Every day, The Real Deal rounds up South Florida’s biggest real estate news, from breaking news and scoops to announcements and deals. We update this page at 9 a.m., 12:30 p.m., and 4 p.m. ET. Please send any tips or deals to tips@therealdeal.com
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Miccosukee casino
Feds look to seize properties tied to Miccosukee embezzlement scheme. Eight Miami-Dade residents could be finding themselves on the losing end of a $5 million embezzlement scheme. The U.S. government is now looking to seize four residential properties in Miami, West Miami and Miami Beach, purchased using the proceeds of a scheme that involved rigging gambling machines at Miccosukee Resort & Gaming between 2011 and 2015. [TRD]
Douglas Elliman chairman Howard Lorber (Credit: Getty Images and iStock)
Douglas Elliman has a new transfer tax to thank for a boost in revenue for Q2. The brokerage’s parent company Vector Group recorded an 18 percent jump as buyers rushed to close deals and avoid extra costs. [TRD]
The Tabani Group paid $18 million for the retail component of Downtown Abacoa in Jupiter. FLF Holdings sold the 100,000 square feet of retail space on Town Center Drive and on Main Street to the Dallas firm. Tabani financed the deal with a $12.6 million mortgage from Citi. [TRD]
Barry Sternlicht (Credit: Getty Images)
Barry Sternlicht is not holding back. On the heels of a strong second quarter for Starwood Property Trust, its chairman and CEO spoke to analysts during an earnings call Wednesday about the slowing economy and “trade wars fought at 4 a.m. with tweets” that are eroding confidence in the markets. [TRD]
Morningside residents sue to stop Biscayne Boulevard project. Two-and-a-half years ago, the city of Miami’s Historic and Environmental Preservation Board approved plans to demolish a 72-year-old Biscayne Boulevard motel and replace it with a three-story office and retail building. But a lawsuit seeks to scrap those plans and force the Mattoni Group to build an exact replica of 5125 Biscayne Boulevard, a MiMo-era building that was demolished in July 2017. [TRD]
The Westover Companies bought a 331-unit apartment complex in west Miami-Dade for $55 million. King of Prussia, Pennsylvania-based Westover Companies bought the Green Briar West Apartments at 9615 Southwest 24th Street for $166,163 per unit. [TRD]
Ashton Kutcher, Adam Neumann, and Martin Scorsese (Credit: Getty Images)
WeWork’s latest pursuit is an ad-campaign directed by Martin Scorsese and an NBC television show produced by actor-cum-tech bro Ashton Kutcher. The office space startup, whose parent firm The We Company is valued at $47 billion and is expected to launch an initial public offering as soon as next month, has over-and-over again attempted to reframe its image as more than just a real estate company. [TRD]
The Geo Group CEO George Zoley (Credit: PR Watch)
Prison contractor Geo Group has opened a $57 million headquarters in Boca Raton. The company is a real estate investment trust and one of the biggest prison and detention center contractors in the world .It is among the detention center operators with government contracts being investigated by Congress over alleged mistreatment of detainees. Its new headquarters, at 4955 Technology Way, is not far from its previous home base at 621 Northwest 53rd Street. [Sun Sentinel]
Prive Group paid $17 million for the majority of an office park in Davie. The real estate firm is expanding its commercial portfolio in South Florida. Prive, led by Argentinians Javier Rabinovich and Mariano Karner, assumed an $11.3 million commercial mortgage-backed securities loan from Starwood Mortgage Capital. The eight buildings the North Miami Beach-based company acquired total nearly 82,000 square feet. [TRD]
Toni Morrison (Credit: Getty Images)
A look at the places Toni Morrison called home. For the Nobel Laureate, who died Monday, home and “a sense of place” were central to her greatest works. Among her homes: a converted boathouse on the banks of the Hudson River in the community of Grand View-on-Hudson, purchased for $120,000 in the late 1970s. [TRD]
Luxury movie theater chain iPic Entertainment filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The filing comes months after it opened its eight-screen theater in downtown Delray Beach, a delayed and expensive project for the company. The Boca Raton-based firm had $291 million in debt and $157 million in assets as of May 15. [TRD]
President Donald Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping at a press conference in Beijing in 2017
The trade war’s impact on real estate, by the numbers. From rising construction costs to the sharp decline in Chinese investment, the escalating multibillion-dollar trade war between the United States and China has impacted real estate in many ways. And that’s not counting the impact of an overall economic slowdown. [TRD]
Airbnb acquires corporate extended-stay platform Urbandoor. In addition to boosting Airbnb’s supply of corporate-friendly properties, the acquisition will also allow Airbnb to take advantage of Urbandoor’s established relationships with multifamily owners. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. [Techcrunch]
Compiled by Katherine Kallergis