Archive for January, 2010
When the market is pushing prices down to decade-long lows, does South Florida need to create explicitly affordable housing?
A recent industry conference for tax credit developers brought the issue front and center as some market participants questioned the need for additional low-income housing in the region, where property values have dropped more than 40 percent in two years, based on the benchmark S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices.
Organized by San Francisco-based certified public accounting firm Novogradac & Company, this year’s conference addressed issues affecting low-income housing tax credit developers, such as identifying ways to handle economic challenges, resurrecting stalled projects, and financing structures.
But many South Florida industry watchers aren’t convinced that the local market needs more affordable housing projects. In fact, with a housing glut and devalued properties, experts said more affordable housing could prolong the recovery.
Read the rest of my story at The Real Deal.
January 29th, 2010
he start of the new year may be the point when the upper end of the Miami Beach market found its hardwood floor. After luxury property sales in Miami Beach slowed in 2008, lower prices caused a rebound in the second half of 2009 — and inventory is shrinking in 2010.
Miami Beach luxury waterfront home prices for all of 2009 fell 25 percent year-over-year, according to data from Esslinger-Wooten-Maxwell. Kevin Tomlinson, a realtor with the brokerage, said that data surprised him.
“Sellers are starting to see the light. They are hearing what the market is saying — and they are lowering prices,” Tomlinson said. “Homes on the market for an average of about 200 days were causing a backlog in inventory in the first half of the year, but sales velocity picked up toward the end of 2009 for homes with lower prices.”
Read the rest of my story on The Real Deal.
January 29th, 2010
He helped shape modern Miami, and that makes developer Tibor Hollo a world figure of sorts. Last week, that was confirmed when Hollo, the president of Florida East Coast Realty, was named “Global Citizen of the Year” for 2009 by the City of Miami and the Greater Miami Host Committee.
Eighty-two-year-old Hungarian-born Hollo, who has spent 55 years in the development game, was chosen for his ability to bring Miami to the world and the world to his adopted city.
On Thursday, the Miami City Commission formally recognized his contributions when it bestowed the award.
“Mr. Hollo has committed to concepts of sustainability which, of course, are global issues,” said Corky Dozier, executive director of the Greater Miami Host Committee. “By focusing on sustainability, he is actually restoring what was traditionally part of the landscape of Downtown Miami…. He is the father of Downtown Miami real estate development.”
Read the rest of my story on The Real Deal.
January 22nd, 2010
The future of Miami’s industrial real estate market lies, in large part, in Rio, the leading city of an emerging Latin American economic power whose fortunes are tied to a U.S. city that functions as the southern region’s financial capital. It will take some time before Miami once again benefits from its ties to the southern region.
Walter Byrd, managing director with Transwestern’s South Florida office, expects 2010 to be similar to 2009 in Miami, which is to say, somewhere between challenging and dismal. The market has been hit by domestic declines and diminished international economic activity, and the combination has been particularly rough on Miami’s heavily industrialized area near Miami International Airport, a cargo and passenger hub.
“The extreme drop in cargo volume through Miami International Airport, the worst year in terms of total tonnage since before 1996, has made a significant impact on both vacancy and lease rates in Miami’s Airport West market, the region’s largest industrial submarket,” Byrd said.
Read the rest of my story on The Real Deal.
January 22nd, 2010
After losing its anchor tenant, the Bank of America Tower at International Place Miami has a new name, which its owners hope won’t be in place very long.
Fairchild Partners, the management team for newly christened Miami Tower, is actively negotiating to find a new tenant that could assume the lucrative naming rights, after Bank of America’s departure, but the current climate may yield few results.
Management for Miami Tower — acclaimed for its changing palette of exterior lighting schemes — will give the first tenant to sign a lease for at least 80,000 square feet the naming rights at no additional cost. Miami Tower can offer up to 76,000 square feet of contiguous space per floor.
Read the rest of my story at The Real Deal.
January 22nd, 2010
The oft-dreaded April 15th tax deadline is right around the corner. If you are like many companies, you are getting your business receipts in order to hand over to your accountant.
OK, so what does a virtual office space have to do with your 2009 taxes?
Well, if you are running a bona fide business and use a virtual office space as part of your solution, you can deduct the monthly expense just as you would a cell phone or office supplies you use as part and parcel of your operations.
Read the rest of my post on the Davinci Virtual blog.
January 22nd, 2010
Microsoft released a rare out-of-band patch Thursday morning. The emergency patch fixes the Internet Explorer zero-day security vulnerability that hackers have used in several high-profile targeted attacks, including the recent Trojan.Hydraq cyberattacks waged against Google and other large U.S. companies.
As Microsoft previously noted, the vulnerability affects Internet Explorer 6, 7 and 8, which make up the bulk of the versions consumers use today. However, it said the only in-the-wild exploit code for this vulnerability detected so far impacts IE 6. Still, Microsoft isn’t taking any chances. Because of in-the-wild exploits and the amount of media and customer attention on this exploit, Microsoft decided it was in customers’ best interests to issue a patch before the next Patch Tuesday on Feb. 9.
Read the rest of my story on TopTech News.
January 22nd, 2010
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