Waterfront North Bay Village Condos Targeted for Buyout

A waterfront condo building in North Bay Village is the latest target of a possible bulk buyout.

Colliers sent a letter to a unit owner at Island Place, a nearly 60-year-old building near Sunbeam Properties’ assemblage, inquiring on behalf of an unnamed “highly motivated” developer interested in acquiring all the units, according to a copy obtained by The Real Deal.

Island Place, an eight-story building at 1455 North Treasure Drive in North Bay Village, was completed in 1966. It has 123 condos and nine commercial units, according to its condo docs. The property includes a waterfront pool and large parking lot.

Developers across South Florida are focusing their buyout efforts on older buildings sitting on land with favorable zoning.

A source told TRD that a potential sale of the Island Place property has not progressed beyond this inquiry stage, which is typically to gauge interest among unit owners. Sunbeam Properties’ president and CEO Andy Ansin said he is not the developer referred to in the letter. He added that he didn’t believe the building was for sale.

Another source said there is a group of owners who would like to sell, though they do not appear to represent the majority. Members of the condo association’s board did not respond to requests for comment.

Colliers declined to comment. The firm has been involved in other buyouts of waterfront condo buildings in South Florida, and has expanded its listings business following the deadly condo collapse in Surfside nearly two years ago. More recently, Colliers has been marketing the 57-year-old Castle Beach Club property in Miami Beach for sale. After Related Group and 13th Floor Investments pulled out of their proposed $500 million buyout of the condo complex, Terra made a similar offer.

Condo buyouts and terminations can take years to complete, especially if the majority of unit owners aren’t on board. But older properties are becoming costlier to maintain. Owners, some of whom are on fixed incomes, are challenged by the rising cost of insurance and construction, if their properties require major upgrades.

Unit owners are also increasingly finding themselves without a comparable place to live if they do sell, due to how expensive South Florida has become in recent years.

Ansin and other developers are focusing on North Bay Village, a three-island town between mainland Miami and Miami Beach, after city officials approved a zoning code overhaul in 2020.

Sunbeam plans a mixed-use project north and south of the 79th Street Causeway, which bisects North Bay Village. In October, the village commission OK’d a height increase that allows up to 650 feet on the north side of the causeway, where heights were previously capped at 340 feet; and up to 450 feet on the south side, where heights were previously capped at 240 feet.

Ansin said he and his team are working on drawings for the project and will submit their plans to the village within two years of the commission’s approval. The first phase calls for a 500-unit apartment building with a small grocery store, and restaurants and retail along the water.

In January, Jesta Group scored approval for its planned 30-story multifamily and hotel project on the site of popular Shuckers Waterfront Grill in North Bay Village.

Shoma Group, led by Masoud and Stephanie Shojaee, launched sales in September of Shoma Bay, a 327-unit, 21-story condo tower planned for the site at 1850 79th Street Causeway.