Video & Picture Review of Platinum Condominium

May 31, 2007

I took a look at Platinum Condominium today and, overall, I was pretty impressed. Platinum Condominium is located at 480 NE 30 Street in the Design District of Miami. It is not a waterfront property but is situated just one block off Biscayne Bay, so the majority of units have a nice view of the water. Towards the end of this post I will provide my analysis on the building and discuss the availability for both sales and rentals at Platinum Condominium. I will also use the comments section to post any future listings that I feel are priced to move.

I shot a lot of video today and took a ton of pictures. The videos and pictures below will show you the exterior of Platinum Condominium as well as the lobby, swimming pool, hot tub, men’s locker room, and a few condo units. Be patient because the slideshows may take a little while to load, depending on your connection speed. I was able to shoot video and take pictures of a 2 bedroom unit located on the 7th floor. I also gained access to a 1 bedroom unit on the 10th floor but was only able to snap off a few pictures. The amenities and common areas looked about 95 percent complete which is very impressive. I would love to hear your thoughts on the building so please feel free to leave comments.

I found the exterior of the building to be quite beautiful with its curved balconies and high use of glass. The video and picture slideshow below will show you the exterior of Platinum Condominium.

I was very impressed with the lobby. It seems that white and silver are the prominent color themes throughout Platinum Condominium. It made for a very bright and clean looking lobby as you will see below.

The amenities are located on the sixth floor of the building. I found my way into the men’s locker room which had a sauna, steam room, and massage room.

The doors providing access to the club room, business center and fitness center were locked but I did take a peek through the windows. All three were done nicely. The fitness center was a bit small but that is common with most condominium buildings, especially in this price range. I then made my way outside to the swimming pool and sundeck area of Platinum Condominium. Take a look for yourself.

The pictures and video below are of a 2 bedroom plus den with 2 full bathrooms. It has 1,383 square feet of living space and a 386 square foot balcony. As you will see, the unit comes “decorator-ready” which means that the condo comes without flooring, baseboards, light fixtures or painted walls. The unit faces east and has magnificent views of Biscayne Bay. This particular unit is listed at a little under $360 per square foot.

Here are the pictures that I took of the 1 bedroom. This particular unit has 826 square feet of living space. There are also two triangular shaped balconies, one off the living room and one off the bedroom. This unit is only available for rent and is listed at $1,700 per month.

Analysis

Keep in mind that this analysis is based on comparing Platinum Condominium to similar buildings that have units with prices in the same ballpark. I am comparing apples to apples. This is my own subjective review and should be accepted as such.

Overall, I think Platinum Condominium is a great building. I like the fact that it only has a total of 119 condo units in the building. It isn’t a monster building with 400-plus units like we’ll be seeing in the coming months from developments such as Latitude on the River and The 1800 Club. Platinum Condominium has a total of 22 floors with 7 units per floor (the first 5 floors are used for parking). Almost every unit in the building will have some sort of bay view because of the way the building is angled and the fact that there aren’t any tall buildings in that area.

I’ve seen buildings with a lot better amenities and common areas but for a building of this size I think they did a great job.

In my opinion, the condo units were tastefully done. The kitchens are really nice with their granite countertops, stainless steel appliances and custom wood Italian cabinetry. There is plenty of cabinet space and I liked the fact that there is an island with additional cabinet space below.

The bedrooms and living rooms weren’t huge but they weren’t small either. The walk-in closets were rather large though. I liked the floor-to-ceiling windows which extended 9 feet high and spanned the length of the condo unit.

The bathrooms were okay. I didn’t care too much for the marble floors that they went with but that’s just my taste. I also felt that they were a bit small as they lacked sufficient storage space to keep towerls and toiletries.

The only downside to Platinium Condominium is the neigbhorhood. It isn’t a bad neighborhood, but there isn’t a whole lot to do within walking distance but that is slowly changing. A Starbucks is opening at the corner of Biscayne Boulevard and NE 30 Street by the end of the year and the Shoppes at Midtown should also be completed by the end of the year as well. As of now, about half of the stores at Shoppes at Midtown have already opened. These include: Super Target, Loehman’s, Marshalls, West Elm, Circuit City and several others. In my opinion, the area is still about 3-5 years away from being one of the premier neighborhoods in Miami. There are a lot of future development plans for Biscayne Boulevard which will eventually make it a happening neighborhood. Platinum Condominium is only 15 blocks from the Entertainment District of Miami and the new Carnival Center for the Performing Arts, a 5 minute drive to South Beach, and 12 minutes from Miami International Airport by car.

Grade:

• Lobby: 8.5/10

• Amenities: 8.5/10

• Kitchen: 9.0/10

• Bathrooms: 7.5/10

• Space/Size: 8.5

• Neighborhood: 6

Pricing:

For the most part, the units listed for sale are still priced a bit high, in my opinioin, but there are a few exceptional deals. There’s a 2 bedroom on the 16th floor with 1,007 square feet that was just listed yesterday for $349,900. That comes out to about $348 per square foot. For this type of building, that is already a solid deal, but if you can negotiate that down to around $330 per square foot then I think you can’t go wrong. The one bedrooms in the building right now start at $340,000. That is for a condo unit that is 819 square feet. That shows just how well the 2 bedroom for $349,000 is priced. I think condo prices at Platinum Condominium will settle into the $340-$420 per square foot range.

The one bedroom rentals at Platinum Condominium are pretty well priced but I feel that the 2 bedrooms need to come down quite a bit. The one bedrooms range from $1,500-$2,200 per month. I think those will settle into the $1,300-$1,800 price range. The two bedrooms range from $2,500-$3,200. I think those will end up going for $1,800-$2,400 per month. The building is nice but it isn’t located in Brickell, so anything higher isn’t justifiable.

If you would like to receive current listings in the building, please feel free to contact me and I will be more than happy to email them to you.