Pacific & Orient Properties, the Malaysian-based developer of a planned North Bay Village condo project delayed by the pandemic, tapped Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices EWM Realty to handle sales.
Berkshire Hathaway’s Mirna Zarate, Zenaida Figueroa and Gasper Mavric will head sales of the project, according to a press release. Pacific & Orient soft-launched sales of its 21-story, 54-unit project at 7918 West Drive when it broke ground in February, the firm’s director Maurizio Pejoves confirmed. After Berkshire Hathaway agents presold some of the building’s units, the brokerage pitched the developer to be its exclusive sales team.
“We did meet some other brokers,” Pejoves said, but the deals secured by Berkshire Hathaway agents proved to be a powerful sales pitch.
Prices for the 54 units range from $2.2 million to $17 million, with floor plans starting at 1,700 square feet up to nearly 7,100 square feet. The project is about 15 percent sold so far, Pejoves said. He estimated the total sellout of the building will be north of $200 million.
Pacific & Orient expects to complete construction of the building in 2025, according to the release.
Plans were approved in 2017, but the firm delayed construction when the pandemic hit in 2020. The developer bought the 0.7-acre site for $8.3 million in 2015, records show.
Patrick O’Connell, Berkshire Hathaway’s senior vice president of business development, said the team is ramping up marketing for the fall and winter busy season.
“We’re building up our social media presence,” he said. “We’re raising the profile of the building, we’re raising the profile of North Bay Village.”
O’Connell anticipates condo buyers will be end-users relocating from the Northeast and California. Agents have been speaking with firms who have planned moves to South Florida, he confirmed.
He also anticipates some buyers from Central and South America, but expects the majority will be domestic, full-time residents of the building.
North Bay Village has proven to be a draw for developers in recent years. Sunbeam Properties, led by the billionaire Ansin family, plans a mixed-use project north and south of the 79th Street Causeway, which bisects North Bay Village. Earlier this year, Jesta Group scored approval for its planned 30-story multifamily and hotel project on the site of popular Shuckers Waterfront Grill. And Shoma Group, led by Masoud and Stephanie Shojaee, launched sales in September of Shoma Bay, a 327-unit, 21-story condo tower planned for the site at 1850 79th Street Causeway in North Bay Village.
According to O’Connell, the redevelopment of North Bay Village mirrors that of Bay Harbor Islands, which has also become a hotbed of condo construction in recent years. Earlier this month, both Landau Properties and Alta Development scored construction loans for their projects on Bay Harbor Islands.