5 Bedroom Penthouse Foreclosure at Imperial at Brickell
May 14, 2010 by Lucas Lechuga
A few days ago, the list price was reduced $300,000 to its current asking price of $1.49M, or $296 per square foot. The unit needs to be renovated considerably. In fact, if it were me, I would gut the entire condo and start from scratch. The condo is perfect for someone who is creative and has the vision to transform this space into one of the most spectacular residences along Brickell Avenue.
Without a doubt, this is a rare opportunity at a great price. Contact us at 305-428-3860 if you have any questions regarding this 5 bedroom penthouse or would like to schedule a personal showing.
Imperial at Brickell was completed in 1983 and is located at 1627 Brickell Avenue.
You guys should somehow find away to separate a sales advt. like this post and a newsworthy post like Icon below. People are less likely to comment in a post that looks openly like a sales ad. I know you have a great platform that you took 3 years to build and you are trying to maximize the exposure for the units you want to sell. But it is also a kill joy. sales pitch on Individual units should be mentioned in condo deals and do remind the readers once in a while to check that link when you have posted a killer deal.
Nice unit. Great terrace.
There are some things in life I don’t understand: if one can initially afford this type of unit, why not spend the cash to upgrade a kitchen at some point during the life of the unit. Seriously, that kitchen is from 1983 and hasn’t changed since.
why bother, I hear what you’re saying but I like these posts for what they are. We get a little history and get to see some pics of some pretty cool condos that we might not even know existed save for these posts. I mean after all, Lucas maintains this site as part of his business, which is selling real estate.
As for this particular condo, looks cool. Aside from drastically needing an update from its ’80’s coke-dealer chic’ interior, its pretty impressive. My only gripe would be the lack of mostly glass walls that we’ve come to expect in “modern” condo buildings. However, a redo of the interior would do wonders for this place. It’s also a pretty damn good price for what it is IMO.
I think it is still overpriced. It would cost $1 million to upgrade this space, and it’s an old building.
Regarding the videos, nice touch but if I may offer a few suggestions- the music tracks should be more upbeat, less somber. Also, the videos could show all the relevant images in half the time. We grew up on 30 second commercials- your 3 minute video is too long.
DJ, I agree. Maybe these individual condo sale infomercials once a while ( not more than 1 in every 3 posts) is ok I guess as long as they do not out number regular posts. Any more than that, there is a danger of the blog becoming a sales pitch platform which could turn a few people off.
BillP, Youtube only gives you a choice of a few tunes that should closely match the length of the video. The choices are very limited.
The unit seems interesting but I’m skeptical on the 5,034 sq/ft interior space being accurate. 5,000 sq ft houses are usually 7/5 or 6/4 while this Penthouse is a 5/3.
Anyway, let’s do some very rough numbers for the heck of it. Let’s say the bank comes down another 100K and you can get it for $1.39 mill. And let’s also assume you could get a loan putting $200K down. (I know this ain’t happening, but just trying to get some rough numbers here).
1.19 Mill 30yr @ 5% is. $6,390/month.
So:
$6,390 monthly note
$3,466 HOA
$2,029 Monthly taxes ($24,359 last yr’s tax)
—————-
$11,885 Monthly Plus $200K down Plus renovation costs is a hypothetical scenario here.
why bother,
you should be reminded that Lucas is a realtor. having said this, he does alot of legwork to bring up some info that is unbiased, but ultimately, he has to make transactions – ultimately, he has to gain the confidence of his clients but i doubt he works pro bono all the time.
Interesting article from the Miami Herald:
Downtown condo deals cut into beach-area sales
BY HANNAH SAMPSON
Dennis and Rowena Bennett were set on moving to South Florida from St. Louis. And they thought they knew exactly where they wanted to buy.
My wife was totally, totally set on a beach property,” said Bennett, a patent attorney. She said: `Don’t even show me something that’s not on the beach.’ ”
But then they saw the ICON Brickell building in downtown Miami. By the end of January, the Bennetts were sold — and the two-bedroom, two-bathroom condo was theirs.
It’s a tale of two sides of the causeway, where palm trees and high prices on one side give way to towering downtown buildings and relative bargains on the other.
On the sands of South Beach, sales of new condo units are sluggish, with only 17 closing in the first three months of 2010.
Across the MacArthur Causeway, the pace picks up. During the first quarter, buyers snapped up 713 units in the downtown Miami area — nearly twice as many as during the first quarter of 2009.
A look at the price tag explains the difference: in South Beach, the average price per square foot for new condos was $1,364; downtown, buyers paid an average of $326 per square foot. Those figures are according to a report from the real estate research and brokerage firm Condo Vultures. It describes new condos as any built since 2003 with direct sales from the developer to a buyer.
Many people are just sort of saying this is too good a value, so they’re jumping over the causeway and going downtown,” said Peter Zalewski, a principal with the firm. “It’s cheaper to live downtown.”
The situation is different in Broward County where more deals can be found on the beaches. There the average price per square foot for new coastal condos is $276. Over the last six months, 254 new units sold. Beach units were largely condo hotels, Zalewski said.
In South Beach, you buy because you want to be there,” he said. “In [coastal] Fort Lauderdale, you buy because it’s better value.”
The prime location in central Broward is east of Interstate 95, including downtown Fort Lauderdale, and west of the Intracoastal.
Prices are higher there — an average of $587 per square foot — than coastal and inland areas in Broward. Sales aren’t as brisk as in downtown Miami, where the price per square foot is lower. Over the last six months, 470 new units closed in the urban area of Broward that includes downtown Fort Lauderdale.
West of I-95, “new” condos are mostly apartments converted to condos, even if they were built decades ago. There the average price is $86 per square foot, with 904 units sold in the last six months.
But in Miami-Dade, downtown is where the deals are.
Miami Beach-based real estate agent Kevin Tomlinson said now prices have gone down to where they belong on the mainland. “If you’ve got $300,000 to spend, it’s going to get you a prettier, newer building,” he said. “You’re not going to get that over on Miami Beach.”
But he said the chic neighborhood south of Fifth Street on South Beach still has strong sales of high-priced existing condos, which were not included in the report from Condo Vultures.
He said the new building getting the most traffic on the Beach is the Caribbean, 3737 Collins Ave. There, 33 units closed in the first quarter at an average of $562 per square foot, according to Condo Vultures.
At Canyon Ranch Living-Miami Beach, 6801 Collins Ave., which wasn’t included in the Condo Vultures report because sales weren’t direct from the developer, 88 units have sold since last May at price points between $300 and $900 per square foot. The most popular units fall at about $600, according to a spokesman for the property.
Sunny Isles Beach, with an average price per square foot of $508, saw relatively strong sales with 103 units closing in the city in the first quarter.
Rita Japhet, broker-owner of Sunny Isles Real Estate, said about 65 percent of her buyers are foreign and most of them are looking for second homes.
Everyone, however, is looking for the best value.
You can find here very good values on brand new luxury construction on the ocean, larger spaces than you would find on South Beach,” she said.
Still, she said, many buyers are asking to see property beyond Sunny Isles Beach. They want Brickell.
They are not alone. Nearly three-quarters of the more than 22,000 condo units built in the downtown area are occupied, according to a study released earlier this year by the Miami Downtown Development Authority.
Developers have been forced to slash prices and investors have turned to renting out their units, bringing life into once-empty buildings.
It used to be that you could shoot a cannon down Flagler Street after 7 at night,” said Alyce Robertson, executive director of the DDA. Now, she said, the neighborhood shares something with South Beach: nightlife.
Dennis Bennett like his new Brickell neighborhood, including all the restaurants, well-kept public areas and lack of graffiti.
I don’t know what was there before, but boy do I feel safe and secure there now,” he said.
Zalewski said his firm’s research shows that it’s likely three of four downtown units are bought by investors or second-home buyers. Most rent the units out to tenants who are lured from areas like Kendall, Aventura and South Beach by the good prices.
Alejandro Bonet, 26, had kept his eye on the Marquis project at 1100 Biscayne Blvd. since the preconstruction phase, when units were going for just under a million. Finally this year, he made his move, buying a 1,477-square-foot two-bedroom condo for the mid-$500,000s.
I love the whole downtown area. I see it as picking up a lot, the vibe and the feeling of the area,” he said. “And finally the prices came down to a point where it would be a good buy.”
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