A team of engineers, contractors and construction workers imploded the former Mandarin Hotel in Miami on Sunday morning.  The demolition by explosives of the iconic Brickell Key property is reflective of the city’s new development market, where developers are working on dozens of new, glossy luxury condo towers that are replacing shorter, mostly older buildings that previously left a mark on the skyline and housed year-round residents.  Implosions these days are pretty rare. It’s also somewhat uncommon for such a young building (nearly 26 years old, younger than me!) to be torn down. The Mandarin, designed by the former architecture This article originally appeared on The Real Deal. Click here to read the full story.

A homeowner and longtime board member of a North Miami Beach condominium was arrested after investigators say she pocketed thousands of dollars in kickbacks tied to building contracts. Maria Del Carmen Alvarez-Concepcion was taken into custody this week, facing charges of organized fraud, second-degree grand theft and soliciting or accepting kickbacks, Local10.com reported.  Alvarez-Concepcion sat on the board of Greynolds Park Club Condominium Association at 17890 West Dixie Highway, where police say she solicited and accepted $20,910 in unauthorized payments from vendors seeking to do business in the complex.  The seven-story complex has 138 units, and apartments on the market This article originally appeared on The Real Deal. Click here to read the full story.

Some of the region’s most prolific homebuilders dropped a combined $107.4 million on homesites in the master-planned Avenir community in Palm Beach Gardens. Misha Ezratti’s GL Homes paid $28.1 million for 42 sites at the planned Orchid Isles, a planned single-family community development within Avenir, records show. The deal equated to an average of $669,000 per home site. An affiliate of California-based Hearthstone bought a set of 60 sites also in Orchid Isles for $39 million, or $650,000 per home site, according to property records. PulteGroup’s DiVosta Homes paid $40.3 million for 62 sites at Orchid Isles, the South Florida This article originally appeared on The Real Deal. Click here to read the full story.

Joe Lubeck expanded his personal portfolio by dropping $40 million for a Palm Beach Gardens hotel and 4 adjacent acres. Lubeck, CEO of Tampa-based American Landmark Apartments, and a group of local partners acquired the Embassy Suites by Hilton Palm Beach Gardens, a 160-key property at 4350 PGA Boulevard, according to a news release. Lubeck paid $34 million for the hotel and $6 million for the adjacent acreage, a spokesperson said.   The hotel sale amounts to $212,500 per key, and the land sale amounts to $1.5 million per acre. The seller, Dallas-based Ashford Hospitality Trust, led by Monty Bennett, completed This article originally appeared on The Real Deal. Click here to read the full story.

Rosewood Hotels & Resorts is adding one more property to its portfolio in South Florida.  The hotel group is branding Related Group and BH Group’s planned condo tower at 2001 North Flagler Drive in West Palm Beach, adding to the pipeline of branded residences in the city and throughout the region, The Real Deal has learned.  The joint venture development team paid $34 million for the 0.8-acre site in 2024. Earlier this year, they filed plans for a 27-story, 90-unit luxury high-rise with more than 13,000 square feet of indoor amenities, a swimming pool on the fifth floor and 185 This article originally appeared on The Real Deal. Click here to read the full story.