The first condo tower in the mixed-use project Downtown Doral has just sold out, according to a recent article from The Real Deal. The 203-units at 5252 Paseo were sold predominantly to foreign investors from Latin America, claims Ana Codina Barlick, CEO of developers Codina Partners. The units were priced from $279,990 to $909,000 and the Sieger-Suarez designed tower is expected to open at the end of this year. Amenities include golf course views, valet, a 24/7 front desk, pool, spa, gym, catering and children’s play area. An additional 2,000 residential units will be added to Downtown Doral before it’s completed in 2020. The plans currently include eight to nine mid-rise condo towers, more than 1 million square feet of office space, a K-5 charter school, and 70 retail stores and restaurants, including a UPS store, AT&T, Marilyn Monroe Spa and Nail Salon, and popular eateries Pisco y Nazca and Dragonfly.
The suburb of Doral has become one of Miami’s fastest growing areas, and developers are trying to update the industrial town, with plans to add pedestrian-friendly, retail-centric projects over the next several years. According to a recent article from the Miami Herald, the developments will bring close to 5,600 new luxury residential units, priced between $300 and $400 a sqaure foot, and 1.75 million square feet of restaurants, shops and office space to Doral.
The $1 billion Codina Partners project, Downtown Doral, is the closest to announcing their first stage, closely followed by Century Homebuilders Group and Optimus Developers’ Midtown Doral and Terra Group’s Doral Commons, both of which are located in the northwestern part of town. And now Jorge Pérez, of the South Florida heavyweight, Related Group, has announced their planned presence in the area, with a planned $800 million project at 8300 Doral Blvd. The development, called CityPlace Doral, will include over 1,200 luxury condos, apartments, and single-family homes. 250,000 square feet of retail space will also be included, featuring a movie theater, supermarket, bowling alley, and more than 20 restaurants. Related plans to open the dining-and-shopping area by the end of 2016. “We are creating a central space for Doral,” Pérez said. “We want this to be the town center where you can come to shop, to have fun with your kids, to have a nice dinner, to stay out late at a bar. We are putting all this together in one place.”
Some may think that the suburb of Doral might be a surprising location for condos and rentals, with a strong industrial history. Pérez suggests though that the large number of employers located there, coupled with its convenient location near major highways and the airport make Doral a great spot for urban development. And with a median household income higher than that in Miami-Dade, many believe the area is due for a face-lift, considering it lacks the upscale dining and shopping options found elsewhere.
South Florida was originally designed by urban planners to separate residential, industrial, and commercial districts, leading to severe congestion as the millions of residents travelled to work, home, and out for entertainment and leisure. The many mixed-use developments in South Florida hope to improve the tiresome traffic issues by creating “live, work, play” projects that allow communities to become more pedestrian-friendly. “We’re very excited about seeing this new kind of development come to Doral,” Doral city manager, Edward Rojas said. “Luxury condos next to retail and restaurants next to office space will create a more urban, pedestrian and bike-friendly setting.”