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South Florida briefs

Downtown Miami
Downtown Miami

Report: Downtown Miami apartments to exceed condos in 2017

Greater Downtown Miami will see more new rental apartments than condominiums in 2017 for the first time ever as developers focus on the multifamily market amid slumping condo sales, according to report from the Downtown Development Authority.

The report found that 3,575 rental units will be delivered in 2017, compared with 2,774 condos, as developers wind down condo construction for the foreseeable future. No new major condo projects commenced construction during the third quarter, though some projects began taking reservations, positioning for a 2019 delivery.

Developers like the Related Group, which has delayed construction on Auberge Residences & Spa Miami until at least 2018, are holding off on condo projects as foreign buyers contend with economic turmoil and currency fluctuations.

Meanwhile, Greater Downtown rental apartment deliveries have risen each year since 2014 and are expected to peak in 2017, then decline again to 1,882 in 2018 and 464 in 2019.

Joseph and Nazee Moinian

Joseph Moinian drops $12.5M on Leon Black’s Faena House condo

New York real estate developer Joseph Moinian and his wife, Nazee, have bought billionaire Leon Black’s condo at Faena House.

The $12.5 million sale — a 24 percent discount from both the asking price and Black’s purchase price of $16.5 million — equates to $2,643 per square foot. The five-bedroom, six-and-a-half-bathroom condo features white Venetian terrazzo flooring and Thassos marble countertops.

Black, the founder of private equity shop Apollo Global Management, bought the condo in 2015.

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Oren Alexander of Douglas Elliman said he represented both sides of the deal but declined to comment further, citing a confidentiality agreement.

The 4,730-square-foot unit was originally listed with Alexander in May 2016 for $18.5 million, or $3,911 per square foot. The price then dropped to $16.5 million, or $3,488 per square foot, in June 2016.

Faena House, an ultra-luxe Mid-Beach tower, has drawn a slew of Wall Street risk-takers and other financiers. But a strong U.S. dollar and foreign economic turmoil have dampened Miami-area condo sales, leading to highly disappointing resales.

Homeowners band together to sell property near Design District

How’s this for neighborliness?

A group of homeowners who have watched property values in Miami’s Design District surge have banded together to market their sites as a 30,000-square-foot assemblage, asking $18 million.

Key to the sale: the assemblage can be up-zoned from T-4 to T-5 commercial, allowing for 104 hotel rooms, 52 condos and 110,000 square feet of commercial space, said Fortune International Realty’s Michael Davalos, who shares the listing with colleague Sonia Rodriguez.

The 300-foot-by-100-foot assemblage includes six parcels on Northwest 38th Street. A total of seven families have agreed to market their adjoining sites, including two owners of the duplex property, Davalos said. Property records show they have owned their modest homes for decades — as many as 40 years — and purchased them for $30,000 to $51,000, each.

The owners are all retired, ex-military or work in government jobs, according to Davalos. He said getting the group to agree to market their properties and conducting zoning and land use analyses has been a yearlong endeavor.

Miami’s Design District is increasingly attracting major investors. Skyrocketing prices have been spurred by the Design District’s transformation into a luxury shopping, dining and cultural destination. Some 160 new stores are expected to open by the end of 2017, in addition to the Institute of Contemporary Art.