Oceana marks ninth new condo completed in South Florida

Oceana Key Biscayne (inset: Peter Zalewski)
Oceana Key Biscayne (inset: Peter Zalewski)

The latest South Florida condo development cycle continues to gain momentum with a ninth new project – the Oceana Key Biscayne complex – completing construction east of I-95 in the tri-county South Florida region since this boom began in 2011.

In the first 10 days of closings, Oceana Key Biscayne has sold 34 units with nearly 97,700 square feet of livable space for more than $139 million, according to Miami-Dade County records.

Units in the two-tower complex with 154 units fronting the Atlantic Ocean have transacted at an average price of nearly $1,425 per square foot, with individual condos trading from between about $915 per square foot to about $2,100 per square foot.

Oceana Key Biscayne is the first of two new South Florida luxury condo projects being developed by Argentina-based Consultatio led by Eduardo Costantini. The second luxury oceanfront project – Oceana Bal Harbour – is currently under construction, with a $332 million loan funding the 28-story, 240-unit tower on the barrier island in Northeast Miami-Dade County.

To date, the only other new condo project proposed for Key Biscayne during this latest South Florida real estate cycle is the 101 Key Biscayne with five floors and 11 units, according to the preconstruction condo projects website CraneSpotters.com.

(For disclosure purposes, my firm operates the website.)

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Oceana Key Biscayne is the first new condo project to be developed in Key Biscayne since nine tiny associations with a combined total of 81 units were created during the last South Florida boom-and-bust cycle from 2003 to 2010.

Overall, more than 95 percent of the nearly 5,165 condo units located in 68 condo associations in Key Biscayne were developed between 1964 and 2002.

Currently, more than 135 condo units are available for resale in Key Biscayne at an average asking price of about $755 per square foot. In the first seven months of 2014, buyers have purchased nearly 130 condo units at an average price of about $631 per square foot, according to the Southeast Florida MLXchange.

Of the condos presently on the market, only one unit in Oceana Key Biscayne has been listed for resale at an asking price of more than $2,110 per square foot, representing more than a 30 percent premium over last week’s original purchase price.

The unanswered question going forward is whether the rich initial pricing being achieved at Oceana Key Biscayne will encourage other developers to attempt to purchase land – or control of existing condo projects for future terminations – in order to tap into the apparent strong demand for new units in Key Biscayne.

Peter Zalewski is real estate columnist for The Real Deal who founded Condo Vultures LLC, a consultancy and publishing company, as well as Condo Vultures Realty LLC and CVR Realty brokerages and the Condo Ratings Agency, an analytics firm. The Condo Ratings Agency operates CraneSpotters.com, a preconstruction condo projects website, in conjunction with the Miami Association of Realtors.