CLIENT NEWS: Launch Party at Mercedes-Benz Places oozes pre-pandemic energy
February 11, 2025Ugo Colombo walked into the Mercedes-Benz Places sales center launch wearing sunglasses with a light orange tint. Colombo glided through the building, sizing up the finishes for the planned Brickell condo project. The car enthusiast — he owns the luxury car dealership the Collection — is rarely seen at industry events.
He was among a handful of developers and hundreds of real estate agents and brokers who attended the opening on Feb. 5, hosted by Michael Stern’s JDS Development and Mercedes-Benz. JDS is developing the tower with Gianluca Vacchi’s GV Development. It felt like a pre-pandemic bash.
The day began with an automotive press conference. The German automaker is lending its Vision EQ Silver Arrow, an electric concept car, to the sales center for a year. Other Mercedes-Benz models lined the street leading up to the site.
Celebrity broker Ryan Serhant, who is leading sales for the 800-unit, two-tower development, and his wife, Emilia Bechrakis Serhant, attended the party, as did Anatomy Fitness owner Chris Paciello, Douglas Elliman’s CEO Michael Liebowitz, Serhant’s Nile Lundgren, Elliman agent Tara West, broker Andres Asion and JDS and GV business partner Rafi Gibly. By the Silver Arrow concept, Liebowitz and Stern chatted, The Real Deal observed.
The developer used the party to reveal the project’s scale model, an onsite F1 simulator and a virtual reality experience by Yupix. Serhant also announced the sales launch of units in the second tower. Prices in tower two start at $750,000 for a one-bedroom.
ShOP Architects is designing the complex, at 191 Southwest 12th Street. Mercedes-Benz Places will have more than 130,000 square feet of amenities with restaurants, health and fitness facilities, sunrise and sunset pools and a 174-key hotel. Sales launched about a year ago, with unit prices starting at $500,000.
It’s expected to be completed in 2027, according to marketing materials.
Stern’s New York-based JDS secured approval from the city of Miami to build the tower in 2020. In exchange, he agreed to build an $8 million firehouse for the city of Miami, and $5 million into public benefits, including a redesign of the adjacent Southside Park.
Last year, Stern teamed up with Italian investor Vacchi. In December, a project consultant sued Vacchi, seeking payment for his financial evaluations of three condo projects in Miami and Miami Beach, including Mercedes-Benz Places.
