In downtown Miami, a developer from Istanbul is gearing up to break ground on the, a 70-story, 271-meter-tall tower that may become one of the state of Florida’s tallest buildings. Billionaire businessman Bekir Okan envisions a mixed-use high-rise whose residents and visitors can swim in a pool on the 70th floor, relax in a Turkish bath, and stay overnight in a Hilton-branded hotel. Located at 555 North Miami Ave., west of Biscayne Boulevard and northwest of Miami-Dade College, the project carries a $300 million price tag — fully financed by Okan himself, his company says. The project is designed to contain 153 residential condo units, 236 condo-hotel units, a 294-room full-service hotel and 8,361 square meters of office and meeting room space. The 66th floor will be devoted to a restaurant. In a nod to Miami’s reputation as a place for experimental architectural design, the building’s silhouette will take the shape of a tulip, the national flower of Turkey. The proposed structure would rise slightly north of the main federal courthouse — which takes the shape of a cruise ship. The building would slightly edge out the recently opened on Brickell Avenue in Miami, which rises to an architectural height of 252 meters and an unofficial tip height including the antennas of 262 meters. That building eclipsed the nearby, which stands at 240 meters. The developer is in the process of selecting a general contractor and negotiating a franchise agreement with Hilton. The project is expected to break ground in the late fall of 2018, with aims to complete in 2022.
One of America's landmark homes, the Miami Beach mansion that once belonged to Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace, was sold at an auction for US$ 41.5 million to a business group that includes the owners of the Jordache jeans brand, reported Reuters news agency. The 1930s-era Mediterranean-style estate, which has 10 bedrooms, 11 bathrooms and a pool inlaid with 24-karat gold, was auctioned off as part of a bankruptcy proceeding by its current owner, telecom magnate Peter Loftin. Bidding opened at US$ 25.5 million and the winning offer was made by the current mortgage holders of the property, VM South Beach, a company affiliated with New York's Nakash family, which controls Jordache Enterprises. The Nakash family jointly owns a hotel next door to the mansion with the Gindi family, who founded the Century 21 department store chain. They plan to consolidate the properties to create a hotel that will possibly carry Versace's name. Joe Nakash told reporters he planned to ask Versace's family for permission to name the new property the Versace Hotel Villa. The 2,137 square meter mansion, replete with hand-painted frescoes, Italian marble and a gold-and-marble toilet, has been the subject of a long legal battle. In 1997, Versace was gunned down at the mansion's entrance gate by serial killer Andrew Cunanan. Three years later, Versace's family sold the property to Loftin, who is now facing bankruptcy and who had been trying to sell the house for more than a year. Versace bought the property in 1992 for US$ 2.9 million. He then purchased a hotel next door and spent US$ 33 million on renovations to add another wing. Inside, he decorated with an over-the-top style that included paintings of Grecian, nymph-like characters playing lyres under palm trees. The snake-haired Medusa head, Versace's logo, can be seen throughout the house.
Yet in the end of 2011 Germany's Porsche design Group and a local developer Dezer Properties planned to build Porsche Tower in Miami with "Sky Garages". Now in April 19 construction work is starting on the Porsche Design Tower Miami, a luxury residential high-rise with a notable features for car enthusiasts including an auto elevator and "sky garages" attached to its apartments. The 60-story tower has 132 residences and more than 50% of them are under contract, representing more than US$ 400 million in sales. The building's residences range in size from 390 to 1600 square meters and cost from US$ 4.5 million to US$ 25 million. The building will have a 33 month construction window and is scheduled for occupancy in the first quarter of 2016. While the building has numerous amenities the one getting the most attention is an automobile lift system that allows owners to park their cars next to their units regardless of the floor. The system is a departure from the usual underground parking garages founds at many large residential buildings. The tower will also include a plunge pool, outdoor summer kitchens on the balconies, a spa on a sunset terrace, spa tubs, oceanfront ballroom, multipurpose clubrooms and a "Car Concierge" who looks after the resident's cars by coordinating washing, detailing, tire rotations and other maintenance services. This mechanism isn't new. In October 2012 in Singapore opened the new 30-storey Hamilton Scotts building in the ritzy Orchard Road area, which has an elevator for cars, which will deliver the vehicles to the "en suite sky garages", glass cases for cars next to the living room. The owner must drive the car into a garage and on to a turnstile, and then hop out and scan a fingerprint on a biometric scanner, which will use a computer system to send the car to the correct apartment. In 2010 movie star Nicole Kidman and her husband Keith Urban purchased luxurious apartment on the 12th floor in one of Manhattan's skyscrapers. This apartment also has a 32.5 square meter garage in the sky. A special car elevator lift the car to the owner's floor and then you can enter garage with entrance to the kitchen.
Germany's Porsche design Group and a local developer Dezer Properties planned to built Porsche Tower in Miami, reported the Trulia. A US$ 560 million project, a 57-storey building will rise in Sunny Isles Beach. According to Moscow Sotheby's International Realty in December project was approved by the city authorities. It is the world's first condominium complex with elevators that will take residents directly to their units while they are sitting in their cars (however we wrote about the same type going building). Finding a parking space near their front door will no longer be a worry for anyone lucky enough to live in the new multimillion pound. They can just pull into a designated space, turn off the engine and sit back and enjoy the oceanfront view as they are escalated in a glass elevator to the front door of their apartment. After the resident pulls over and switches off the engine, a robotic arm that works like an automatic plank will scoop up the car and put it into the elevator. The glass elevators will give residents and their guests unparalleled views of the city or of the ocean during their high-speed ride, expected to last 45 to 90 seconds. The luxury building will be constructed on 9 thousand square meters of land on Collins Avenue. It will have 132 units, with smaller units being allocated two parking spaces and the larger ones, four, and 284 robotic parking spaces in total accessible via three elevators. Apartments will range from 350 to 880 square meters and are expected to cost up to US$ 9 million each.
