The Boulevard by the Bay; some call it the Biscayne corridor. Others call it uptown Miami, or midtown Miami, or edgewater. By any name, the urban swath north of Miami's downtown is a real estate market on fire, with some 12,000 residential units ready to spring from the ground over the next three to five years

South Florida CEO, August, 2003 by J.P. Faber

Every Sunday, the Rev. James Trapp delivers two electrifying sermons to a packed house in the cavernous chapel of Miami's Unity Church, one block east of Biscayne Boulevard on NE 21st Street. Just a few years ago, the church held only one service, and it wasn't for a full house. Now it's standing room only for Trapp. And another weekly service has been added in Spanish, delivered each week by a co-minister.

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Trapp's message is about positivism and diversity, one that's remarkably appropriate not only for his flock--a veritable melting pot of parishioners, young and old--but for the neighborhood where Unity is situated. Up and down this stretch of Biscayne Boulevard, from the I-395 overpass at NE 13th Street to the I-195 overpass at 36th Street, projects are racing to burst from the ground, developers and urban planners zealous to create a new and richly diverse urban fabric.

Just a block south of Unity, the first of the new projects is already sprouting: the 435-unit The Village on Bayshore Drive, a five-acre mid-rise complex of shops and apartments. It is only the tip of the iceberg, however. Three high-rise residential projects are planned for the block just south of Village on the Bay--Quantum, the 1800 Club and the Opera Tower--and along the bay to the north there are plans for high-rise condominiums Ice, Blue, Platinum and Sky Residences. A block west of the Omni, construction is expected to begin by year-end on Parc Lofts, while at the top of the neighborhood, developer Craig Robins is planning to extend his Miami Design District to Biscayne Boulevard with three hyper-modern commercial structures.

The heart of the revival in this neighborhood, however, lies with two massive projects. The first is the Performing Arts Center, a two-building, $335 million behemoth that straddles Biscayne Boulevard at NE 14th Street. The second is the urban city-within-a-city planned for Buena Vista, a 55-acre rail yard that runs from NE 29th to NE 36th streets, and between Miami and NE 2nd avenues. This enormous chunk of land, which has served for decades only as storage for Port of Miami cargo containers, will give rise to more than 3,000 residential units and some 600,000 square feet of retail space.

In the end, it may be this project that defines the neighborhood. New York developer Michael Samuel is planning an urban village with an affordable mix of work/live spaces, lofts, rentals, and condos above retail. "We're going for the working professional," says Samuel. "With prices from $160,000 to $350,000 for units, it's for professionals in their 20s and 30s, just starting out. This is their opportunity."

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The sense of opportunity which Samuel talks about is almost palpable in the area. There is a virtual fever among developers, none of whom want to be left behind in the rush to rebuild the area. And it's not just the money, though there is plenty of that to be made. It's also the sense that history is being written, that a new city is being shaped from the clay of urban decay.

"In the next five years, this neighborhood will evolve almost as if it were a blooming flower," says Philip Spiegelman, a partner in ISG, the company driving sales for Blue. "Here is a neighborhood that went through a series of negative cycles. No effort to gentrify it has ever met with any success. But here we are in the middle of the greatest real estate boom since the 1920s, and here is some of the most pristine waterfront land." Compared to oceanfront land on nearby Miami Beach, says Spiegelman, "I'd argue that I'd rather look across to the lights [of Miami Beach] than to a black ocean at night."

"We've been here for 18 years, and I've never seen so much action in the area," says Alex Redondo, a Colombian native (and University of Miami graduate) whose family has been assembling land parcels in the area since 1986. As head of the family development firm, A.R. Development Group, he is leading the efforts to develop Platinum, a high-rise condominium on 30th Street a half block from Biscayne Bay. "I didn't know that so many projects were coming out at the same time, but I guess that shows that we are right in our timing."

Redondo is pricing his units at about $275 per square foot, and in three months has taken reservations on about one-third of Platinum's 119-units. "We got in at the right moment when the land was really inexpensive," says Redondo. "That's why we can afford to offer these prices."

That is certainly not the philosophy down the street at the site for ICE, a glass-walled waterfront loft designed by up-and-coming architecture superstar Chad Oppenheim. "There is so much competition, people are looking for an edge," he says. "Lately, it's been design that's giving the edge." In the case of Sonoma Companies' ICE, "the project has been revolutionary," says the architect. "The prices have set records--and people can't get enough of it. We're talking $400 a square foot."

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Aggressive pricing is also meeting with strong demand at Blue, the massive, sleek, blue-glass condominium set to rise on Biscayne Bay where the Julia Tuttle Causeway--aka I-195--makes landfall at NE 36th Street. There, the Arquitectonica-designed building has taken reservations on more than 50 percent of its 330 units, at prices well above $300 a square foot.