Centro Breaks Ground in Downtown Miami

By Scott Baltic, Contributing Editor

Construction has officially begun on Centro, a $90 million, 37-story, 352-unit residential condominium tower in Miami’s central business district, the partnership of developer Newgard Development Group, of Miami, and The Tilia Family of Cos., announced last Friday.
The building, at 151 SE First St., reportedly, is the first condo to break ground in the city’s CBD since the 2008 economic downturn.

Designed by Sieger Suarez Architectural Partnership, of Miami, and to be constructed by Tutor-Perini Building Corp., the tower is scheduled for delivery in 2015.
Centro’s loft-style residences will comprise one- and two-bedroom units (ranging from 546 to 1,173 square feet) with open-concept floor plans, 10-foot ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows with energy-efficient glass and balconies.
The interiors, based on a design concept by Yves Béhar, founder of San Francisco’s Fuseproject, will feature finished concrete floors; modern Italian kitchens, bathroom and light fixtures; Italian cabinetry; and stainless-steel, energy-smart appliances.

Amenities will include a two-story penthouse recreation area featuring a rooftop pool with 360-degree views, a health club and spa, a sky lounge, valet parking, an outdoor pet area with access control, 24-hour reception desk, multiple fully wired shared workspaces, and ground-floor restaurant and retail space.
About 75 percent of the building’s units have already been sold by hard contract, a Newgard spokesperson told Commercial Property Executive. Pre-construction prices run from the low $200,000s and to the mid-$400,000s.
“Today’s downtown Miami looks very different from that of five years ago,” Centro developer Harvey Hernandez, managing partner of Newgard Development Group, told CPE. “Our full-time residential population has doubled in size to nearly 80,000.”

With a thriving cultural scene that includes the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts and Museum Park with the Perez Art Museum Miami and Miami Science Museum, there’s a rapid growth of restaurants and retail businesses, and expanding public transportation.
“The time is right for a residential development like Centro. I expect that other developers will follow our lead,” Hernandez said.

Rather unusually, the building will not feature a parking garage. Instead, the Newgard spokesperson explained to CPE, residents can use an adjacent parking structure, available through 24/7 valet parking, or they can access an on-site fleet of Smart Cars through a partnership with the Car2Go vehicle-sharing program.
(The Tilia Family of Cos., which does not seem to have its own website, is described by several online sources as a group of family-owned and -operated ventures in the real estate, financial services and lifestyle industries.)