Habitat Group plans another mixed-use project in West Brickell

The firm's latest development will include 108 luxury condos, a hotel and retail space

143 Southwest Ninth Street in Miami with Santiago Vanegas
143 Southwest Ninth Street in Miami with Santiago Vanegas

Habitat Group, which is developing the mixed-use complex Smart Brickell, just bought another development site in West Brickell where it plans to build a hotel and condo project, The Real Deal has learned.

The firm, led by president and CEO Santiago Vanegas, paid $14.5 million for an apartment building at 143 Southwest Ninth Street in Miami. Vanegas said plans are to replace the existing building with a 36-story development that will include 108 luxury condos, 60 hotel rooms and 12,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. Construction would begin in two years.

Constantino Heredia, broker and owner of CE Realty, represented the seller in the off-market deal. Records show the seller is W.G.R. Investment Inc., led by Evelio Garcia. The entity paid $1.2 million for the property in 1997.

The sale price for the 30,000-square-foot development site translates to $483 per square foot. The property now houses a five-story, 39-unit apartment building from 1968, records show. It is zoned for commercial, hotel and multifamily development, which allows 24 stories by right and 48 stories with a bonus, Heredia said.

Vanegas said the total cost of the development will be $59.6 million with a $48.7 million sell-out of the condos. There will be a $26.4 million valuation of the hotel and $6.6 million for the commercial space, for a total sellout of $81.7 million, and expected profit of $22.1 million.

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The site is about a block away from Habitat’s planned Smart Brickell development. Last year, the firm completed assembling land for the project, paying a combined $21.6 million for the 1.23-acre development site on Southwest Ninth Street, between Second and Third avenues. Vanegas said construction will begin next month.

Smart Brickell will be a mixed-use hotel and residential project with three towers — each with a 50-room hotel, two with 50 condos and one tower with 70 condos. The eighth floor will have an amenity deck with a pool to be shared by all three towers. The first, 50-unit condo tower is already sold out, Vanegas said.

Habitat is also planning to develop a hotel, called Millux, with 114 rooms in West Brickell, between Second and Third streets and 11th and 12th streets. Arquitectonica is designing the project, and construction is expected to begin within eight months, he said.

Other developers are also targeting West Brickell for redevelopment. Zom is building Maizon at Southwest Second Avenue and Southwest 12th Street. The 24-story mixed-use apartment project will have 262 apartments and nearly 15,300 square feet of retail space on the ground floor.

Habitat is also midway through construction of East River Living, a 34-unit apartment building at Northwest First Street and Northwest Seventh Avenue in Little Havana. The building is expected to be completed at the end of 2019, Vanegas said.