MIAMI | Development Thread - Page 77

202_Cyclist · #**1521** Posted **Jul 27, 2011, 3:05 PM**

Affluent Buyers Reviving Market for Miami Homes

By DAVID STREITFELD
July 26, 2011

"MIAMI — South Florida is the default capital of the country. Here in Miami-Dade County, one out of five households with mortgages is in foreclosure. Nearby Broward and Palm Beach counties are not far behind. Nearly 200,000 South Florida families are stuck in the mire of default.

Grant Stern was forced to downsize when his landlord sold his three-bedroom condo, but he pays more in rent for a two-bedroom. (Image courtesy of the NY Times)

And yet much of Miami is gripped by a housing mania as the oversupply of distressed homes dries up and foreigners and investors swoon. Only a few years after it seemed there were so many unwanted high-rise condominiums that the only solution was to tear some of them down, there are plans to build even more..."

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/27/bu...ami-homes.html

bobdreamz · #**1522** Posted **Jul 28, 2011, 12:43 AM**

^ thanks for the article & it's amazing that just a little while ago people thought it would take years for the condo glut to be absorbed. Tomorrow the city of Miami gives final approval for the massive Brickell CitiCentre project proposed by Swire properties. Miami has the advantage over other overbuilt cities in that it attracts many International investors from South America & Europe.

bobdreamz · #**1523** Posted **Jul 28, 2011, 7:43 PM**

from Wikipedia:

The Miami area was first inhabited for more than one thousand years by the Tequestas, but was later claimed for Spain in 1566 by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés. A Spanish mission was constructed one year later in 1567. In 1836, Fort Dallas was built, and the Miami area subsequently became a site of fighting during the Second Seminole War.

Miami holds the distinction of being "the only major city in the United States conceived by a woman, Julia Tuttle," who was a local citrus grower and a wealthy Cleveland native. The Miami area was better known as "Biscayne Bay Country" in the early years of its growth. Some published reports described the area as a promising wilderness. The area was also characterized as "one of the finest building sites in Florida."
The Great Freeze of 1894–95 hastened Miami's growth, as the crops of the Miami area were the only ones in Florida that survived. Julia Tuttle subsequently convinced Henry Flagler, a railroad tycoon, to expand his Florida East Coast Railroad to the region, for which she became known as "the mother of Miami."
Miami was officially incorporated as a city on July 28, 1896 with a population of just over 300.

So Miami has ties to Cleveland! Happy Birthday Miami !!!!

Dale · #**1524** Posted **Jul 28, 2011, 7:56 PM**

So ? Orlando was founded by a mouse.

bobdreamz · #**1525** Posted **Jul 28, 2011, 8:47 PM**

^ hahahaha!

pj3000 · #**1526** Posted **Jul 28, 2011, 9:01 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobdreamz

So Miami has ties to Cleveland! Happy Birthday Miami !!!!

Not just ties... Miami basically owes its existence (as we know it) to Clevelanders.

Everyone knows about Julia Tuttle. But Henry Flagler was a Cleveland-based agent of Rockfeller-owned Standard Oil. And the other "founders" of Miami, William and Mary Brickell, were also from Cleveland. The Ratner real estate family -- responsible for much early art deco hotel development on Miami Beach (hence the name "Clevelander" for one) -- is also from Cleveland.

And, of course, there's this new Cleveland transplant to Miami named LeBron James

bobdreamz · #**1527** Posted **Jul 29, 2011, 12:13 AM**

^ ah thanks PJ! I knew about Flagler but I thought he was from Hyde Point, New York. I didn't know the Brickell family was from Cleveland or the Ratner family as well.

pj3000 · #**1528** Posted **Jul 29, 2011, 12:34 AM**

^ Flagler was born in NY, but moved to northern Ohio as a teenager. He later became a business partner of Rockefeller's in Standard Oil in Cleveland. Julia Tuttle's family gave Rockefeller his first job and they became friends... that's how she became acquainted with Flagler -- through Rockefeller... and the rest is Miami history!

bobdreamz · #**1529** Posted **Jul 29, 2011, 12:47 AM**

^ the irony & strange twists that led to the development of Miami via Cleveland is certainly bizarre! It wasn't from Floridians but people from a cold & industrial city!

Dale · #**1530** Posted **Jul 29, 2011, 1:18 AM**

My great-great grandfather was one of the early settlers of Miami.

pj3000 · #**1531** Posted **Jul 29, 2011, 1:20 AM**

^ yeah, I think it's always interesting to learn the founding histories of cities. I think some of the wealthy people just wanted to get the hell out of the cold, dirty, industrial nastiness of a Cleveland winter!

brickell · #**1532** Posted **Jul 29, 2011, 2:56 PM**

We also get the Cleveland Orchestra every winter.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dale

My great-great grandfather was one of the early settlers of Miami.

I've never been able to find the stats to back it up, but I remember hearing that even as late as 50s and 60's, some obscene % of residents in Miami was made up of immigrants from the rest of the south (namely Georgia). Miam-uh indeed.

Dale · #**1533** Posted **Jul 29, 2011, 3:04 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by brickell

We also get the Cleveland Orchestra every winter.

I've never been able to find the stats to back it up, but I remember hearing that even as late as 50s and 60's, some obscene % of residents in Miami was made up of immigrants from the rest of the south (namely Georgia). Miam-uh indeed.

I still meet 'Miami Crackers' now and again. Just met a gentlemen in his 60's who said he grew up in Miami. He has a discernible Southern accent.

dave8721 · #**1534** Posted **Jul 31, 2011, 1:15 AM**

Plans for Gentings "Resort World Miami" on the Miami Herald land:
6 to 8 towers, up to 700 feet tall each, at least 4 hotels, underground parking, at least 2 dozen restaurants, a wide bayfront retail-fill promenade linking the site with Museum Park to the south...

A potential casino would go on the upper floors of a tower rather than at ground level.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/07/3...g-life-to.html

brickell · #**1535** Posted **Aug 2, 2011, 2:10 PM**

huuuuuuggggggeeeeee

Dale · #**1536** Posted **Aug 2, 2011, 3:05 PM**

Downtown Miami is soon to become a major destination point. People are going to be taking cruise ships TO DOWNTOWN.

Prahaboheme · #**1537** Posted **Aug 2, 2011, 4:35 PM**

Love the vision, like so many other grand ideas that ultimately did not see the light of day.

pj3000 · #**1538** Posted **Aug 2, 2011, 6:12 PM**

I think we need to read what the announcement actually stated:

The site will likely include somewhere between six and eight towers. Under current zoning, each can be up to 700 feet tall, but Fort-Brescia says they will be built at a variety of different heights.

That's a lot different than saying "6 to 8 towers, up to 700 feet tall each", as the above post stated.

That being said, this development seems like it should really serve to connect the Omni area with the rest of downtown and it should complement the adjacent performing arts centers quite nicely. If anything, it is so much more welcome than that awful proposal to erect skyscraper-sized billboards on the site.

bobdreamz · #**1539** Posted **Aug 7, 2011, 6:27 PM**

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jortega...al/5993796908/

Complex01 · #**1540** Posted **Aug 7, 2011, 9:09 PM**

Oooo very nice...