Real Estate

Art class

PELORO (
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MERRICK MANOR (
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The exposure that Art Basel gives to the Miami real estate market is undoubtable,” says Douglas Elliman Florida President and CEO Vanessa Grout.

Yes, this is a manic, vital week for selling homes in Miami, a week where billionaire art collectors and mansion buyers, along with much of the fashion and entertainment worlds, descend for a week of partying and networking and, yes, even buying art.

It’s a week where you can have multiple spreadsheets with dozens of events happening simultaneously, a week where art, design, commerce and real estate development are intertwined from early morning to late night, a week where only being double-booked means things are completely under control.

Nobody understands this better than Jorge Perez, chairman and CEO of the Related Group of Florida, who has weaved high design and art into condos all over Miami. Perez has built more than 80,000 apartments and created residential neighborhoods including the tony South of Fifth area, where he’s responsible for eight buildings with more than 2,000 apartments combined.

His latest SoFi building is One Ocean, with 50 condos; typical units are around 3,000 square feet and more than $5 million. The building is launching at a private UBS dinner tomorrow.

When we reach Perez on Monday morning of Miami’s busiest week of the year, he’s already met with interior designers George Yabu and Glenn Pushelberg at the sales center of One Ocean. While we speak, a group of art collectors are waiting for him in the next room. Later, Perez would make a presentation for his art museum. Then there would be satellite art fairs to visit and multiple dinners and parties, “about 10 functions today.” And things were just getting started.

“By the time the week finishes, I wish I didn’t have to see anybody for the next month,” Perez says. “It’s intense, but it’s wonderful because it’s all about art, which I love.”

And in Miami, good art and good design are good business.

“We used one of the foremost architects, Enrique Norten, to do a really streamlined building that resembles a wave,” Perez says of One Ocean, where he’s keeping a residence for himself. “We’ve commissioned some of my favorite artists to do unique works for everything from the floors to the walls to the gardens.”

The team includes landscape architect Enzo Enea and artists Jose Bedia, Eugenio Cuttica and Michelle Oka Doner.

But Perez isn’t just involved in the high-end market. Related’s 300-unit IconBay downtown development, where units are about $500 per square foot, is 95 percent reserved in three months of sales.

“There’s something for everyone now,” Grout says, referring to both the diversity of Miami’s art fairs and its new condos. “It creates a really nice arena, for a wide range of people.”

Douglas Elliman is handling sales for the new Palau in South Beach’s Sunset Harbour. That 50-unit development, which was unveiled at the Untitled art fair’s vernissage on Monday, has units ranging from 1,000 to 2,500 square feet, priced from the mid-$600s to about $850 per square foot.

The Kobi Karp-designed building “will attract a lot of people, not only second homeowners,” predicts developer Meir Srebernik of SMG Management, given that Palau is within walking distance of Lincoln Road, the New World Symphony and the convention center that’s home to Art Basel. “It’s for art lovers, for people who appreciate culture, who want everything from the nightlife of Miami Beach to the tranquility of the water views.”

SMG has also launched the 114-unit Peloro condo building — with units starting around $500 per square foot and being marketed by Cervera Real Estate — in Miami Beach’s Indian Creek enclave. Cervera is also getting ready to unveil Merrick Manor in Coral Gables, with prices for the 188 units averaging less than $400,000.

And sources say Douglas Elliman is also marketing two ultra-high-end new developments. Sales materials for the Edition, with 26 residences atop the Ian Schrager overhaul of the old Seville hotel at 2901 Collins Ave., have been presented to select brokers. And Faena, also a hotel-condo project, is in the works at 3201 Collins Ave., the site of the old Saxony. The 47-unit development is quietly launching sales this week, and a design team including Sir Norman Foster, Rem Koolhaas and Roman and Williams is expected to attract the most elite of buyers.

Both the Edition and Faena will be priced at the top of Miami’s market, with units expected to trade for upwards of $2,500 per square foot.

But what might be equally remarkable about Miami real estate is the proximity of affordable elements next to ultimate luxury.

The 56-acre Midtown Miami mixed-used development is home to prominent art fairs including Art Miami (where Christie’s International Real Estate and EWM Realty International are hosting a VIP event Friday) and Scope. It’s right by the Design District, where Prada is opening a store today, joining Louis Vuitton, Dior Homme and Christian Louboutin.

And Midtown is where Ron Krongold, managing partner of Gold Krown Financial, has been selling condos at $375 to $400 per square foot. That includes 121 units for a total of $43 million in the last two months at the 4 Midtown building. Impressive, given that Gold Krown bought 500-plus units combined at three Midtown buildings for about $110 million late last year.

“An affordable unit next to a high-end shopping district is unique and fantastic,” Krongold says. “Miami Beach is a tourist-oriented place. Midtown is really for locals, although a lot of tourists know it now. Parking is very easy. You don’t have the congestion that you have on Miami Beach.”

There are proposed plans for two more Midtown Miami condo towers, as well as a Walmart joining the complex that already has a Target and destination eateries including chef Timon Balloo’s Sugarcane Raw Bar Grill.

“The need for multi-use property with residential, commercial anchor stores and great restaurants with convenient access to the best that Miami and South Florida has to offer is what Midtown is about,” Art Miami director Nick Korniloff says. “It is truly a happening.”