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o o o Sunny Isles Hench plans aquatic. rdUlI center - ~0l1t11 l-lomla Jjusmess Journal: I'age 1 ot I '''~C'llh'H'' l.Qu..J!! 'it..t ~':\.l''''!''!l'd I ~ r:H .",,~.: 01:,', ~(,'r'",r.,!.. South F1or1dl BUl1n1S1 Joumll. FlIlIru.ry 1', 2010 ,'10ufhnond./stori..,2010t02Jl Sid",lv' hlml SDut~ FlDrlda BUSINfSS JOURNAl '~o"day Febf1Jary 15 1010 Sunny Isles Beach plans aquatic, retail center ;;;o\,(tI F'~; Ida. Ru~,r:~'S5 JO\';I:,aI Like condominium de\'elopers before them, Sunny Isles Beach officials are gambling that, if the)' build an aquatic and retail center, people will come to the cit)' by the sea. The cit)' has partnered with the owner of the ~!~!.s.~~q1!!':!:!l!1!! to build a $30 million facility that \\;11 include restaurants, an animal pool, a science museum and a parking garage. The plan is to have Seaquarium owner Arthur Hertz build the Wometco Aquatic Center at the intersection of Sunn)' Isles Boule\'ard and AlA/Collins Avenue. The project would take more than two years to complete and include a 300-\'ehicle garage. .Jose Milton, who built the nearly 300-unit St. Tropez condominium across the street from the proposed site, is also a partner in the project. He is pa}ing $1.5 million to create a skywalk that would connect the park, on the west side of AlA. to the beach side. For its part, Sunny Isles Beach is donating 5 acres to the project, which is supposed to serve the hundreds of residents now living in the city's new condominium towers. The oceanfront city, east of A\'entura in northeast Miami-Dade County, is home to the second-largest concentration of new condos built in South Florida. Despite the intense interest from de\'elopers, Sunn)' Isles Beach has not been immune to same economic pressures weighing down the overall real estate market. Nearly a quarter of the 6,300 new condominium units built or converted in the cit)' of Sunny Isles Beach during South Florida's most recent boom years remain unsold, according to a report from co~~oyultu)'es L~. Currently. more than 1,500 units are still in the hands of the de\'elopers, according to the report. Peter Zalewski, a principal with the Bal Harbour-based real estate consultancy Condo Vultures, said the city is still finding its bottom price for condos. ''The Sunny Isles Beach market has experienced man)' of the same challenges that greater downto\m Miami - where nearly 23,~00 new units were constructed between 2003 and 2010 - is going through," he said AU contents of ltJis site C American City Business Joume/s Inc. All rights reserved. http://vo/\vw.bizjourna)s.com/southt1oridalstoriesI20IO/02/ 15/daily 3 .htm) '?t=printnb)e 2/22/20 I 0