Tag Archive for: residential construction

With healthy employment growth continuing, Berkadia predicts this year’s apartment market in South Florida will have the most deliveries in more than two decades.

Their 2019 South Florida Multifamily Market Outlook said construction was scheduled to be complete on nearly 12,000 units by year-end, up more than 18 percent from deliveries in 2018.

“Apartment leasing is expected to remain healthy too as employment growth – particularly in the professional and health sectors – is expected to outperform the national average in 2019,” the report found.

“South Florida’s apartment fundamentals continue to be exceptional thanks to sustained job and population growth combined with a trend away from homeownership,” said Charles Foschini, Senior Managing Director and Berkadia Florida Co-Leader. “There are an increasing number of ’lifestyle renters’ – people who could buy but want to live in a more dynamic, amenity-rich setting. Apartment owner/operators have been very creative in catering to that segment of the market.”

Added Mitch Sinberg, Senior Managing Director and Berkadia Florida Co-Leader, “The market for buying and selling apartment properties also remains healthy, although given where we are at the cycle, we anticipate deal volume to dip slightly in 2019. Interest rates have risen, but we anticipate a tightening of spreads will compensate for any price increase.”

Trends Include 2.1 Percent Employment Growth

Berkadia’s Florida Investment Sales and Mortgage Banking teams collectively completed over $4.5 billion in multifamily and commercial property sales and financings in 2018.

Trends cited by Berkadia:

  • Employment growth of 2.1 percent should drive leasing activity higher than inventory growth.
  • Healthy demand should shift average apartment occupancy up 50 basis points to 95.5 percent by the fourth quarter, which is slightly above the five-year average.
  • Average effective rent is forecast to rise 3.7 percent to $1,606 per month.

 

Source: GlobeSt.

Though it would have been miles from Oakland Park’s downtown, elected officials rejected a proposed self-storage center earlier this week, saying they want to nurture development near neighborhoods as carefully as they’re doing so downtown.

Storage complex rendering

The three-story, architecturally ornate self-storage center would have been fine with the neighbors next to it, off Oakland Park Boulevard west of Interstate 95. But city officials said they could do better.

Oakland Park is in the midst of a development transformation — or at least an attempt at it. City officials say they want better development — higher quality housing and the businesses that would follow.

“This request to me is asking this body to relent on that hard work we put into unifying our city, and to renege on the commitments that we made,” Commissioner Michael Carn said.

The vote against rezoning for the project was 4-1, with Commissioner Matthew Sparks the only supporter.

The three-story complex was proposed for 2.5 acres at 2203 W. Oakland Park Blvd., behind a Burger King restaurant and kidney dialysis center, in front of the Sailboat Pointe Condominium, which issued a letter of support.

Mayor John Adornato said the city’s intense focus on improving downtown development standards will eventually lift up the other Oakland Park neighborhoods, like the one where the storage center was proposed.

In May, the city took the rare step of enacting a temporary building moratorium for small housing projects downtown, in order to change development rules.

“The work is just one in a menu of things the city is doing as it re-evaluates where we are at as a city and most importantly, who we want to become,” City Manager David Hebert said. “This is a small piece of a very large whole, and we begin with this step.”

Until Oct. 18, no applications to build townhouses, duplexes, villas and garden apartments are to be processed for the downtown area. The long, thin downtown zone stretches from Oakland Park Boulevard to about 43rd Street, straddling Dixie Highway and the railroad tracks, between 10th and 13th avenues.

The city is fostering a culinary district downtown, often citing the Funky Budddha Brewery at 1201 NE 38th St. as an anchor. A Lucky’s Market will open there in late August

After suspending property owners’ rights with the moratorium, the city hired consultant Leigh Kerr and Associates to study the downtown. He issued his recommendations. Kerr suggested the city build its population via new housing.

“New homes would be a base to support business because retail follows residential,” Kerr said.

By the time development is allowed to resume in October, the city hopes to have changed development laws to encourage the small housing developments to better connect with the street and be more pleasing to the pedestrians who might pass them. Gone would be chain-link fences, vast parking lots in front of buildings and buildings set 10 or 15 feet back from the street.

“The rules discussed and the moratorium itself pertain just to small-scale housing developments, not big multi-family apartment complexes, which the city favors,” David Hebert said

In another legal change aimed at elevating the city’s image, commissioners tentatively agreed to phase out what a city memo called “unsightly” barbed wire or razor wire fencing, except at business that are zoned “light industrial,” like an auto yard.

The vote also would spiff up requirements for outdoor storage yards at commercial businesses, so fencing hides the clutter. Businesses would have until 2020 to follow the new rules, which need a final approval at a future meeting.

Click here to view the SunSentinel news video ‘Oakland Park Nixes Development Project

 

Source: SunSentinel

But for the hockey arena on it, the 143 acres of public land on the edge of the Everglades in Sunrise is a clean slate.

In the coming 20 years, the county intends to fill in the grassy blanks with Downtown West, a mix that could include condos, stores, restaurants, offices, maybe even a casino.

This week, Broward County embraced a development vision for the land, a potential playbook created by the Urban Land Institute. The nonprofit real estate consultancy visited the site, studied it and issued the report this month. To carry it out, the County Commission agreed Tuesday to hire two real estate employees, including a director of real estate.

The institute’s land-use experts said the county-owned BB&T Center, a giant venue surrounded by parking spaces, represents “an opportunity lost.’’ The consultants said visitors leave the arena after shows or games because there’s nothing there to capture them. They suggest the land be developed thoughtfully, and slowly, with a potential mix of housing, a hotel, office space, retail, a casino and the hockey arena.

“The undertaking is huge and could be controversial,” said Broward Commissioner Nan Rich, who represents most of Sunrise. “There’s a lot of potential. But we have to get it right, and that’s the challenge.’’

The mix of development — including whether casino rights are obtained and whether the Florida Panthers hockey team remains in the arena — will be determined in the coming years. The development is expected to complement what’s around it: America’s largest single-story retail mall, Sawgrass Mills, condo towers and  Metropica, a $1.5 billion development on Northwest 136th Avenue and Sunrise Boulevard that’s in the planning stages.

Sunrise Mayor Mike Ryan said he’s “thrilled’’ the county is taking the opportunity so seriously. He said the arena never was expected to stand alone, as it has since its 1998 construction. Sunrise supports development of the land, he said, and the market will determine the right mixture of uses.

“We’re a partner in trying to help find something that works in the context of what’s already there,’’ Mayor Ryan said.

The land for years was in the hands of the hockey team owners, who never used it. The Panthers, a National Hockey League team, plays in the county arena, and an affiliated company operates it. In a reworked agreement in December 2015, the county won back development rights to the land surrounding the arena. The deal increased the public subsidy of the team by $86 million, to $342 million. The new agreement aims to keep the team in the BB&T Center until 2028.

The county brought Urban Land Institute to town last summer to brainstorm possibilities for the land around the arena, and to look at possibilities if the Panthers ultimately depart. After visiting in June, the institute’s participating experts interviewed those involved in the arena and the site and conducted research, producing the report released this month.

The consultants explored three alternatives: the Panthers extend their lease, and a casino is added; the Panthers extend their lease, and office and housing are added; and the Panthers leave, the arena is demolished, and housing, a casino and offices are added. The third option would bring in the most tax revenue and income to the county, at an estimated $391.3 million over 11 years, the report said.

“Limited initial demand exists for new development on the site,’’ the report says, “However, over time, more opportunities will arise.’’

The development report lays out a timeline from now to 2040 for remaking the acreage.

“Redevelopment of the arena site will require a long-term, patient approach that will take more than 20 years,’’ the report says.

It also acknowledges that market forces, including potential downturns, remain unknown. The path to development started Tuesday with the agreement to hire real estate overseers. The expense of a real estate director and project coordinator is expected to be $275,000 a year, a county memo says.

The consultants suggest the county start by assembling a Downtown West Broward Leadership Council, a hub for public input and problem solving. Ryan said one thorny issue will be management of traffic. He’s advocating construction of Sawgrass Expressway ramps to and from the north, to help drivers reach and depart from the site. He also said it’s important that the county not build anything that would compete with or detract from nearby development.

“It’s critical to get participation from everyone from the beginning,’’ Broward Commissioner Nan Rich said.  “One thing is clear, there has got to be a lot of involvement from the community. When you’re developing something this size, I don’t want to superimpose things on people that live in an area.’’

Click here to view the SunSentinel video ‘Broward Embraces Development Vision of Downtown West’

Click here to view the SunSentinel video ‘Broward Explores Developing Land Around BB&T Center’

 

Source: SunSentinel