I wasn’t planning to write about office buildings again today. But come on.

Two major sales of office towers in Miami were announced this week, including what may be the biggest commercial deal of the year. It’s like Miami office buildings are this season’s must-have accessory:

🏢 801 Brickell, a 28-story office tower in Miami’s financial district, went into contract this week for about $250 million, the Real Deal reported. 

• Investment firms Monarch Alternative Capital and Tourmaline Capital Partners are the buyers.

• The seller, Nuveen Real Estate, paid $80.3 million for the building in 2002.

🏢 Starwood Capital’s former Miami Beach headquarters also found a taker this week. The eight-story property at 1601 Washington Avenue went into contract for $82 million, according to the Real Deal.

• The purchasers are Black Lion Investment Group and Massa Investment Group.

• Sellers Nightingale Group and JBL Asset Management paid $80 million for the building in 2016.

🚨 It bears repeating that the office market is pretty much a source of pain in most places outside of South Florida. Central cities are filled with towers that are partially vacant as employees still work from home some of the time. These towers are hard to sell, even tougher to refinance, and whether they can transform into apartments is still an open and costly question.

Oh, and just this week, Facebook parent Meta backed out of an 18-year office lease in London — by paying a penalty of seven years up front.

🧨 It cost them $181 million to get out of a lease obligation. 🧨

Pompano Development Site Sells for the Price of a 2-BR Manhattan Condo

Another New York developer has entered the South Florida market. And this time, it’s for less than the price of a single Manhattan apartment.

Highpoint Property Group, in a joint venture with Akabas Properties, closed on a development site this month along the Intracoastal Waterway in Pompano Beach. The sale price for the site, which comes with permission to build 20 townhomes, was $2.3 million.

That’s not a typo. The sale price was $2.3 million, according to Highpoint’s attorney in the deal, Daniel Diaz Leyva. (That’s slightly more than the median price of a two-bedroom condo in Manhattan)

New York’s Highpoint had been searching for something to buy in Florida for about a year before finding the lot at 1601 N. Riverside Dr., in Pompano Beach, an area where other luxury developers are settling in.

While the property is entitled for the construction of 20 townhomes — each with their own deeded boat slip— Highpoint is seeking permission from the city to build denser, and upwards. But if that doesn’t work out, they’ll stick to the plan for townhouses, which could market for between $3 million to $4 million each, said Leyva, the chair of Florida real estate at law firm Day Pitney.

“They’re very bullish on Florida and they see continued growth,” Leyva said of his clients. “Because of the mass migration that we’re seeing from the Northeast, it makes sense to position yourself here.”
 
Highpoint is under contract for two more properties in other parts of Florida, he said.

For now, they’re in good company in Pompano Beach, where a Waldorf Astoria-branded condo development is being planned by Related Group and Merrimac Ventures.

A proposal for a 544-unit rental tower in Miami’s Edgewater neighborhood cleared the city’s Urban Development Review Board last week.

The project by LCOR — a Northeast developer with offices in New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland — would rise 42 stories, and include 628 parking spaces.

It’s LCOR’s first ground-up development in Florida, marking a “significant milestone” in the firm’s expansion, according to a press statement.

The tower, at 1775 Biscayne, will have have one-to three bedroom units, be within walking distance to the Brightline, and include a rooftop pool and post-pandemic amenities like co-working spaces.  

U.S. Census: Florida is Number 1 in Population Growth

The U.S. Census released new data this month and it shows that Florida had the nation’s biggest population growth — 2.13% — between 2021 and 2022.

Idaho came in a close second (+2%) and South Carolina (+1.77%) is in third place.

On the other end of the spectrum are the Northeast and Midwest states whose residents have decamped to Florida. New York lost 0.8 % of its population, California was -0.53%, and Illinois was -0.71%

The data comes from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2022 American Community Survey one-year estimates.

I put the population changes in a handy chart:

Have You heard? Links of interest from the week

It’s been a big week for big development announcements, To wit:

• $1 billion plan for 1,000 apartments in Miami’s “Health District” (South Florida Business Journal)

• Twin, 19-story residential towers proposed for “often-ignored” North Beach (Miami Herald)

• It’s a Shvo: New York-based developer SHVO gets unanimous approval from the Miami Beach Planning Board for “Alton” project, with office building, retail and five luxury residences (Florida YIMBY)

• Palm Beach County cuts property tax rates— and still gets $85 million more revenue, due to rising property values (Palm Beach Post)

• Buy your kids waterfront land in Miami Beach. Developer Jamie LeFrak won approval to subdivide a waterfront lot, so he can build future homes for each of his four children. (Real Deal)

Happy fall to everyone who lives in a state with seasons! Still balmy in South Florida, but Publix is getting in the spirit:

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