

became a roller-coaster ride back in 2002 through 2007 due to loans and mortgages being cheap and readily available, thus condo flippers were flipping several times before the buildings were even built, resulting in artificially inflated prices. At the height of the condo flipping in 2005-2006, prices for some brand new projects, like Jade Ocean Sunny Isles hit as much as $1,200 per square foot….
Since then most of properties lost 30% to 40% because most of the buyers had bailed out leaving the developers struggling to complete the projects and to sell the units all over again. However, things are looking brighter on the horizon – the prices are back to affordable again and the buyers are looking to capitalize on it.
Two most popular condos in Sunny Isles – Jade Beach and Jade Ocean
are making a comeback again. Jade Beach is completely sold out as of beginning of 2010 and Jade Ocean is not 60% sold and closed. Of course the prices are no longer $1,200 per sq.ft., but more like $450 and $500 per square foot, which of course is lot more affordable and in line with today’s luxury ocean front properties in Miami.
is situated directly on the Atlantic ocean, between Golden Beach real estate which is north of Sunny Isles and Bal Harbour real estate on the south side. Aventura condos are located West of Sunny Isles.
The most recent addition to an already impressive Sunny Isles condos are the three Trump Towers offering some 813 luxury ocean front units. Trump Tower I is already completely sold out, Trump Tower II is about 85% sold out and Trump Tower III is scheduled to start the sell out on September 15th. The prices will vary between the lowest $365 per square foot to just over $400 per square foot for higher floors which offer 11 foot ceilings and expansive South East views of Downtown Miami and of course the ocean.
Gil Dezer, president of Dezer Properties, says of Trump Towers: “We really set the floor for pricing in Miami, here we are in a Trump Tower building, selling at below $400 a foot on the ocean. People are waiting for the bottom, and I think we hit the floor.”
Dezer is also in charge of the nearby Trump Palace and Trump Royale, named Trump Grande Sunny Isles, another high-rise development on Collins Avenue in Sunny Isles Beach. The complex also includes Trump International hotel.
“We were averaging $800 a foot before (during the downturn), and now we’re getting about $400 a foot; we’re down literally 50 percent,” Dezer says of Trump Towers.
Edgardo Defortuna, president and CEO of Fortune International Development, says “We sold Jade Beach at an average of $540 a square foot; the resales went up to $750 a square foot, but some of those buyers didn’t close, and we ended up taking those units back.” However, in the last six months, Fortune International has managed to resell the remainder of Jade Beach’s 248 units. The sister project Jade Ocean is now selling eight to 12 units per month at an average of $625 per square foot.
In January, Dezer Development decided to bet even bigger on Sunny Isles by assuming a $265 million loan from a development partnership that included the Related Group in order to take over sales of Trump Towers. Since then, Dezer has sold about 285 apartments at Trump Towers at an average of around $420 per square foot.
Part of this success is thanks to Sunny Isles’ beach location surrounded by wealthy enclaves. Golden Beach homes, full of multimillion-dollar mansions (Ricky Martin has one), recently completed a $30 million civic improvement project that included landscaping and an eco-friendly storm-water drainage system.
Nearby Bal Harbour condos offer most sought after ocean front properties as well as a shopping destination that rivals top shopping in the world, comparable and some think even better than Rodeo Drive and Europe. And Aventura is a quiet golf and beach destination favored by Michael Jordan and a sharp set who can’t stand the bustle of South Beach.
“Friends bring their friends, relatives recommend Sunny Isles to their loved one’s, because those who live in Sunny Isles Beach simple love it!” says Edgardo Defortuna. “The Sunny Isles market has become very attractive once again.”