Mix villa and palazzo…

… and you get Villazzo, an upscale villa hotel company that is about to open a new property called Villa Luna in South Beach.

The property at First Street and Washington Avenue has been an empty shell since being vacated by its previous occupants, including a modeling agency and gym. The Art Deco-vintage building was originally built as a hotel and retains attractive period architectural features in its 14,000-square-foot interior surrounded by 5,000 square feet of outdoor grounds. Property owner Craig Robins is partnering with Christian Jagodzinski, CEO of Villazzo, who plans to convert the property in the hot South of Fifth area into mixed use. A high-end restaurant will go on the ground floor (Joe’s Stone Crab is almost next door), and the second floor will house Villazzo’s world headquarters. The third floor will feature two loft-style condo-hotel units, each 2,000 square feet with a 2,000-square-foot terrace (and possible pool). These upper-crust suites will offer hotel amenities and services brought in to suit, with chefs, housekeeper, butler, concierge and other staff available for guests. Celebrities and anyone willing to pay for a secure, private hotel villa — with Bulgari toiletries in the bathrooms and Godiva chocolates on the pillows — are the target market. The units are for sale in the $2,000 to $2,500-per-square-foot range.

Solís Resort Spa & Residences: slated to open in summer 2009.

A Sunny New Resort

With all the talk of cutbacks in condo construction, it’s good to note that a new Sunny Isles Beach project, Solís Resort, Spa & Residences at 15701 Collins Ave., is due to break ground later this month.

Developer Alex Forkosh, president and CEO of New York-based Forkosh Development Group (which created the Spiaggia Ocean Residences in Surfside last year), is partnering with Horst Schulze, CEO of Solís Hotels and Resorts, on a 52-story tower of 132 private residences and 140 hotel suites on 150 feet of oceanfront. With Schultz, a former CEO of The Ritz-Carlton Group and vice chairman of Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, on board it appears that Solís will target that level of sophisticated traveler and buyer (a big step up from the Hilton, Fantasy on the Ocean, originally proposed by another developer for that site.) Solís is also planning hotel developments in Chicago, Atlanta, San Antonio, Orlando and Frankfurt, Germany.

Solís Resort, Spa & Residences is designed by Arquitectonica, which has cleverly camouflaged the entrance lobby and nine parking decks with a façade of metal tree branches. Amenities such as the spa, fitness center, ballroom and conference rooms plus pool deck and restaurant occupy floors 12 to 14, and the hotel suites are above on the next 10 floors. Following the trend of tall high-rises to elevate residential units to the uppermost floors, the two- and three-bedroom residences ranging from 1,300 to 2,100 square feet are on the 25^th to 52^nd floors, facing south for unobstructed views of Haulover Park and the ocean, all the way to South Beach in the far distance. All the expected amenities and services will be offered. Prices start at $1.2 million. Solís is slated to open in summer 2009.

Shops that dropped

There might not be much nostalgia for the old kitschy Sunny Isles, now vanished in a new upscale incarnation of the resort city, but looking back with pangs of regret for a changed landscape in U.S. towns and cities seems to be increasingly popular these days.

The interactive Web site www.deadmalls.com is a labor of love by a “retail historian” who reports on dead and dying shopping centers. (A “dead mall” is defined as a mall with a high vacancy rate, low consumer traffic, or that is dated or deteriorating.)

The site mixes fascinating nostalgia for the “old days” with doom and dismay at what happened or is happening to some retail centers nationally. (South Florida centers are represented, too.) To the layperson of a certain age, trawling through the site offers a trip back through the trivia of past times. Personal anecdotes are encouraged, and there is an educational section on retail vocabulary — how about this entry? “Mallmanac: A map which lists names of stores and diagrams the layout of a mall. This word is a Sniglet, which is “a word that should be in the dictionary, but isn’t.”

But the site has another unintentional purpose — reportedly, some commercial real estate professionals prowl the site looking for news on their investments and opportunities for bargains (that old vulture thing).

Dealmakers

Last year José Juncadella, principal of Fairchild Partners, a Miami-based commercial real estate services firm, brokered the biggest industrial deal in Miami-Dade County, the $90 million sale of the ABC Distributing warehouse.

His latest deal, advising the sellers in the transaction, is on a smaller scale, but netted a group of private investors a profit of more than $3.3 million in one year. The property: Palmetto Building, with 62,000 square feet of office space plus 1.7 acres of adjacent undeveloped land for future expansion, located at 7007 NW 77th Ave. in Miami’s Airport West submarket. The property, purchased a year ago for $6 million, sold last month for $9.35 million. Buyers: the Spanish Broadcasting System, Inc. (recognized as the largest Hispanic-controlled radio broadcasting company in the U.S.), which may use the property for its head offices. F. Antonio Puente, senior vice president of Fairchild Partners, advised the buyer in the transaction.

Coming Up

TONIGHT, Thursday, Feb. 8: Jewish Museum of Florida, 301 Washington Ave., Miami Beach, 7:30 p.m. Panel discussion on “The Preservation and Development of Miami Beach Architectural Districts.” Moderator: Denis A. Russ, Community Development Director of the Miami Beach Community Development Corporation. Panelists: Bill Farkas, executive director of the Miami Design Preservation League; Neisen O. Kasdin, former mayor of the city of Miami Beach and chairman of the Urban Development Group at Gunster Yoakley; Randall C. Robinson Jr., executive director of the North Beach Development Corporation; and Alan T. Shulman, architect and research assistant professor at the University of Miami, School of Architecture. Small admission charge. Complimentary refreshments. Info: 305-672-5044 or www.jewishmuseum.com.

Sunday, Feb.18: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. “Real Estate Showplace,” Trump International Beach Resort, 18001 Collins Ave., Sunny Isles Beach. Presented by Edge Magazine, which covers South Florida’s homes and lifestyle, the event will feature exhibitors such as Fortune International, Trump Towers & Trump Grande, Jose Milton & Associates, Majestic Properties, Interlink and Ocean Reserve offering information on luxury South Florida developments. Admission and valet parking are complimentary for visitors. For more details or to exhibit, contact Scott Allcock or Lorena Plaza at Edge Magazine, 305-789-6768 or www.edge-florida.com.

Tuesday, Feb. 20: 6 p.m. The Urban Environment League of Greater Miami: dinner and discussion in honor of Black History Month. Miami River Inn, 118 SW South River Drive, Miami. Topic: “Overtown: Its Present Challenges and Future Vision.” Guest speakers: Denise Perry, director of Power U Center; and Philip Bacon, general manager, Growth Partnership, Collins Center for Public Policy. Moderator: Mike Vasquez, Miami Herald reporter. Reservations required by Feb. 16. There is a limited number of seats at no charge for the 7:30 p.m. discussion session only. UEL members $25, non-members $30. Reservations and info: 305-325-0045, uelmiami@bellsouth.net.