A 59th new condo tower — the Palazzo del Sol At Fisher Island — has been completed east of I-95 in the tri-county South Florida region of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach since this current cycle began in 2011.
Deed transactions for three units in the newly completed 10-story Palazzo del Sol tower located in the 7000 block of Fisher Island Drive on the north side of the ultra-wealthy island enclave began to be recorded on March 18, according to Miami-Dade County records.
A sister project — the Palazzo della Luna — is currently under construction next door to the west.
Proposed by PDS Development with president and CEO Heinrich von Hanau, the pair of new Palazzo condo towers — the only Fisher Island preconstruction buildings announced during this cycle — are slated to have 43 residential units and one commercial unit with a total of more than 231,000 square feet of space, according to government records.
At the Palazzo del Sol tower, buyers have paid nearly $24 million for the first trio of units for an average price of more than $1,515 per square foot, according to government records.
The individual unit sales have ranged in price from more than $7.3 million to nearly $8.6 million, each. On a price-per-square-foot basis, the transactions have ranged from less than $1,085 to more than $2,000, according to government records.
Currently, 10 condo units in the Palazzo del Sol tower are listed for sale in the Multiple Listing Service database at an average asking price of $15.3 million each as of Monday. On a price-per-square-foot basis, the current average asking price for a unit is nearly $2,300, according to data from the Southeast Florida MLXchange.
Fisher Island was created in 1906 when the U.S. government dredged — or cut — the island away from the barrier island of Miami Beach in order to build “deep water docks” connecting Miami with the Atlantic Ocean, according to FisherIslandClub.com.
Fisher Island is a residential community with more than 650 families from 42 countries who enjoy a variety of services and amenities including a day school, nine-hole golf course, 18-court tennis center, two deep-water marinas with more than 100 slips, observatory, aviary, private beach, seven restaurants and a 24,000-square-foot spa and fitness center, according to the website.
In 2013, Fisher Island completed a $60 million “restoration initiative” to improve the amenities, boutique hotel and common grounds. The multi-year effort that began in 2007 focused on restoring Fisher Island “up to the demanding standards of today’s discriminating resident, member and guest,” according to FisherIslandClub.com.
The Fisher Island residential real estate market trends are closely aligned with Miami Beach, which ranks as the seventh most active preconstruction condo market east of I-95 in South Florida based on more than 50 new condo buildings with nearly 2,050 units announced as of Monday, according to the preconstruction condo projects website CraneSpotters.com. (For disclosure, my firm operates the website.)
The pipeline of new Miami Beach condo units currently stands at 13 new towers with more than 385 units completed and 18 new towers with nearly 535 units under construction as of Monday, according to the data.
An additional 21 new condo towers with nearly 1,125 units are currently in the planning or presale phase of development in the Miami Beach market during this cycle.
Overall in South Florida, developers have completed 59 new condo buildings — including the Palazzo del Sol tower — with more than 4,350 units, and are constructing at least 132 new condo buildings with more than 14,225 units located east of I-95 as of Monday.
An additional 223 new condo buildings with nearly 31,650 units are currently in the planning or presale phase of development in South Florida during this cycle, according to the data.
As South Florida moves into the final month of the current winter buying season, the Fisher Island market has nearly 60 condo units —including residences in the Palazzo del Sol tower — available for purchase at an average asking price of nearly $1,700 per square foot as of Monday, according to the data.
In 2015, buyers acquired less than 20 Fisher Island condo units marketed in the Multiple Listing Service database at an average price of about $1,227 per square foot, according to the data.
Based on the 2015 transaction pace of 1.5 units monthly, the Fisher Island market currently has nearly a 39-month supply of condos being marketed for purchase, according to the data.
A balanced market is considered to have about a six months of unit supply available for purchase. More months of condo supply suggests a buyer’s advantage, and less months of units indicates a seller’s market.
The unanswered question going forward is whether today’s buyers — who are faced with dramatically different global economic and currency conditions compared to the start of this current South Florida real estate cycle more than five years ago — have the same level of interest in acquiring ultra-luxury condo units in a high-end market such as Fisher Island.
Peter Zalewski is a 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.