Louis Vuitton on Miracle Mile?

March 26, 2011 Leave a comment

Executives of the French brand known for its trademark handbags and accessories said this week they will leave the Bal Harbour Shops at the end of June and move to Aventura Mall where they will eventually more than double the size of their store. Also on the agenda: opening a second store in the burgeoning Miami Design District by 2014.

via Louis Vuitton moving to Aventura Mall, Design District – Business – MiamiHerald.com.

This counters the many unrealistic expectations about the future of Miracle Mile, except from the property owners who would like to have taxpayer subsidies.  Miracle Mile will never be much more than it is now, even with new shrubs, sidewalks and thoroughfares, even with a pile of subsidies from the taxpayers.  Miracle Mile will never be a Dadeland Mall, a Merrick Park, the Design District and surely not Aventura Mall.  The adjacent Museum has apparently failed from the start.

Then what is the justification for spending a risky $16 million of city debt on this street, eliminating parking, cutting down the existing trees…

A task for the new commission of the city of Coral Gables is to bring this project into a realistic perspective.

Filed under Business and Commerce, Coral Gables, Property Values

Coral Gables: Assessed Property Values versus Real Estate Prices

December 20, 2010 Leave a comment

Take a look at the real estate section of the Neighborhood Section  of the Miami Herald any recent Sunday.

You will find that the assessed values of the properties are, on average, 35% higher than the sale prices  of the properties (more or less selected at random).

Friends, assessed property values will continue to decline in Coral Gables.  The city will be under pressure to keep raising our taxes.

The only real question for commission and mayoral candidates in the city of Coral Gables:  What is your position on property taxes and fees?

Filed under Coral Gables, Property Values, Taxes and Fees

Coral Gables, Wake Up: State Situation is More Pressure to Raise Property Taxes

December 8, 2010 Leave a comment

This describes a Florida, Miami-Dade and Coral Gables that will face more property tax declines.  Unless governments keep reducing outrageous public salaries and benefits and control other spending and staffing, Coral Gables’ taxpayers will have to pay more next year, without doubt.

This is a strong reason to bring in a new mayor and commissioners.

Jobs growth is anemic, she said, and the housing market is still in the tank. Florida’s gross-domestic product was 45th in the country in 2009, and dead last in 2008. In comparison,  Florida’s GDP was fourth-best in the country in 2005.

Personal income has been slowly growing since the second quarter of 2009 in Florida, but the state still ranks only 37th in this category. The state’s October unemployment rate of 11.9 percent was the nation’s fourth-worst, and population growth is nearly flat.

At the same time, existing home sales are slowing, prices are flat and Florida had the second-highest foreclosure rates in the country in October. Cape Coral-Fort Myers had the second-highest number of foreclosures among metro markets in the country in October, Miami-Fort Lauderdale was the seventh-worst, and Orlando-Kissimmee was the 10th-worst.

“It is still very slow, a very gradual recovery,” Baker told the Senate Budget Committee Tuesday morning, cautioning that Florida’s time frame for an economic rebound would lag the national picture “because it’s driving both our tourism and our population growth.”

via State economist: Revenues down, Medicaid costs up – Central Florida Political Pulse – Orlando Sentinel.

Filed under Coral Gables, Florida, Property Values, Taxes and Fees

Let Local Government Face Reality–Coral Gables, Too

October 8, 2010 Leave a comment

If state and local government employment is falling, this is just to recognize that many of these governments over expanded employment, salaries and pensions during the real estate bubble. Coral Gables did this.

There are many years of adjustment that must be made in the local and state governments.  Let’s hope that our local municipal and county leaders will face reality before they keep hitting up taxpayers, instead they need to do real deep adjustments in budgets, salaries and benefits, organization and prioritizing services.  They keep postponing their own pain with the expectation that the economy will bail them out.

Regarding today’s employment report

“The private-sector growth is somewhat heartening but in total you have to expect that state and local and government jobs are going to be a drag for a number of months and perhaps a number of quarters,” Bill Gross, co-chief investment officer at Pacific Investment Management Co. in Newport Beach, California, said in a radio interview on “Bloomberg Surveillance” with Tom Keene. He called the report a “strong signal” for further Fed action.

via Employers in U.S. Cut More Jobs Than Forecast (Update3) – Bloomberg.com.

Filed under Economy, Employees and Unions, Property Values

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