The Incredibly Shrinking Home: Miami Beach Developer Down to 350 Square Feet
Developer Domus Group is building a 70-unit condo-hotel at 6080 Collins Ave. that will offer 350-square-foot micro-units.
April 09, 2018 at 04:28 PM
4 minute read
The small-living trend that's sweeping the U.S. in the form of micro-houses and micro-apartments has arrived in a new Miami Beach development.
The smallest units in the 70-unit 6080 Collins Ave. Beach House will be 350-square-foot studios followed by 480- to 560-square-foot one-bedroom units.
That's smaller than the 550-square-foot minimum required for strictly residential units in Miami Beach and even smaller than the 800-square-foot average for new residences.
The project approved by the city in 2015 and set to open in July also will offer 875-square-foot two-bedroom units.
The micro-unit trend got a boost in neighboring Miami last year when the city passed an ordinance allowing apartments as small as 275 square feet, a decrease from the previous floor of 400 square feet. Also, the Miami-Dade County Commission in March directed staff members to study the development of micro-houses.
Miami Beach has no regulation on the books officially allowing or encouraging micro-units, but hotels previously were converted to condominium buildings with no change in room size.
Developer Domus Group, which has projects in Buenos Aires and now is focusing on Miami Beach, partnered with hotel company Eskape Collection to develop the project as part condo and part hotel under a city provision setting a 335-square-foot minimum for new hotel rooms.
“Because of the ability of creating this as a condominium-hotel, you have the ability to have certain square footage that is a much more effective use of space,” said Compass Development's Philip Freedman, managing director for the sales and marketing.
The hotel segment comes into play in other ways, too.
For one, there will be valet parking, a concierge and a Starbucks. Also, the units will be fully furnished right down to the china, bed linens and bathroom towels. There also will be a gym, spa and rooftop pool.
In that way, 6080 Collins Ave. Beach House gives owners options: Buy it and live there, buy it and rent it or buy it and use it as a second home for family and friends.
The units could be rented by the night, week, month or longer, according to Freedman. Eskape finds the tenants.
Existing efficiencies and studios in Miami Beach already are as small as 350 square feet. But most of them are in older buildings that don't give residents the high-end lifestyle in demand now, Freedman said.
“It makes a big difference. Today's buyer wants all the bells and whistles of today's world. They want full Wi-Fi access throughout the building. … They want to have that lifestyle of rooftop swimming pool, terraces,” he said. “If you go to some of these older buildings, even if you look on South Beach, they don't have terraces. They tend to be squared off properties with small, old buildings, some that are 40-plus years old.”
Micro-units are being touted as a way to provide affordable housing in expensive places. At the landlocked 6080 Collins Ave., sale prices start at $299,000 and reach $750,000 per unit, according to Freedman.
The average condo price in Miami Beach and other nearby beach communities was $801,177 in the 2017 fourth quarter with the average price per square foot running $597, according to Douglas Elliman. The median condo sale price during that time was $374,000.
The prices are much higher for luxury condos with an average price of $3.9 million and the average per square foot tab of $1,210 during the fourth quarter 2017, according to Douglas Elliman. The median was $2.5 million.
At the high-end 6080 Collins Ave., the price per square foot could be as high as $854 for a 350-square-foot studio sold at $299,000 and $623 for a small one-bedroom at the same price.
At least 70 percent of the project has been pre-sold to buyers from at least eight different countries with the highest percentage coming from the U.S.
Domus' other endeavors in Miami Beach are the redevelopment of 1818 Meridian House, an upgrade of a 1956 garden-style apartment building, and ABAE Hotel at 1215 West Ave.
Both are condo-hotels with Eskape Collection overseeing the hotel aspect, Freedman said.
But 6080 Collins Ave. is Domus' first venture into micro-units, he added.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllYacht Broker Says It 'Has Done Nothing Wrong.' Asks Miami Court to Dismiss the Case
Hyper-Reality Revisited: A Tour of Waldorf Astoria Hotel & Residences Miami
5 minute read10 Years Later, This High Court Fight Over Real Estate Commissions Is Far From Over
4 minute readBroward Judge Awards $9.9M in Attorney Fees and Costs After $33M Salmon Settlement
4 minute readTrending Stories
- 1Gibson Dunn Sued By Crypto Client After Lateral Hire Causes Conflict of Interest
- 2Trump's Solicitor General Expected to 'Flip' Prelogar's Positions at Supreme Court
- 3Pharmacy Lawyers See Promise in NY Regulator's Curbs on PBM Industry
- 4Outgoing USPTO Director Kathi Vidal: ‘We All Want the Country to Be in a Better Place’
- 5Supreme Court Will Review Constitutionality Of FCC's Universal Service Fund
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250