Condo Education

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SPOTLIGHT

With many condominiums staring down costly repair bills and needing professional oversight, Florida International University’s College of Business is offering a training certificate program for board members and owners.

Participants will learn about managing attorneys, finance and insurance representatives along with budget issues and overseeing repair work. The instruction is offered online and taught by Patrick Hohman, author of Condos, Townhomes and Homeowner Associations: How to Make Your Investment Safer.

As FLORIDA TREND reported in October, more than 2 million Floridians live in condominiums facing reinspections following the 2021 collapse of Surfside’s Champlain Towers South. State law passed in the wake of the disaster subjects any condominium 30 years or older and above three stories to structural inspections.

The findings could lead to whopping assessments on each unit owner, and Hohman notes that condo boards “are often financially stressed, under-reserved, and (have) heavy board turnover.” FIU says it is the fi rst major state university to offer a certificate program that’s approved by the state for required condominium board member training.

ENERGY

• Origis Energy, headquartered in Miami, secured $317 million in project tax equity funding from J.P. Morgan to build solar and solar battery storage plants in New Mexico and Mississippi. The project tax equity includes two incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act, a federal investment tax credit and a production tax credit enacted in 2022.

NON-PROFITS

• Miami-Dade’s year-old Innovation Authority, a non-profi t that aims to fast-track technology that solves key problems in the community, announced the recipients of its fi rst Public Innovation Challenge. Each project aims to find environmentally friendly uses for sargassum seaweed, also known as brown tide, that can clog South Florida beaches. Miami-based Chemergy and Algas will each receive $100,000 to test their ideas, which involve turning the excess seaweed into hydrogen and using it to improve plant growth. Britain’s X-MET and Boston’s Carbonwave are the other two recipients. The challenges are funded by $3 million each from Miami-Dade County, the Knight Foundation and Citadel CEO Ken Griffi n.
• Miami Waterkeeper is using an Environmental Protection Agency grant to launch a Green Infrastructure Accelerator Project. It seeks public suggestions for up to eight infrastructure ideas to curb flooding and reduce heat in urban areas by leveraging underutilized open spaces. One Water Academy, Everglades Law Center, the University of Miami College of Engineering, P.E.E.R. Group and the University of Miami Environmental Justice Clinic also are part of the project.

REAL ESTATE

• JLL will lead leasing efforts for a 750,000-sq.-ft. office tower coming to Brickell Avenue. Key International and Sterling Bay are teaming up to develop the 51-story building. Designs call for expansive balconies and courtyards with ground-floor retail. Groundbreaking on 848 Brickell is scheduled for the second quarter.
• The MSC Group is uniting its various cruise and shipping operations under one roof in a $100-million building coming to Sawyer’s Walk in Miami’s Overtown neighborhood. The 130,000-sq.-ft. offi ce will house 250 employees. MSC Cargo has been based in Miami for 25 years. MSC Cruises is setting up its North American headquarters there and is building a terminal at PortMiami that can handle 36,000 passengers per day.
• Merrimac Ventures and Aria Development Group secured a $95-million construction loan for a 32-story condominium tower within Miami Center. Their 600 Miami Worldcenter already is sold out, with the bulk of buyers from the United States, Colombia, Turkey and Argentina. It features a rooftop swimming pool and carries no limits on short-term rentals. Its 606 units start at $400,000 and include studios and one- and two-bedroom apartments.

RETAIL

• Angel Cabrera has been named senior general manager of CityPlace Doral and will oversee property operations, special events, marketing and other functions for the 250,000-sq.-ft. shopping, dining and entertainment destination. Cabrera previously ran malls throughout the state and spent the last seven years managing the Broward Mall in Plantation.

TOURISM

• American Airlines has added twice-weekly nonstop flights — on Tuesdays and Saturdays — to Eleuthera in the Bahamas. The airline already has routes to five other Bahamian islands for a total of 30 weekly flights.

Tags: Miami-Dade, Real Estate, Feature