RealShare South Florida Highlights

Here are a few more notes and quotes from last week’s RealShare South Florida conference in Miami, which was attended by 275 people and deemed a solid success. In case you missed it, or even if you were there, you can read more about it here and here, but here are some other highlights:

• The region’s current oversupply of residential condominium units could be absorbed over the next four years, according to panelists of a discussion on the multifamily sector. There is still plenty of interest in both individual and bulk unit acquisitions, particularly from private-capital investors and foreign buyers from Canada and Israel.

Miami’s Office Space Swap

Now that Bilzin Sumberg is preparing to move from Wachovia Financial Center to 1450 Brickell, who will be the winners and losers in Downtown Miami’s race for office space? Millions of square feet are at stake, both in new and existing buildings.

Bilzin has called Wachovia home for the past 23 years but sought to move to newer quarters. The law powerhouse had a deal to move to Brickell Financial Center but canceled that lease agreement earlier this year.

Cruel Summer for Orlando Hotels

A few random thoughts to close out a busy week…

• The summer tourist season was a tough one for Orlando, the nation’s second-biggest hotel market. According to a report by the Orlando Sentinel, only 58% of the market’s 112,000 rooms were filled in August, marking the worst month since Smith Travel Research started keeping track in 1987.

Huge discounts and other special offers didn’t help, with room rates down 14% over the year to around $76 per night. Theme parks won’t disclose how many people came through their turnstiles, though they did seem less crowded and the wait times for rides and attractions were shorter.

Can Celebs Help Sell Miami Condos?

Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez are creating a buzz yet again, buying a condominium at Related Group’s Icon Brickell project. This report from the Daily Business Review, a fellow ALM publication, has all the details.

The singing/acting couple signed a contract on a unit this week, but an actual sale has yet to be recorded in Miami-Dade County records. Anthony, who took a tour of Icon Brickell with Related Group chief Jorge Perez, tells People magazine: “When we are through decorating the condo, it will be one of the sexiest places in town.”

Year One Done, and Many More

Happy Birthday, Commercial Grove! It’s been an entire year since the fine folks at GlobeSt.com unleashed this blog. We’ll try to pass around enough cake so you don’t wind up like Milton.

• Even after an entire year, one of the most popular items on this blog is an early one about the prospect of Trader Joe’s opening stores in Florida. Much to my surprise, people are such fans of the retailer that they seek out any information they can find and they invariably wind up here.

Cameron’s Crepes and Other Stuff

Here’s a six-pack for those of you who didn’t get enough during the opening weekend of the NFL:

• This sounds like something from a news parody site, but it’s legitimate scoop straight from the Orlando Sentinel: Cameron Kuhn, the former high-flying real estate developer, has established a crepe cart business with his wife, Traci Sihle.

Seriously, this is a guy who was once credited with redeveloping Downtown Orlando, and now he’s going to be selling crepes on the street. Well, he won’t actually serve them, but Sihle gives him credit for conjuring the idea.

Ready for RealShare, And More

A few notes and thoughts after clearing out the inbox from a long Labor Day weekend:

• You can now register online for our fourth-annual RealShare South Florida conference, set for Sept. 30 at the Hyatt Regency Miami. We will cover a broad range of topics in a single afternoon, from distressed assets and excess condos to the new wave of office space coming soon to the market.

Featured speakers will include Gene Berman of Marcus & Millichap, Tere Blanca of Blanca Commercial Real Estate, Michael Fay of Colliers Abood Wood-Fay, Keith Jennings of Westmount Realty Capital, Jose Juncadella of Fairchild Partners, Jonathan Kingsley of Grubb & Ellis, David Lynd of the Lynd Co., Jay Massirman of Rivergate Residential, Jack McCabe of McCabe Research and Eric Swanson of Flagler.

Late Summer Odds and Ends

There’s a lot to talk about in Florida commercial real estate as summer winds down, so let’s take a few moments to get some of it out:
• Several former staffers of GVA Advantis appear to have landed softly at other firms after getting dumped by their former employer. Mark Cooney, Randy Mills and Michele Whalen have moved their Land Sharks operation over to the Duncan Cos. in Tampa, which you read about here. Meanwhile, Paula Buffa has joined Grubb & Ellis|Commercial Florida in Tampa as senior vice president of its office group, along with associate Maria Camarinos Hall. And Lisa Bailey, senior director of the Orlando office, has joined Morrison Commercial Real Estate as vice president.

How’s This for Tenant Leverage

Sunrise-based Pet Supermarket Inc. believes it has the upper hand, or paw, lately when it comes to negotiating with retail landlords. At a recent networking event held by the International Council of Shopping Centers in Hollywood, one executive with the 115-store chain admitted that the downturn has been good for tenant leverage.

“We make offers for reduced rent and if the landlord doesn’t accept, we close stores,” Becky Smith, Pet’s real estate director, said in remarks covered by Daily Business Review, our Incisive Media kindred paper. She noted that she has never seen the tide turn so quickly in tenants’ favor in her three decades in the business.

Foreign Money Washing Ashore

Like it or not, stateside bidders for properties currently on the market are in for some new competition. Monday’s edition of The Miami Herald offers a pretty good article about foreign investment in Florida commercial real estate, citing a few recent deals that you may have read about previously on GlobeSt.com.

The possible trend was cited during our RealShare South Florida conference last September, and now it appears to be happening as predicted. An interesting point in the Herald article is that foreign investors have a lot more patience in buying buildings with the potential for distant future returns, rather than counting on any short-term ROI that domestic buyers are constantly chasing.