Knowing your target market and appealing to their wants is just the beginning. Take it from the luxury developers down in South Florida, who have shifted their selling strategies toward wealthy New Yorkers — so much so that they’ve taken steps to register with the New York Attorney General in order to market and sell in the Big Apple.
Two determined developers looking to sell to New York City residents are located in Fort Lauderdale and Miami, both of whom designed condos with the NYC lifestyle in mind.
It’s not only a marketing approach, it’s the law. New York requires offering plans be filed with the state attorney general when developers from outside the state or country plan to sell co-ops and condos to New York residents. Documentation is required, even if only planning to market, let alone make sales.
Advertisements in national newspapers like The New York Times or or Wall Street Journal are not included. And, if a New Yorker were to walk into a sales office in Miami to purchase a condo without seeing a billboard from back home, the developer isn’t required to file, unless, of course, he or she is actively selling in New York at the same time.
Conrad Fort Lauderdale Beach
The Ocean Resort Residences Conrad Fort Lauderdale Beach is a New York-registered property designed by Michael Graves. This is the first Conrad resort property in the Americas, and it plays up the yachting culture surrounding the Fort Lauderdale coast. Each unit is fully-furnished, with beachfront villas decked out in nautical accouterments – all courtesy of Steven G, a high-end interior designer in Miami.
The Ocean Resort Residences Conrad Fort Lauderdale
The amenities are endless, to say the least. Residents have full access to a spa, relaxation deck, poolside restaurant, lounge with a 20,000 square foot terrace, beach facilities and oceanfront dining experiences, as well as access to a market, fitness center and private club on the roof.
To scoop up a property at the resort, buyers from NYC and beyond need a minimum $400,000, and prices range upwards of $1 million.
Oceana Bal Harbour
Oceana Bal Harbour in Miami is another development marketed toward residents of New York City. The 240-unit complex sits on 400 feet of prime beachfront property – something many NYC residents probably don’t get in their Manhattan abodes.
But the amenities mimic many of their New York City counterparts, with a 24-hour concierge, valet parking, Olympic-style pool, salon with chef’s kitchen and bar, cinema and eco-friendly spaces throughout. And the price tags are quite similar to New York City’s ultra-luxury real estate sector, coming in at $2 to $30 million each.
Oceana Bal Harbour
Homes at Oceana were designed by Italian designer Piero Lissoni along with developer Eduardo Costantini and architect Bernardo Fort-Brescia of Arquitectonica. Modern interiors reflect Miami’s architectural appeal and style, while keeping things cool amidst the outdoor climate and hot real estate market.
Oceana Bal Harbour is at the site of the famous Bal Harbour Club and began construction in October 2013 that is expected to wrap up at the end of the year. Oceana Director of Sales Ernesto Cohan said 10 percent of buyers came from the New York area when the building first broke ground in 2013, according to a New York Times report.
Martin Act
Dating back to the Martin Act of 1921, New York law requires developers from outside of the state to file comprehensive disclosures and filings that run around 400 pages long if they wish to target New York residents. Some of the inclusions involve footnotes on potential expenses within the first year and architect certification.
New York is the only state in the country to require such filings for out-of-state developers. The initial cost is 3/10ths of 1 percent, up to $30,000.
“It is expensive. This doesn’t happen anywhere else in the country. After World War I, there were a lot of unscrupulous people doing condo offerings and Ponzi schemes in New York, which is why the legislature came up with the complex Martin Act. As time went on, people bought home sites in the middle of no where they could never build,” said Stuart M. Saft, chairman of law firm Holland & Knight’s Real Estate Practice Group. “The Attorney General increased the size of its staff and became far more aggressive.”
All of the documentation was originally set forth in an attempt to protect New York City residents from fraudulent sellers. Today, with so many hoops to jump through, some developers outside of New York don’t go through with the process. However, without the correct filings, selling out-of-state units without licensing can result in harsh penalties.
“The fines can be extraordinary — in the area of millions of dollars. Plus, the developer can be permanently barred from selling in the state of New York if they are committing fraud, and can be sent to jail,” Saft said.
