Condo Developer Regrets Not Building More Downtown Miami Units

Condo Developer Jorge Perez’s biggest regret about building in Downtown Miami is that his Related Group didn’t construct more units

Despite more than 12,000 units scheduled to be completed within the next nine months in Downtown Miami and Brickell Avenue, Perez told NBC 6 in Miami that his only regret is not doing more near his first building, One Miami. The two building complex is located on the north bank of the Miami River immediately south of the Hotel Inter-Continental on Biscayne Boulevard.

“We should have bought a lot more land around it because it immediately acted as a catalyst to all the other developments in downtown," Perez said. "When you come back in five years to downtown Miami, you're going to have 20,000 new units."

Perez brushed off concern that the Downtown Miami / Brickell Avenue corridor will experience a short-term drop in prices as speculators walk away from 20 percent deposits rather than close on units where the rent won’t cover the monthly costs. Perez acknowledges that some developments are going to have difficulty but pointed to the likelihood that all of the units will eventually be occupied.

"If not now, they will get occupied over time," Perez told NBC 6 in Miami. "The more those buildings get occupied, the more the city will work."

Miamians have a lot of work to do just to fill Perez’s nine projects totaling 6,401 units in Downtown / Brickell Avenue corridor. The Related Group is the developer of:

- 50 Biscayne (one building with 451 units)
- 500 Brickell Avenue (two buildings with 663 units)
- Icon Brickell (three buildings with 1,800 units)
- Loft 1, 2, 3, and 4 (four buildings with 1,591 units)
- One Miami (two buildings with 896 units)
- The Plaza at Brickell (two buildings with 1,000 units)

As odd as it sounds today, Perez will most probably be proven correct as a lack of public transportation, a growing population, and the need to build vertical slowly culminates to make the Downtown Miami / Brickell Avenue corridor a desirable place to reside.

The problem for today’s speculators is scrounging up enough money to carry these new units long enough to realize the appreciation that is sure to come with time.

Makes one wonder what Perez will do with the units that become available when and if buyers walk on their deposits. This could be his second chance to own more in Downtown Miami / Brickell Avenue.

Peter Zalewski is a principal with the consulting company Condo Vultures™ LLC and a real estate broker with Condo Vultures™ Realty LLC. Peter can be reached by email at peter@condovultures.com or at 305-865-5629.

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