Saxony Hotel And Condominium Project Revived By Argentinean Developers

By Author: Andres Leiser
Total Articles: 34
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After several years of inactivity, a once-proposed new condo tower fronting the Atlantic Ocean in Miami Beach is being revived by a development group from Argentina. The luxury real estate, originally referred to as the 67-unit Cipriani luxury tower, the “Saxony Hotel & Condominium” project recently scheduled a discussion as a "new application" at a Miami Beach Historic Preservation Board meeting in South Beach. The proposed tower is set for a 62,500-square-foot vacant site in the 3300 block of Collins Avenue just to the north of the partially refurbished 60-year-old Saxony Hotel. It is being designed by internationally acclaimed architect Norman Foster of the United Kingdom. “The applicant is requesting approval for the substantial re-design of the new multifamily building, as well as for substantial modifications to the interior and exterior design of the existing Saxony Hotel, including modifications to the site plan and landscape plan,” says representatives from the Miami Beach Historic Preservation Board Agenda.

A development group bought the luxury real estate land as well as a third lot on the west ...
... side of Collins Avenue for around $102 million back in November 2007, just as the South Florida real estate market began changing. The project’s corporate ownership entity remains the same although the member names changed in March 2011 to include Alan Faena and Sergio Jalife, according to Florida Secretary of State records. They planned to refurbish the hotel and develop the condo tower as part of luxury real estate. Faena is an Argentine developer who jumpstarted the residential and nightlife in the Puerto Madero port area of Buenos Aires. Faena's group is hopeful to repeat their Argentina success in the 20-block stretch of luxury real estate in Miami Beach between South Beach’s northern border of 24th Street and the Fontainebleau Miami Beach resort at 44th Street.

“We said, if [we] want to grow, let’s go to Miami,” Faena says. “We found this fantastic piece of land and quietly we have been buying. Our dream is to do what we did here in Buenos Aires – create something really special working with the best minds in the world.” The "Saxony Condominium" is the 12th new tower with over 3,150 units proposed east of I-95 in the tri-county South Florida region. The new luxury real estate high-rise condos are proposed for South Florida despite 5,400 units still remaining unsold from the real estate boom that began in 2003. The unsold developer luxury real estate units in South Beach are on pace to be acquired in about 93 months according to reports. The decreasing unsold condo inventory is spurring investment in former development sites throughout Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties. At least 11 transactions for vertical luxury condo development sites have occurred in Greater Downtown Miami, totaling, nearly 125 development sites exist in the Greater Downtown Miami market that is comprised of the Brickell Avenue Area, Downtown, and the Biscayne Boulevard Corridor.

AUTHOR'S BIO

Andres Leiser is a local contributor for Constec Realty's Miami luxury real estate website. Andres Leiser has been involved in luxury properties in Miami for over a decade.