VILLA MAGNA CONDO BRICKELL
1201 Brickell Bay Dr.

 

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Hollo said Villa Magna design is better than the original plan. The 1998 approved project consisted of a 67-story tower parallel to Biscayne Bay, blocking the water view of nearby towers, he said, while the proposed $300 million Villa Magna would be lower and perpendicular to the water. If approved, Villa Magna would be one of Brickell's largest Pre Construction residential projects. The Related Group is planning the 1,000-unit Plaza on Brickell condominium amid the office buildings on Brickell at Brickell Way. It will have retail on the lower floors.

Nearby is the recently built 70-story Four Seasons Hotel and Tower, the tallest building south of Atlanta. The Brickell area, south of downtown Miami, for the past three years has seen an acceleration of new residential and office towers.

Advisory board, commission to vote Villa Magna project still has to go before the Miami Planning Advisory Board and to the City Commission for final approval. Villa Magna's units will range from $500,000 to $2 million said Hollo, who wants the units to be affordable to young professionals and other area white-collar workers. While Villa Magna will be about the same size as the original plan, the units will be smaller, said Hollo from his office on the 11th floor of an office building rising over Biscayne Boulevard, Bayfront Park and Biscayne Bay.

Villa Magna would generate about $7.3 million in tax revenues annually. It would also add $602 million to the local economy during construction.

Developer wants to triple size of Brickell development

By Susan Stabley
Miami developer Tibor Hollo wants to triple the size of an approved Brickell development using incentives now lifted by the city.
Villa Magna, 1201 Brickell Bay Drive and under development by Mr. Hollo's Florida East Coast Realty, could become one of the neighborhood's largest developments with 1,120 units. Plans once included a hotel, but Mr. Hollo said that component has been dropped.
Original developer Multiplan USA planned 700 units on 5 acres on the site. The property was split, and Edgardo Defortuna's Fortune International Development and Swire Properties Inc. made plans to build the 48-story, 336-unit Jade at Brickell Bay.
About 10 owners of units at Jade at Brickell Bay who bought into the project expecting a 336-unit development next door are opposed to the larger Villa Magna, said their attorney, Tucker Gibbs.
Danny Ponce, general manager of the Brickell Key Masters Association, said traffic from Villa Magna would impact the island home of about 4,000 whose only access is a road crossing Brickell Bay Drive at Eighth Street: "Our biggest concern here is not being able to get off the island."
"Our biggest concern here is not being able to get off the island," Mr. Ponce said.
Mr. Hollo said Tuesday that the site is "worthy" of intense vertical development. "Where do you want density?" Mr. Hollo said. "Do you want density in the Everglades?"
Mr. Hollo said he plans to ask the city to modify the site's major use special permit. The project has support of the Brickell Homeowners Association, which has pushed for high-density bonuses to be lifted in the Brickell area since January 2002.
"We approved it with the conditions passed by the city's planning and zoning department," association president Tory Jacobs said Tuesday.
He said Villa Magna was "grandfathered in" because the application process for the project began before April, when the city approved lifting incentives encouraging higher-density projects in Brickell.

From the April 9, 2004 print edition

1,200-unit condo faces opposition

Paola Iuspa-Abbott

A battle is brewing in one of Miami's most exclusive neighborhoods, as a Miami developer plans 1,200 units in a parcel initially permitted for fewer than 400. A group of Brickell area residents are preparing for what could be heated opposition to the proposed Villa Magna, a residential condominium project. Developer Tibor Hollo, chairman of Florida East Coast Realty, is asking the city to amend a 1998 permit that allowed a smaller project on the 3.7 acres on Biscayne Bay. In September, he submitted an application to build two 57-story towers with about 35,000 square feet of retail space, a plaza and a bay walk at 1201 Brickell Bay Drive, in Miami's financial district. Hollo said his design is better than the original plan.

The 1998 approved project consisted of a 67-story tower parallel to Biscayne Bay, blocking the water view of nearby towers, he said, while the proposed $300 million Villa Magna would be lower and perpendicular to the water. If approved, Villa Magna would be one of Brickell's largest residential projects. The Related Group is planning the 1,000-unit Plaza on Brickell condominium amid the office buildings on Brickell at Brickell Way. It will have retail on the lower floors. Nearby is the recently built 70-story Four Seasons Hotel and Tower, the tallest building south of Atlanta.

Neighbors and buyers of nearby units said Hollo's project is too massive. They said they are also fed up with construction.

Thirty-eight neighbors sent opinion cards to the city's Planning Department opposing the development, according to city records. Only three were in favor. Most of the complaints said the area had had enough construction and that the planned towers were three times the size of the surrounding buildings. Little by little, luxury high-rises have covered the waterfront while residents have been force to drive by construction sites, on dusty roads and partially barricaded streets. The constant hammering and drilling pouring out of construction sites and the overflow of parking and traffic caused by construction workers are eroding the neighbors' patience, some residents said. Advisory board, commission to vote
Hollo's project still has to go before the Miami Planning Advisory Board and to the City Commission for final approval. In the meantime, a group of people with contracts to buy units at Jade at Brickell Bay has already hired one of Miami's most seasoned lawyers to follow the case and eventually fight it. Tucker Gibbs of Coconut Grove did not disclose the names of his clients, but said they were ready to take legal action if the city approved Villa Magna.

The 340-unit Jade, immediately south of Hollo's parcel, is nearing completion.

More than 90 percent of its units, ranging from $450,000 to $5 million, are sold, said Edgardo Defortuna, president and CEO of Fortune International Realty and developer of Jade. He said the original plan for the Villa Magna parcel was a tower similar to Jade. Some bought into Jade believing a high-end, mid-density luxurious tower would be developed on that site, some area residents said. "Eventually," said Defortuna, who is keeping an eye on the development of Hollo's plans, "we will get involved if the project turns out not to be the right one for the area." Villa Magna's units will range from $400,000 to $750,000, said Hollo, who wants the units to be affordable to young professionals and other area white-collar workers.

Some residents of the almost abutting 370-unit Mark Yacht Club on Brickell Bay and other homeowner associations are talking to Gibbs about possibly joining forces, Gibbs said. While Villa Magna will be about the same size as the original plan, the units will be smaller, said Hollo from his office on the 11th floor of an office building rising over Biscayne Boulevard, Bayfront Park and Biscayne Bay. Many wonder if the city, currently under a pro-development leadership, will support Villa Magna. Tax revenue benefits Miami Commissioner Johnny Winton, whose district includes Brickell Avenue, said he could not comment because he would be soon voting on this issue and a city law prevented him from discussing the issue. However, he said, the project "seems to be out of scale compared to the surrounding buildings."

But could the city resist endorsing a development promising to help fill up its coffers? Villa Magna would generate about $7.3 million in tax revenues annually. It would also dump about $602 million into the local economy during construction. The city's Affordable Housing Fund, set up to help build homes for low-income families, could cash in by about $2 million. By paying that amount, Hollo would get the additional 161,468 square feet needed to build the project as planned, according to city documents. The city recently tightened the requirements needed to obtain additional square feet. But Villa Magna was exempted because Hollo submitted his permit application months before the new regulation was approved. "It would be interesting to see if the city will approve such a high-density development," said Michael Cannon, the managing director of Integra Realty Services, a Miami real estate consulting firm.  "I wonder if the area's infrastructure can accommodate such a project," he said. "It is almost three times the density of Jade."

E-mail Miami-Dade real estate/international business writer Paola Iuspa-Abbott at piuspa@bizjournals.com.

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