Lofty Brickell: 5-star Miami condo designed for home sharing

Harvey Hernandez, founder and CEO of Newgard Development Group, has been a real estate developer in South Florida for decades.

• Newgard's notable projects include high-end condos Brickell House and Gables View.

Why it matters: Newgard is now concentrating on luxury condos specifically designed for home sharing, under the strategy that investors have an appetite for Miami properties they can alternately use or rent out.

• These include home-sharing projects in downtown Miami, Austin, Orlando and Nashville.
• Newgard's latest, Lofty Brickell, broke ground in February across from the Brickell City Centre on the Miami River. Construction is expected to be complete in late 2025 or early 2026.

By the numbers: Lofty will have 362 fully furnished units, 92% of which are already sold out, Hernandez tells Axios.

• Prices run from $2.2 million to over $3.5 million.
• The building will include a 300-seat outpost of Greek restaurant Avra Estiatorio, plus a rooftop lounge, dock and cigar bar.

Details: Hernandez says developing a building from the ground up for short-term rentals is different than a standard condo.

• Because more people will come and go, the Lofty building was designed with extra durable materials in common areas, fast elevators, check-in stations and other tweaks.
• Lofty's homeowner's association will have certain powers and responsibilities over the building, but staff will handle check-ins, housekeeping, repairs and food-and-beverage operations.
• The HOA could theoretically at some point change the rules regarding rentals, but only if essentially "everybody is in agreement," Hernandez says.

What they're saying: An influx of developers from New York has created more competition and made it more challenging than ever to find development opportunities in Miami, Hernandez says.

• "The edge that we have is that we have been building relationships in town for more than 20 years."

What we're watching: Some economic indicators have experts predicting a recession.

• Hernandez anticipates that, but even if people pull back on vacation spending, he thinks short-term rentals will remain a good investment for traveling families and groups who want "a value proposition" instead of renting multiple hotel rooms.