With its strict height limits, Bay Harbor Islands will never have massive condominium towers like its neighboring coastal cities, but that hasn’t stopped developers from descending on the town with plans for boutique projects.
Located in Biscayne Bay between North Miami Beach and Bal Harbour, Bay Harbor Islands has a dozen projects totaling nearly 500 residential units under construction or proposed. That’s a good amount of activity for a town with just over 5,800 residents.
The building boom skipped over Bay Harbor Islands 15 years ago, but new zoning rules have made it more clear what developers can build now, Mayor Joshua Fuller said.
The maximum height is 75 feet and underground parking is not allowed. The town also has a finite number of units available for development, so to reach the density levels they want, developers must often purchase the development rights from other properties in the town and transfer them to their sites.
“We have a small-town feel, we’re incredibly safe and you can walk to an A-rated school,” Fuller said. “We have a real sense of community.”
Developer James Curnin moved to Bal Harbour from New York and ended up driving through Bay Harbor Islands all the time.
“It was clean, quiet and pristine – but, wow, all of these buildings were stuck in the 1950s,” he said. “It was an almost forgotten-about piece of real estate in Miami.”
Curnin, the founder and CEO of Clara Homes, now has three boutique apartment projects in the works in the town. Since most of the units on the islands are older, there isn’t much competition for luxury apartments, and he believes he can charge rents between $5 and $7 a square foot.
Miami-based Terra will break ground in October on a mixed-use project featuring condos, offices and retail space. CEO David Martin said he likes the town because it has a high barrier to entry that limits competition from other developers, and it appeals to people who want to live there. Some buyers prefer a boutique building that’s less crowded than a high-rise on Brickell, he said.
Bay Harbor Islands hasn’t had a new office building in decades, Martin noted.
“There’s already a group of executives and CEOs who live in the neighborhood, and they want to work close to where they live,” he said.
After building the high-end Continuum South Beach in Miami Beach, Ian Bruce Eichner of New York-based Continuum Co. chose Bay Harbor Islands for his next South Florida projects. He has one La Baia condominium sold out and under construction, with a second not far behind. Prices started at $810,000.
Eichner said he’s been looking at the town for four years. He was attracted to the two waterfront sites because they were approved for private marinas and were within walking distance of the Bal Harbour Shops and the beach.
“Most of the buildings with boat access on the island are more than 20 years old,” Eichner said. “From an aesthetic point of view and for the amenities, this is a whole different generation of building.”
Thirty percent of the La Baia buyers are from northeastern states, and the rest are locals, he said.
The Onda condominium, a joint venture between CMC Group and Morabito Properties, is 85% sold, CEO Valerio Morabito said. About 85% of its buyers are from North America, with many from New York and California. Most are families that intend to live in the building, which is under construction.
“We have no investors in the building,” Morabito said.
In addition to all the development, the existing condo market in the town has seen greater price increases than Miami-Dade County as a whole. Ana Bozovic, founder of Analytics Miami, found median condo prices increased 148%, to $620,000, in Bay Harbor Islands from 2019 to July 2022. That compared to a 59% increase countywide.
The luxury market roared to life in the town last year, with 20 condo sales of $1 million or greater in the first seven months of 2021, compared to only three in all of 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic spurred more domestic migration, Bozovic said.
“Where there was previously virtually no $1 million-plus market, now there is a flourishing one,” she said. “The reason is because the area is prime, close to or on the water, and has not already been developed for luxury.”
With the threat of rising sea level, the islands have some environmental challenges. Fuller said the biggest issue is repairing the Broad Causeway, as it’s the second-oldest bridge in Miami-Dade and needs to be completely replaced in the near future. The town has some money saved up, but it is working to partner with federal and state agencies to obtain the funds for the project.
Bay Harbor Islands has had some flooding issues during king tides, which it has dealt with by fixing drainage pipes so they don’t allow water to flow in reverse into the streets, Fuller said. However, unlike Miami Beach, the town doesn’t have room for large pumps, so it needs other methods of water drainage after heavy rains.
“There is a limit to how much we can do about sea level rise as a small municipality,” Fuller said. “We are looking at possibilities for additional drainage and other methods to force water off the islands.”
Projects in Bay Harbor Islands
Mixed-use project
Address: 1177 Kane Concourse
Developer: Terra
Size: 90 condos, 98,800 square feet of offices, 14,900 square feet of commercial space
Status: Under construction
Onda
Address: 1135 103rd St.
Developers: CMC Group and Morabito Properties
Size: 41 condos
Status: Under construction
La Baia
Address: 9201 E. Bay Harbor Drive
Developer: Continuum Co.
Size: 68 condos
Status: Under construction
La Baia II
Address: 9461 E. Bay Harbor Drive
Developer: Continuum Co.
Size: 74 condos
Status: Proposed
BH Bay Harbor
Address: 10290 E. Bay Harbor Drive
Developer: BH Group
Size: 35 condos
Status: Proposed
BH Bay Harbor II
Address: 1165 97th St.
Developer: BH Group
Size: 31 condos
Status: Proposed
Clara Homes 100
Address: 1145 100th St.
Developer: Clara Homes
Size: 45 apartments
Status: Proposed
Clara Bay Harbor Drive
Address: 10200 E. Bay Harbor Drive
Developer: Clara Homes
Size: 77 apartments
Status: Proposed
Clara West Bay Road
Address: 10281 W. Bay Road
Developer: Clara Homes
Size: 28 apartments
Status: Proposed
Allure Bay Harbor
Address: 1055 92nd St.
Developer: Allure Development Group
Size: 26 condos
Status: Under construction
Alana Bay Harbor Islands
Address: 9901 W. Bay Harbor Drive
Developer: Alta Developers
Size: 30 units
Status: Proposed
One Kane Concourse
Address: 9551 E. Bay Harbor Drive
Developer: Taubco
Size: 107,650 square feet of office and retail
Status: Proposed
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