Monthly Archives: June 2007

What’s the deal with six extra stories?

Well, when you get denied a major use special permit by the City of Miami, you tend to make concessions to get your project off the ground.

The Columbus Centre tower which is planned for Southwest 15th Road and South Miami Avenue has been reduced to 50 stories from its planned height of 56 stories.

Although there aren’t any height restrictions in that area of Brickell, the planning advisory board and the district’s city commissioner felt the project by Cervera Real Estate wasn’t fitting in well with area surrounding it, which includes Simpson Park.

What else is being done to help the approval of the project?

Cervera Real Estate has also pulled back the 5% square-footage bonus it was asking for.

“We are trying to keep the door open and have dialogue with the neighbors,” Nickel Goeseke of Cervera Real Estate said. “We’re trying to do whatever we can to make it a better building.”

Does this comply with Miami 21?

The project will be built to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards.

The previously stucco walls will now have “landscaping growing up the building to have it reflect the park,” Mr. Goeseke said. “We’ll try whatever we can in order to gain support from the neighbors and then to get support from the commission.”

Looks like the Sheraton Bal Harbour is going to finally be taken down in the fall, making way for a $1 billion condominium complex. The name of the new condo complex? St. Regis.

What had originally happened was that Starwood Hotels of New York and The Related Group had called off the original demolition which was scheduled for August 2006. The reason for that was the Super Bowl was coming up and rooms were desperately needed. So now the 41-year old building is going to get the heave-ho in July.

“We hope to be ready for construction of the new complex early next year,” says David Matheson, vice president of corporate communications for Starwood Hotels of New York.

How’s the new condominium complex going to be like?

It’s going to have 511 units with 1 million square feet of residential space. Pretty big. The complex will have 268 condo units, 36 condo-hotel units, 24 St. Regis Residence Club units, 1 presidential suite and a 182 hotel units. These units will be housed inside three 26-floor towers built mainly with glass. It will also include an underground garage, pools, and recreational facilities for each tower of the St. Regis.

How much will the individual condos cost?

The prices of the St. Regis condominium units will range from $1.8 million to $6 million and the hotel units will cost from $1.9 million to $2.5 million.

Is there interest in the St. Regis?

Many South American investors are already asking about the units in the new South Florida complex. It is also getting “a broad array of interest from up and down the eastern seaboard,” Mr. Matheson said.