Brickell Rising

By Helen Hill

The Miami Beach Botanical Garden will host its seventh annual tour of private residential gardens from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, March 15. The seven gardens on display demonstrate the diversity of Miami Beach gardening, from waterfront estates to urban terraces. Tickets for the fundraiser are $20 in advance and for Garden members, and $25 on the day of the tour. For information, call 305-673-7256, ext. 206.

A couple thousand Miami party-goers — and hopefully some buyers and renters — turned out on a chilly night recently to celebrate the completion of The Plaza on Brickell by The Related Group. The event also served as the Miami International Film Festival’s post-screening party for the premiere film screened at downtown Miami’s Gusman Theater. Background music from DJ Irie, cocktails and sample bites from local restaurants livened up the Plaza’s 10th-floor pool deck while guests toured model apartments. The mixed-use project has a 56- and a 43-story residential tower, with 1,000 total units ranging from about 700 square feet to 3,000 square feet. Unsold condos are being offered for rent.

Brickell falling

A lawsuit in the who-would-believe-it category ended last week when the Third District Court of Appeals upheld a Miami-Dade Circuit Court judge’s ruling against the class-action suit filed against developer Kenneth Baboun and his company BBB Group for fraud and breach of contract. Even though he returned deposits representing 20 percent of the purchase price plus interest, when the condo project was cancelled some buyers proceeded with the suit alleging that the developer had acted in bad faith and thus owed plaintiffs $200,000 in damages. The judge ruled that some 60 buyers in the never-built 1390 Brickell Bay condominium could not claim the “benefit of their bargain,” or potential profits they might have made on resale if it was built. Note: Lawsuit apart, a dramatically changed market has turned “condo profit” into an oxymoron.

Archival treasure

The recent Miami International Film Festival showed off the glories of the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts on East Flagler Street — originally the Olympia movie palace and a perfect example of the “atmospheric theaters” designed by John and Drew Eberson in the 1920s and ’30s. Now The Wolfsonian-Florida International University has been awarded a $50,000 Getty Foundation grant to work on one of its most significant architectural treasures — the John and Drew Eberson Architectural Record Archive. The archive, gifted to The Wolfsonian by Mitchell Wolfson Jr., contains more than 420 individual projects, including nearly 4,800 design drawings and more than 2,600 photographs. It offers important visual documentation of buildings that have been destroyed or are important to preserve.

The butlers are coming!

Last week, Sergio Rivera, president of real estate for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., Jorge Perez of The Related Group and numerous Bal Harbour city officials dusted off the groundbreaking gear and dug in on the former site of the Sheraton Bal Harbour to be one step nearer to reality for the über-luxurious St. Regis Resort & Residences, Bal Harbour. The beachfront complex of three glass towers with 268 residences, 37 condo-hotel suites, 183 hotel rooms and 24 residences will be one of the largest developments of its kind in Florida. It also will have all kinds of amenities, including a 12,000-square-foot Remède Spa, a fitness center, restaurants, pools and beach services. And there will be St. Regis butlers equipped with wireless handheld devices, allowing guests and residents to e-mail them directly with requests. St. Regis Resort & Residences, Bal Harbour, is scheduled for 2011 completion.

Florida rules!

Two Florida cities (but neither in the Southeast — yet!) ranked among Forbes’ recent list of the 10 Best Places for House Bargains. Using the criteria of areas with healthy job growth and more houses available than people to buy them, the magazine rated Orlando third, because: “This part of the state had fewer speculators than Miami and Tampa and is adding jobs faster than those cities as well.” Jacksonville ranked eighth because: “The foreclosure rate is slower than the rest of the Florida cities, making the large inventory likely to improve.” 

Maybe that’s a good prognosis, because once people move into the state, they’re that much nearer to discovering the delights of the Miami area.

Apeel-ing building

The Orange Bowl stadium may be history, but the Orange Bowl Committee lives on. The nonprofit organization, with more than 300 volunteer members, spearheads the annual Orange Bowl in Dolphin Stadium, as well as other sporting and community events. Just announced are plans to build its headquarters on a 2.5-acre site in Miami Lakes that will feature a landmark tower with the familiar Orange Bowl logo. Boca Raton-based RLC Architects, PA, is designing the two-story, 20,224-square-foot building at 14360 N.W. 77th Court with a modern design that will incorporate “traditional Old Florida” elements. Groundbreaking is planned for the end of 2008.

Kudos To…

Esslinger-Wooten-Maxwell’s Commercial Division’s Tom Byrne on his election as president of the Realtors Commercial Alliance of Greater Miami & the Beaches. A native of Miami, Byrne merged his family’s 25-year-old real estate firm, Byrne-Rinehart & Co., with EWM in 1998. He also teaches real estate law to undergraduates as an adjunct professor at Florida International University.

Also, Zyscovich Architects and Miami urban planners received a 2008 Gold Addy Award for their new Web site, designed by The Factory Interactive. The Addy, American advertising’s top regional prize, noted the Web site’s public forum, where the architects can receive direct feedback from the public.

Coming up:

Wednesday, March 19, 5:30 p.m.: AIA Miami presents Miami 21: Implications for Architects, a discussion on how the proposed Miami 21 zoning code changes could impact architectural design and the future of built environments in the city of Miami. Miami Dade College, Wolfson Campus, 300 N.E. Second Ave., Bldg. 2, Room 2106. Free. To reserve a space, call 305- 448-7488.

Monday-Tuesday, April 7-8: Fourth Annual ULI Conference, “Developing & Investing Green: Creating Value Through Sustainability,” will feature a number of speakers, including leading professionals in the fields of capital, financing and investing; commercial and residential sustainable development; marketing and risk management. Charlotte Convention Center, Charlotte, N.C. Register online at www.uli.org/register or call 800-321-5011.

Wednesday-Thursday, April 9–10: GreenCoast 2008 Conference & Expo, “Building Healthy Places to Live and Work,” presents green building experts in three-session tracks for building professionals. Produced by nonprofit Smart Coast in collaboration with the U. S. Green Building Council, the event will be held at the Arthur Outlaw Convention Center, Mobile, Ala. Register at www.greencoastonline.com.

Please send news items on Miami-Dade real estate to hhill@miamisunpost.com