Riviera Point Holdings is breaking ground today on the first phase of a $17 million office complex in Miramar funded by in part by capital from Venezuelan investors. The funding comes from EB-5 capital. The Professional Center at Riviera Point, which is located on a four-acre site at University Drive and Florida’s Turnpike, will have 70,000 square feet of space in two four-story buildings. [more]

The Dizengoff Trading Group, an Israeli real estate development and commodities firm, plans to start buying distressed commercial and residential real estate within the next year. The firm has opened an office in Boca Raton and will concentrate on shopping centers and half-sold condo communities, U.S. region manager Ronen Saban said. In July, Dizengoff bought the Shoppes at Monarch Lakes in Miramar, a 64,020-square-foot shopping center, for $8.29 million. Portofino in Jensen Beach, a 118-unit incomplete condominium complex, was another recent acquisition at $6.75 million. [Miami Herald]  [more]

New Miramar home owner Alget Campbell, 83, bought his first house this
week. Campbell was able to take advantage of the lowest house prices in Broward County since 1994, according to Moody’s Economy.com, with the combination of the $8,000 federal tax credit and the low closing price of $71,425. Housing affordability has increased
so that the family earning the median family income can afford more
than the median priced home in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach,
economist Chris Lafakis said. [more]

Protests have followed the receipt of higher property tax rate notices
in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. On Thursday afternoon, a group
calling itself Fair Property Tax For All coordinated a series of
protests at three sites in Miami-Dade County, and many Broward
residents in cities facing high increases have echoed that anger.
Hollywood, Miramar, Parkland, Pembroke Pines, West Park and Weston have
proposed increases of at least 20 percent to compensate for plummeting
assessed property values. [more]

Critics of the planned 220,000-square-foot Wal-Mart supercenter in
Miramar have blocked the plan and won a definitive legal victory.
Wal-Mart bought the building site in 2005, paying $10 million for 29
acres at Flamingo Road and Miramar Parkway. Area residents cited
concerns about traffic and congestion for an already busy shopping hub,
and the City Commission vetoed the project. Wal-Mart sued, lost and
appealed. Broward Circuit Court Judge Robert Carney denied Wal-Mart’s
request for appeal, ending the bid for a big box project. [more]

Investment firm Dizengoff Real Estate LLC bought the Shoppes at Monarch
Lakes, a retail shopping center located at 14305 Miramar Parkway in
Miramar, for $8.285 million, or about $129 per square foot. CB Richard
Ellis represented the Chicago-based seller, which was a fund advised by
Prudential Real Estate Investors. Belt & Associates, a related
entity of DBR & Associates LLC and Rubin Real Estate Group,
represented the buyer, a foreign investment group that recently began
to acquire U.S. real estate. The center’s anchor tenant is a
51,420-square-foot Publix grocery store, and the 64,020-square-foot
retail shopping center is currently 100 percent leased. TRD
[more]

Plunging property values in Miramar prompted city commissioners to raise property tax and fire fee rates. Residents now will pay to $6.90 per $1,000 of taxable assessed value from $5.4797 per $1,000 worth of property, a 26 percent hike. Commissioners voted on the increase because assessed values have fallen so far that previous rates would have left a huge budget gap. Miramar has cut its budget 13 percent, to $65 million. [more]

South Florida municipalities had big plans for town centers, but the
faltering economy has put many of them on hold. Pembroke Pines, Miramar
and Doral have either shelved plans for new downtowns or seen major
delays in construction, leasing and sales. Dwindling tax revenues have
hampered plans to centralize many sprawling suburban communities around
retail and government office centers. [more]

Despite recent efforts at the state and federal levels to remedy
rapidly spiraling foreclosures, their number continues to rise,
especially in hard-hit Broward County, which saw 4,521 foreclosure
filings last month. The more governments try to do, the less they can
overcome the information deficit. Many of the state’s homeowners in
foreclosure simply do not know the options available. In the first of what could be several workshops in the area, more than
100 people filled the Miramar Civic Center Saturday morning to attend a
program offering one-on-one counseling from banks, lawyers, credit
companies and state officials aimed at informing struggling homeowners
of the potential solutions available to help them stay in their homes. [more]