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<br />By Rochelle Broder-Singer
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<br />REAL ESTATE
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<br />Sunny Isles Beach is in the process of buying the building on the left, which it will raze to create a public park on the site [rendering, right),
<br />
<br />A Tale of 2 Cities
<br />
<br />Two Miami-Dade cities are taking ad-
<br />vantage of the real estate slump by buy-
<br />ing up commercial properties, planning
<br />to use the sites for parks, senior housing
<br />and other community purposes.
<br />Miami Gardens - the county's third-
<br />largest city - has made several deals in
<br />the past year. "We're 95% built out, and
<br />you just can't find vacant land here," City
<br />Manager Danny O. Crew says,
<br />The biggest deals include $8.9 mil-
<br />lion for 40 acres on which Cornerstone
<br />Developers had planned a townhome
<br />project. The city moved in when the
<br />project faced foreclosure,Thirty-eight of
<br />the acres the city bought were already
<br />approved as a Development of Regional
<br />
<br />BUSINESS BRIEFS
<br />
<br />CORAL GABLES - Catalyst
<br />Pharmaceutical Partners (Nasdaq-
<br />CPRX) signed a deal with Northwestern
<br />University that gives it the exclusive
<br />license to commercialize new
<br />treatments for neurological diseases,
<br />which could potentially also be used to
<br />treat drug addiction. >> Florida East
<br />
<br />24 NOVEMBER 2009 FLORIDATREND.COM
<br />
<br />Impact, and it plans to sell that land to
<br />a developer who will follow through
<br />on the approved plan. "It may be three
<br />or four years before the market gets to
<br />where someone will do it, but that's fine
<br />with us," Crew says.
<br />The city also bought 14 acres for $3.5
<br />million from the Archdiocese of Miami; it
<br />plans a senior citizens facility and a park
<br />there, Earlier in the year, it purchased
<br />a IS-acre parcel, which was in danger
<br />of foreclosure, from luxury auto dealer
<br />Warren Henry. He has a three-year option
<br />to buy the parcel back, but ifhe doesn't,
<br />the city will look for a different buyer for
<br />"15 acres of the best commercial land in
<br />Miami-Dade County," Crew says,
<br />
<br />Coast Realty broke ground on Villa
<br />Majorca, a luxury town home rental
<br />community it expects to open in 2010.
<br />
<br />HIALEAH - A judge in Leon County
<br />ordered the liquidation of Hialeah-
<br />based First Commercial Insurance
<br />and its subsidiary, First Commercial
<br />
<br />Sunny Isles Beach, meanwhile, paid
<br />$9.37 million for nvo adjacent retail
<br />buildings on 1.4 acres and is about to
<br />I close on a third retail property just south
<br />of them. It plans to raze the buildings
<br />and create a park once the current ten-
<br />ants' leases expire. The city also closed
<br />recently on a 2-acre parcel, and is negoti-
<br />ating additional acquisitions.
<br />A continuing dearth of financing for
<br />private-sector buyers has given munici-
<br />palities an advantage in real estate deals.
<br />Banks are more willing to lend to mu-
<br />nicipalities, which tend to be long-term
<br />purchasers, and they also have other
<br />funding sources.
<br />"The market is right," says Sunny
<br />Isles Beach City Manager Rick Conner,
<br />"for communities that have the abil-
<br />ity to expand their parks systems and
<br />provide additional amenities to their
<br />community."
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<br />Transportation. Newly formed
<br />Ascendant Commercial Insurance ,
<br />based in Miami, is offering coverage
<br />to most of the two companies'
<br />policyholders and expects to hire some
<br />of their employees. Industry veterans
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<br />::;
<br />
<br />Continued on page 26
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<br />~ You can reach Rochelle Broder-Singer at miamiATS@gmail.com
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