MyBrickell Sales Officially Launch; Prices Start at $177,900
October 28, 2011 by Lucas Lechuga
Last night's gala introducing Karim Rashid, the world-acclaimed interior designer behind MyBrickell, marked the official launch of sales for the condo development. MyBrickell is off to a tremendous start with over one-third of the condos already reserved. That is quite an amazing feat given the fact that reservations were not being accepted until just 11 days ago. The level of success that MyBrickell has experienced thus far helps to understand the level of demand that still remains for new condo inventory in Miami.
MyBrickell will have a mix of studio, one bedroom + den, 2 bedroom and 2 bedroom + den units. Prices start at $177,900 which is excellent, in my opinion, given the current availability of Brickell condos in that price range. To put the pricing for studios into perspective, there are currently only 4 studios in Brickell priced under $200,000 for sale on the MLS. Two of those studio condos are located at The Four Ambassadors (built in 1968), one at Brickell Townhouse (built in 1963) and one at Brickell Bay Tower (built in 1964). Furthermore, two of the four listings are short sales. It goes without saying that MyBrickell will be a brand-spanking new condo development when it is completed and delivered in 2013 to those with reservations. I may not have a crystal ball, and cannot tell you with certainty where prices are headed, but I can pretty much guarantee you that there will be less condo inventory in Brickell in 2013 than there is now. Moreover, MyBrickell will be the only Brickell condo development to hit the market that year.
One of our clients attended the MyBrickell sales event last night and reserved a 1 bedroom + den. Her price - only $228,000! With pricing like that, it helps explain the rush by people to reserve condos at MyBrickell.
Below, you will find the price ranges for condos available at MyBrickell. The average price per square foot for MyBrickell hovers around $300.
Now that sales have officially launched at MyBrickell, you are able to receive pricing for specific units and reserve one immediately if you choose to move forward. Please refer to our MyBrickell profile page with renderings, building and unit information and pricing. There, you may also download the MyBrickell e-brochure as well as the reservation agreement and wire instructions. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or an interest in reserving a condo at MyBrickell.
Good sales program from Related.
Units actually start at $164,00 for a 600sft studio/1 bedroom or $275 a sft.
A steal considering that Icon Brickell is closer to $450 a sft.
Great location across from Brickell Financial Center (4,000 people will work there) and Brickell Citi Center (4MM sft of retail, opffice and hotel).
I know it is a great project and all that. But I still cannot believe the fact that a land locked building like that commands $300/sf just because it is next to a major office tower. I feel super fortunate that 3 years ago I got a Total unobstructed water view flat with a gorgeous park thrown in for $325/sf. And that same office tower and all of downtown buildings are a 5 minute FREE Metro Mover ride away from my building. It almost feels unreal. Good times are here again!
WooHoo. No marble. No granite. No water view. No parking. And 8 foot ceilings. WooHoo.
Not to rain on your parade AJ….and 1800 Club isn’t a bad building since it has views….but you could have bought on the beach for $325/sf if you had played your cards right. Not that $325/sf is a bad price per se just saying’ there were/are better deals. Which line do you buy again….too lazy to look it up. At least hotel occupancy is up and entertainment spending is up a bit which should help with the DJ-ing business.
I think the realization of the true condition of the real estate market has fully set in (well, most aren’t in denial anymore)…people have been wiped out…there are still holders on that will fail…but at least the “fear” is out of the market now.
RT, I know I could have got something on the beach. But I already have a condo on the beach and I do not want to put all my eggs in one basket. And also I am very very worried that in 20-40 years life on the beach is going to be hell with surging high tides due to global warming. We are already seeing it on SOBE once or twice a year. It will be a once a month phenomenon during every New Moon not very far in the future making the roads like Venice Canals. If a new moon coincides with heavy rains, then hell gates will open. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the sand bar, Miami Beach cannot be protected with dykes and barriers like Netherlands. I am not saying that Miami Mainland is not at risk. But that is way down the road like 80-100 years. I will be long dead and gone by then and I am not worried about it and also mainland Miami can be protected with dykes and barriers if they decide to do so when the time comes.
I can easily sell my beach condo for my asking price but I won’t do that. I love SOBE so much, I will enjoy it till I am forced out. Even if it is 20-40 years down the road. If by then I cant sell the condo, so be it. I would have enjoyed it and it is like a car and it had a life.
Hey RT, glad to have you back. Maybe I missed it, but did you give the details on the “(now owner)” part? If not, where did you buy?
Comments from Perez about MyBrickell:
“This project is very special to me, because it is the first job of the new Miami. We’ve gone through three or four years of no new construction, a debacle in the economy and in the housing industry, and Miami has proven to be highly resilient. In another year, we’ll have almost no development inventory left. The key is how you price that product. Miami is still perceived as an area where you can get a very, very good deal. What we’re doing [with My Brickell] is pricing this building below the level of the distressed buildings that are still being sold. For example, Icon Brickell is at $400 a square foot, and 500 [Brickell] is at $300 per square foot. We’re going to be next door to them starting at $295 on average. So it’s a very good economic proposition — and we’re not skimping on any of the finishes.”
This was only possible because they didn’t build the garage. Had they gone with the original larger tower they wouldn’t have been able to sell at that price.
“I don’t think we have a challenge. I think the project will be accepted really, really well, so much so that we are not waiting for financing or waiting for anything. This product will start when it is slated to start, and construction will start very soon [likely early 2012]. We have no concerns economically on the outcome of the project. I think, because of the land price and the construction, we are such a good market that if I only were to sell 50 percent of the job [presale], I would not be concerned whatsoever on the balance.”
“This was only possible because they didn’t build the garage. Had they gone with the original larger tower they would’t have been able to sell at this price.”
Funny! After we talked so much about condo garage space in the last thread, here it – a garage factor determining price! But, what does Perez mean by “they didn’t build garage” – no garage, Gixxer?
That line was my comment, that why I didn’t put any quotations on it. Sorry for the confusion.
They had approval for a larger building with a traditional structured parking garage. But given the current climate they would have been able to build it and sell it a competitive price as compared to what’s selling.
So they scaled down the project, got rid of the garage and decided to use the leftover parking in 500 Brickell next door.
Icon is at $400, Brickell 500 is at $300 and they can now sell these units less than Brickell 500. Had they built the garage then they would be trying to sell these units at a higher price than Brickell 500 which would have been a tough sell.
“What we’re doing [with My Brickell] is pricing this building below the level of the distressed buildings that are still being sold.”
The only thing that makes this possible is the fact that they aren’t building a garage. Here are my comments from the other thread about parking at this building:
MyBrickell will provide 0 new parking spaces. Yeah, thats right 0. Zoning requires that they provide 385 spaces. They can get a transit corridor bonus reducing that number to 270. They are getting a waiver for 30 of them and will use 240 extra spaces at 500 Brickell for the remaining 240 spaces.
The building is 34 stories but they can build 48 stories as of right. They have at minimum another 50,000 square feet of buildable area but yet they choose not to build extra parking. So why not use the extra space to build and sell parking if people are willing to pay for it. Why not make more money? They built the maximum amount of residential spaces and now have plenty of room left over. So why not max out on parking spaces as well? Why would would a developer choose to simply not develop parking with this extra space that people are willing to pay for?
Why and how does Brickell 500 have 240 “extra” spaces ???
Related owns the entire lot. They planned both 500 Brickell and Brickell Station, a 600 foot condo with 234 units on top of a 10 story parking garage. The parking requirements were based off of the entire lot so they built more in Brickell 500 to compensate for the ones they wouldn’t be able to be built in Brickell Station due to the narrow lot size.
Given current pricing there would be no way they could build the 600 foot building with 234 units and 10 story garage and price it competitively.
So the dropped it from 600 to 350 feet and cut the residence to 192 so they could get rid of the 10 story garage and use the leftover parking from Brickell 500.
If people were willing to pay the actaul price of what it cost to develop parking then they would just build the garage and more residential units. But they lose so much money on the garage space since people don’t want to pay for it so they would rather build LESS units in order to meet the demands of lower pricing.
So while people are complaining in Brickell 500 because they already feel there isn’t enough parking, none of them are willing to pay more for it.
You don’t like only have one spot or having to valet, or having no space for visitors, OK just pay the development cost for an extra space and you’ll get more. But time and time again people say, no thanks, I’d rather take the cheaper price and just complain.
As a local, what’s to be excited about with a project that is off-limits for conventional financing? These are marketed towards Latin investors and developers/real estate analysts have conceded that this type of project is unfeeasible for local buyers due to the deposit structure.
I know Gixxer will say “who cares”…”it doesn’t matter who the buyer is.” that’s fine from a developer’s perspective, but I question the long-term benefit to the area with such a small % of unit owners.
Does the fair price point really even matter when you need so much cash to get in the door? I guess it only matters if you’re one of the relatively few who can pay all (or almost all) cash for a unit.
Drew,
They are using the deposits to finance the construction of the project. They’re obviously not going to presale the entire building. As you can see from the comments I posted earlier from Perez he says he’ll be fine if the only presale 50% of the building. So you would have 50% of the building left that you would be able to purchase with traditional financing.
The deposit just allow you to lock in the current pricing, no different than the deposit structure from before, just a larger amount.
I live in Brickell and I do care. There is a difference between what I want and what I think will happen. As I’ve stated time and time again I’d prefer prices to plummet even further as that would increase my purchasing/renting power.
Addressing the long term benefit of whether local Miamians can afford condos is an entirely different subject that I’m not going to discuss on an investment blog. I’m actually heavily involved in trying to provide more affordable housing for locals.
Gixxer, you say nobody wants to pay for garage space but this is understandable because as condo residents you are stacked up so high in the sky and don’t even have land to walk on and yet the property tax so high (or your rental so high) and they wants you to pay for garage space too? This is bad economics. (Luckily, property tax is slashed this year – came down to the ground level more or less)
How many times do we need to debate the same damn thing? End users absolutely do want garage space, but these projects aren’t marketed to end users, they’re marketed to flippers and/or foreigners.
If they tried to sell this building to end users it would take years to do so. That’s why corners are cut in the places where initial buyers are least likely to notice. It ain’t rocket science.
Then why is it like this is every major city? Are you saying that every condo in every major city is built for investorts?
I don’t think an end user would be willing to sale these exact same units to end users for $75k more just because they have an extra parking space.
If that were the case then developers would just build the garage and sell the parking spaces seperately. But again, they cant because most people aren’t willing to even pay what it cost to development them.
gixxer, it just goes back to overall themes regarding what is good for the individual is not neccesarily good for society at large. a single company laying off employees will result in a boost in profit for the company, as the work is shifted to existing employees without any increase in pay. if only one company does this, the overall effect is good for the company. but as all companies begin to lay off workers to increase profit, a macro effect occurs. too many unemployed people begin to exist, and it affects the overall demand of the product for the company since fewer people are available as consumers-and profits fall rather than rise! same thing applies to condo development. if one developer cuts costs by reducing parking, in isolation it will not affect the area. but as all developers make the same cuts, before you know it you have a parking problem in the area. this creates a stigma for all units in the area, with higher after the fact parking costs due to constrained supply.
you are hellbent on defending the position of the developers-and i understand that due to the nature of your employment. but it doesn’t make your position right.
“if one developer cuts costs by reducing parking, in isolation it will not affect the area. but as all developers make the same cuts, before you know it you have a parking problem in the area.”
Let’s agree here for arguments sake. Again how is this the developers fault and not the customers fault. If the buyer continues to choose the cheaper unit with less parking in the end you’ll end up with a lot of units with less parking. Again developers will build whatever people want to buy.
Baciacally you’re asking developers to build parking that no one is willing to pay for and lose money in the process all for the benefit of the public. That somehow developers should be subsidize your desires to have more parking.
Now with that said I don’t agree that these area have a parking problems. City planners set these parking rates and there are huge movements to decrease them.
More parking would only encourage more driving, which would hurt urban growth and not help it. I agree with many that there is not adequate public transportation in Miami for the amount of people here. But increasing parking isn’t going to help much and will make congestion worse.
gixxer, you are under the false assumption that city planners are correct when they set their requirements. they do not have a crystal ball, and often times provide design codes that are arbitrary, and after a decade become obvious they were deficient in their task. they just become a mistake somebody in the future must design around. you can have cars and parking along with public transportation-there is absolutely no reason to make it an either/or situation. many urban planners are nostolgic to the early 1900’s, when cities used public transportation because cars were not a household item. it does seem silly today to think people should feel the need to return to the days when cars are not a major part of daily life. Miami is a very long way from being concerned about too many cars in the brickel and downtown area.
“it does seem silly today to think people should feel the need to return to the days when cars are not a major part of daily life.”
And why is that. I think the exact opposite is true and it shows in the demographics. Younger people are increasingly moving to areas where they can live/work/play in the same area.
Regarless it’s obvious we wont agree. I assume you are older from your comments and as they say you cant teach an old dog new tricks.
I’m not going to say one side is 100% right or wrong but I think its funny that the people who actually go to school to study with/from other professionals in the field and you bacially throw out all their research and chalk it up to nostalgia and somehow think you have inherintely more insigh on the issue from common wisdom.
Gixxer, can you provide me your email address, mine is hardym@directbox.com. Thanks
gixxer, you simply overstate the issue of urban cores and transportation. few people want to live without a car-it is very difficult in today’s world. they simply like to live in an area where they need to use their car less. that is why i enjoyed living in coral gables. i never would have gone without a car, but i enjoyed leaving it in the garage whenever possible. you need to understand the difference between minimizing the use of a car, and going without a car.
my insight is not simply from common wisdom. in fact, i have taught and conducted research with the architecture faculty at UM, where you are now learning about development. i am well aware of the quality, and sometimes lack thereof, of research in the field done by such professionals. while the work is good, it is often not nearly as rigidly correct as you think today. as you get older and gain some experience, you will understand this better. right now you are like all the other students who think they know it all, even more than their professors!
The biggest joke of all is that Miami has collected something like a billion dollars from that “transit tax” but now has *LESS* mass transit than it did 10 or 15 years ago, when the tax was passed. But the wealthier people don’t care and everyone else is brain dead, so nothing ever changes.
Interesting argument going on here about parking situation. I don’t know who is right or wrong but it is possible some buyers don’t care much about parking or maybe they are willing to sacrifice the car in order to live in a certain neighborhood. Most residents of cities like NYC does not even know how to drive and if they own a license it is for ID. Miami does not have a transportation system like NYC though. There are other options though, it is relatively cheap to rent a car in Florida if you need to take a weekend trip down the keys. Let’s face it folks some people are making decisions to live without a car.
Some people, yes, but not most people. The traffic in Miami proves as much.
But were not talking about most people, were talking about people who CHOOSE to live downtown. So basically 70,000 people out of 2.5 million.
gixxer, they choose to live in new luxury high rise buildings. they do not choose to live with fewer cars. they live with fewer cars because developers underbuild parking where the new high rises have been constructed.
Just wanted to be clear about the garage situation: If I buy there, I have to park in another building, and then walk outside to get to my MyBrickell apartment ? Or always valet ?
SoBeresident,
I would recommend you ask your agent to get clarification on the parking situation from the developer. Or if you’re not currently working with an agent, contact Lucas to get that information from the developer
Went yesterday to the new sales center located in front of 500 Brickell East Lobby. Go and see it for yourselves!! Funky cool.
Met Hector Pintos. Knows the project very well. he explained me everything including patrking. Project looks great,
I reserved a 2 bedroom for $295 a sft with great river views plus 1 parking space. Unbeatable price for a new product to be delivered in 2013. Great success. Start date is end of February, got 5% discount as a broker (mycomission).
Done my own numbers at $2,50 sft rent in 2013 rent will probably give me 6% to 7% if I use Related’s cash price or 35 to 4% if i only put 40% down. They have a financing package, still deciding.
Go to the sales center.