Lincoln Road – New Buildings are the Trend

Posted on June 12, 2013

New GAP Store – Lincoln Road

With GAP and Apple putting up new buildings, Lincoln Road begins to run the risk of looking like every other lifestyle center in a sunny town.  To be fair, amazing buildings or renovations have sprouted up in the past 24 months along the pedestrian mall – including the new H&M store (cool use of the proscenium) – and the shops at 1111 Lincoln.  But….

The new GAP store looks like generica in the renderings, and the Apple store – while destined to be sleek and minimalist – look like any other corporate/retail architecture in Florida or California.

We’re not diehard preservationists here, but if Lincoln Road turns into another corporate-y 3rd Street Promenade, Miami Beach has lost something in intimacy and appeal.

The Standard Hotel – it’s a wrap

Posted on May 23, 2013

Standard Hotel construction

The Standard Hotel / South Beach got wrapped today.  We’re not sure if this is another Christo installation – or perhaps just an exuberant homage to Jamaican culture – but either way, it’s funky.

The Standard Hotel is building an adjacent robotic parking facility (so you won’t have to wait 30 minutes for your car that currently gets valeted in South Beach)……..but wrapping the entire building???  Makes us sweat just looking at it.  Really.

Beach Town, to Beach City – Miami Continues Rapid Growth Rate

Posted on May 17, 2013

Proposed Miami Beach Convention Ctr

Two billion-dollar convention centers in the planning stages (Miami Beach/Miami Downtown), as many as 100 new condo buildings headed for development, a $1 Billion CitiCentre underway in Brickell, and dozens of high-end boutiques rising in Miami’s Design District.  If you were here five years ago during the real estate crash, this might look like the other side of an unpleasant dream.  From the crash of 2008-2009, to the current frenzy of new development, residents of Miami and Miami Beach are struggling to comprehend where their pleasant little beach town went…

Miami joins Los Angeles, San Francisco, and a small handful of other U.S. cities with high concentrations of desirable, lifestyle-rich amenities – starting with amazing weather and coastal views that can’t be replicated.

Real estate and rental prices will continue to trend upward, as demand piles into the sliver of space that defines Miami-Dade (from the Everglades to the Ocean).

We may not see the universal, get-rich-quick days of the last decade, but Miami has once again proven to be an attractive and resilient real estate market.

High Net Worth Individuals rank Miami #8 in global rank

Posted on March 21, 2013

In Knight-Frank’s new Wealth Report, High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs) rank Miami 8th among global “cities that matter” – behind London,  New York, Singapore and a few other global cities.  Miami advances to 7th among global cities in projections looking forward a decade from now…