Bal Harbour is synonymous with luxury shopping, boasting brands like Cartier, Louis Vuitton and Prada at the family-owned Bal Harbour Shops, which opened in 1965.

That association is hardly a bad thing, but the tiny village north of Miami Beach wants to stand for more than just a high-fashion mall. Tourism director Carolyn Travis, who has a $1.8 million budget funded by resort taxes to promote the destination, is seeking to add more substance to the area’s style.

“People want experiences,” she said.  “Our goal was to be able to build more of that within our community.” Since the beginning of 2010, the village has added a children’s camp run by the Miami Children’s Museum at the Sea View Hotel to reach family travelers. It also introduced free yoga and Pilates classes on the beach for locals and hotel guests.

In October, Bal Harbour is starting a culture series that will include movies on the sand once a month, outdoor music performances every month and art nights at the shops, featuring the brands’ own art collections and exhibitions from local galleries and museums like North Miami’s Museum of Contemporary Arts.

The Bal Harbour village has contracted with sales and public relations staff in New York, Latin America and Europe; promotes itself at high-end travel trade shows and advertises in magazines like Travel + Leisure, Condé Nast Traveler and Departures.

A new St. Regis Bal Harbour on the beach is scheduled to open in June of 2012, will be the most privileged condo and condo/hotel in Bal Harbour Real Estate, bringing the number of hotels to three with just under 1,000 rooms. The former Regent Bal Harbour opened as One Bal Harbour in 2009, joining the 1950′s-era Sea View Hotel.

One Bal Harbor is perfectly designed 26-story luxury oceanfront condo, which was built in Bal Harbour in years, and One Bal Harbour Resort and Spa is a five star luxury boutique hotel with room service, concierge assistance and valet parking. There is also the fine waterfront dining and a world-class spa located within the hotel. One Bal Harbour considered to be one of the most elite projects in South Florida Real Estate.

One Bal Harbour Resort and Spa general manager Florent Gateau said he sees visitors, especially large family groups, from the Northeast, Europe and South America. Their main draw is the shops, he said, and the surrounding hot spots like South Beach. He said the guests are still coming back to the hotel with shopping bags — but they’re not going crazy.

“The spending pattern is still there, but people are being more cautious,” he said. They want to use their money for “something of real significance.”

Travis said the village wants people to stay in the hotels — but is also happy to have visitors who are staying elsewhere. This summer, shuttle service started on Collins Avenue as far south as Lincoln Road in South Beach, well-known for Art Deco elegance, boutique hotels, night clubs, shopping and luxury waterfront South Beach Real Estate, specifically in exclusive SoFi (South of Fifth) area.

The Bal Harbor village doesn’t shy away from placing itself in the larger context of South Florida, even if it means dropping some names. On Bal Harbour’s website, the greeting says: “Miami Beach to the south of us, city of Sunny Isles Beach (famous for most exclusive Sunny Isles Real Estate with luxury oceanfront condos like Trump Towers Miami, Jade Beach and Jade Ocean and beautiful beaches, bound by the Atlantic Ocean on the east and the Intracoastal Waterway) to the north, not a single destination above us.”  You can read original article by Hanna Sampson at Miami Herald: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/22/1785467/bal-harbour-more-than-a-luxury.html#ixzz0xRfEBC65.

This was published in NYPost on July 8, 2010. This article was written By K. Dykstra

The South Florida Real Estate ride has been a harrowing one. Back in 2004 and 2005, when money was cheap and easy, condos changed hands as fast as developers could conceive of them. Apartments were flipped again and again, long before the buildings were even built. Prices hit inconceivable heights — $1,000 per square foot for Miami!

Of course, many of these units lost about half their value during the downturn, and buildings struggled to stay afloat after buyers bailed on their contracts. But now, after some major price adjustments, things are looking sunnier — at least in one beach community.

After early buyers walked away from contracts, Jade Beach and Jade Ocean are making a comeback. The first building has just one unit left, and the second is 55 percent closed. Prices, not surprisingly, have been lowered. Sunny Isles Beach Real Estate — situated next to tony Golden Beach on the north, Bal Harbour Real Estate on the south and Aventura Real Estate on the west — is home to a three-building, 813-unit Trump Towers complex on Collins Avenue that has sold more than $100 million in condos this year. Even more important, more than $60 million of these deals have actually closed.

Just north on Collins Avenue, the 256-residence Jade Ocean development has sold about 10 units per month this year, with prices averaging $1.4 million. Fifty-five percent of the building has closed.

Make no mistake, this is all happening at a big discount. “We really set the floor for pricing in Miami,” Gil Dezer, president of Dezer Properties, says of  Trump Towers. “Here we are in a Trump building, selling at $450 a foot on the ocean. People are waiting for the bottom, and I think we hit the floor.”

Dezer is also in charge of the nearby Trump Grande, another three-tower development on Collins Avenue. That complex includes the Trump International hotel and two residential towers with 669 condos combined. “We were averaging $1,000 a foot before [the downturn], and now we’re getting about $550 a foot; we’re down literally 45 percent,” Dezer says of Trump Grande.

The story is similar over at Jade Ocean, which is fetching about $625 per square foot, down from $840 per square foot at its peak. “We sold [Jade Beach] at an average of $540 a square foot; the resales went up to $750 a square foot,” says Edgardo Defortuna, president and CEO of Fortune International Development, which developed this 51-story sister property of Jade Ocean. “But some of those buyers didn’t close, and we ended up taking those units back.”

But in the last six months, Defortuna has managed to resell the remainder of Jade Beach’s 248 units — save one, which is available for $2.3 million. Next door at Jade Ocean, “We’ve been selling eight to 12 units per month since late 2009,” he says. Over at Trump Grande, Dezer “started closings in January of 2009, right in the middle of the whole mess. We were totally sold out, and then a lot of people elected not to close because they couldn’t get financing or their situations had changed; I heard every situation in the book.”

But he’s managed to completely resell one Trump Grande building and is 65 percent through the other. In January, Dezer Development decided to bet even bigger on Sunny Isles Real Estate by assuming a $265 million loan from a development partnership that included the Related Group in order to take over sales of Trump Towers. Since then, Dezer has sold about 285 apartments at Trump Towers at an average of around $420 per square foot. Part of this success is thanks to Sunny Isles’ beach location surrounded by wealthy enclaves. Golden Beach Real Estate, full of multimillion-dollar mansions (Ricky Martin has one), recently completed a $30 million civic improvement project that included landscaping and an eco-friendly storm-water drainage system.

“The projects that typically felt the bust a little stronger or a little more harshly were because the investors would make decisions based on the numbers, but the emotional purchaser and the end user are always the stronger buyers,” says area broker Jodi Macken, president of Macken Realty. “Thankfully, Golden Beach has sustained itself because it caters toward an end user.” Nearby Bal Harbour is a shopping destination that rivals Madison Avenue or Rodeo Drive. And Aventura is a quiet golf and beach destination favored by Michael Jordan and a sharp set who can’t stand the bustle of South Beach Real Estate. “People bring their friends, they go shopping at Bal Harbour,” says Defortuna. “The Sunny Isles Real Estate market has become very attractive.”

Acqualina is unique 51-story residential masterpiece among Miami Beach Luxury Condos, flawless blend of classical European elegance and modern technology, a reinvention of the architectural splendor of Old World on the sandy white beaches of the Atlantic Ocean. From the moment when you arrive at the Acqualina’s extravagantly stunning entrance, you are transported to the world of elegance and refinement on one of it’s kind in the South Florida Real Estate. Considered to be a premier condo for exceptional oceanfront living among luxury oceanfront bulidings among Sunny Isles Real Estate, beautiful Acqualina Condos located minutes  the world famous Bal Harbour Shops and vibrant nightlife of South Beach.

Combination of a classic Mediterranean villa with the superb oceanfront location on Florida’s Riviera, makes Acqualina Condo the perfect place to live. This Miami Beach luxury condo features 188 lavish residences and 97 ultra-luxurious condo-hotel units, located on 4.5 beachfront acres with 400 feet of stunning Atlantic Ocean coastline.  The luxurious 20,000 sq. ft. ESPA oceanfront spa features 16 treatment rooms including a private spa suite for two, spa pool and heated jet pool, Finnish saunas, crystal steam rooms, rain showers.  This magnificient Sunny Isles Luxury Condo have two  restaurants, including the acclaimed Il Mulino New York, three oceanfront swimming pools and  two-story fitness center.  Also, residents and guests of this also have access to the marina, tennis and golf activities at the Williams Island Country Club, and for children  Acqualina Sunny Isles also offers marine biology-based Aquamarine program.

With perfect prime location in Sunny Isles Beach, right in the heart of South Florida, Acqualina condo as well as Turnberry Ocean Colony  North and South are  ideal  for  sophisticated  living. Kitchens in Acqualina Miami  equipped with Gaggenau appliances, Sub-Zero refrigerators, European cabinetry with under-counter lights, granite countertops with full back splash, instant cold and hot water dispenser, high powered garbage disposal. Breathtaking views can be enjoyed from the spacious balconies overlooking the torques Atlantic Ocean.  No expense has been spared in Acqualina in order to bring you the finest in luxury, unparalleled beauty and class.

Here are May events in Acqualina: every Saturday night Acqualina’s Wine Tasting Series from 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm featuring Argentinian Wines that include regional canapés,  complimentary parking, live music;  Yoga Classes; Acqualina Beachfront Grill Nights which will take place every Friday and Saturday night from 6:00 pm – 10:00 pm., where you can enjoy the view of the beautiful Miami Beach shoreline under the stars while dining on freshly grilled cuisine.

The are number of Acqualina condos for sale starting from 1.3 M, also you can buy  fabulous penthouse with private pool, that features panoramic views of the Atlantic ocean from Miami to Fort Lauderdale.

Miami Beach Real Estate is coming back and the are a lot of activity on the market right now. Buyer are looking for deals on the beach and the most popular areas are Bal Harbour Real Estate with exclusive condo One Bal Harbour and renovated Harbour House, which has fourteen pending sales now, Sunny Isles Beach Real Estate with luxurious Turnberry Ocean Colony, unique Jade Beach and Jade Ocean and trendy South Beach Real Estate with cool Continuum South Beach at the very southern-most point of Miami Beach with nine pending sales as today.
Single family homes in Miami Beach market is recovering as well. The most private Miami communities have number of pending sales, for example, in Golden Beach recently three properties went into the contract, five in Hibiscus Island and two in Bal Harbour Village.
Classic, renovated 5 bedrooms, 8 bath estate on Pinetree Drive with approximately 9000 SF and 150 feet of protected water-frontage was recently sold for $4 650 000, Mediterranean villa on La Gorge Island with 7 bedrooms, 8,5 bath with 200+feet of waterfront for mega yacht was closed for $9 500 000, house was originally priced at $13 500 000.
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If you are looking for a home in Miami Beach, Fort Lauderdale or South Beach the best time to buy is now.