Miami’s first new condo high-rise since the housing bust is set to begin construction next spring, developer Newgard Development Group announced Monday.
Called Brickell House, the $170 million project is part of a new wave of condo towers planned for downtown Miami, which saw development grind to a halt after the building frenzy that lasted from 2003 to 2008.
“Almost all of the [outstanding] inventory that we had has been absorbed in the last 18 months,” said Harvey Hernandez, managing partner and chairman of Newgard Group. “It could not be a better moment for us to launch a project.”
The 46-story tower is slated to have 374 residences, ranging from one bedrooms to penthouses. Specs include a rooftop sky deck, pool on the 46th floor and an automated robotic parking garage.
Buyers in large part will be charged with paying for the construction of the glossy tower under a financing model that will require purchasers to pay 70 percent of the asking price before construction is completed. That financing model — which is also being used for new condos recently pitched by Related Group — is more common in Latin America, where Brickell House will be heavily marketed. Prices start around $200,000.
“Let’s be realistic. The majority of buyers in Miami come from outside of the country,” Hernandez said. “Our buyers here, nobody has 70 percent. Nobody can afford that.”
Hernandez said he believes the housing market will have substantially rebounded by the time the project opens, with strong international demand and a more vibrant downtown.
Peter Zalewski, of Bal Harbour-based CondoVultures, said he’s not so sure. He said sales of new downtown condos have begun to slow down, and supply is set to increase dramatically as a slew of new projects begins to come online.
“There are too many [projects] that are suddenly all popping up at the same time,” he said. “At least from a promotional perspective, it’s starting to look like 2005 and 2006 again.”
Additionally, a condo tower called Villa Magna is approved to open on a nearby plot with more direct water views than the land-locked Brickell House site, potentially providing stiff competition.
The Brickell House project, located off Brickell Avenue, is scheduled to open in 2014. A Meat Market restaurant has signed on to take up some of the project’s ground-floor retail space, Newgard announced.
