Continuum 2.0? Bruce Eichner teams with TSG to develop Brickell tower

70-plus story condo tower would include retail and office space

From left: Jorge Escobar, Phil Gutman, Ian Bruce Eichner and Camilo Lopez with 1399 Southwest First Avenue (Google Maps)
From left: Jorge Escobar, Phil Gutman, Ian Bruce Eichner and Camilo Lopez with 1399 Southwest First Avenue (Google Maps)

Continuum South Beach developer Ian Bruce Eichner is joining TSG Group and its partners to develop a luxury condo tower in Brickell, The Real Deal has learned.

The project will mark the second for Eichner’s Continuum Company in South Florida, following the completion of the Continuum towers in Miami Beach more than 18 years ago.

TSG, led by Camilo Lopez and Jorge Escobar, said it secured $53 million in new equity for the development site at 1399 Southwest First Avenue. Property records show an affiliated entity sold the site to a TSG-linked entity last month, which marked the sale to the new partnership. It’s home to a three-story, nearly 35,000-square-foot office building leased to the Consulate General of Mexico.

Together, the developers will build a 70-plus story condo tower with presales launching in early 2022, Eichner said. The property is zoned for 500 residential units and office space, according to a release. The planned project would include ground-floor retail space and office space above, with condo units on top.

“What the Continuum has really shown is that it’s consistently maintained its value over 18 years. It’s consistently traded for more money every year,” Eichner said. “I believe there is a lack of product in that market and people are looking for a higher-end product which hasn’t existed [in Brickell].”

Other projects underway in the Brickell area include OKO Group and Cain International’s Una Residences, a 135-unit luxury condo building under construction at 175 Southeast 25th Road, and OKO’s 830 Brickell office tower at 888 Southeast Brickell Plaza.

Phil Gutman, an adviser to TSG and president of Brown Harris Stevens Miami, said there will be pent-up demand for luxury condos in Brickell from the Northeast and from South Americans.

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Eichner, along with Gutman, was bidding on a bulk condo buyout of the Carlton Terrace building in Bal Harbour, but withdrew the offer, Eichner said.

Eichner is also one of the bidders who submitted an offer to the city of Hollywood to redevelop a 4-acre oceanfront site at 1301 South Ocean Drive, he said. The city has not released a list of bidders since issuing the request for proposals in June.

TSG paid nearly $32 million for the Brickell property in 2017, a year after completing the nearby condo building Cassa Brickell.

The company is finalizing plans for Wynwood Haus, an apartment building, and is selling units at its office condo Ofizzina in Coral Gables.

Next year, the developers plan to complete the design, layouts, unit mix and select the sales and marketing team for the Brickell development. Pricing will be in line with the Brickell/downtown Miami market, Eichner said.

Eichner’s penthouse at the Continuum South Beach has been on the market since 2018, most recently asking nearly $40 million.