Melo tops off Aria on the Bay at 80% presold, lowers deposits

The Melo Group just topped off Aria on the Bay at 80 percent presold, the developer announced on Monday.

The 53-story, 648-unit condo tower at 1770 North Bayshore Drive in Miami will be completed during the first quarter of next year. Melo just lowered the deposit requirements from this cycle’s standard of 50 percent to 35 percent in an effort to sell out the building, according to a press release. For units priced at more than $1 million, deposit requirements now go as low as 20 percent.

Eighty percent, or about 518 units, were sold to buyers from 42 countries. Cervera Real Estate is handling sales of the building, which is also registered with the New York Attorney General. Melo principal Carlos Melo said the developer can relax its requirements now that it has “closed and covered” its loan and construction is moving quickly. “Lowering deposit requirements is an incentive to attract more local and domestic buyers,” he said in a statement.

The Miami-based Related Group led the charge of lowering deposits on condo sales this cycle, reducing requirements at Brickell Heights and SLS Lux in 2015.

Units at Aria on the Bay range from one to four bedrooms and are priced from the $400,000s to about $6 million. Three-story penthouses include their own rooftop pools and garden terraces. Aria on the Bay, designed by Arquitectonica, will also feature floor-to-ceiling glass, wraparound terraces, designer fixtures and finishes and European-style kitchens.

Amenities at Aria will include a 14th floor amenity deck, four swimming pools, fire pits, outdoor summer kitchens, a spa, gym, yoga studio and theater. It will also feature 20,000 square feet of commercial space on the ground and lower floors.

The tower, which overlooks Margaret Pace Park, is near Miami’s Edgewater and Arts and Entertainment neighborhoods. In December, a neighboring apartment building settled a lawsuit with the developer over claims of “dangerous” construction debris falling from the Aria project site and crashing onto the entrance of Bay Parc Plaza. – Katherine Kallergis