Miami Beach’s Famous Lincoln Theatre Site to be Sold!

Alas, conforming to the principle of highest and best use of prime real estate – The site of the old Lincoln Road Theatre on Miami Beach’s pedestrian Lincoln Road Mall will be converted to commercial retail use in 2011.  A local group of experienced Miami Beach real estate investors are under contract to purchase the current site of the Lincoln Theatre, with plans to convert the building to retail space on the ground floor.

The long-time and historic site of Miami Beach’s New World Symphony was originally built in 1935.  The New World Symphony is in the process of constructing its new home designed by architect Frank Gehry in a modern structure just North of the current site. The current theatre site is a 38,000 SF building on the Lincoln Road Pedestrian Mall, located at the cross section of Lincoln Road Mall and Pennsylvania Avenue.  The New World Symphony is scheduled to continue operating out of the current Lincoln Theatre until January, 2011.

Plans call for the four story building to be converted to three floors, most probably with retail space on the ground floor and office facilities above.  Plans call for preserving the architectural features of the historic building, with the renovations and construction changes requiring eventual approval by Miami Beach’s Design Review Board. The renovated theatre may be home to as many as four retail shops and restaurants, with potential opening in 2012 or 2013.

This deal means that commercial retail in hot tourist destinations such as Miami Beach continue to command a premium, as some of the top tenants on Lincoln Road have reported retail sales as high as $1,000 a square foot.  Given Design Review Architectural, Density, Height, and Construction Restrictions- a lack of space has made it difficult for larger national chain tenants to find a suitable locations with spaces larger than 5,000-square-feet in Miami Beach’s prime real estate market.

It has been reported in the Miami Herald that the goal of the buyers of the Lincoln Road Theatre site is to create a new Miami Becah city center with a campus-like feel, including a new parking garage and an eco-friendly park.

The State of Miami Beach Commercial Real Estate Market and Latest Jobs Data

The employment report released by the U.S. Department of Labor showed that job losses are slowing down. Only 11,000 jobs were lost in November 2009, 115,000 less than forecast. In contrast, 597,000 jobs were lost in November 2008, and 700,000 at the beginning of the year. In the prior three months job losses had averaged 135,000 per month.

The consensus is that these are signals that the multi-year economic, and associated real estate, decline is slowing down. This train has to stop sometime, somewhere, and it seems that now it is coasting to a more manageable speed. There’s guarded confidence that, as more jobs become available, people will start spending, creating demand and oiling the economic gears that would stimulate a recovery.

In Miami Beach, particularly, it’s hard to warm up to these predictions because, even as layoffs are slowing in the country as a whole, our tourist driven city still has an unemployment rate of over 11% at the latest count, according to Florida’s Agency for Workforce Innovation. Loans for businesses and commercial real estate are also difficult to obtain, keeping our economic growth at a virtually zero.

Miami Beach hotels, whose income shrank by 23 percent in 2009 and is expected to fall another six percent next year, dropped in value as a result of the lower returns. Operators, unable to meet their debt obligations, have been forced to sell at distressed prices, some have gone into bankruptcy, and deals abound for the visionary investor. The most notable case is that of the Fontainebleau Miami Beach, South Florida’s biggest resort, which after $650 million in renovations and a $5 million reopening party, is now battling creditors.

In addition to tourism, Miami Beach’s economy also depends on small businesses, financial and other professional services, health care, and construction. Only an active credit engine will produce real signs of life in these areas and then we will see housing sales speed up enough to absorb the available inventory and housing prices stabilize. The availability of credit is also the motor that will invigorate demand for commercial properties over time, as the cash on cash returns needed to spur demand depends on the availability of long-term financing.

A few of the latest key commercial real estate market debt statistics to keep in mind as we approach 2010:

• Commercial- mortgage delinquencies rose 0.43% from October to 4.29%
• Hotel delinquency rates jumped to 8.07% from 6.81%
• Multifamily delinquencies rose to 7.02% from 6%
• Industrial segment rose to 3.2% from 3.09%

The key to future commercial market stabilization, and eventual growth, will be the ability to refinance in the coming year.

Statistical Source: Fitch Ratings

Miami Beach’s New Retail Center Almost Complete

South Miami Beach’s first large scale and brand new multistory retail center is close to completing contruction as of late June, 2009.  The 5th and Alton retail center is located just off the Mac Arthur Causeway, which will include 185,000 sq. ft. of vertical retail space and a 943 car parking garage at the 5th street entrance to South Beach.  U.S. Century Bank financed the development for the Berkowitz Development Group and Potamkin family.

The Shops at Fifth and Alton will serve as a development anchor for the West Avenue Corridor and the popular “South of Fifth” area of South Beach.  The soon to be opening anchor tenants as of this date are Best Buy, a small-scale Staples, and the fourth floor will have a large Ross Dress for Less, and TJ Max.  Expectations are that the 5th & Alton center will bring increased retail consumer traffic to the western section of South Beach, especially along Alton Road, West Avenue, and Fifth Street.  Both retailers and landlords are hoping to attract the waterfront residents from The Murano Grande, Icon, The Murano at Portofino, Portofino Tower, Continuum North and South, Apogee, and West Avenue buildings such as The Bentley Bay, Waverly, and The Floridian condos that were completed in recent years.

The Obama Housing Rescue Plan- Essential Details

1.  Mortgage Modification

If you’re a Miami resident facing foreclosure and want to “modify” your mortgage to keep your single family home or condo, you must meet the following criteria:

• Have secured your mortgage before Jan. 1, 2009
• Have a primary mortgage of less than $729,500 (1st Lien holder only)
• You must live in the property (primary residence only)
• Must fully document income with tax returns and pay stubs
• Sign a financial hardship statement
• Go for counseling if your total household debt totals more than 55 percent of income.
• 31% debt to income ratio for monthly home payments is the overall goal of this plan
• No loan to value ratios apply (this is especially good for underwater homeowners)
• Only one modification will be allowed per homeowner
• Loan Services must take into account the advantages of modifying versus the financial cost of foreclosing on the homeowner
• Borrower receives $1,000/year in principal reduction for on-time payments (five years maximum)

If you meet all the above listed qualifications, your lender will then determine how much to lower your monthly payment so it’s about 31% of your gross monthly income. The interest rate could be as low as 2%.

Homeowners will pay no fees for the modification. However, homeowners could face a balloon payment at the end if your lender reduced your monthly principal payment during the modification. So if your lender reduced your total payments $20,000, you could owe that amount when paid off your loan, refinanced or sold your house.  The new loan rate can go up after 5 years. It’s only low in the beginning to help the homeowner dig themselves out.

This plan will be in effect until the end of 2012 and can only be used once.

2.  Refinancing Option

If your current on your mortgage but your bank won’t let you refinance because your mortgage is “under water,” here’s how you qualify for the government refinancing program:

• Your home must be the primary residence
• Your loan must be owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac
• You must have sufficient income to support the new mortgage debt
• You can’t take cash out of the new loan to pay other debt

There’s another big restriction, however, that will make many South Florida homeowners ineligible for the program: the value of your house can’t have fallen much below the amount of the mortgage.

It is my belief that the loan modification portion of this plan will indeed be helpful to those homeowners that are having trouble keeping up with monthly housing expenses.  Especially those who are committed to keeping their primary residence for AT LEAST five years.  For eligible homeowners, who have have the ability and discipline to stay current with reduced mortgage payments, this plan should provide much needed financial relief.

Miami Commercial Real Estate Update- Post-Election 2008

I’d like to take this opportunity to comment on the election of Barack Obama as the United States’ 44th President, which of course is truly historic. The goal for investors as the Obama Administration begins in late-January will be to objectively wade through Washington’s political rhetoric and search for viable investment ideas.  We start this process with the realization that the economic cycle is much more important than the political cycle when dealing with commercial real estate investment properties. Washington certainly influences the economic cycle via fiscal and monetary policies, but those effects are often reactive. The financial markets are often well ahead of Washington.

Barack Obama

One aspect of fiscal spending that has not been widely discussed, however, is whether the stimulus programs will have “domestic content” requirements (for example, would infrastructure programs mandate the use of US-produced machinery, tractors, and steel). Such requirements might significantly benefit US industrial companies over non-US companies, thus continuing potentially revitalizing the industrial real estate market in many parts of the United States.  Given South Florida’s limited availability of industrially zoned land, I believe that the commercial investor should keep a close eye on the incoming Obama administration’s industrial policy and the potential benefits to South Florida industrial/warehouse/heavy manufacturing properties.

Downtown Miami- The Latest Deals & Trends
Six Acres of Downtown Miami Land Sold to Swire Properties, the Hong Kong company that turned a ragged island off downtown Miami into tony Brickell Key, is placing its next South Florida bet.  The developer has snapped up nearly six acres of prime downtown land west of Brickell Avenue. The price tag for the two vacant parcels straddling S. Miami Avenue was $41.3 million.

As many builders and bankers struggle to survive amid the downturn, others are now laying the groundwork for the next upturn — at much reduced prices.  The sale price on the Swire property is a sizeable drop from a recent value near $60 million — and Owens said it was offered to him amid the boom for as much as $115 million.  The all-cash deal with Swire closed last month.  The two-block property is located just north of Mary Brickell Village, a retail and restaurant outpost that’s done much to revitalize the formerly sleepy financial district. Newly constructed condos, hotels and under construction office towers are nearby. A Metromover stop is on one side of the property and the Metrorail runs along the other; access to I-95 is close.

Swire’s purchase is one of a string of recent deals for raw land in the Brickell area. An Alabama developer recently paid $6.27 million for about half an acre across from the Brickell Metrorail stop with plans to build an Embassy Suites hotel. Separately, a Miami group spent $22 million for another roughly half-acre parcel next to the Four Seasons Tower on Brickell Avenue.  Swire has long been known as a prominent but conservative builder in Miami. In 1980 it purchased much of the island now called Brickell Key, commencing a long buildout that includes Courvoisier Centre offices, Mandarin Oriental hotel and condos with names from Tequesta to Asia.

In addition, other developers have assembled large swaths of land in the urban core for building when the grim market brightens again.  A group led by Boca Raton developer Art Falcone and partner Marc Roberts assembled more than 25 acres in Miami’s Park West neighborhood, with plans for a mixed-use project called Miami Worldcenter. Also, a Coconut Grove native Peter Gardner has assembed 13.5 acres in the Miami neighborhood for a project that’s to include apartments, shops and offices along Grand Avenue.

Florida Tax Reform – Amendment 5

The State of Florida is still in desperate need of property tax reform & reduction. The measure that was approved last year has helped to provide some limited tax reductions, but has turned out to be a complicated & very limited property tax reduction effort. There is a new initiative to significantly reduce property taxes next year, called AMENDMENT FIVE, which would eliminate from 25-40% of today’s current property taxes, creating a SIGNIFICANT reduction in the total cost of home and/or business ownership. To replace the lost revenue, Florida sales tax would increase by about 1%.

5 Reasons To Vote YES for Amendment 5

Amendment 5 is a long overdue tax cut for all property owners: families, businesses, second homeowners and investors. Property tax levies have doubled over the past six years – from $15 billion in 2000 to $30 billion in 2006. With higher fuel prices and food costs, and stagnant incomes, it’s no wonder Florida families are struggling to make ends meet. If you’re living the American Dream in Florida, you stand to save 25% to 40% on your property taxes in 2010.

Amendment 5 will jump start Florida’s economy. Economists estimate that Amendment 5 will save property owners more than $10 billion in taxes. This will increase the liquidity and net spendable income of millions of property owners.

Amendment 5 will shift the burden of funding education from property owners to all who access the public school system. Currently, property owners pay a disproportionate share, compared to renters, for our schools. And property owners whose children attend private school pay tuition and public school taxes. By funding schools through sales taxes and other measures, Amendment 5 creates a more equitable tax system.

Amendment 5 offers much-needed tax relief for millions of property owners and continues the momentum created by Amendment 1 – approved by voters in January 2008 – toward reforming Florida’s archaic property tax system. Amendment 5 also pressures legislators to get serious about tapping stable and lucrative revenue sources for schools such as Internet sales (a $3 billion cash cow and an increase in state sales tax — much of it paid by non residents!).

Amendment 5 will provide much-needed tax relief to Florida’s seniors, many of whom fear losing their homes because of an inability to pay higher property taxes on a fixed income. On November 4, you have an unprecedented opportunity to vote YES for the biggest property tax cut in Florida history. Vote YES on Amendment 5.

The Five Most Common Myths about reducing Property Taxes Further:

Myth #1
Opponents say Amendment 5 will take valuable funding away from schools.

False! Amendment 5 requires the Legislature to provide required funding for schools. Instead of the funds coming from property owners in the form of taxes, it could come from sales taxes, reduced spending or any other source determined by lawmakers.

Myth #2
Opponents say Amendment 5 will raise the state sales tax and disproportionately affect the poor and needy.

False on two counts! First, Amendment 5 does not require the Legislature to increase the state sales tax. Second, necessary goods and services will remain exempt from a higher sales tax. These include unprepared food, rent, heating fuel, medicine, electricity and health care services.

Myth #3
Opponents say Amendment 5 equals a sales tax on services.

False! Amendment 5 does not dictate to lawmakers how to make up the revenue to fund our schools — including any new tax on services. It points out obvious options, such as a reduction in spending, and encourages lawmakers to come up with other revenue sources, such as collecting sales tax on items currently taxed in retail stores but not when purchased on the Internet.

Downtown Miami’s Condo Oversupply – Not as Bad as Initially Projected

Statistical Source: The Miami Herald 6/19/08

Everyone is well aware of Miami’s downtown building oversupply, but just how bad is it? In the last six years, 22,737 units were built or are now under construction in Miami’s urban core — more than double the number built in the nearly 40 previous years, it’s a large figure, but still less than many predicted. Perhaps no section of Florida has seen more building in recent years than downtown Miami’s urban core.

However, with the housing market turning in 2006, the credit crunch of 2007, and inexperienced developers having to cope with rising construction costs & mismanagement, many proposed projects never went beyond the planning stages. With few new projects starting in the past two years, the real scope and size of Miami’s downtown condo craze is starting to come into focus. Although the downtown market still has a vast surplus of condos- it is not 50,000 or 80,000 new units, it’s estimated that 22,000 new units. The bad news is that it is still 22,000 new units.