South Florida expert panel from left: Ron Kriss of Akerman Senterfitt;
Bill Yahn from the Corcoran Group; Cynthia Shelton, president of
Florida Realtors; Jack McCabe, CEO of McCabe Research and Consulting;
Jay Massirman of Rivergate Companies

Most of South Florida’s real estate industry won’t be sorry to say goodbye to 2009 tonight. Once-ambitious developers saw their empty condos sold in bulk at deep discounts and unloaded incomplete projects in foreclosure auctions or deeds in lieu of foreclosure. Caving under the weight of their troubled commercial real estate portfolios, regional banks failed by the dozens. The indefatigable flood of residential foreclosures bestowed the courts with an unmanageable case load, clogging the system. For homeowners who managed to stay current on their mortgage payments, toxic Chinese drywall rendered many of their properties both dangerous and worthless.

But as the handful of hours left in this tumultuous year for real estate wind down, many are wondering whether 2010 will be any better. The Real Deal turned to a panel of South Florida real estate experts to find out what they’re predicting for 2010. [more]

Jorge Perez’s crown jewel development, the three-tower Icon Brickell luxury condominium and hotel complex in Miami that has floundered financially amid South Florida’s market collapse, will be turned over to its lenders. Perez, head of prominent development firm the Related Group, is nearing the end of negotiations with a lending consortium led by HSBC Holdings and Bank of America, making the project perhaps the highest profile foreclosure in the area. Perez is angling to retain the job of managing the complex, but neither party offered more details. Ron Kriss, chairman of the distressed-property group at the Akerman Senterfitt law firm in Miami, said 2010 will have plenty of prominent and sizable foreclosures as developers and lenders struggle with the glut of 22,000 unoccupied condos in the city. [WSJ]