We just had one heck of a show at Fried On Business. We had a stellar trio of guests who gave us the latest thinking on some very important topics, like the Brickell submarket, walkable communities, and the state of commercial real estate lending.
Brickell Heights
Leading things off was Arden Karson, Senior Vice President at the Related Group. She oversees the development of Brickell Heights, a 690-unit, two-tower condominium mixed-use project located in the Brickell Avenue submarket.
It’s nearly sold out, and it’s just loaded with amenities:
– Two pools
– Two clubrooms
– A conference center
– A movie room
– A kids’ play room
– A 35,000-square-foot Equinox gym
The development of Brickell Heights, combined with Brickell City Centre opening this fall, is actually creating the epicenter of the rapidly changing Brickell Neighborhood.
It’s a city within a city, Karson said.
I agree. The Brickell Avenue submarket is just cranking. When I did my work on Mary Brickell Village, people where wondering why the area would ever need three Publix stores.
I think they get it, now. I wonder when the fourth will come in.
This was a great conversation. Click here to listen to the full interview with Arden Karson of Related Group.
Friends of The Underline
In addition to its other attractions, Brickell Heights is a mere 100 feet from The Underline, a major project aimed at transforming the underutilized land below Miami’s Metrorail into a 10-mile urban trail, linear park and living art destination.
That’s where Meg Daly came in. She’s the CEO and President of Friends of The Underline, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization formed to spearhead the Underline project. Karson is an Executive Member of the Board of Directors and serves as the Co-Chair of the Real Estate and Fundraising Committee.
Folks have been working on this for over two years already. The stakeholder list is basically a who’s who of visionaries that are serious about transportation and interconnectivity.
The master plan was done by James Corner Field Operations, which did The High Line transformation of the Chelsea and Meatpacking districts in New York City. Enough money has been raised to start construction in 2017 in Brickell.
Miami-Dade County is one of the most dangerous places to walk and bike in the country, Daly said, adding that South Florida Business Journal has reported that, of 30 metro areas, Miami-Dade is No. 28 for least-walkable environments.
“We have to build out a city that gives us choices to walk, bike and take transit – as well as drive,” she said.
The connection to transit – without actually building new transit – makes The Underline special and unique. Click here to listen to the full interview with Meg Daly of Friends of The Underline.
Commercial Real Estate Lending Trends
Of course, none of what we’ve just discussed happens without money, and the availability of money for commercial real estate lending was the topic of my discussion with Art Rendak, President at Inland Mortgage Capital Corporation/Inland Green Capital.
He’s financed more than $1 billion in his 30-year career, so he knows his way around the markets and a calculator.
His focus has been on Inland’s non-recourse bridge lending program, which seeks commercial real estate deals of $3 million to $12 million where the property is not quite ready for a permanent loan.
Apartments, industrial, office, retail and self-storage are all good prospects, he said.
Basically, Rendak is helping people to create value. Inland, he said, takes a good look at all of the ingredients in a deal – the location, the sponsor, the business plan – before joining the mix.
“In many ways, we’re sort of venture capitalists for each individual project,” Rendak said.
Inland is bullish on real estate, in general, but there are a lot of headwinds, he said. Regulations in banking and CMBS are making things difficult for the flow of capital.
And the economic news is so mixed that it’s hard to get a good handle on where things are going. But private equity and other folks who invest in commercial real estate seem to have a lot of capital available, and it’s still offers the best return compared to other asset classes, he said.
Click here to listen to the full interview with Art Rendak of Inland Mortgage Capital Corporation. It includes a discussion regarding Inland Green Capital, which buys the loans made by local, state and national programs that finance green, energy-efficient improvements to real estate.
