Relaxed and leisurely. That’s how North Beach, the Miami Beach neighborhood that stands in sharp contrast to oft-electric South Beach, was usually described. The family-friendly enclave marched to its own drummer, typically tapping a laid-back beat.
But the enclave once best described as “sleepy” is experiencing a true metamorphosis. A swell of new developments priced for just about every buyer has hit the nook, and North Beach is unlikely to ever be quite the same. In 2017, voters approved a change to the floor-area-ratio in North Beach Town Center. That opened the floodgates for the announcement of fresh new projects. Eight years later, 14 new developments are being created within an eight-block area. Noteworthy in Miami Beach, where new construction prices usually begin north of $1 million, Ella Miami Beach is a boutique condominium whose residences start at $600,000. With a slated completion in Q1 2027, the development from Constellation Group and Boschetti Group is 65% sold.
“North Beach has become the ‘hole in the donut,’ so to speak,” says Scott Wadler with Berkadia, which secured financing to develop Ella Miami Beach. “Bal Harbour and Surfside to the north are largely built out with single-family density, and mid-beach to the south is also largely built out with single-family density. North Beach is ripe for new development and has become highly desirable, given proximity and incredible views both east and west — ocean and bay.”
Evidence is mounting area buyers favor new condominiums, adds Eduardo Otaola, Constellation Group managing principal. “In this corridor, there’s a lack of boutique, well-amenitized buildings like Ella, especially those that allow short-term rentals,” he says. “That combination has made the project especially attractive to today’s buyers.”
Iconic Property
Easygoing and low-key though it might have been, North Beach over its long history has not been without its brushes with the white-hot klieg lights of sudden fame.
On Sunday, Feb. 16, 1964, as Beatlemania gripped the nation, the then 6-year-old Deauville Beach Resort at 6701 Collins Avenue played host to the second “Ed Sullivan Show” appearance by the Fab Four. Recently, the City of Miami Beach approved a proposal by Terra Group and the Meruelo family to develop on the site of the Deauville a new 100-unit branded condo and 150-room hotel in the MiMo style of its predecessor.
Short for Miami Modernism, MiMo is an avant-garde architectural style that flourished in post-war Miami and Miami Beach. It was employed by architect Melvin Grossman in designing the Deauville, which opened in 1957. After falling into disrepair, the hotel was imploded three years ago. “The Deauville project is more than just a high-profile development,” Otaola says. “It further validates North Beach’s potential and shifts Miami Beach’s center of gravity northward.”
Beach Activity
Also engaged in North Beach is an array of other developers, among them New York city-based Lefferts. The developer built 72 Park, the first luxury condo in North Beach. Prices begin at approximately $800,000 and extend to about $2 million, helping explain the condo tower having reached the 90% sold threshold. Lefferts’ pipeline also includes the 125-residence 72 Carlyle, the LEED-gold Palma Miami Beach and the boutique four-story residential community at 880 71st Street.
“North Beach is one of the last frontiers of Miami Beach with untapped potential,” says Daniel de la Vega, president of One Sotheby’s International Realty, which is handling sales for Ella. “You have a two-mile stretch of pristine coastline that’s been historically overlooked, compared to areas like South Beach or Sunny Isles. But that’s rapidly changing. North Beach is benefitting from the same upward trajectory we saw in neighborhoods like South of Fifth a decade ago.”
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