#2 Story for 2016: Massive Development Planned by Perimeter Mall in Dunwoody

A massive mixed-use development, known as High Street, will soon begin to rise across the street from the Dunwoody MARTA station, near the under construction State Farm campus. The project, which has been in the works for more than a year at the intersection of Hammond Drive and Perimeter Center Parkway, is just one of many that promise to bring density to the area previously dominated by Perimeter Mall, the epitome of 'suburbanization'.

Renderings from Boston-based GID Urban Development, offer a glimpse at a mini-city, complete with office high-rises and six-story apartments atop retail, all surrounding a large linear park.

The posh buildings offer an eclectic array of styles.

The 42-acre High Street development is conceived as a premier mixed-use project that will transform Atlanta's Perimeter Center area and become its urban heart.

High Street will provide a sophisticated mix of high-, mid- and low-rise buildings that integrate residential, retail, restaurant, office, hotel and parking uses with signature open spaces.

The project's master plan takes shape around a dynamic public space that forms the social core of the community.

A series of internal districts emphasize the kind of variety in architectural style and programmatic use that distinguishes authentically memorable urban settings.

Tree-lined streets and wide sidewalks accentuate the project's respect for pedestrians, deftly weaving High Street into the surrounding city.

Based on LEED Neighborhood Development principles, the project demonstrates a consistent commitment to green building and smart growth.

Upon completion, High Street will feature:

• 8 million square feet of mixed-use space
• 400,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space
• 3,000 residential units
• 1 million square feet of Class-A office space
• 750 hotel rooms
• 8,500 parking spaces
• New streets, landscaped promenades, signature parks and plazas

Energizing its living and work dynamic, High Street includes a distinctive retail and restaurant scene that will draw residents, workers, consumers and visitors.

Its adjacency to the local MARTA rail system will make High Street a destination attraction and an icon of sustainable, transit-oriented development.

#3 Story for 2016: Two 30-Story Condo Towers to Rise in West Palm Beach

Billionaire developer Jeff Greene has received approval from the City of West Palm to construct a $250 million mixed-use project at 550 North Quadrille Boulevard. The buildings will be shiny modern and massive – and the tallest in the city.

The 829,000-square-foot development, called One West Palm, will include two 30-story towers, retail shops, restaurants, office space, a hotel and luxury condominiums.

The project, which takes up an entire block on the north side of downtown, will be comprised of two modern towers that look like stacked blocks, designed by Arquitectonica of Miami.

The ground level will feature retail shops, restaurants and corner parks. One tower includes 410,000 square feet of Class A office space. The other will feature a five-star hotel with 209 guest suites and 84 luxury condos above that.

The 3.3-acre project also features a day-care center and a 34,000-square-foot fitness center that includes indoor tennis courts — to complement the plan’s outdoor tennis courts.

The residential building also will include a high-end restaurant and bar on the top floor.

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The project, which will be one of the most complex and architecturally advanced developments in the city’s history, will be financed with a construction loan and equity put up by Mr. Greene.

The developer hopes to break ground on the project within three months and finish building it two years later.

“There’s nothing like it in West Palm Beach, maybe even all of Palm Beach County,” Greene says. The development provides one-stop living for upscale professionals.

“There’s everything you can imagine that you’d need, right across the bridge from Palm Beach,” the developer said. The bridge entrance lies on Quadrille, one-and-a-half blocks east of the project.

There is tremendous demand for office space in West Palm Beach, given that the last Class A building to open was CityPlace Tower at 520 Okeechobee Boulevard in 2008 — and that was the first one built since 1989.

The market for rental apartments and condominiums is very strong in West Palm Beach, and as for the hotel, there are none in the area that have the luxury amenities which are planned.

It’s the biggest of well over $1 billion in projects coming out of the ground or about to in West Palm, as one vacant downtown lot after another fills with apartment towers, hotels, shops, restaurants and an All Aboard Florida station to draw 30-plus trains a day.

The old city hall’s being redeveloped, as is the marina property in front of it. The Bristol luxury condo is about to rise from the former site of the Chapel by the Lake, on South Flagler Drive.

Developer Jeff Greene, a Palm Beach billionaire, has quickly become downtown’s biggest landowner, snapping up properties in and around the business district.

Just west of downtown, he recently completed a 548-apartment project called Cameron Estates.

And he just closed on another 11 acres on the Clear Lake waterfront next to it, between Okeechobee Boulevard and I-95. North of downtown, he has assembled land near Currie Park for residential development and possibly a Publix.

The developer recently acquired a 3.21-acre property at 419 Lakeview Avenue, a few blocks east of CityPlace, for $24 million, where he has plans to construct a five-star hotel, luxury condominiums, and a Class A office tower.

He plans to build high-end amenities, such a fitness center, indoor tennis courts, and a food and beverage program by a celebrity chef.

#4 Story for 2016: Hard Rock to Build 800-Room Guitar-Shaped Hotel & Casino

The oversized guitar has long been a beacon for the Hard Rock Casino chain, but the Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood is looking to take to take that iconic symbol to new heights.

Plans for a colossal guitar-shaped hotel tower stretching 34 stories and containing 800 rooms were unveiled this week during a news conference with Gov. Rick Scott.

The tower is the feature attraction in the Seminole Tribe's $1.8 billion expansion plans. The structure looks every bit a guitar in scale but doesn't have a neck.

"We could have easily just built some rectangular building ... but the tribe is once again trying to create something that is iconic, that creates international tourism coming to Florida," said Seminole Gaming CEO Jim Allen. "We truly believe that that design alone will create additional tourism."

The expansion plans, contingent on the Legislature's approval of a deal brokered between the tribe and the governor, include the hotel tower and restaurants. The expansion is expected to bring nearly 20,000 jobs to Florida, the Seminoles said.

The hotel will increase the complex's rooms to 1,273 and add five new restaurants, a buffet and nightclub at its complex on U.S. 441 north of Sterling Road.

The tribe is committed to rivaling Las Vegas and other casino destinations around the world. "We truly think this will rival not only anything in Florida, but Atlantis and anything in the world," Allen said, pointing to an artist rendering on an easel.

The expansion includes spending almost $100 million on swimming pool space, Allen said. The plan adds a second pool and new pool bar. "Florida is about pools and the beaches and the ocean."

He said that while the aim is to create a destination that will continue to attract crowds many years from now, the expansion doesn't stretch far beyond the casino's current footprint.

While Allen focused on the Hollywood expansion, he also discussed plans for the Seminole Hard Rock Tampa, which will have new poker rooms, stores and restaurants.

The Tampa hotel and casino will also add a new tower with 500 hotel rooms and a live entertainment venue with up to 2,000 seats.

For the more affluent gamblers, there will be a helipad.

Scott asked numerous questions during the presentation. His verdict at the end: "Impressive."

Several business owners who work with the Seminole Tribe stood at a microphone and discussed how their businesses had been affected by the casinos.

A flower shop owner who started working with the Seminoles in 2010, said her business has grown from five employees to more than 100 full-and part-time employees. She said she buys and installs over 35,000 flowers annually at the casino.

From the onset, the emphasis was jobs. "It would be devastating" if the proposed deal doesn't pass.
Scott rehashed the numbers: 3,800 jobs lost if the gambling deal isn't signed and 4,800 direct and indirect jobs created, outside of construction jobs, if it passes.

The gambling deal would bring $3 billion to the state over the next seven years. In return, the Seminoles would get the exclusive right to have roulette, craps and other table games in its seven casinos.

The deal also caps the number of slots and tables casinos can have, but critics point out that the caps are so large they are essentially meaningless, including a 6,000-slot limit at any one casino.

The agreement also states that the Legislature can approve new casinos in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties, a limited amount of blackjack tables in parimutuels and even allowing the race tracks to stop racing and simply operate as casinos.

Bright Idea: Miami Airport Exec Steals $5M in Light Bulb Scam

Miami International Airport put Ivan Valdes in charge of buying light bulbs, and that’s when prosecutors say the veteran manager had a bright idea: conspire with suppliers to skim about $5 million from the purchases.

Authorities detailed a five-year scam that saw Valdes steer nearly $9 million worth of high-tech bulb sales to a procurement loop populated by a vendor and distributor in on the scheme. Four men involved in the conspiracy kept $5 million from the sales.

Ivan Valdes, who rose from cutting grass to managing a large maintenance division at Miami International Airport, pleaded guilty on Wednesday in federal court to running a racket that stole millions from a light-bulb procurement program.

Arrested last month, Valdes was charged with steering nearly $9 million worth of high-tech bulb sales to a Miami-Dade Aviation Department vendor and a distributor in cahoots with him.

Valdes and a retired airport executive pocketed $2.2 million from the inflated sales, prosecutors said in a factual statement filed with the defendant’s plea agreement.

Valdes, 46, faces up to seven years in federal prison on the theft conviction at his sentencing in early January, according to his defense attorney, Sam Rabin. He said the defendant's related bribery offense in state circuit court would ultimately be incorporated into the same punishment.

“Mr. Valdes is sincerely remorseful for his conduct in this matter, and for that reason he chose to admit his guilt and accept the consequences of his actions,” Rabin said after his client’s plea hearing.

Valdes regularly collected grocery bags full of kickback money in an airport parking lot, according to charging documents. And while he earned $98,000 at his county job, he owned a Porsche, rented sky boxes for concerts and wore hand-tailored Sartori Amici suits.

MIA, a county-owned airport with a budget of $1 billion, promoted Valdes in 2015 to director of terminal maintenance with 100 employees in what federal prosecutor Jeffrey Kaplan said would also be the final year of a scam that began in 2010.

Valdes was apparently able to thwart the county’s inspector general at MIA by conspiring with both a light-bulb seller and a supplier who manipulated wholesale prices to keep other vendors out of the procurement process.

Valdes oversaw 20 bulk bulb purchases over five years, and prosecutors said each contract went to a Miami company that was part of the scheme: Global Electrical & Lighting Supplies, owned by Rolando Perez.

Global Electric bought its bulbs from Municipal Lighting Systems, a local distributor for General Electric. Municipal Lighting's Roy J. Bustillo was also charged in the scheme. Prosecutors said he gave inflated quotes to Global Electric competitors in order to keep honest vendors from winning the MIA contracts that Valdes supervised.

In all, MIA purchased about 9,000 LED bulbs through Global Electric, lights used to illuminate the pick-up and drop-off areas outside the terminals and parking garages.
The airport paid $8.8 million for LED lights. They were worth only about $3.5 million, so Valdes and the other co-conspirators defrauded the county’s aviation department of almost $5.2 million, according to the factual statement filed with his plea agreement.

Federal prosecutors filed conspiracy charges against Valdes, Bustillo, 37, and Perez, 57, along with a fourth co-conspirator, Jose Barroso, 51. He was a former MIA executive alleged to have helped Valdes arrange the scheme in 2010, three years after retiring from the county.

Charging documents filed in state circuit court describe Valdes summoning Barroso back to the airport that year for a meeting about MIA's interest in replacing thousands of bulbs. Barroso said Valdes brought up a new lighting contract, and asked: “What's in it for me?”

Barroso served as the middle man in the transactions, according to prosecutors, delivering as much as $50,000 cash in grocery bags to Valdes, who would take a break from work to meet him in an airport parking lot.

Massive $2B Miami Worldcenter Project to Get Underway

More than a decade after proposing the massive, mixed-use project known as Miami Worldcenter, developers will soon begin laying the foundation for a 60-story luxury condo tower in downtown's derelict Park West district.

Miami Worldcenter is a $2 billion mega-project that will soon get underway in Florida’s largest city.

The massive 30-acre development will sit within walking distance of over $3 billion in new public and private projects in mass transit, cultural institutions, recreational parks, and entertainment venues.

Next Saturday, one hundred cement trucks and more than 700 construction workers will start pouring an estimated 52 million pounds of concrete for the $400 million high-rise, called Paramount Miami Worldcenter, in a marathon 30-hour foundation pour starting at 1 a.m.

General contractor Coastal-Tishman, a joint-venture between Coastal Construction and Tishman Construction, will oversee roughly 700 workers as they spread 13,000 cubic yards of concrete.

Developer Daniel Kodsi called the milestone "a very proud moment in the evolution of the city as our tower and neighborhood fulfill its potential to become a gleaming global landmark for the city of Miami."

Once Paramount’s foundation is completed, vertical construction on the 60-story, 700-foot building can begin. The tower will be built alongside the larger Miami Worldcenter project’s 450,000 square feet of retail.

Paramount, and Miami Worldcenter as a whole, is being developed by Dan Kodsi, Nitin Motwani and Art Falcone. The project will house 513 units ranging in size from 1,180 square feet to 2,350 square feet, with prices averaging $700 per foot. So far, 50 percent of those units have been sold.

Condo owners who want to gaze at the stars will have an unusual amenity at Paramount Miami Worldcenter: a rooftop observatory. The 60-story tower will convert open space on the top floor of its SkyDeck to a glass-enclosed room with a telescope.

The 1,200-square-foot observatory will have 12-foot-high floor-to-ceiling windows with panoramic views and a skylight for star gazing.

The observatory’s telescope will be connected to a digital screen, so everyone in the room can see the sky. A glass elevator from the 56th floor lounge will lead up to the space.

The Paramount Miami Worldcenter will feature a plethora of luxury amenities, including:
•  Private elevators
•  Outdoor living rooms
•  High-tech fitness center
•  Boxing studio and aerobics space
•  Spa and salon
•  Outdoor tropical bath gardens
•  Kid’s video game room
•  Recreational lounge with
•  Billiards room
•  Resort-style swimming pool s
•  Sports complex
•  Tennis courts, soccer field and running course
•  Picnic space with barbecue areas
•  Skyview Lounge
•  Infinity spa
•  Calming yoga deck
•  Spectacular city and water views

The developers hope to finish the Paramount by 2018. And while the condominium component begins to take shape, construction will also begin on the first phase of Miami Worldcenter’s expansive retail component.

Worldcenter’s design was scaled back considerably in February as the developers sought to hedge themselves against a retail market that increasingly favors high street and online shopping.

The project shaved off roughly 300,000 square feet of shopping space, leaving the fate of Worldcenter’s planned anchors — Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s — uncertain.

Kodsi is one of several partners behind the long-planned project, which was delayed first by the Great Recession and then by debates over public subsidies. Also slated for the 27-acre site are an open-air shopping center, rental towers and a hotel.
 

$300M Mixed-Use Project Planned for Atlanta's Southside

A $300 million mixed-use project is planned along Interstate 75 in Henry County, a potential boon for an area south of Atlanta’s airport that’s been mostly overlooked by developers.

While plenty of mixed-use developments have cropped up north of Atlanta in the last few years, the south side of the Perimeter has yet to see significant investment.

But RCP Companies is aiming to change that. The firm recently announced their intentions to build a massive mixed-use project in McDonough.

The 160-acre development called Jodeco/Atlanta South is slated to bring $300 million of investment to Henry County.

The project would rise on what today is vacant land at I-75 and Jodeco, Chambers and Mt. Olive roads. It would include more than 500,000 square feet of retail, 600 residential units, two hotels and a 30-acre park.

Philadelphia, Pa.-based Lubert-Adler Real Estate Funds is providing financing for the project. It could become the single largest investment ever for the city of Stockbridge. It would also show the willingness of capital partners to bet on the growth of suburban commercial nodes south of Interstate 20. “There’s been nothing of this size,” said Dale Hall, administration and community services director for Stockbridge.

Hall added the project could become a major destination for south Atlanta and a catalyst for growth. “We are really excited about the potential,” he said.

The project is inspired by other dense communities that have sprung up across the country and in metro Atlanta, such as Alpharetta’s Avalon.

Those projects, to combat rising e-commerce sales, have created experience-rich shopping and dining destinations in affluent areas such as in-town Atlanta and north Fulton County.

RCP is making a bet on Henry County, which doesn’t have the same concentration of high paying jobs. Unlike Avalon developer North American Properties, the company is targeting more value-oriented retailers that reflect demand in Henry County.

Pittsburgh, Pa.-based Urban Design Associates is the master planner. The project’s first phase could break ground in early fall, with an opening set for later in 2017.

Developers hope to attract an organic grocer and a large sporting goods chain. The project would also feature a 22,000-square-foot food hall.

“We would be the only one in south Atlanta to offer that kind of product,” said Max Grelier, chief development officer for RCP Companies. “We are doing this at a scale to meet demand in the market. We feel like this is an emerging market.”

A market study from Robert Charles Lesser & Co. that said Henry County can support up to an additional 750,000 square feet of retail over the next five years. Within a five-mile radius of the project, annual retail expenditures are estimated at $755 million, or 46 percent of total household expenses.

Stockbridge is looking at a public-private partnership to help fund an outdoor amphitheater at the project, but said it was too early to discuss details. Developers are also seeking approval of the project for annexation into Stockbridge. A meeting is set for March.

Existing wetlands on the site would become an amenity for visitors with a bike path, boardwalk bridge and trails. The project would also have a direct connection to Henry Town Center, a massive retail project with big-box tenants.

Some local retail experts see the project as an exciting investment for Henry County. The area has a tremendous population density that is highly attractive to expanding retailers.

The project will draw from a large trade area that is currently drastically underserved by cutting-edge, mixed-use projects offering significant unique dining, entertainment and recreational amenities.

42-Story Luxury Hotel/Condo Tower Planned In Midtown

Developer Trillist and Los Angeles-based lifestyle hospitality company SBE are preparing to build SLS Atlanta Hotel & Residences, a new 42-story structure that would stand at 1122 Crescent Avenue in Midtown.

The development would consist of 213 hotel rooms and 56 condominiums (not apartments, as has been the case with most recent Midtown residential construction).

Condo units would range between 1,600 square feet and 4,000 square feet, and contain a mix of two-, three- and four-bedroom units.

SLS Atlanta marks the 14th property in the growing line-up of SLS Hotel & Residences, and by 2019, the brand is expected to boast over 3,900 hotel rooms and 1,600 residences worldwide.

The first launch of this new concept will be SLS Brickell Hotel & Residences set to debut in June 2016 in Miami, followed by projects in The Bahamas, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., and Argentina.

“This project will be the achievement of a shared vision to create a personal and intimate experience that incorporates leading edge design with outstanding services that reflect the best of the cultural life of Atlanta,” added Scott Leventhal, co-founder, president & CEO of Thrillist.

“Midtown Atlanta is already home to arts, culture, commerce and superior infrastructure to any other region in the metropolitan Atlanta area, and the addition of this premier mixed-use development will further shine the spotlight on Midtown as an internationally recognized destination.

SLS Atlanta is located in the center of the arts and cultural district of Atlanta, which includes the Woodruff Arts Center and High Museum of Art, the proposed new home of the Atlanta Symphony. The property is also one block from Midtown Mile, an approximately one mile stretch of Peachtree Street.

SLS Atlanta Hotel & Residences will break ground in early 2017 with completion anticipated by early 2019.