of cars and onto sidewalks. Its concepts are similar to those seen in Mary Brickell Village, a development south of the Miami River. [more]