ISG is taking over the remaining condo sales at Brickell City Centre on Tuesday from Fortune International Realty and One Sotheby’s International Realty, The Real Deal has learned.
Swire Properties had issued a request for proposals for one brokerage to handle sales and marketing of the remaining 200 units at Reach and Rise, the 760-unit condo component of Brickell City Centre, sources said.
ISG co-founder and principal Craig Studnicky confirmed it won the bid. “Swire made a decision around six months or so ago that they only wanted one company to take over,” Studnicky said. “[Fortune and One Sotheby’s] didn’t do it as a joint venture; they were competing against each other.”
Maile Aguila, senior vice president of residential sales for Swire, said late last year that she divided buyers and leads evenly between Fortune and One Sotheby’s. The sales team had also been cut in half to about a half dozen agents. Aguila could not immediately be reached for comment.
Fortune, led by Walter Defortuna, and One Sotheby’s, led by Mayi de la Vega, launched sales of Reach and Rise, both 380-unit, 43-story condo towers at the mixed-use development at 701 South Miami Avenue, in 2014. The buildings were completed about two years later.
A Swire spokesperson called the company’s partnership with both brokerages a successful one, and that after reaching 75 percent in sales “now is a good time to shift our strategy to sell the remaining units.”
Swire and ISG will move the sales center from Swire’s office at 700 Brickell Avenue to Brickell City Centre. Prices at Reach and Rise are still being finalized, but Studnicky said they’ll range from about $650,000 to $1.5 million, excluding penthouses. Studnicky hopes to sell the remaining 25 percent of units within a year-and-a-half.
The slowdown in luxury condo sales in South Florida has led a number of developers to switch sales teams. Last year, One Sotheby’s took over the remaining inventory at the Miami Beach Edition from Douglas Elliman. Fortune International Group, led by Edgardo Defortuna, took over sales of Brickell Flatiron from Cervera Real Estate.
Walter Defortuna, chairman of Fortune International Realty, said Swire wasn’t concerned with the slowdown. “They understand the market here more than anyone else,” Defortuna said. “Everybody would like to be sold out when the project is finished, but they understand the play, they understand the market.”
Fortune represented the developer in more than 330 unit sales, Defortuna said. That comes out to about 57 percent of the 578 units sold.
Fortune International Realty, One Sotheby’s, ISG, Compass and EWM Realty International were invited to bid on the remaining sales last year, sources said. Neither Fortune nor One Sotheby’s submitted proposals.
In a statement, One Sotheby’s said it will be launching a new project in downtown Miami in the coming weeks. The firm also said it was grateful for the opportunity to work with Swire.
ISG originally bid on sales and marketing of Reach and Rise in 2013, but withdrew its proposal due to its relationship with Property Markets Group, which was building the Echo Brickell condo tower nearby. Now, only four units remain at Echo Brickell, according to Studnicky, who said he received PMG’s blessing to take over Brickell City Centre.
Aguila said in December that Swire won’t launch Brickell City Centre’s second phase — including hiring a brokerage — until Reach and Rise are sold out. The first phase of Brickell City Centre includes the completed 500,000-square-foot shopping center, office building and the 40-story East, Miami hotel.