MIAMI-Despite the state of the residential market in South Florida, Flagler Development Group has broken ground on Cordoba, a $50 million, 224-unit condominium building in the City of Doral. The residences are part of the Coral Gables-based developer's plans to turn a 120-acre office park formerly known as Kroger Center into a mixed-use Downtown Doral concept set to include 2,840 residential units, 180,000 square feet of retail, 400,000 square feet of office, 100,000 square feet of civic space, a three-acre park and a site for an elementary school.

The site is owned by a fund managed by JP Morgan and will be purchased by Flagler over the next ten years, says Chris Cobb, vice president of residential development for Flagler. The exact value of the project at full build out can not yet be determined, he says, but will be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

The four-story condominium structure being erected on the site will feature amenities such as landscaped courtyards, a pool, clubhouse with fitness center, private patios and a community room. The project is scheduled for completion in summer of 2010 with prices starting in the mid $200,000s and is currently 25% pre sold, according to Cobb. The residential development is fully financed by JP Morgan. John Moriarty & Associates of Florida is the general contractor for the building and the architect is Miami based MSA Architects Inc.

"In Doral there isn't an oversupply of condos like there is on the eastern side of the county," Cobb tells GlobeSt.com. "In western Miami-Dade they are much fewer and far between, so we think there is an unmet market there. Because our town center concept is a long term, ten year project our partners believe we need to have our development under way to establish ourselves as a leader in the Doral market in a couple of years when the economy recovers."

The area to be known as Downtown Doral, located at NW 53rd Street between NW 87th Avenue and NW 79th Avenue, currently has one completed office condominium building, the 65,000-square-foot 7950 Professional Center. The three-story structure was an existing building in the office park that has recently been renovated and is now 30% sold and closed.

Flagler plans to commence construction on the site's first new 150,000-square-foot office building in the second quarter of 2009 to be delivered in the third quarter of 2010. The developer has pre-leased 28% of the proposed six-story structure to a tenant that can not yet be disclosed, says Cobb.