Developer Dezer Plans Project In North Miami Beach

Gil Dezer’s development firm plans to build at least 600 residential units at the Intracoastal Mall it acquired two months ago. Dezer revealed his company’s intentions to add a residential component to the North Miami Beach mall on Wednesday, Daily Business Review reported. The company paid nearly $64 million for the 3501 Sunny Isles Boulevard retail center. The mall’s 27-acre site has zoning to allow 600 units. Any residential development would utilize an existing marina at the mall site, according to Dezer. Other details were not divulged by the developer, who did acknowledge the project would be a change of pace from the luxury condos his company develops in Sunny Isles Beach. Dezer’s Porsche Design Tower is currently under construction in Sunny Isles.

Developers expand Sunny Isles condo project

Developers expand Sunny Isles condo

 Chateau Group and Fortune International are significantly expanding the scope of their future Sunny Isles Beach development by incorporating the former site of the Ocean Palm Motel, The Real Deal has learned. [more]



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http://therealdeal.com/miami/blog/2014/02/11/aldi-to-open-three-new-south-florida-stores-odebrecht-mulls-private-construction-opportunities-and-more/Ok Ok

New Residential Tower approved in Brickell

Residential tower approved in Brickell, across from Mary Brickell Village. The Crocker Partners has the go-ahead to build a residential tower across from Mary Brickell Village and Brickell City Centre. The Boca Raton-based company received approval from the City of Miami’s planning department earlier this week, ExMiami reported. Crocker plans to construct a 48-story tower with 420 units, 440 parking spaces and 4,500 square feet of ground-floor retail space at the 86 Southwest Eighth Street property. Balfour Beatty is handling construction, which is scheduled to begin in September. The tower should be finished by summer 2016. Jonathan Cardello of architecture firm ADD Inc.

A Paradise of Blue and Green

Enjoy serenity, a playground, and panoramas next to the Rickenbacker Causeway

Alice C. Wainwright Park. It’s strikingly unique and beautiful, and it earns my highest ranking for a park run by the City of Miami. It’s a paradise of green and blue. Alice’s park is the opposite of the Dolphin Expressway, the anti-expressway. It makes you feel sorry for people who don’t live here. Situated at the busy crossroad of the Rickenbacker Causeway with the mainland, the park is buffered from noisy traffic by a conservation area that covers most of its 21.44 acres. You know the bushy area on your right as you approach the Rickenbacker tollbooth? That’s it. You can’t see much from the road. As part of the five-mile Commodore Trail, the roads around the park attract joggers and cyclists. To get there by car (on a weekday), turn east onto the road immediately north of Vizcaya. Enter the park through a black metal gate located in the center of SE 32nd Road. Families appreciate the basketball court and clean playground, completed in 2010 and surrounded by open grass. Also in 2010, a series of exercise stations were installed near the bay. But the real attraction is the view. Full of fossils, the cliff features linear tube-shaped formations that were constructed by an ancient burrowing shrimp, reminding us that this location was underwater in the distant past. Made of Miami, or oolitic, limestone, the cliff extends northward for about 300 feet before disappearing into the soil. Below the cliff is the park’s newest feature: Veteran’s Grove. Dedicated on May 25, 2012, its stone benches and memorial plaque were donated by Team Stand Up and Reach Miami. The park’s prime real estate along the waterfront is a grassy meadow about 50 feet wide that takes a sharp turn left and continues for several hundred feet to the causeway. This strip joined to the opening makes a giant L-shape. With no obstructions, the simple seawall frames a spectacular view of blue. Key Biscayne, although in sight, appears insignificant compared to the open water around it. Here’s where the barracuda and the needlefish play. Look down and you’ll see them. Shallow Biscayne Bay blends seamlessly into the deep Atlantic Ocean. Colorful sailboats hover in the distance. To your left are bridges over still waters, to your right is Mercy Hospital. Closer still is the bizarre stone barge, part of Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, that perches in the water like a petrified wreck. Unlike that estate, which costs $18 to enter, this view is free. (http://www.biscaynetimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1712:a-paradise-of-blue-and-green&catid=42:park-patrol&Itemid=226)

Opera Tower opens its elegant New Lobby

Opera Tower, the 56-story, landmark, luxury condominium overlooking Downtown Miami and Biscayne Bay, opens its elegant new lobby by the celebrated Spanish interior design company Baltus this month. At the same time, Opera Tower’s developer announced that all of the final 150 units for sale will earn 6 percent commission for brokers, with prices now beginning at $270,900. Brokers should bring in all of their clients and prospects to take advantage of the 6 percent commission that will be effective only from Jan. 23 through April 1, says a company official. Opera Tower chose Baltus for the striking lobby redesign because of its noted passion for careful craftsmanship, generous proportions, and unique textures and finishes — raising the bar on furnishings and interiors that define elite Miami style. “We want to enhance and revitalize the lobby, creating a fresh, new look for our residents to enjoy, and we know that Baltus can deliver exactly what we are looking for,” said Opera Tower developer Tibor Hollo. The Baltus Group, a Marbella-based firm founded by renowned Spanish artist Javier Martín in 2001, has its only U.S. showroom in the Miami Design District. For the design of Opera Tower’s now nearly completed lobby, Baltus selected finishes with a timeless, curvilinear design, using the existing rounded walls and columns to complement the material selections. In addition to a striking glass globe chandelier, other focal points of the lobby are the 25-foot-high columns wrapped in a luxurious wall covering that has the look of iridescent tile, a look that is carried into the reception desk area and elevator lobby. The new reception desk features a backlit onyx face and black granite top, polished to a glassy finish. A one-of-a-kind Baltus wall panel system was custom-designed with a state-of-the-art, glossy lacquered finish.