Onda Residences, a high-end luxury condominium being developed by CMC Group and Morabito Properties, had its ceremonial groundbreaking today, as one of the few in-person real estate events that are finally starting to happen these days. The building, which features 41 residences beginning at $1.8 million a pop, is on the former site of the Bay Harbour Continental, a MiMo residential building that was a gem of midcentury flair and which preservationists fought, unsuccessfully, to preserve.
The legendary Palm Bay Club had its glorious halcyon days in the 1960s, and '70s, when it was the epitome of glamour for the jet-set cafe society glitterati of its day. Not only did residents have to be rich, but they had to be a lot of fun, according to its creator Connie Dinkler.
Check out this fabulous, early midcentury modern house designed as the personal residence of Jerome Schilling, an associate to one of Miami's most interesting and innovative tropical modernist architects, Igor Polevitzky. (Yes, Miami had innovative architecture long before Zaha Hadid's "Scorpion Tower!")
Although a good real estate listing makes you feel like you could live there, a lot of the fun of exploring real estate listings is guessing at the lives of the people who currently live there. This house is a great example. It's a three building compound in the center of Coconut Grove, surrounded by a concrete wall, with a two-story fashion studio attached. Oh, and there are two outside showers big enough to share with a few friends.
Built in 1954, this split-level mid-century ranch house has been redone while preserving some of the 1950s flair that made it unique. The 3,360 square foot place, with four bedrooms, and four and a half baths, is listed for $1.185 million, which, after the cost of the renovation, is just a little bit above the $835,000 the owner spent on the place in 2014. It's a buyer's market people!
This midcentury Key Biscayne house, built in 1955, was originally listed for sale in January for $3.15 million but has seen a few price cuts since. In April, it was reduced to $2.8 million, and just last week reduced again, to $2.7 million.
Have you ever heard of Henry End? Nope? Well, neither has the Big Bubble, but apparently he was a prominent South Florida architect in the midcentury period known for his hotel and restaurant design, and he also did this spectacular Miami Shores house in 1959.
It looks like Morningside's iconic, midcentury modern, Rufus Nims-designed Jetsons House, after being listed for $1.875 million about a year ago, was taken off the market at some point, unsold. Although in a great neighborhood, and oozing with futuristic, modern flair, the house needs work, is rather small, and is on a rather humdrum lot. In this soft market, perhaps almost 2 mil was a tad much?
Listed four days ago, this house at 2040 Coral Reef Drive, in Lauderdale by the Sea, was designed by one of FTL's classic midcentury residential architects, Dan Duckman, and built back in 1963.
From the art deco era to the 1950s and (sporadically) even much later, Terrazzo was a tremendously popular floor material across South Florida. The poured floors with little, colored specs in any color you can imagine, are versatile, durable, can be made into any pattern or design. They also look even better as they age, developing a crack here and there. In fact, they look better with a few cracks.
