900 Biscayne Bay 3 Bedroom (06 Line) – Video

MCO - You will be happy to learn I will be uploading the Marquis video today. I edited it quickly so it is not very polished and it is long (almost 10 minutes). But it will be up on the site today.

What I mean by they are not condo-hotel is that you can not buy a hotel room in the building. You can only purchase a condominium which has nothing to do with the leasing of the hotel rooms.

900 Biscayne is not condo hotel. Marquis is also not condo hotel. However in Marquis exists a hotel element. It is 56 rooms I believe. I don't expect a huge impact on the HOA fees. After all there are 306 condominium residences which have access to all of the amenities that the hotel has access to. So the pool and all has to be cleaned every day, etc. But the condominium owners would require that anyway. This is a boutique hotel. If it was like 300 hotel units and a cheap hotel not an expensive one I would say there would be a huge tax on the common areas but that won't be the case here.

At the EPIC there is a large amount of hotel units. I am not sure how their management structure and common element management breaks down. It is a very nice property so I expect everything would have to be maintained at a very high level. But I suspect there is a management fee the hotel pays to maintain the common areas. After all the condominium association would eventually be in the hands of the condominium owners. If fees were out of control and they were subsidizing the hotel too much the residents could always take action and cut of the services or restructure the budgets.

Hey samir

another quickie..whats with this new trend of condo/hotel combo? how do you think this may impact sales? that just crossed my mind when you talked about 900.
If I am not mistaken, EPIC has more units for guests than for real-time residents..
i wonder if that will not impact HOAs, since residents will have to pay to maintain a huge structure to keep up with occasional guests.
lots to consider...

Thanks again Samir
Havent seen it inperson, but your pictures are absolutely stunning..I guess that is waht appealed to me the most.
I love the finishings..but lets see how it does.
waiting for a fine video tour..if you could do one like the one you shot for icon brickell, that would be great...thanks

MCO - It is hard to compare 900 Biscayne to Marquis. They are both very nice but also totally different styles. I have a sweet spot for 900 Biscayne Bay. I think the developer did a great job there creating a building which gave the living in a hotel experience without the hotel. Marquis was nice as well. I like some of their floorplans - they are huge. Also the views are incredible since some of the units have double ceilings. But altogether it is for a different style of person. I think Marquis is more suited to the type of buyer who likes Ten Museum because of the loft floorplans. It's like comparing a Lamborghini to a Ferrari. I would take either. ;) For the time being I would say 900 Biscayne Bay is the winner. Partly because it is well established. Let's see how the Marquis comes together in the next few months and I'll let you know if my opinion changes.

Thnak sfor you r expert's comments.
seems to me that they will keep lowering prices.
when i visited the building in june, they had already dropped the price and i have been told that since them some units have dropped an additional 30%!
sorry to go back to the same topic..i know 900 is your favorite..but how do you compare it to marquis?
i love the pics you took at Marquis..just not a very big fan of this modern concept of having a shower in the middle of the bedroom with no privacy at all.
thanks again

Hey Samir

Don´t know if you have sen this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/29/business/29miami.html

but according to the article, ONLY 31 UNITS HAVE BEEN SOLD AT ICON BRICKELL!!!!!

ANY INPUT ON THAT? GREAT HOPE FOR MUCH LOWER PRICES TO PICK A BARGAIN IN THE NEAR FUTURE!!

THANKS

MCO - I did read that early in the morning. When I checked recorded deeds at ICON I saw only about 38 of them recorded. From what I know the developer was focused on closing units in Tower 1. I don't expect them to open Tower 2 anytime in the near future. I do know that they began renting out units shortly after the building opened and probably more of the units are rented than actually closed. Part of the reason for the slow closing rate is I believe a high percentage of Tower 1 was actually sold under contracts (maybe 100%) for so high prices in pre-construction ($500+ /psf). Prices here have dropped and I hear they are actually in a position where the construction lender is accepting or rejecting the offers that come in. So I would say it should be possible to purchase here anywhere from $300-$550 per sq ft at the moment depending on which floor and model unit you purchase. I'm sure there are many people interested in purchasing here especially at the new prices but the closings are slow because original contract holders have to officially be defaulted and original contracts cancelled (which could take time due to individual litigation between contract holders and the developer) before they can be remarketed for sale to buyers who are actually buying to live in them today at today's prices.

Hey Samir,

Another great job.
The view is really spectacular, but how do you compare 900 to marquis?