A global pattern helping cool down the tropics has eased — and storms are almost certainly on the way, experts say.

It sure hasn’t felt like it on the melting asphalt of Miami and Fort Lauderdale, but some parts of the tropics have seen an unusual cool snap over the last several weeks.

Unfortunately, that cool, dry air was confined to layers several hundred feet aloft over both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, but it still offered South Florida some relief: It put a chill on hurricane development.

Hope you enjoyed the calm before the storms. Because hurricane experts say they are almost certainly on the way — possibly in bunches. The brief reprieve offered by an unexpectedly stable global pattern has expired, right in time for what, starting Friday, has historically been the hottest stretch of hurricane season.

“Aug. 20 is that one day when we say the bell tolls,” said Todd Kimberlain, a hurricane specialist with the National Hurricane Center. `It’s right around the time when we see this huge ramp-up.”

How huge, no one can say for sure. Early in August, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration slightly reduced its seasonal forecast but still stressed that all the atmospheric conditions were there to brew an above-average season: 18 to 20 named storms and 10 to 12 hurricanes, five to six of those Category Three or stronger.

Joe Bastardi, a hurricane expert for AccuWeather.com, believes 2010 can still live up to its billing, with potential for “an upcoming frenzy of storms, days with two or three storms on the chart.”

Bastardi, in his preseason forecast, predicted as many as eight storms making U.S. landfall. So far, Hurricane Alex hit Mexico and brushed Texas and Tropical Storm Bonnie blew mildly across South Florida before dissipating in the Gulf of Mexico.

BY CURTIS MORGAN

CMORGAN@MIAMIHERALD.COM

Innovation lures luxury fashion, celebrity parties,penthouse dwellers, restaurant and, oh yes, 300 cars

Come and see the new innovative  garage in Miami Beach. A seventh-level aerie atop a surreal parking garage that serves at times as party space !

This $65-million bravura composition of intersecting planes and angular piers, called 1111 Lincoln Road, does indeed park 300 cars in its mostly wall-free structure. It includes fashion retailers and residences.

The different levels rhythmically jut forward and recede. The floor heights range from the parking standard of about seven feet to as high as 34 feet.

The architectural allure and the view are why the garage is in demand for weddings and other fetes. Developer Robert Wennett, president of Urban Investment Advisors, cooked up an idiosyncratic commercial formula: Architecturally spectacular parking structure attracts high-end retail, which helps sell a penthouse residence and attract events.

Standing improbably alone on the fifth floor, a glass jewel box of a store is a delight to encounter. Called Alchemist, it sets out the wares of sought-after designers such as Rick Owens, Martin Margiela and Chrome Hearts as if they were precious artworks. It need not share street frontage with beachwear boutiques because it is a destination for aficionados. With only parked cars for company, the cognitive dissonance of its location telegraphs chic.

Wennett is finishing an all-glass rooftop restaurant and building a penthouse residence.

By any conventional real-estate formula, neither the building form nor the odd revenue-producing combination makes any sense. It’s hard to see where the architectural concept ends and Wennett’s commercial savvy begins.

Technically the garage is an addition to a beefy, unloved cast-concrete building put up in 1968 and formerly occupied by SunTrust bank. Its deeply recessed windows and bulging forms shout fortress.

With $6.2 million from the city of Miami Beach, landscape architect-du-jour Raymond Jungles extended the pedestrian mall a full block to front 1111. He installed striped black-and-white stone paving, towering bald cypresses, round burbling pools and a curvy Dan Graham glass sculpture.

This bossa nova setting helped Wennett lure high-style fashion retailers as well as Taschen, an art-book store, Inkanta, a design store, and a just-opened Miami outpost of restaurateur Danny Meyer’s Shake Shack. Wennett personally sought the retailers he thought would make the whole add up to more than the sum of its parts.

It’s a landmark to Miami’s increasingly cosmopolitan and international allure.

JAMES S. RUSSELL
BLOOMBERG NEWS
(Jul 24, 2010)

Too noisy !!!

The real-estate magnate turned tv-tycoon is suing the airport and the county of Palm Beach in a decades-old disagreement over noise control at the Florida flight hub, which is near his ritzy Mar-a-Lago home.

The lawsuit also names the airport’s director, Bruce Pelly.

The suit seeks to block the planned expansion of the airport, and to prevent flights over Trump’s home.

Trump was part of a group that founded the Good Neighbor Council of Aircraft Noise Control, which has fought to keep noisy planes away from the area.

Bethesda-based Marriott has purchased the former Seville Beach Hotel in Miami Beach, FL for $57.5 M.

HFF executive managing director Manny de Zárraga, senior managing directors Dan Carlo and Daniel Peek, and director Jaret Turkell represented the 2901 Beach Ventures, LLLP ownership group, on an exclusive basis. The venture is a partnership between affiliates of Fortune International and Lionstone Group. An affiliate of Marriott International purchased the site for $57.5 million in cash. Both Fortune and Lionstone have been retained by Marriott on a consulting basis for the new project.

Located along Collins Avenue between 29th and 30th Streets in Miami Beach, the hotel and development sites encompassed nearly 4.5 acres on both the east and west sides of Collins Avenue. The property included 350 feet of frontage along the Atlantic Ocean and 100 feet of frontage along Indian Creek Drive. The east lot is improved with the former Seville Beach Hotel, a 12-story structure that was gutted in anticipation of a redevelopment program. The site has the ability of being developed as a residential or hotel project or any combination thereof.

“The sale of the Seville is among the most significant hotel sale transactions of 2010 in the southeast United States,” Said Peek. “This sale highlights the exceptional confidence held by institutional investors in the Miami Beach hospitality investment sector.”

“Originally built in 1955, the Seville Beach Hotel was for many years a global playground for the rich and famous, and was considered one of the most prestigious hotels in Miami Beach,” said de Zárraga.

“Real estate along South Beach rarely changes hands, with most of the properties considered to be generational assets,” added Carlo. “Miami Beach is woefully underrepresented within the major hotel brands.”

LEBRON JAMES MOVES TO MIAMI

The announcement that LeBron James will be playing for the Miami Heat next season has some real estate agents very excited.

A report in US Weekly has LeBron already planning to party in South Beach, renting out cabanas at the W Hotel. James will stay there briefly before heading to New York City for the wedding of Carmelo Anthony and Lala Vasquez.

But where will LeBron lives permanently once he heads to Miami? One rumor had him making an offer on a $49.5 million waterfront estate in Coral Gables.

Coral Gables is home to many athletesbut a 20,000 square-foot house would actually be a step down for James who has a 35,000 square foot palace in Akron, Ohio. Will that home hit the market? It seems unlikely. The home was built to his specifications and he’d be hard-pressed to get any decent return on his substantial investment. He also has deep ties to the community.

Another potential neighborhood for LeBron James could be Star Island, the former home of Shaquille O’Neal. But LeBron James might want to wait before putting down real estate roots. Some of the athletes we’ve seen try to sell their home in Florida have had a rough time including Miami Heat’s Dwayne Wade who struggled to unload his Pinecrest home.

Article from http://www.luxist.com/

The Red Bull Flugtag in Miami, an event not to miss!

For some months, the famous  energy drink brand grabs all the communication means to assure the succes of the 2010 Edtion of its famous atypical cruise in Miami.

REDBULL GIVES YOU WINGS !

Thanks to its aggressive international marketing campaigns, tournament sponsorship and celebrity endorsements, Red Bull have succeed impose its brand in the energy drinks market.

Red Bull Flugtag challenges the brave and brainy to design, build and pilot homemade flying machines off a 30-foot high flight deck in hopes of soaring into the wild blue yonder…or often, plunging into the waters below.                                                                                     Flugtag, which means “flying day” in German, pushes the envelope of human-powered flight. Teams are judged on three criteria: flight distance, creativity of the craft, and showmanship. And after a year with no Red Bull Flugtag in the U.S., 2010 promises to be bigger and better than ever !

RED BULL  FLY HIGH !

This won’t be Red Bull Flugtag’s first cruise in Miami’s coastal waters, having splash-landed here in 2004, but the memorable crafts, the wild crowd and the city’s taste for flare drew this outrageous competition back to Miami’s waterways. This July 10th, more than 30 teams from across the Southeast will test the limits of human-powered flight in front of thousands at Bayfront Park before splashing into the waters of Biscayne Bay below.

Since the first Red Bull Flugtag took place in Vienna, Austria, in 1991, more than 40 Flugtags have been held around the globe, attracting up to 300,000 spectators for a single event.  The record for the farthest flight-to-date currently stands at 195 feet and was set at Red Bull Flugtag Austria in 2000.  A new U.S. record was set in 2007 at Red Bull Flugtag Nashville when a flying banjo flew 155 feet. Just enjoy the pics !

D-DAY

Entry is totally free to the public and open to all ages.

TERRA BEACHSIDE

6000 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach, FL 33140

Terra BeachSide, just located on Collins Avenue and 60^th Street, is an architecturally sophisticated property that embodies contemporary living on Miami Beach.

Terra Beachside Villas brings volume of space, light, comfort and luxury, combined in grand proportion. With flawlessly designed units named Fire, Water, Earth and Wind, Terra Beachside South Beach also feature a magnificent 400-foot-zen-like garden enclosed by a translucent atrium roof.

The 117 residences, including 1 BR – 2BR and 3 BR, feature a voluminous 18-foot ceiling height in the living rooms and come appointed with high end European finishes in the kitchen and bathrooms. A three-story Lifestyle Center is a focal point of the property with a curving lap pool, Jacuzzi, Fitness Center, and so much more amenities as :

- High-tech electronic security and surveillance

- 24-hour Security

- Secured and covered garage parking

- Lifestyle center

- Media room

- Internet wifi/cable

- Direct beach acces

These townhome-style beach residences are the creation of the Sieger-Suarez architecture group, the firm that has brought us Apogee, Murano Grande and ICON.  In the Sieger tradition, all residences have a natural and comfortable design and feel, and they make tremendous use of space.

Collins Avenue runs right along the Miami Beach coatline, meaning Terra Beachside Villas residents simply need to hop over across the street to enjoy the radiant rays of the South Florida sunshine, the breathtaking assortment of activities, dining and culture that lies elsewhere would be too long to list here but chances are you’ll always find something new to do each and every day when living in Miami Beach…

MONDRIAN SOUTH BEACH

1100 WEST AVENUE, MIAMI BEACH, FL, 33139

The Mondrian South Beach, belonging to The Morgan’s Hotel Group which already has developed numerous luxurious hotels on the continent as in New-York, San Francisco and Las Vegas,  is a real estate masterpiece.

The Mondrian condo hotel is located on the Biscayne Bay side of Miami Beach. Sitting on newly fashionable West Avenue, just minutes from the dynamic center of South Beach, The Mondrian South Beach proposes you a total of 335 residences, including studios, 1 BR – 2 BR and Tower Suites Penthouses, all offering a spectacular view of the ocean, Bay and Downtown Miami.

Just named by two famous American newspapers as ” the Best New Business Hotel ” in the entire US among their Top 10 picks Worldwide, Mondrian South Beach naturally stands out by its exhilarating design elements of a fantasy modern get-away combined with all the comforts and conveniences of home. You will find at The Mondrian Miami a unique feeling of comfort and well-being, mixed with a modern and trendy atmosphere.

Designed by the multiple award-winning Dutch designer, Marcel Wanders, the luxurious Mondrian gets all the advantages of a home-away-from-home with the full services of a boutique hotel, including a five star restaurant, a sunset bar, two large swimming pools, a spa featuring wet and dry treatment rooms, a state of the art gym, a chic event spaces, a private Marina with a dock master & sand barge, and more amenities as :

- Global card / VIP privileges at all Morgan’s Properties,
- Use of Mondrian, Delano and Shore Club facilities,
- Wi-Fi in all meeting rooms and lobby areas,
- VIP seating Asia de Cuba and Blue Door,
- 24 hour five star concierge services, Room services, Valet parking and doormen
- Jet-Ski and Kayak rentals
- Laundry services…

‘jl

Never again in Miami Beach will there be a better time to acquire a fully furnished, turnkey, state-of-the-art-designed,new construction residence at MONDRIAN South Beach !

This list of tallest buildings in Miami ranks skyscrapers in the U.S. city of Miami, Florida by height.

Four Seasons Miami - 240 meters

The tallest building in Miami is the 70-story Four Seasons Hotel Miami, which rises 789 feet (240 m) in the city’s Brickell district and was completed in 2003.  It also stands as the tallest building in the state of Florida and the 51st-tallest building in the United States. The second-tallest skyscraper in the city is the Wachovia Financial Center, which rises 764 feet (233 m). Nine of the ten tallest buildings in Florida are located in Miami.
Miami’s history of skyscrapers began with the 1912 completion of the Burdine’s Department Store, although the Freedom Tower, built in 1925, is Miami’s best known early skyscraper, and remains an icon of the city.

Miami is currently going through its largest building boom in the city’s history. In what is being dubbed a “Manhattanization wave”, there are currently nearly 60 structures proposed, approved or under construction in the city that are planned to rise over 500 feet (152 m) in height. The city is the site of 27 completed skyscrapers over 500 feet (152 m) tall, with 6 more under construction.
Overall, Miami’s skyline is ranked first in the Southeast and third in the United States, after New York City and Chicago. By 2010, Miami is expected to have one of largest skylines in the world. Of the ten tallest buildings in the city, only three were completed prior to 2007. In addition, only four of the city’s 25 tallest buildings were completed before the year 2000.

• 1    Four Seasons Hotel & Tower    794 ft / 242m    70 floors      Built in 2003    163rd-tallest building in the world, 47th-tallest in the United States. Has been the tallest building in Miami and Florida since 2003

• 2    Wachovia Financial Center    764 ft / 233m    56 floors    Built in 1984    Tallest all-office building in the city and the state. Formerly known as Southeast Bank Center and First Union Financial Center. Tallest building built in Miami in the 1980s.

• 3    Marquis Miami 700 ft / 214m    67 floors    Built in 2008    Tallest all-residential skyscraper in the Southeastern U.S

• 4    900 Biscayne Bay 650 ft / 198m   63 floors   Built in 2008

• 5    Met 2 Office Tower*    647 ft / 197m    47 floors    Built in 2010    Topped out in August 2009

• 6    Mint at Riverfront    631 ft / 192m   55 floors Built in 2008

• 7    Infinity at Brickell    630 ft / 192m   53 floors    Built in 2008

• 8    Miami Tower    625 ft/ 191m 47 floors  Built in 1986    Formerly known as CenTrust Tower and Bank of America Tower

• 9    Marina blue 615 ft / 187m    58 floors    Built in 2007

• 10   Plaza on Brickell Tower I    610 ft / 186m    57 floors  Built in  2007

New rule says banks must prove ownership before foreclosing

BY KIMBERLY MILLER

Palm Beach Post