For Rilea Group's Alan Ojeda, The Bond may be it for his firm in Brickell, at least when it comes to condominiums. “What I would shy away from is doing another condo building right now. Without any doubt,” Alan tells us as he gears up for his appearance at our Evolution of Brickell & Downtown Miami event on June 23.
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With just weeks before Rilea tops out the 44-story, 328-unit The Bond condo in the Brickell Financial District, Alan (on left with Diego Ojeda) says a “perfect storm” of a strengthened dollar coupled with economic and political instability in Latin America—particularly in Venezuela—will keep a tamp on further condo development for the foreseeable future. And that's especially true in Downtown Miami, where land prices and construction costs are preventing developers from making money on projects.
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That's not to say Rilea isn't developing. The firm has two projects in the pipeline: Parco Mare (here), a 14-story, 237-unit apartment tower off Dania Beach Boulevard in Broward County, and a 416-unit apartment project near the Dadeland Mall and the Dadeland North Metrorail Station. Alan says both projects could kick off next year, and will be market-rate rentals, ranging around $2.50/SF per unit.
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While Alan is taking the condo correction in stride, even as he is weeks away from final closings on the pre-sold units at The Bond (here), his biggest concern for South Florida going forward is a lack of a modern, cohesive mass transit system. And given Miami's elevation in the past decade to a major US gateway city, that's a factor that could cripple growth in the long run, he says. “All of the big cities have very reliable public transportation. And we're in the '50s,” he says. “You cannot be a big city based on cars.”
Come hear more from Alan and an all-star cast including Swire Properties' Stephen Owens, Royal Palm Cos' Dan Kodsi, Blanca Commercial Real Estate's Danet Linares, One Real Estate Investment's Jeronimo Hirschfeld and Miami DDA's Alyce Robertson at our Evolution of Brickell & Downtown Miami event 7:30am June 23, at 90 SW 8th St. Sign up here.
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