Adam Neumann’s Flow Expands Miami Holdings Despite Brand’s Delayed Launch
Adam Neumann’s startup Flow is investing heavily in projects at Miami Worldcenter as it expands its South Florida holdings.
The real estate firm started by WeWork’s co-founder is building a 41-story second phase of the Caoba apartments, a 44-story tower it purchased in 2021.
Flow also has plans for office and retail space across the street, according to a municipal bond offering that was first reported by Bloomberg. Miami Worldcenter is a 27-acre development in Downtown Miami.
Flow’s 2021 purchase of the Caoba tower at 698 NE First Ave. marked its first investment into Miami Worldcenter reported in the bond offering, according to Bloomberg. Property records still list Caoba’s owner as an entity that shares its address with Los Angeles-based CIM Group, a partner in the mixed-use development that paid $28M for the site in 2016.
Art Falcone, the CEO of Boca Raton-based Falcone Group, and Nitin Motwani, managing partner of Fort Lauderdale-based Merrimac Ventures, formed Miami Worldcenter Associates as the master developer of the 10-block project in partnership with CIM Group.
Caoba, developed by the joint venture, was the first tower to open at the property when it delivered in 2019. The first phase's 444 units were 95% occupied at the end of last year, Bloomberg reported.
Flow is partnering with Falcone and Merrimac on the second, attached tower that is slated to deliver this year, according to the bond offering. Across the street, Neumann’s real estate startup is planning a 40K SF office building with 19K SF of retail space.
While that project is planned for delivery next year, the municipal offering says Flow is “in the process of submitting an application to obtain site plan approval for its current development plan,” according to Bloomberg.
An estimate in the filing from the real estate consulting firm Concord Group says Flow’s properties at the development could be worth around $300M, according to Bloomberg.
The municipal bond sale, which seeks to raise around $240M, was posted on March 11 to MuniOS, an online database of municipal offerings.
A representative for Flow didn’t answer questions from Bisnow by email Thursday. A spokesperson for Miami Worldcenter Associates declined to comment about Flow’s investment at the development but said the bond offering was part of a tax increment financing package that began in 2017.
The program helped to offset the cost of infrastructure upgrades, including increased water and sewer capacity, mass transit station modernization, landscaping, sidewalks and garages.
“Now that the first phase of Miami Worldcenter is complete and the second phase is underway, our team is issuing bonds backed by the TIF package which will help defray the cost of the improvements made in the district,” a statement from Miami Worldcenter Associates says.
Neumann officially launched Flow in 2022 with $350M from the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. He has described the company as “a chance to turn traditional apartment living into a community with shared experiences.”
The firm’s branding has yet to appear on any towers, but Neumann has in recent years acquired buildings across the Southeast. Flow or Neumann-controlled entities own at least six properties with a total value north of $1B in Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Atlanta and Nashville.
An entity affiliated with Neumann paid $17M last February for the 34-story Society Las Olas in Downtown Fort Lauderdale. The development’s second phase, a 42-story tower being developed by Property Markets Group and Greybrook, locked in a $226M construction loan in July. Neumann has also reportedly purchased the 387-unit Yard 8 in Midtown Miami.
Neumann is also reportedly looking to leverage Flow to regain control of WeWork in partnership with hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb as the coworking firm looks to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Miami Worldcenter is one of the largest mixed-use developments in the country. It has been developed in phases, with portions of the site sold to other developers while Merrimac and Falcone build parts of it on their own.
Five new towers totaling more than 4M SF of residential, office and retail space were proposed to the Miami Urban Development Review Board in September.
The property already contains apartments, condos and a hotel with an ongoing rollout of 350K SF of retail space. Apple was recently disclosed as the planned occupant for a 19K SF freestanding retail building under construction at the property, and singer Nick Jonas is partnering with menswear designer John Varvatos to open a tequila bar there in another recently announced deal.
