$48M Office-Condo Project Lands on the Drawing Board

CORAL GABLES, FL-Venera Holdings LLC, whose president left Codina Group last after 13 years to develop independently, is planning to develop a $48-million, 100,000-sf medical/professional office condominium project in the southern end of the city.The project’s office condo size will range from 1,200 sf to 20,000 sf, and units will range priced between $285 and $305 per sf–a 1,200-sf space priced from $342,000 to $366,000, and a 20,000-sf space priced from $5.7 million to $6.1 million.Plaza San Remo was 60% pre-sold at press time, two weeks after the units hit the market. Kenneth Weston & Associates Inc., a Miami-based company, is handling sales and marketing for the project.”The medical office market is thriving,” Kenneth Weston, president of Kenneth Weston & Associates, says in a statement. “Office ownership is the fastest-growing segment of commercial real estate in South Florida, fueled by lower interest rates and a desire to diversity investment portfolios. This trend is particularly strong within the medical profession.”Venera Holdings LLC, a partnership between George Scholl–a banker and investor–and Ford Gibson, expects construction to begin on Plaza San Remo next January and the project to be completed 14 months later. Venera Holdings is a company of San Remo Developments LLC. Gibson, president of both Venera Holdings and San Remo Developments, has 23 years’ experience in commercial real estate development. He was president of Codina Group until last August. He formed San Remo Developments last year, with Plaza San Remo being the Miami-based company’s first project.The seven-story project is being developed on 2.5 acres on the east side of Red Road and bordered by San Remo and Venera avenues a block south of US Highway 1. Plaza San Remo will have five parking spaces per 1,000 sf.The space is within about five miles of four major hospitals, Gibson says. “It’s a great location for medical,” he says. In addition, the building site is in a high-income area, he says, and the tenant mix reflects that and includes dentists, dermatologists and plastic surgeons. He did not disclose tenant names.Gibson, whose background is mainly in office and industrial space but who also dealt with apartments and retail space, says San Remo Developments will focus mainly on office and industrial projects. But for now, Plaza San Remo is the developer’s main focus. “I’m trying to do a good job on this one,” he says, adding that the company has some other projects in the works, but they are in the early stages.