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MIRAMAR, FL-The partnership between Rockefeller Group Development Corp. and Kimco Developers Inc., which was awarded the development contract for the 54-acre, mixed-use Miramar Town Center, has finalized an agreement with Miami-based Lowell Homes for the residential component of the center. It will consist of 500 for-sale residences in a mix of condos, townhouses and live/work units that include storefronts. The Rockefeller Group is New York City-based while Kimco resides in New Hyde Park, NY.

Lani Kahn Drody, Lowell's EVP, confirms to GlobeSt.com that her firm is buying land from the JV but says, "We're not prepared to discuss the business arrangement. It is complicated because residential is integrated with the retail and office space and includes condo units above ground-floor retail and live/work units that include storefronts." In all, she estimates that residential will total about 900,000 sf, or about 70% to 75% of the developed space, which also includes 175,000 sf of retail and 50,000 sf of office.

Construction will be phased in blocks, with groundbreaking for block three beginning with a parking garage in May. Residential preselling will begin in late April or early May. Drody anticipates groundbreaking for residential-over-retail units that wrap the garage will take place this November. "Demand for housing in Broward County is robust. There is no green land; infill is it. We expect to reach completion in 2009," she says.

No building will be higher than five stories. There will be 350 condos, "most over retail," says Drody, and 133 three-story townhouses, with the remainder as live/work units. Condo units include one-, two- and three-bedroom layouts ranging from 750 sf to 1,798 sf and priced from the mid-$200,000s to the low $400,000s. Townhouses will average 2,000 sf and sell in the low- to mid-$400,000s. "We're working hard to manage costs in order to make this a moderate priced community," she says. Lowell expects a $150-million sellout.

"We anticipate that the office space will be condo," Edgar Jones, senior director of Rockefeller Group's Miami-based Florida operation, tells GlobeSt.com, "although we haven't completely decided on that." It is likely the partnership will own the retail component and rent space. Pricing for retail and office is yet to be determined, Jones says. The $235-million value the JV attaches to the entire development is based on cap rates and other market factors.

Lowell is a prolific Miami-area residential builder doing business in South Florida for the past 19 years. It recently completed 350 single-family homes in nearby Monarch Lakes and more than 350 residential units in Pembroke Pines.

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UPDATE: Lowell Plans 500 Residential Units in $235M Town Center

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