Prices for Miami Beach luxury condos soar to records

Ultra-luxury condominiums on South Beach are fetching nosebleed prices.

On Tuesday, a penthouse at the Setai Resort at 2001 Collins Avenue closed for $27 million — the highest price ever for a South Florida condominium, according to real estate agents.

“We’re definitely seeing the market turning upward,” said Jeff Miller, of Zilbert International Realty in Miami, who represented the buyer in the sale of the palatial 7,100-square-foot condominium. “We’re seeing buyers come in from all over the globe.”

Just a few weeks ago, Ohio coal mining businessman Wayne Boich Jr. completed the sale of his Icon South Beach penthouse at 450 Alton Road in the uber-trendy South of Fifth neighborhood for just under $21 million.

The 6-bedroom, 7 1/2-bath Icon condo sparked a bidding war that drove the sale $2 million above the listing price — a level that is three times the $7 million Boich paid in July 2007 in the depths of the bust. It was a record price for a Miami Beach bayside condo.

“The luxury market is on fire in South Beach — especially the South of Fifth neighborhood,” said Dora Puig, principal of PuigWerner Real Estate Services, who was the listing broker for the Icon unit. “It’s moving Miami to totally different pricing points.”

The Setai’s record may not reign for long.

Penthouse 2 in the decade-old Continuum South tower at 100 South Pointe Drive in the South of Fifth neighborhood is on the market for $39 million.

That is a record listing price for a Miami-Dade condominium, according to Puig, who also snagged that listing.

Amid the market sizzle, Puig bumped up the asking price late last summer from $35 million.

The penthouse, which has 11,000 square feet of interior space, belongs to Manhattan real estate developer Ian Bruce Eichner, who built the Continuum project at the tip of South Beach and kept the trophy for himself.

The Continuum penthouse, which has 6,000 square feet of deck and a rooftop heated pool, boasts sweeping 13 1/2-foot ceilings that give the feel of a single-family home. The floor-to-ceiling glass walls offer a 360-degree view of the Atlantic Ocean, Biscayne Bay, downtown Miami and Miami Beach from 40 stories up.

“It looks down on Fisher Island, way down,” Puig said with a smile.

The unit has a private interior elevator, of course, and stretches over two indoor levels and two largely exterior levels.

One big plus: It has a gated entrance and sits on an expansive enclave of rolling lawns and gardens adjacent to a city park at the tip of the island.

The unit comes with an additional 874-square-foot guest quarters that would delight most mortals. “The guest unit is intended for professional quarters: the maid, the nanny, the chef, the pilot,” Puig explained.

Also included is a snazzy cabana on the beach.

Eichner has used it as a vacation home and once rented it to Tom Cruise for a couple of months while he was in Miami to film Rock of Ages.

On Thursday, Puig hosted Miami’s power brokers for a look at the Continuum penthouse over champagne and hors d’oeuvres. Next week, she plans to spend three days in New York touting the property to high-end brokers.

Such palatial properties typically are paid for in cash. But what would a monthly payment be?

With a 20 percent down payment of $7.8 million, the buyer would have to finance $31.2 million.

“I don’t know that I’d be able to find anybody willing to go that high on one unit,” warned Steve Schneider, a mortgage broker who is owner and president of Abacus Lending Group in South Miami.

If a buyer could line up a 15-year fixed rate mortgage at 3.5 percent, the monthly payment for principal and interest would be $223,043.35.

“I’d hate to see the tax bill,” said Schneider.

According to Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser records, the 2012 property tax bill on the Continuum penthouse was $264,896.17. That was based on an assessed value of just $9.5 million, less than half what the Property Appraiser listed as the market value of $19.3 million. The tax break came as a result of the state law that caps increases in assessed values on non-homesteaded property at 10 percent a year.

The condo maintenance fee for Eichner’s unit runs $7,624 a month. “I think that’s low for what you get,” said Puig.

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Scammers to be sentenced for selling fake Cuban birth certificates to people seeking U.S. residency

U.S. District Judge Cecilia Altonaga is expected Friday to sentence members of a network who sold false Cuban birth certificates to undocumented immigrants so they could pretend to be Cubans and obtain green cards.

Thanks to the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act, Cubans who arrive in the United States without a visa can remain in the country and apply for residence after a year and one day. This immigration benefit is available only to people who can prove they are Cuban citizens.

The case in Miami federal court exposed the first public details of what has become an increasingly common practice in South Florida.

Miami immigration attorney Wilfredo Allen said he has represented more than a half-dozen clients in the past few years who have been accused by immigration authorities of carrying residence cards obtained illegally with false Cuban documents.

Allen said immigration authorities have developed sophisticated methods to discover the fraud related to the Cuban Adjustment Act, and can verify, if they have any suspicion, whether the applicant is presenting an authentic Cuban document.

The network, consisting of four members, three from Naples and one from Kissimmee, was dismantled in September, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested and charged them with conspiring to commit immigration fraud.

All initially pleaded not guilty, but changed their minds and their pleas. Since then, Judge Altonaga has sentenced one of them to six months in prison and two years of parole, including nine months of house arrest.

Two more are scheduled to be sentenced Thursday.

The accused are Nelson Daniel Silvestri Soutto, Laura María Ponce Santos and Amelia Osorio of Naples, and Fidel Morejón Vega of Kissimmee.

People familiar with the case said Morejón and Osorio are Cubans and Silvestri and Ponce are Uruguayans. Their clients were of various nationalities, including Argentineans, Colombians, Costa Ricans, Mexicans, Peruvians, Salvadorans and Venezuelans.

None of the defense attorneys or immigration authorities would comment Wednesday.

Documents available in court pointed to Morejón as the presumptive leader of the group.

He was charged with selling Cuban birth certificate at prices ranging from $10,000 to $15,000 each while posing as a high-ranking immigration official when meeting with potential clients. One was an undercover agent who posed as a Mexican.

For 3 ½ years, beginning in 2009, at least 50 undocumented immigrants bought false birth certificates, according to court documents. Some of them became residents, including some of the accused who then acted as recruiters for Morejón, the court documents state.

The scam netted more than half a million dollars, according to a memorandum in the case.

Other court documents indicate that Morejón may have obtained the birth certificates in Cuba. They don’t specify whether Morejón obtained the certificates at a Cuban government office or received them from a corrupt official who printed them himself.

One of the network’s clients, identified in court records only as J.R., cooperated with investigators and introduced Morejón to an undercover agent who wanted to buy a Cuban birth certificate.

The court documents include transcripts of some of the conversations between Morejón, J.R. and the undercover agent, identified as Rolando.

In one of the transcripts, Morejón said that for the fraud to be successful, Rolando and J.R. would be taken to the Florida Keys and left there as newly arrived rafters. Morejón told them that when the immigration officials picked them up they had to say they were Cubans and know the details of their birth certificates by heart.

In the conversation taped surreptitiously, Morejón advised them on how to respond to questions, but J.R. stumbled when he tried to remember where he was born in Cuba.

“So, if they ask you, ‘Where were you born?’ at that moment you have the birth certificate. ‘Where were you born?’ asks Morejón in the transcription.

“I was born in Havana . . . no, in Guinness, Guinness, Cuba,” responds J.R, referring to the city of Güines, 25 miles southeast of Havana.

Morejón also advised J.R. not to talk too much while in the custody of immigration authorities before being paroled, apparently to avoid detection of their non-Cuban accents or saying things that a Cuban could not say or know.

“You’re going to be at a place where there would be seven or eight people,” Morejón tells J.R., according to the transcript. “ ‘Hey, how did you get here?’ ‘In a raft.’ ‘Are you Cuban?’ ‘Yes.’ That’s all. That’s all. You don’t have to say more or make much conversation.”

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Mysterious Samsung smartphone pictured with Verizon branding

Earlier this week, a mysterious Samsung (005930) smartphone appeared on GLBenchmark’s database with the model number SCH-I425. The number fell in line with previous Verizon (VZ) devices, leading us to speculate that it could be the Stratosphere III. New images posted by Engadget on Wednesday confirmed that the handset is real, however it does not feature earlier Stratosphere devices’ signature QWERTY keyboard. The device resembles the Galaxy S III mini, although the smartphone includes four capacitive buttons rather than Samsung’s physical home key. As the benchmarks revealed, the SCH-I425 is also equipped with a 720p display, a 1.4GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, 4G LTE and Android 4.1.2. While the actual screen size is unknown, it appears to be in the 4-inch range. A second image of the unannounced phone follows below.

[More from BGR: The true genius of Facebook’s Graph Search]

This article was originally published on BGR.com

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Kirstie Alley's Cheers Reunion

It's been nearly two decades since Cheers went off the air, but the onscreen chemistry hasn't changed between Kirstie Alley and Rhea Perlman, as seen in Kirstie's new TV Land pilot, Giant Baby.

On the show, Kirstie plays a Broadway diva whose life gets up-ended.

VIDEO: Kirstie Alley Celebrates 62nd Birthday with ET

"You know, we were planning this when we were doing Cheers," Kirstie said of reuniting with Rhea. "We said when Cheers isn't on the air anymore we'll do a show together."

Rhea plays Kirstie's best friend on Giant Baby, but she's also been a close friend to the Golden Globe winner in real-life, as Kirstie mentions in her New York Times bestseller, The Art of Men.

Kirstie's book, detailing her sexual exploits and struggles with drug addiction, has had so much success that it's attracted readers that Kirstie never thought would buy it.

"It never dawned on me that my dad would read my book," Kirstie said. "I didn't give it to him!"

Click the video for more.

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Hellish strike for classy kids

Thousands of plucky New York children trudged to class through sleet and freezing rain yesterday as unionized yellow-bus drivers brought school transportation to a halt with a strike that will make life hell for families across the city.

“It’s hurting the kids,” said 23-year-old mom Erika Rivera, who had to miss work and borrow a car to take her niece to PS 36 in The Bronx. “And it’s hurting all of the parents who have to find a way to get their kids to school.”

The work stoppage left more than 113,200 city schoolkids without buses, forcing parents to scramble to find any way they could get their children to class. Some dug into their pockets to pay for subways, taxis and dollar vans — othets even propped their kids on the backs of bicycles for a treacherous ride.

Upper West Side dad Martin Wallace hoarded five elementary- school kids — including his 5-year-old son, Bruno — onto the 1 train to PS 84 on West 92nd Street.

“I like the school bus, it’s not packed,” Bruno said outside school.

Wallace said, “The inconvenience is that I have to make the trip [with them] rather than just wait at the bus stop.”

The strike — which affected roughly 75 percent of students who are eligible for school bus service — hit the disabled hardest. Many of them aren’t able to use public transportation or regular vehicles to travel.

“It’s impossible for Jessica to get there without it; no bus, no school,” Maria Sanmartin said of her 6-year-old daughter, who has cerebral palsy.

The 46-year-old Sunnyside mom worries about the physical and speech therapy her daughter is missing — and will miss — by being unable to get to PS 58 in Maspeth, Queens.

“She has too many problems for there to be no school bus,” said Sanmartin. “She likes going to school, and she loves riding the bus.”

Attendance was down 2.8 percent yesterday compared with the rest of the month, meaning at least 25,000 students were out. For the severely disabled, attendance dropped by 41 percent.

At City Hall, Mayor Bloomberg said he has no plans of meeting with leaders of Local 1181 of the Amalgamated Transit Union over the removal of job protections from recently bid-out contracts because bus drivers and matrons work for private bus companies rather than for the city.

Asked about whether he’ll take certain steps to ensure the strike doesn’t last as long as the prior one in 1979 — 14 weeks — Bloomberg said he’d encourage the union to hold talks with the bus companies.

“I hope this does not last a long time,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “It’s not going to last more than June — because that’s the end of the school year.”

Union leaders, who insist the decades-old protections must be reinstated into the bus-company bids, said Hizzoner’s decision would ensure yellow buses remain off the roads.

“We remain willing to come to the table to work towards an agreement, and we urge the mayor to adopt a similar attitude,” said Amalgamated Transit Union Mike Cordiello, president of Local 1181.

More than 125 special-education buses were unable to leave their Staten Island depot yesterday because, while the drivers belong to a nonstriking union, the matrons were on the picket lines.

NYPD sources said roughly 1,800 union members stocked picket lines at bus depots across the city. There were no arrests or vandalism reported.

Additional reporting by Sabrina Ford, Kevin Fasick, Lorena Mongelli,Georgett Roberts and Matthew Abrahams

yoav.gonen@nypost.com

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Miami Dolphins bill would bring state money to aging stadiums

A bill drafted by the Miami Dolphins would give Florida sports teams $3 million a year in state money to improve older stadiums, provided the owner pays for at least half the cost of a major renovation.

Under the law, the stadium would need to be 20 years old and the team willing to put in at least $125 million for a $250 million renovation. That’s less than the $400 million redo of Sun Life Stadium that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross proposed this week, which he hopes will win state approval thanks to his offer to fund at least $200 million of the effort to modernize the 1987 facility.

Miami-Dade and Florida would fund the rest through a mix of county hotel taxes and state general funds set aside for stadiums. Sun Life currently receives $2 million a year through the program, and the Dolphins want to create a new category that would give them an additional $3 million.

While the Miami Marlins and Miami Heat both play in stadiums subsidized by county hotel taxes, the Dolphins receive no local dollars. The bill would change that by allowing Miami-Dade to increase the tax charged at mainland hotels to 7 percent from 6 percent, and eliminate the current rule that limits the money to publicly owned stadiums. Sun Life Stadium, in Miami Gardens, is privately owned but sits on county land.

The bill pits enthusiasm for one of Florida’s most popular sports teams against a lean budget climate and lingering backlash against the 2009 deal that had Miami and Miami-Dade borrow about $485 million to build a new ballpark for the Marlins. Ross also must navigate a Republican-led Legislature that has twice rebuffed his requests for public dollars.

“I would be surprised if that bill even got a hearing in committee,” said Mike Fasano, a Republican representative from the Tampa area and a critic of tax-funded sports deals. “I’m a big Dolphin fan, and have been for years. But with all due respect, we’ve got people who are struggling throughout this state right now . .. The last thing we should be doing is giving a professional sports team or facility additional tax dollars.”

While the bill would open up the $3 million subsidy to other the teams, the Dolphins see it as unlikely that another owner would be willing to put up as much money for renovations as Ross, a billionaire real estate developer.

If the bill were enacted today, any stadium opened before 1993 would be eligible for the money, provided it could show the proposed renovation would generate an additional $3 million in sales taxes.

Ross and his backers are pitching the renovation as a boon to tourism, with Sun Life a magnet for the Super Bowl, national college football games and other major events. The National Football League is considering South Florida and San Francisco for the 2016 Super Bowl, and the Dolphins say approval of renovation funding is crucial to winning the bid.

Sen. Oscar Braynon, D-Miami Gardens, who sponsored the Senate bill, said the funding makes sense because when Sun Life hosts a Super Bowl, the entire state benefits from both tourism dollars and publicity.

“It’s a small price to pay for economic development, and for all the shine we get from major sporting events,” said Braynon, whose district includes Sun Life. Rep. Eduardo “Eddy” Gonzalez, R-Hialeah, is the sponsor on the House side.

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FIU to take over underwater lab in Keys

The last underwater research lab in the world, an 81-ton yellow pressurized steel tube anchored 60 feet down next to a Key Largo reef, won’t be scuttled after all.

Florida International University announced Tuesday that it will take over operation of Aquarius, an aging but unique underwater facility the federal government had considered putting on the chopping block because of budget cuts.

“For our students and our marine sciences program, Aquarius offers fantastic new possibilities and is a natural fit for the work we are doing in the Florida Keys and throughout the world,’’ said Mike Heithaus, executive director of FIU’s school of environment, arts and society.

Last year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which owns the lab, had called for ending Aquarius’ operation, even though it cost a relatively paltry $1.2 million to $3 million a year to run.

But after backlash from scientists and a campaign led by South Florida political leaders — including Republican Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart — NOAA awarded FIU a $600,000 six-month grant to cover basic maintenance of the facility, which boasts six bunks, a bathroom, galley, science lab and “wet porch” allowing divers easy entry and exit.

Ultimately, the Obama administration agreed the lab was a valuable asset that couldn’t simply be left to rust. Removing it could run up to an estimated $5 million, said FIU biology professor Jim Fourqurean, who will take over direction of Aquarius.

“This is a big, expensive piece of hardware on the bottom of the ocean,’’ he said. “You just can’t leave it there.’’

To continue its operation, however, FIU plans to develop a new business plan for the lab that will rely on financial support from other government agencies, private industry and groups and other universities, Fourqurean said.

Aquarius, the last of more than 60 underwater habitats once in operation around the world, allows scientists to literally immerse themselves for hours, days or weeks in a coral reef community without having to worry about repeatedly surfacing for air or decompressing from long dives. The facility, previously managed by the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, has hosted 117 research missions and also served filmmakers, Navy divers and 40 NASA astronauts who trained for the working conditions of space stations and zero gravity.

Fourqurean said the lab offers a perfect platform for students, faculty and outside researchers to study many of the problems plaguing South Florida’s water, from climate change to pollution and over-fishing.

It also will raise FIU’s profile in the Florida Keys, said Fourqurean, who is director of FIU’s new marine education and research initiative for the Keys. The school will close Aquarius’ current land base, hidden in a neighborhood, and intends to open a new more visible office along the main highway, he said.

“This fits the strategic vision of FIU growing into the Florida Keys,’’ Fourqurean said.

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Apple scoops PBS on “Downton Abbey” episodes, but PBS is cool with it

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) – Apple is making the entire third season of “Downton Abbey” available on iTunes before every episode airs on PBS – and that’s just fine with PBS.

Fans who buy a season pass on iTunes beginning January 29 will get to see three episodes before they air on PBS. The Season 3 finale airs February 17.

But PBS CEO Paula Kerger isn’t worried that viewers will watch the show online, then tune out PBS. In fact, she says, Apple isn’t the only place Americans can see “Downton” before they can see it on her network.

“You can also buy the DVD sets. They’re being shipped at the end of January, and the DVD sets and Apple are going up at the same time,” Kerger told TheWrap. “I think that for people who are really passionate and want to have it, it’s a great thing.”

Kerger says she hopes more viewers will discover “Downton” on whatever format they like best – and then watch it on PBS next season.

“At the end of the day, my interest is just in seeing it get to the widest possible audience, and there are people that would pick it up on Apple that may not pick it up anywhere else,” she said.

The first episode of the third season premiered to a record 7.9 million viewers earlier this month. Many of those viewers, no doubt, caught up on the previous seasons online or through DVD viewing.

“Downton” airs in the U.K. in the fall but on PBS in January, which means PBS viewers must shield themselves from spoilers. That has led to some grumbling from American fans.

But Kerger said airing the show in January allows the show to get more attention domestically than it might otherwise receive in the crowded fall season.

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Megan Fox Apologizes for Lindsay Lohan Comments

In the process of explaining her reason for removing a Marilyn Monroe tattoo on her forearm to Esquire magazine, cover girl Megan Fox unleashed what appeared to be a harsh criticism of actress Lindsay Lohan. In light of all the attention Fox's words have garnered, the star has taken to Facebook in an attempt to clarify her comments. 

Pics: New Mom Megan Fox's Sexiest Shoot Yet

"In the newly released article that I did for Esquire, there is a reference that is made to Lindsay Lohan that I would like to clarify before it snowballs into something silly," began Fox in an open letter posted to her personal page.

"The journalist and I were discussing why I was removing my Marilyn Monroe tattoo, especially since, in his opinion, Marilyn was such a powerful and iconic figure for women. I attempted to draw parallels between Lindsay and Marilyn in order to illustrate my point that while Marilyn may be an icon now, sadly she was not respected and taken seriously while she was still living.

"Both women were gifted actresses, whose natural talent was lost amongst the chaos and incessant media scrutiny surrounding their lifestyles and their difficulties adhering to studio schedules etc.

"I intended for this to be a factual comparison of two women with similar experiences in Hollywood. Unfortunately it turned into me offering up what is really much more of an uneducated opinion. It was most definitely not my intention to criticize or degrade Lindsay.

"I would never want her to feel bullied, as she does not deserve that. I was not always speaking eloquently during this interview and this miscommunication is my fault."

Related: How Megan Fox Lost All That Baby Weight

Fox's original quote to Esquire reads as follows:

"I started reading about [Marilyn] and realized that her life was incredibly difficult. It's like when you visualize something for your future. I didn't want to visualize something so negative.

"She was sort of like Lindsay [Lohan]. She was an actress who wasn't reliable, who almost wasn't insurable. ... She had all of the potential in the world, and it was squandered. I'm not interested in following in those footsteps."

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Dad of Reddit co-founder Aaron Swartz blames government for suicide

Reddit co-founder Aaron Swartz’s heartbroken dad yesterday blamed the US government for his son’s suicide in an emotional eulogy at the young man’s funeral.

“Aaron did not commit suicide — he was killed by the government. And [the Massachusetts Institute of Technology] betrayed all its basic principles” in helping the feds, said grieving dad Robert Swartz to 200 mourners packing Central Avenue Synagogue in Highland Park, Ill.

“Aaron did something that wasn’t illegal and was destroyed by it,’’ Robert added. “He could have done so much more.”

Aaron, 26, hanged himself Friday in his Brooklyn apartment amid charges that he had illegally hacked into millions of archived MIT documents.

John Smierciak

SUICIDAL GENIUS: Aaron Swartz died Friday in Brooklyn. Girlfriend Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman (above) yesterday was among 200 mourners at his funeral.

Aaron Swartz

As the feds bore down in a case that many experts considered basically much ado about nothing, Aaron became so tormented that he finally “fell into the pain,’’ said his weeping girlfriend, Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman.

“Aaron wanted so bad to change the world. He believed you had to see the world for how it really was to change it,” she told mourners through tears.

“With this [upcoming] trial and everything he was facing the last two years, I think [Aaron] fell into the pain.

“I love him, I miss him and I’ve learned so much from him,” she said.

Mourners included Aaron’s stricken mother, Susan, and two younger brothers, Noah and Ben.

Also attending the service were members of the hacktivist group Anonymous — which offered its own defiant “tribute” yesterday.

The group hacked into two Web sites run by MIT — where Aaron had been studying ethics when he infiltrated its computer systems — to post an “in memoriam.’’

“The situation Aaron found himself in highlights the injustice of US computer-crime laws, particularly their punishment regimes,” Anonymous wrote.

Aaron had planned to post the MIT documents on the Web as a statement in favor of freedom of information. He faced decades behind bars and millions of dollars in fines.

He killed himself two days after his lawyer had futilely tried for a second time to negotiate a no-jail plea deal with prosecutors. But the government’s lawyers had insisted Aaron do at least six months behind bars.

Assistant US Attorney Steve Heymann in Boston was leading the probe. It was revealed yesterday that he also was the prosecutor pushing the 2008 hacking case against Jonathan James, 24, who wound up committing suicide, too.

Heymann could not be reached for comment.

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