Foreign Developers Buy Up Miami CRE

The City of Miami, Fla., has been hunting overseas for prospective commercial developers in an attempt to revitalize its struggling commercial real estate market and minimize a projected $54 million budget deficit in 2012.

Asian companies Genting Malaysia Behrad and Hong Kong-based Swire Pacific Ltd. have decided to invest. Genting will pay $236 million for the former Miami Herald newspaper headquarters. It plans to build a $3 billion hotel resort on the 14-acre waterfront property. The foreign developer has said it hopes that Florida will begin licensing casino resorts in the near future.

Meanwhile, Swire is set to acquire various hotel, retail, residential, and office building properties for $700 million. Miami expects annual property taxes and permit fees from the project to bring in over $7 million in much-needed revenue that will provide some aid to its ailing budget.

Miami has also finalized agreements with British commercial real estate investors, and city officials said they look forward to beginning talks with Peruvian investors regarding a possible deal this winter. A Real Estate Capital Analytics, Inc. report revealed that Miami has already sold $447.9 million of commercial real estate in 2011.