Skyline Equities Completes $90M Brickell Condo Acquisition

The advisors to the seller were Jay H. Massirman, EVP; Robert Given, VP, and Charles Crapse, senior associate in the Miami office of CB Richard Ellis.

BCOM initially named the project Brickell Bay Village and envisioned it as a rental property. However, in January 2002, prior to groundbreaking, the CBRE advisor team sourced Chicago-based Skyline Equity, a developer and converter of luxury condos, to contract the property as a pre-sale investment opportunity. Equity signed and, Givens tells GlobeSt.com, Evangeline Goulitas, CEO of Miami's Skyline operation, spearheaded the process of pre-selling condominiums. The property remained under contract to Skyline through construction and completed the purchase this month when the building received its certificate of occupancy.

Givens says the condos "was almost sold out" at the time of the acquisition. Goulitas could not be reached by press time. According to published reports, pre-construction prices for condo units ranged from the $280,000s to more than $1 million. The 34-story building is located on nearly 3.4 acres at 2101 Brickell Ave. It includes a private marina with 13 boat slips, 555 parking spaces, a pool, business and fitness centers, sun deck, children's playground and 24-hour concierge. Units have floor-to-ceiling windows.

Massirman says, "the direct frontage on Biscayne Bay, city views, and proximity to the CBD created an ideal opportunity for a successful condominium conversion. The Brickell area has proven to be one of the most active development corridors in South Florida." He further notes that the area's "macro fundamentals" have accounted for more than two-thirds of CBRE's nearly $1.8 billion in South Florida multifamily transactions purchased by condo conversion investors.

According to Crapse, "the unique pre-sale structure of this transaction allowed BCOM to both minimize its development risk and capitalize on the unprecedented demand for condominium conversions." BCOM, which is headed by Michael Baumann and Aslan Palachi, is a union-only real estate manager and developer focused on producing returns in excess of 17% a year for its pension-plan clients and in creating trade union jobs and organizing new trade union members.