The condo king of Miami is betting his luxury project on ritzy Fisher Island can weather a recession

Just disconnected the seashore of Miami Beach, connected ultra-exclusive Fisher Island, determination is 1 crane connected 1 operation site. It is the past crippled of onshore disposable for improvement and an improbable stake connected luxury existent property astatine a clip erstwhile the lodging marketplace appears to beryllium successful freefall.

Jorge Perez, besides known arsenic "the condo king of Miami," and his Related Group are down the 10-story, 50-unit task that boasts a sell-out terms of $1.2 billion. They paid $122.6 cardinal for the land, astatine the apical of the market.

Units commencement astatine $15 million. The task includes a $90 million, 15,000 quadrate ft penthouse and a $55 cardinal ground-floor villa with a half-acre backyard. The gathering volition besides person its ain gaffe for mega yachts. Sales conscionable started past month.

"Almost 30% of the units are spoken for," said Perez. "Contracts person gone retired for implicit $300 million, and we haven't truly done immoderate marketing. Nevertheless, should the marketplace dilatory down a small bit, we're successful a fortunate position."

Buyers person to enactment down a 50% non-refundable deposit for pre-construction sales.

Perez said archetypal buyers hail from Brazil, New York, Canada, Mexico and Israel. He said helium is seeing acold much home involvement than successful the past, arsenic Miami had traditionally been a haven for overseas investors. That appears to beryllium echoing each implicit the city.

"Miami is an international-focused marketplace – 80-90% planetary – but it flipped during pandemic," said Danny Hertzberg, a luxury existent property cause with Coldwell Banker and the Jills Zeder Group. "We'll proceed to person this home request for taxation reasons, but astatine immoderate constituent governmental instability oregon a weaker dollar volition propulsion [international] radical in."

Miami has been an outlier successful the caller diminution successful some location income and prices, with prices inactive rather beardown successful the city. The precocious end, however, has not been arsenic resilient. Pending income of homes priced supra $5 cardinal were down 89% successful December twelvemonth implicit year, according to Miller Samuel, a existent property appraisal firm.  

"But the 1 happening to support successful caput successful presumption of Miami is that inventory is down 60% since pre-pandemic, truthful what's antithetic is inventory is highly limited," noted Jonathan Miller, CEO of the firm. "That throws retired a batch of accepted contented connected pricing."

Miller added that the Fisher Island project, "may not merchantability successful 5 minutes but it's not retired of the realm of anticipation adjacent successful this market."

The spot and its determination are some unique. Fisher Island is simply a 216- acre, ultra-exclusive community, lone accessible by ferry oregon yacht and lone unfastened to residents, their guests and guests of the tiny luxury edifice there. The past condo that sold connected the land past twelvemonth went for $40 million, according to a typical of Related Group.

Hertzberg said Perez's caller gathering "checks a batch of boxes" for wealthier buyers who person a caller mentality since the commencement of the pandemic.

"They privation amenities, privateness and security. That's a large origin there. They privation convenience. There is simply a backstage schoolhouse there. Their ain restaurants, their ain market stores. A backstage beach," said Herzberg.

He besides noted that instant admittance to the play nine for residents is simply a immense draw. He said determination is simply a five- to seven-year waitlist successful greater Miami to articulation a play club.

"I americium definite they volition merchantability out. The question of erstwhile is what happens successful the system and however assertive they are connected pricing," said Hertzberg. "If I was betting, they would beryllium apical of the list. It conscionable has the close elements for the system and the satellite we're in."

Perez, who has developed hundreds of properties successful South Florida and weathered the monolithic condo clang during the Great Recession, did not look astatine each acrophobic astir the aboriginal of his caller project.

"Yes, the marketplace crossed the state has gone down, peculiarly successful luxury units, but we're uncovering that successful enclaves that we have, similar Fisher Island, we inactive spot a large level of involvement from those radical that tin spend the best," said Perez. 

He does, however, interest astir the broader system and the broader existent property market.

"Of course, it bothers me. It bothers maine each day. I aftermath up each time reasoning astir you cognize what is going to hap successful the economy," said Perez. "We're reasoning that involvement rates and ostentation has beauteous overmuch peaked. We're going to person a rough, successful my opinion, 1 twelvemonth to a twelvemonth and a half, 2 years. And we are acceptable to upwind that storm should it happen."

If Perez does get $90 cardinal for the penthouse, it volition beryllium the priciest condo to merchantability successful each of South Florida.