A model Flamingo apartment has been dubbed “Single Sophisticate” by MCZ/Centrum Development publicists. Hey single professional, if this edgy décor gears you to the South Beach lifestyle, then break out your checkbook, baby!

Volatile real estate market or not, buyers are still out there looking for value-priced Miami Beach waterfront. A waterfront mansion at 6300 North Bay Road in Miami Beach was on the market for less than 30 days when it was scooped up for $5 million ($658 per square foot) by a local professional couple looking for a new home. (The previous sale was $900,000 in 1986.)

The 25,215-square-foot lot spans 102 feet on Biscayne Bay and faces west toward the Miami skyline. The 7,600-square-foot house has six bedrooms and six and a half bathrooms plus a two-car garage and guest house. An icon to 1970s design with puffy fabric-covered walls, elaborately coffered ceilings and mirrors everywhere, the house is due for a complete renovation, though the bay-view “wow” bathroom — the size of most living rooms and clad in exotic marble — will probably stay. Agents from the Carlos Justo Team, SOL Sothebys International Realty in Miami handled the sale. The listing agent was Raymond H. Bolduc II and the selling agent was Ralph Arias.

In the LEED

Last week, developers broke ground for the city of Miami’s first retail building registered with the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and the first “green” store for office products retailer Staples. Planned for a site at 2121 Biscayne Blvd., the Staples store is being built by MK Real Estate Group in compliance with LEED silver certification standards.

The store will use drywall, steel, concrete, bathroom partitions, carpet and parking stops made from recycled materials. Its green design will feature a highly reflective roofing system that helps improve energy performance and reduces the “heat island effect” (which contributes to higher city temperatures). A rooftop gutter system will collect rainwater, and waterless urinals and low-flow toilets will be installed. Landscaping will use 100 percent native plants and shrubs. The store will encourage alternative transportation by installing bike racks and showers. There will also be on-site recycling for paper, plastic, glass and cardboard, as well as the usual computer, electronics and ink cartridge recycling offered by Staples stores.

Condo Living: South Beach Style

Central casting couldn’t have done it better — creating a chic, urban environment for South Beach sophisticates buying units in Flamingo South Beach’s 16.5-acre community. Three new one-bedroom model residences in the north tower have been designed to suit three distinct residential profiles — young couples, empty nesters and urban singles. Christina Noelle, a principal with MCZ/Centrum Development, is the creative force behind the interiors in collaboration with Ferrari Interiors.

Shown is a home with a playful South Beach theme designed for entertaining and outdoor living. A picnic-style dining table sits on a green rug made of tiny flower cut-outs beneath a retro Lucite coffee table. A white lacquer console inlaid with green bamboo references the white leather lounge, retro bubble chairs and painting of forest saplings hanging above the contemporary pool table.

Flamingo South Beach has a total of 1,688 units in three towers. The recently launched North Tower houses 614 of them, including studios and one- and two-bedroom residences ranging from 500 square feet to 1,400 square feet.

The property includes a marina, two bayside resort-style pools, an outdoor spa, a 15,000-square-foot David Barton state-of-the-art gym, a dry cleaner and what every building needs — a Heavenly Paws Doggie Day Care and Spa. Flamingo’s resort-style concierge services include dog walking, housekeeping, car wash and restaurant reservations.

Mortgage Education

My real estate dictionary has 30 separate entries for “mortgage,” currently the most bandied-about word of the year. Let’s leave them there!

In an attempt to rehabilitate the current negative connotation of mortgage, The Realtor Association of Greater Miami & the Beaches, joined by Fannie Mae, launched the HomeStay Advantage campaign in South Florida. The goal of the multifaceted campaign is to promote “responsible lending” and educate real estate agents and loan originators on how to help potential home buyers identify the most appropriate, affordable mortgage products.

Last week, RAMB members, brokers, agents and mortgage originators attended a workshop conducted by Jose Gonzalez, Fannie Mae’s manager for South Florida, to discuss market trends, changing demographics and a wide range of financing options to help potential home buyers. First Service Realty — GMAC and Premium Service Financial were the first companies to participate in the program.

Pushing the Flip Panic Button

That’s how Miami Beach real estate agent Mark Zilbert describes the action on new Miami condos with the completion of The Related Group's 50 Biscayne, where closings start in just a few weeks.

The program has sellers unloading their units at the original 2003 contract price, giving up half their deposits — about 10 percent of the contract prices. The other 50 percent of the deposit is used to pay seller expenses such as 6 percent broker commission and 1 percent developer transfer fee. There’s more and it sounds quite convoluted, but the bottom line is that “investors” can take their fingers off the button and walk away with some remnant of their deposit instead of nada dollars, while bottom-fishing buyers have an advantage over 2007 full-price purchasers.

Where Were You in ’82?

That was the theme of the Hyatt Regency Miami’s lively 25th anniversary retro-themed bash at the James L. Knight Center last week. The space was transformed into the Miami of the 1980s, complete with towering white palm trees, neon lights and life-size projections of ’80s icons like Prince, Madonna and Billy Idol. The 612-room hotel has just undergone a $20 million renovation, adding to the growing luster of downtown revitalization and the Miami hospitality scene.

Twenty-five years ago, downtown Miami was a very different place, and building the Hyatt Regency on the Miami River was a significant milestone toward the city’s future. To quote from the Miami Herald at the turn of the year, “Few things got better in 1982. In economic news, year-end inflation, the scourge of the past half-decade, was showing genuine signs of giving way. And interest rates were finally declining too, but the recession that began in mid-1981 appeared to be heading into 1983.”

There were no modern residential buildings in downtown Miami; the nearest were in the Omni area. But Brickell Avenue was beginning to buzz with some new high-rise towers. Atlantis on Brickell, the building with the hole in its middle that was featured in Miami Vice’s opening credits, was new in ’82, along with Brickell Key One and Villa Regina. There was some new condo construction on the Venetian Isles, but it would take another decade before Miami Beach gained any new condominiums.