Boulevard 57, an eight-story condominium tower planned for Miami’s Biscayne Boulevard, is promising to bring new residential and commercial offerings to the historic MiMo District, The Real Deal has learned.
The 107-unit development, on two acres between Northeast 57th and Northeast 58th Streets, has rebranded itself, and is revealing new renderings. The $100 million project is now being managed by its owners, the Unitas Development Group, which is backed by Latin American investors from Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Panama, COO Hector Torres told TRD. The former management firm, the Green Dragon Group, is no longer associated with the project, he said.
Boulevard 57 will launch sales for its 107 condo units, priced from $550,000 to $3.8 million, on September 1, Torres told TRD. Designed by Sieger Suarez Architects, the building is geared to have “modern, contemporary architecture with touches MiMo historical architecture,” Torres said. Amenities will include a pool, cabanas, barbecue area, gym, playground and pet area on the third floor deck, as well as penthouses with rooftop decks.
The condos will range from 1,100 square feet to 4,800 square feet, and will average 2,300 square feet. They are “meant for end-users, not investors,” and will be marketed primarily to local residents, Torres said. Prices will average $550 to $600 a square foot, he said.
Below the residences will be 40,000 square feet of commercial space on Biscayne Boulevard for retail and restaurants, which is being leased by Chariff Realty Group.
“Your greatest amenity is the fact that we will provide you with all of the amenities you need below you on a commercial basis,” Torres told TRD. In that way, condo owners will not have to pay to maintain such expensive additions as a spa or sauna, he said.
Lyle Chariff, president of Chariff Realty Group, said he is looking for such tenants as a “Trader Joe’s-type or Whole Foods or Fresh Market-type” grocer, a restaurant and “a lifestyle retailer like a lululemon-type merchant.”
Chariff, who lives in nearby Morningside, said he is seeking input from area residents as to what tenants they would like to see.
“That’s really the criteria,” Chariff told TRD. “It has to be a business that will first accommodate the needs and wants of the residents right next to it, and secondarily, the neighbors to the east. If we stick true to this, it will be the catalyst to make it a neighborhood project.”
Boulevard 57, formerly named “Fifty Seven,” is being built on the site of the formerly proposed Kubik, which was to have as many as 300 units. The Unitas Group bought the property for $15 million in July 2014.
While the mixed-use project is physically within the confines of MiMo neighborhood, it is essentially carved out of the district, and is not subject to the same height restrictions. “We fit into the community, even though we are a cut-out,” Torres said.
The “outreach center,” currently on the site will be completed within two months, and will become a sales center. The project is expected to be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2017.
The MiMo District is undergoing a resurgence, with a wave of redevelopment that is spreading between the 27 blocks on Biscayne Boulevard, from 50th Street to 77th Street, that encompass the district.
“We are setting a benchmark of a new trend,” Torres said. “That neighborhood is transforming.”