A 26th new condo tower has been proposed for South Florida’s second most active preconstruction condo market east of I-95 in the tri-county region of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach during this current cycle that began in 2011.
Despite initial published reports that a rental approach would be pursued, the developer of the proposed Nine Hundred mixed-use project on South Federal Highway has filed paperwork declaring that a new 23-story condo tower with 320 units, 150 hotel rooms and more than 5,000 square feet of commercial space would be built, according to records from the city of Hallandale Beach.
Under the current proposal, the developer — a Miami Lakes-based entity called Hallandale Office Towers with Alan Waserstein — wants to build 16 studios, 208 one-bedroom, 64 two-bedrooms and 32 three-bedroom condo units, according to government records.
The 1.5-acre site for the proposed Nine Hundred complex is located across from the Village At Gulfstream Park retail, restaurant and gambling complex where at one time a 182-unit condo project called the Gulfstream Park Tower was marketed before being shelved for corporate reasons in July 2015.
Under current approvals in place, the owners of the Village At Gulfstream Park can not only revive the original Gulfstream Park Tower project but build additional condo towers that together total up to 1,500 units on the massive 200-acre property.
Plans to build the Nine Hundred complex come at a time when the Hollywood–Hallandale Beach market has more new units in the South Florida pipeline east of I-95 than any other area in the tri-county region except for Greater Downtown Miami, where nearly 23,000 units have been announced as of Monday, according to the preconstruction condo projects website CraneSpotters.com. (For disclosure, my firm operates the website.)
For context, the Downtown Fort Lauderdale and Beach area is the third most active South Florida preconstruction condo market east of I-95 based on an announced pipeline of 50 new buildings and more than 3,250 units since 2011, according to the data.
Prior to the Nine Hundred complex’s condo strategy filing, developers in the Hollywood-Hallandale Beach market had already announced nearly 4,500 units in an area that stretches from the Miami-Dade County line north to Dania Beach Boulevard, and the Atlantic Ocean west to I-95 in Southeast Broward County, according to CraneSpotters.com.
The pipeline of new condo units in the Hollywood-Hallandale Beach market currently stands at three new towers with more than 365 units completed and 11 new towers with more than 1,000 units under construction as of Monday, according to the data.
An additional 11 new condo towers with more than 3,100 units are currently in the planning or presale phase of development in the Hollywood-Hallandale Beach market during this cycle.
The Hollywood-Hallandale Beach area enjoys a central location situated between Greater Downtown Miami to the south and Downtown Fort Lauderdale and Beach to the north with primary residential users and real estate investors who are searching for cheaper alternatives to both markets.
Overall in South Florida, developers have completed 58 new condo buildings with more than 4,310 units and are constructing at least 132 new condo buildings with nearly 13,725 units located east of I-95 as of Monday.
An additional 223 new condo buildings with more than 31,830 units are currently in the planning or presale phase of development in South Florida during this cycle, according to the data.
As South Florida moves into the later stages of the current winter buying season, the Hollywood-Hallandale Beach market has more than 1,525 condo units available for purchase at an average asking price of nearly $335 per square foot as of Tuesday, according to the Southeast Florida MLXchange.
In 2015, buyers acquired more than 1,450 condo units on the Multiple Listing Service database in the Hollywood-Hallandale Beach market at an average price of about $242 per square foot, according to the data.
Based on the 2015 transaction pace of more than 120 units monthly, the Hollywood-Hallandale Beach market currently has nearly a 13-month supply of resale condos available for purchase, according to the data.
A balanced market is considered to have about a six months of unit supply available for purchase. More months of condo supply suggests a buyer’s advantage, and less months of units indicates a seller’s market.
The unanswered question going forward is whether the Hollywood-Hallandale Beach market – located between the slowing area of Greater Downtown Miami and the booming area of Downtown Fort Lauderdale and Beach – can continue to prosper given changing residential real estate market conditions resulting from a strong U.S. dollar, a weakening global economy and a heightened dependence upon on domestic condo buyers.
Peter Zalewski is a real estate columnist for The Real Deal who founded Condo Vultures LLC, a consultancy and publishing company, as well as Condo Vultures Realty LLC and CVR Realty brokerages and the Condo Ratings Agency, an analytics firm. The Condo Ratings Agency operates CraneSpotters.com, a preconstruction condo projects website, in conjunction with the Miami Association of Realtors.