From the September issue:
Julio Iglesias lists four properties on exclusive Indian Creek Island
Julio Iglesias is ready to let go of the lots he’s loved before.
The award-winning singer and songwriter listed four waterfront parcels of land on Indian Creek Island for $150 million. Coldwell Banker’s “The Jills” — Jill Hertzberg and Jill Eber — have the listing.
Each property totals 80,000 square feet, and together they have about 800 feet of water frontage along Biscayne Bay.
At Igelsias’ current asking price, the deal chalks up to $18.75 million per acre, or $470 per square foot.
Iglesias, father of musician Enrique Iglesias, is looking to keep his nearby house on Indian Creek. The exclusive island, with about 40 properties, is home to some of the 500 wealthiest people in the U.S., including activist investor Carl Icahn, car dealership mogul Norman Braman and developer Jeffrey Soffer.
PMG lines up downtown Miami development site
Property Markets Group is under contract to purchase 400 Biscayne Boulevard from the First United Methodist Church for $53.6 million. The property is currently zoned for up to 1.8 million square feet of development, meaning that PMG is paying nearly $30 per buildable square foot, sources said.
The New York-based firm is planning a two-phase development, the first piece of which would be an apartment tower. The property allows for up to 1,150 residential units and unlimited height pending approval from the Federal Aviation Administration.
HFF’s Jaret Turkell and Maurice Habif have been marketing the 1.15-acre downtown Miami site since September.
The lot has 305 feet of frontage along the boulevard. One block south, at 300 Biscayne Boulevard, PMG is developing Vice, a 464-unit apartment tower.
As part of the sale, the church will get a roughly 20,000-square-foot space in PMG’s new building. The deal is expected to close during the fourth quarter of this year.
A fl ooded street in Miami Beach
Miami Beach residents fight city’s plan to combat rising sea levels
Some Miami Beach locals are pushing back against the city’s plans to implement a $100 million flood-prevention project, arguing that raised streets would redirect flooding into people’s homes.
The city is currently planning to raise all streets by a minimum of 3.5 feet and to raise seawalls to a height of 5.7 feet. But some residents say that the project could cause more harm than good — especially in mid-Miami Beach, where trees are being ripped out and raised streets are sending water into houses during heavy rains.
“Without a significant engineering plan to mitigate all that water heading into the homes, you are going to have standing water in living rooms,” said Ed Tobin, a 50-year Miami Beach resident.
Eric Carpenter, the city’s public works director, said the city is taking those concerns into consideration and designing storm water systems to keep water levels below finished floor elevations of all homes in Miami Beach.
Sea levels in the Southeast rose six times faster than the global average between 2011 and 2015, according to recent research. Miami Beach Mayor Phillip Levine’s efforts to combat rising sea levels have generated global attention, and the city has become a laboratory of sorts for mitigation efforts.