Miami World Center Front Man Marc Roberts Files Bankruptcy

Back in 2006, New Jersey boxing promoter-turned-South Florida real estate mogul Marc Roberts was the face of the largest urban renewal project in the country. It was called the Miami World Center , and it was supposed to transform a rundown ghetto into a glitzy strip of shops, restaurants, and…

Miami Tops Forbes List of U.S. Cities in “Free Fall”

Forbes.com is always busy making their lists, and Miami has finally taken the number one spot on one. Unfortunately it’s called “Ten U.S. Cities In Free Fall.”Miami boasts a popular South Beach club scene, Art Deco Architecture, and perhaps the best Cuban food in the country. But residents don’t have much…

Developer Behind SoBe and SoHo Hasn’t Given Up on Wynwood

Both New York’s SoHo and Miami Beach’s South Beach were once forgotten urban districts: SoHo full of warehouses and factories, SoBe home to poverty, the elderly, and all sorts of vice. Then came the cool people and creative class, shortly followed by the developers and eventually the fancy shopping, boutique…

Florida Unemployment Rate Reaches Highest Level of All Time

12.2 percent. That was the unemployment rate in Florida for February, and the highest ever recorded. Miami-Dade’s adjusted unemployment rate sits at 11.8, up from 11.7 last month. The national rate sits at 9.7 percent.All in all the sunshine state has lost 211,500 jobs in the past year.There’s a bit…

Downtown’s Four Seasons Hotel Sold for Under $30 Million

The hotel component of the Four Seasons Millennium Tower has been sold to a New York investment group for just $29.5 million according to Condo Vultures. The hotel had been previously valued at $85.5 million according to tax records. That’s a pretty steep discount.Located inside the 70-story Four Seasons Millennium…

51 Percent of Miami-Dade’s Unsold Condos Are in Brickell

Brickell, the so-called Manhattan of the South, was supposed to be Miami’s next hot spot. Developers fully bought into the idea, and for a while it seemed a new luxury condo high-rise was breaking ground every other month. Then, whoops, the housing bubble burst, the recession hit, and many of those condo…

Condo Buyers at the W South Beach Allege Deception

W Hotels, a chain so chic it needs but a single letter to identify it, finally came to South Beach last fall, but now owners who bought condos in the complex allege they were deceived and want their deposits back.Potential owners were told there would be larger units, additional condos,…

New Management Keeps Gansevoort South Chic

Despite some concerns that new management might put a damper on the unadulterated chicness of the Gansevoort South Hotel on South Beach, The Wall Street Journal reports that the hotel is still tragically hip.Though the hotel portion of the complex was reportedly very successful, slow sales on the condominium side forced Credit…

Miami-Dade Housing Prices Might Not Recover Until 2030

That condo you bought in downtown as an investment property in 2005? You might not be able to make a reasonable profit on it until sometime after 2030.Moody’s Economy.com says housing prices in Miami-Dade and most other southern Florida counties won’t recover until 2030. The predictions are based on Fiserv’s Leading Case-Shiller…

Gansevoort South Under New Not-So-Hip Management

William and Michael Achenbaum, the father-and-son team that own the Gansevoort Hotel in New York City, now have officially nothing to do with the massive Gansevoort South in South Beach. The duo officially lost ownership of the hotel-and-condominium building last month when they failed to find a another buyer, Credit…

Diddy Gives Rare Glimpse Into His Star Island Mansion

Diddy is probably one of the only people in the world who can say”That’s always been a hobby of mine, collecting estates,” with a straight face. Collecting estates? Most of us would be so lucky just to have one.Anyway, despite taking pride in his hobby, Diddy has a policy of…

Miami-Dade Unemployment Rate Rises Nearly 1 Percent in a Month

At 11.8 percent in December, the Florida unemployment rate is the highest it’s ever been since 1975. That’s up 0.3 percent from November and a whopping 4.2 percent from the same month last year. Miami-Dade’s unemployment rate is still below the state’s, but the numbers shot up in December, climbing to 11.3 percent…