Learning about real estate along the Miami River

Students and faculty of FIU’s Hollo School of Real Estate spent a beautiful fall day cruising along the Miami River as part of the program’s practical learning experience.

The annual Miami River Real Estate Development Tour offered students a firsthand look at the booming billion-dollar area, guided by developers, realtors, local government officials and other experts who shared insights about the area’s opportunities.

“Today you’re going to be immersed in real estate – immersed in the boom and bust of the Miami River,” Suzanne Hollander, an attorney and real estate broker who teaches at the College of Business and led and organized the boat tour, told participants as they boarded the “Island Queen.” There are currently 150 projects, including roughly 40,000 residential units, underway in downtown Miami, many along the river.

A working waterway, the Miami River runs 5.5 miles from Miami International Airport to Biscayne Bay. Boatyards, shipping terminals and bait-and-tackle shops share the river’s banks with restaurants, residential properties, parks, luxury hotels and impressive high-rises.

“This is such an iconic part of the city and you can see it differently from the water,” said Michelle Gonzalez, a student in the Master of Science in International Real Estate program (MSIRE). “There are still a lot of undeveloped areas with so much potential.”

Today, the Miami River is in the midst of a renaissance.

The Epic Hotel & Residences, completed in 2009, was one of the leaders of downtown Miami’s transformation. Since then, new construction has been in overdrive, explained several local development executives participating on the cruise.

Swire Properties’ $1.05 billion Brickell City Center is slated to open in fall 2016 and will include office, residential, hotel, entertainment and retail components. Still on the drawing board is River Landing, a mixed-use project on the site of the old Mahi Shrine Auditorium near the civic center that will include two rental towers with a total of 475 units and a five-story shopping center with roughly 426,000 square feet of retail space.

Now in its fifth year, the Miami River Boat Tour drew 130 undergraduate and graduate students as well as alumni. It’s an important component of FIU’s Real Estate programs, which was launched 10 years ago.

Guests included Alyce Robertson, director of the Miami Downtown Development Authority, and Luciana Gonzalez, assistant director of planning for the City of Miami. Additionally, alumna Ivonne Heredia of Eagle Home Mortgage and Orlando Oliva, assistant vice president commercial lending at Total Bank, shared insights on what is driving the infusion of dollars into downtown Miami.

Among the topics discussed during the two-hour cruise were zoning regulations, land use and sustainable development.

Gonzalez explained the multiple zoning areas the river offers and highlighted its potential as a residential and commercial hub, including its industrial footprint. Each sector has a direct impact on Miami’s economy.

Brett Bibeau, director of the Miami River Commission, agreed: “We believe a mixed use river can peacefully coexist.”

Miami’s Downtown Development Authority projects the area will have 92,000 residents by 2019. Millennials seeking out an urban lifestyle, many of them lured by affordable rents, are driving much of that growth.

“We started pushing the message that downtown wasn’t a ghost town,” said Robertson from the Downtown Development Authority, who provided participants with its annual report of real estate trends. “Today it’s a vibrant area with a vibrant economy – and we’re making it a more walkable, livable area.”