South Florida report

Halpern launches sales

JMH Development, the New York firm founded by Jason Halpern, last month launched sales of Three Hundred Collins, a 19-unit luxury condo in Miami Beach’s South of Fifth neighborhood.

The five-story property is the first in Miami designed by Thomas Juul-Hansen. In New York, the Danish designer-architect did the interiors of One57, and is the architect on 11 Beach Street in Tribeca, 505 West 19th Street and the Naftali Group’s 210 West 77th Street.

The project will include one- to four-bedroom units, with four duplex condos and three penthouses, priced at $1.2 million to $9 million. One Sotheby’s International Realty is marketing the project.

JMH paid $13 million for the site. Construction will begin by the end of this year, with expected delivery in mid-2017, Halpern said.

Porsche tower man caves

Porsche Design Tower Miami

Some developers advertise spacious outdoor living spaces. Developer Gil Dezer is touting something a little more secluded — man caves.

Dezer’s 60-story Porsche Design Tower Miami will have 12,000 square feet on its third floor, housing six private garages, each able to fit four to nine cars.

The caves, intended for residents who want a museum experience for their vehicles — or a space to set up a bar and living room and smoke
cigars, reflect a nationwide high-end garage/lounge construction trend. “It’s for guys who love their cars — to have a place to put them and hang out with their friends,” said Dezer, president of Dezer Development.

Luxury amenities like balcony plunge pools and a robotic car elevator have already brought attention to Porsche Design Tower.

The 132-unit tower in Sunny Isles Beach will be complete in June 2016. 

Biscayne Landing

LeFrak, Soffer team up

Creating a South Florida partnership that unites two real estate dynasties, Richard LeFrak, chairman and CEO of LeFrak, and siblings Jeffrey Soffer and Jackie Soffer, principals of Turnberry Associates, entered into a joint venture to develop Biscayne Landing as a master planned community.

The 183-acre site, on Biscayne Boulevard in North Miami, is the largest undeveloped parcel of land east of the thoroughfare in South Florida. It is zoned for 4,390 residences and more than 1 million square feet of commercial space. 

They did not disclose financial terms. Development costs could reach $1 billion.

At a recent real estate conference in Miami, LeFrak called the massive development, which adjoins Oleta River State Park, the “last great thing I have in me.”

“It’s designed as a community for people who live here,” he said, “not for people who come for three weeks of the year.”

Biscayne Landing is a former landfill that languished for years after an attempt to develop the site fell apart early last decade.

Turnberry Associates has overseen and developed 785 acres of land over the last 50 years.