CLIENT NEWS: Developer to terminate, redevelop Surfside condominium
August 23, 2022Veteran broker/developer Vivian Dimond and Multiplan, led by Brazilian billionaire Jose Isaac Peres, are working on plans to terminate and redevelop an oceanfront condominium in Surfside.
On Monday, R Palace Surfside LLC, managed by Dimond, sent a letter to town officials to start the site plan process for the 37,456-square-foot property at 9317 Collins Ave. It currently has the 34-unit Regent Palace Condominium.
The condo was built in 1951 and is currently vacant after unsafe conditions were found there, according to the application.
From December 2020 through July 2022, R Palace Surfside purchased 32 units in the condominium for a combined $29.42 million from the individual owners, and paid $7 million for the underlying land. The condo was built on a land lease.
Reached by email, Dimond confirmed she plans to terminate the condo association now that she has majority control of the units in the building. She declined further comment.
R Palace Surfside recently obtained a $25 million mortgage from Multiplan affiliate Mream LLC. Officials with Multiplan, which is typically a condo developer and not a lender, declined comment.
“The condition of the existing structures on the property can only be described as ‘dire,’” Miami-based attorney Graham Penn, who represents the applicant, stated in the letter to the town. “A voluntary evacuation order was issued for the buildings following the recognition of unsafe conditions in July 2021, and the condition of the buildings is a continuing risk.”
Since the collapse of the Champlain Towers South in Surfside in June 2021, there’s been a crackdown on unrepaired damage and deferred maintenance in older condominiums. Some unit owners have elected to sell in bulk instead of fund costly repairs. That has created prime redevelopment opportunities for oceanfront sites.
Surfside is one of the most desirable places to build condominiums in South Florida, as its new buildings have among the highest prices per square foot.
R Palace Surfside tapped Miami-based Arquitectonica to design the plans for its new building, 93 Ocean. Totaling 130,584 square feet in 12 stories with a basement parking level, the building would have 27 units and 71 parking spaces. There would be nine two-bedroom units and 18 four-bedroom units.
Amenities would include a rooftop pool deck, a steam room, a sauna, a clubroom, a fitness center, a resistance pool and a reflecting pond along a private path leading to the beach. Two of the rooftop units would have terraces with private pools.
The application notes the first floor of residences would be 12 feet above the maximum height of a wave’s crest, which is 18 feet and 3 inches above sea level, because the developer wants to take sea level rise into account.
Multiplan has developed two condominiums in Miami Beach: It completed and sold out 57 Ocean along the beach. Ocean Park in the South of Fifth neighborhood is also sold out, and should be completed by the end of the year.
