MyExperienceWithOceanaBalHarbour.com

***UPDATE AS OF OCT 12, 2020***

Just when you think things are being done more sensibly at Oceana you are quickly reminded why they can’t sell many apartments and the resale market is essentially nonexistent unless you want to lose 30-40% of your investment.

The state of Florida has lifted all restrictions on Covid. The building restaurant Ballerina (lousy food and service in my opinion but a nice new manager and a nice new waiter so perhaps there is hope) is only allowing anywhere from 0-2 guests to come to the restaurant at a time even to sit outside. The number 0 or 2 depends on who you ask. They are understandably worried about covid but if it’s ok to have outside employees coming on to the property everyday when you have no idea what they do when they are off the premises and are not testing them everyday for Covid, when you allow third party contractors to traipse around the building all day long, why wouldn’t you allow guests of residents to eat outdoors at your restaurant? We’re talking outdoors not indoors. I can understand if you’re not allowing any outsiders in the building but if you’re even allowing numerous contractors to work here all day what does not allowing guests to eat outside at the restaurant accomplish? Just a typical foolish rule that sounds reasonable until you realize how hypocritical it is. Welcome to Oceana! If you want to be treated like a child with stupid rules then this is the place for you!

UPDATE AS OF SEPT 25, 2020

A few weeks ago they finally fixed perhaps the dumbest design flaw of the property by removing the post at the center of the south parking garage so that cars are now easily able to get in and out without the concern of hitting the post. A far smarter system and one that will surely save a few accidents each year.

The lobby floors are still an unsightly mess but it’s been so long that they’ve been this way I think everyone is used to them by now. Yes, used to black blotches of dirt caked into the floor and now permanently part of the design. Disgusting if you are aware of how it originally was and how it was supposed to be. Morale of the story: You get what you pay for. You buy junk, you get junk and it’ll look like junk.

I had dinner again at the restaurant and remain mystified by how this place is able to survive. No one shows up for dinner so I guess the only real business is during the day at the pool and beach. I tried very hard to find a way to try and eat dinner there once a week but the food is mediocre, the service is poor, and I’m not sure the menu makes sense for a property like this one. Again, they had a much higher quality kitchen with the Starr Catering crew when the property originally opened but they were losing too much money and the subsidies were just unbearable for the developer. Now subsidies less and quality less so perhaps some people are happier. Not how I would do it but I guess the lack of dinner business gives a good indication how everyone feels about it. Perhaps one day they will start giving the residents minimum monthly/quarterly/yearly amounts to use or lose and then they will have enough money to keep the quality higher. Until then it’s serviceable for snacks or lunch by the pool.

Finally, a terrific job by Janette during Covid. She has run circles around other GM’s/Residential Directors in Bal Harbour and should be commended. In addition she put her personal health on the line for the people in this building and I really hope everyone recognizes and appreciates it.

UPDATE AS OF FEBRUARY 13, 2020

Long time no posting so I figured I’d give you an update.

I had dinner in the restaurant with some family members last month and I would have to say the meal was so embarrassing I cannot imagine ever going back. The food itself was passable at best but really not the main issue. The servers and service was just abysmal. It led to a completely disappointing experience in a building that was originally sold with a Stephen Starr restaurant. Whereas the previous restaurant had an air of sophistication to it, this place is an embarrassing mess. The quality of the service is very low, absent one young lady whose name I can’t recall. They do not understand what you are saying and it just adds to the calamity. Perhaps it is acceptable for lunch by the pool but taking anyone there for dinner is a non starter for me. Until they start charging every resident a yearly minimum that must be used at the restaurant or lost so that the restaurant can actually make some decent money so they can provide higher quality food and service, this will be a place beneath the standards of a building priced as this one is, let alone what they promised everyone before it was built.

To switch to some better news, they say a leopard cannot change its spots, but perhaps a British leopard can? The GM of the property Janette Giddings has really come full circle and is doing an exceptional job. While she always was very hard working and productive, she was impossible to get along with and treated everyone like they were children. Miraculously she had wised up and learned to deal with owners of seven and eighth figure apartments in the manner in which they deserve to be treated. Despite all of the flaws in the building without her a lot of these things would be much bigger problems.

Finally a quick word about the lobby floors. After the umpteenth time trying to clean them, I guess they decided to throw in the towel and just seal them. So while they were originally supposed to be honed with a dull finish they are now shiny and the existing dirt is caked into the stone. While to those who do not know it looks like the brown and black is actually part of the pattern on the stone, anyone who has been there for a bit will quickly notice the inconsistency of the pattern as some areas have more dirt caked in than others. All I can say is eww.

UPDATE AS OF APRIL 20, 2019

As implausible as it may seem, my family just purchased 2 apartments in the building because they were incredibly inexpensive. The price was 45% below what the previous owner paid 15 months ago. So I guess there are some good deals to be had in the building if you are patient. Let’s hope things get better but I’m not holding my breath.

Went back to the restaurant, remarkably still no coffee. I guess buying a $50 coffee pot was too much to ask for in two weeks. No one in the restaurant, took 40 minutes for eggs and a salad and when the order came out it was totally wrong. There’s clearly a reason no one goes to the restaurant and they can’t stay open for dinners.

The floors are still filthy, the service still sketchy, but at 45% off last years prices I guess we’re getting what we paid for.

UPDATE AS OF APRIL 9, 2019

It pains me to write this, but I just spent a couple hours over at the property for the first time in a few months and I am surprised to see that if anything, things have gotten worse. As hard as that can be. It’s really sad that this is the level of service that is being given to a building where apartments go as high as $25M. I live in another high level building in Bal Harbour, and while far from perfect, the experience is far better. Let me explain.

VALET – We pull up and there is no valet parker at the building. We wait and finally the door person radios for a valet parker to come to the tower. Another car comes as well and we wait until a valet strolls over from the other tower with no worry as to how long it takes him to get there. He takes the car and pulls it up to the side and we tell him we have packages that need to come up. Instead of helping us he then goes to the next car and moves it. We remind him about the packages and he tells us there’s a party in the building so no one is available to help with the packages. He says the car is still open so we can bring up the packages ourselves if we want. We look at each other in disbelief that this is what we’re being told and ask him why they don’t have extra valets if they know they are having a party. He tells me that three more are coming in 45 minutes and he will be able to help get them up then. We tell him we can’t wait that long and he sighs and gets a cart to help us. Are we in a $2000/month rental in Brickell or $10M apartment in Bal Harbour?

RESTAURANT -- Ordered breakfast at the restaurant and asked for coffee. The server asks if we want American coffee and we say yes. The coffee comes and it is espresso. I remind the server that we asked for American coffee and are told they don’t have any. Really, no regular coffee in a restaurant in Miami? The food itself is decent (no better) and clearly far from the quality of the previous restaurateur Stephen Starr. There was only one other group in the restaurant so I know it must be tough when not a lot of people come, but perhaps before trying to expand the menu choices it might be better to figure out how to make American coffee and maybe get the quality of the food higher? Obviously coffee is not a big deal but could I be the first person asking for it and they continue not to have it?

LOBBY FLOORS – A short time ago they sealed the floors which sealed in all of the dirt and while it was far from perfect, the dirt looked like it was part of the coloring of the stone in the floor and it looked better than it had in a very long time. Now a few weeks later more filth is coming on top and slowly it is getting back to its very dirty look. Somehow residents must not be complaining but I don’t know how or why? It just seems like it would be tough to sell apartments when people are walking in and see that. I guess that helps explain why they are not selling many.

All in all, I just spent a short time there and it is just very ordinary. They need to pay more money and get a better valet company but like everything there they always take the cheap way out. There’s a company all of the high end buildings use and they do a terrific job but they refuse to pay up here and hire them. It’s bad enough when you get to the building and there’s often numerous trucks lining the road and then you’re entering with the guard gate on the wrong side. At least there should be an enthusiastic valet company so you feel as if you’re about to enter a first class building. Instead it’s sloppy just like everything else there. Until they change their philosophy and deliver a first class experience nothing is going to change and that’s really a shame. This will continue to be a mediocre building when it was sold to buyers as top notch. Hopefully someone else’s experience will be better here than mine but the valet issue has been a problem from day one and they won’t address it. When saving money becomes the priority over delivering the best service this is what you get. It’s all very unfortunate.

UPDATE AS OF NOVEMBER 1, 2018

OH. MY. LORD. I just got back to Miami for the season and went to check on the lobby floors in the south tower and they are FAR worse than they have ever been! A complete and utter disgusting and filthy mess. What are these people thinking? How are the residents not losing their minds over having to live with this? I just do not understand how they expect any apartments to sell when this is what people are walking in to. Do they really think people can’t see it??? I can only shake my head in utter disbelief.

In better news, I've only been to the restaurant a couple of times but the people are extremely nice and do a good job. They have toned down the sophistication of the cuisine from the previous operator Starr Catering and are now serving more simple food. It works much better for lunches at the pool but it will still be not possible for them to succeed for dinner. Of course a restaurant with dinner was promised when they originally sold apartments and now the restaurant is only open for dinner one night a week. Unless they find a way to subsidize it so owners are forced to use it or lose the money they put towards it even one night a week will probably be too many to be worthwhile.

Finally, I use a garage in the parking area instead of valet. One day the garage door wouldn't open with my cars stuck inside. The vendor came and opened the garage door for me. A few months later same problem. Again the vendor came to open the garage and told me they know what the problem is as it had happened to another garage down there. They said they were ordering parts to get it fixed and it was under warranty. A couple weeks later we called to see when they were fixing it. They told us that since the garage was now working if I wanted it fixed it would not be under warranty and have to be paid for. So basically the only way it could be fixed under warranty is if I allowed the cars to stay trapped in the garage until the parts came in and only then they would fix it under warranty! The developer did nothing to resolve it at the time but are now cutting openings into each garage so that when they fail they can open the doors manually so the cars are not stuck inside. Makes one feel all warm and fuzzy about the developer honoring warranties.

UPDATE AS OF May 9, 2018

It’s been a long time since I’ve last written but I’m back. My dream to live here has ended and I have sold my two apartments. I am now renting an apartment for a short time to see if anything will change but in my heart I know better. Sorry to the many of you who have been emailing and texting me but I am very busy and it’s difficult to make the time to respond. Let me give you an update as to where things stand here in my opinion. Please remember these are just my opinions and experiences and of course yours may very well be different.

LOBBY FLOORS – By far the biggest issue in the building remains the lobby floors. While they have done a lot to clean them, more often than not they remain an unsightly mess unbecoming a building where apartments were sold for millions of dollars. There are now holes in many areas of the floor created by all of the cleaning they need to do to in order to somewhat clean the filth. The developer should be mortified that he is allowing this to be left in this condition when it is abundantly obvious to anyone walking through the front door that these floors need to be ripped up and new ones put down. While I understand their reluctance to spend their own money to do this, it is solely their fault that they chose to buy inexpensive material that should not have been used for a well trafficked floor. And to add to the problem, even after becoming well aware of the problem with the lobby floors, they put the same material down in the restaurant and that floor is now also always dirty especially in the area where they come in and out of the kitchen. I cannot fathom what they were possibly thinking putting down the same flooring they had problems with in the lobbies. Was it having the material and not wanting to spend more money to buy additional flooring that would be appropriate or their stubbornness that the floors are fine so why not put them in the restaurant too? Either way there is now an unsightly mess looking at those floors as well. Nothing like enjoying a nice meal looking at dirty floors. I can only shake my head and wonder how they think anyone would consider wanting to live her looking at a dirty, hole pocked floor in their lobby and restaurant every day?

RESTAURANT – While we’re on the topic, by far the best part of the property was the restaurant. Chef Mark, Andrew, John and the gang had done an incredible job through adverse circumstances to create a wonderful oasis (if you can overlook the dirty floors). They could not have been more accommodating to make everyone feel great, take input as to what you like or dislike, and do everything in their power to give you the best experience possible. So what did the building do? They get rid of Starr catering of course and brought in a local resturanteur who is also working at their other property in Key Biscayne. Why did they do it? Money of course. They made a bad deal bringing them in and were paying them much too high of a subsidy to operate the restaurant and with few people using it, it was costing them a small fortune. Now it’s costing them a lot less but also it’s a much different quality restaurant. It just opened so the jury is out whether it is good or not but unless they do a far better job in creating awareness with the restaurant and getting bodies in the door, it will also not be successful. At some point soon they will either have to eliminate dinner on some or all nights, open to outsiders (unlikely because residents were promised exclusivity) or charge a minimum to each apartment to use it or lose it to keep the place afloat. It’s a real shame because Starr did a nice job with the restaurant.

MANAGEMENT/SERVICE – As time has gone by the service in the building has gotten to a point of being somewhere between acceptable and good depending on the day. Doormen are doing a good job, packages are making their way to us in a reasonable amount of time, and both Carlos and Ligia have been fantastic. The service at the pool is still poor as the attendants have been poorly trained (if at all). Be prepared to go out there, find your own chairs and get your own towels because it is hit or miss as to whether someone will assist you. The valet parkers, although better than before, are still far below the quality of the company at St Regis down the street. And while on a personal level I get along with Janette, the GM of the property, she remains extremely difficult for the employees of the property to deal with as she treats them very poorly and rudely. She is a very hard worker and legitimately cares about everything going on here but she has no ability to effectively communicate with the employees without talking down to them. So basically you have a group of people running around scared of her which cannot be an effective way to operate a building. My sense is that she is still in the job because she takes a lot of the heat from the residents that would ordinarily be going to the developer and they obviously prefer if that way. But the reality is that you can’t run a property where the employees mostly dislike you and expect to get the most out of them. That explains a lot of the problems here. She would be much better off working in a mid priced apartment building where she can dictate terms to residents and they will accept it. No one here wants to be talked down to. And for the millions they paid for their apartments they shouldn’t have to.

ENTERING THE PROPERTY AND GUARDHOUSE – Another topic that they inexplicably continue to do nothing about although they have recently created more space in the service area in the garage so perhaps things will get better. But for now there are literally problems and delays every day getting in and out of the property. Numerous trucks are always lined up alongside the entranceway often loading and unloading their trucks. This is while resident’s cars are trying to get in and out and are often stuck behind these trucks or trying to navigate around them. Besides being incredibly unsightly and embarrassing to look at, you are often in a battle trying to get in and out. And then you add in that the guardhouse is all the way to the right and next to the passenger window of cars pulling up rather than the driver’s window. Can you imagine having to roll your passenger window down and lean down to communicate with the guard at the gate? As I’ve said previously it just doesn’t seem to make any sense but why aren’t they doing something about it? At least change it to put the guardhouse in the middle where they can at least communicate with cars on the driver’s side of their cars while also being able to speak with the vehicles exiting as well? As it is you have the poor woman in the morning, who does a great job by the way under horrible conditions, constantly out of the guard booth directing traffic, moving cars around, etc. You have literally never seen anything quite like this. Getting in and out of the building with your car is like playing the old game frogger. You come out of the garage and there are workmen lingering right outside on their phones and smoking, cars and coming down the ramp and it is hard to see them, when you finally make your way to the stop sign there are trucks and workmen all over unloading and walking, and then as you make your way to the light there are usually trucks lined up on the side of the road. You really have to concentrate not to hit someone or get hit. Unprofessional beyond belief.

Well I think I’ve given you the highlights for now. It is obvious the developer intends to do nothing to fix any of the problems and it will be ultimately up to the residents to figure out on their own through assessments or the legal system in the years down the road. Why the developer refuses to put up the small money to make the place better escapes me, especially when it will make the property more saleable to potential buyers? It appears to me as if they have sold under 10 units in the past year which at that pace will leave them here for many more years. They are also now also now creating rentals to help bring in revenue but the prices they are asking appear to be far above the market. I continue to not understand why they don’t realize if they actually spent some money on the property it would go a long way to bringing in sales, but yet they continue to do nothing. There appear to be buyers coming in the building to look, but very few actually buying. At end of the season now there are still about slightly less than 25% of the units available for sale in my opinion. Plus all the ones for resale that just languish on the market. Unless something changes I’m not sure how that can expect much to be different as we move forward.

UPDATE AS OF JULY 9, 2017

Well they finally got around to trying to clean the lobby floors in the south tower and as all the floor experts have been saying for months, nothing has changed. Perhaps the floors look like they have been walked on for 20 years instead of 25, but the same filthy, dirty look as before. It appears they are not even wasting their time trying to clean the north lobby because it was such a failure. Still a complete, disgusting, embarrassing mess.

UPDATE AS OF JUNE 29, 2017

As hard as it is to believe, the restaurant is still not open and the floors in the lobby are still a dirty, filthy mess. More residents are moving in and some are stunned to see the condition of the building and lack of services as there has been zero communication between the developer and the residents regarding any issues. In the meantime prices for apartments on the resale market are getting slashed as still not one unit has sold there. It remains astonishing to me that the developers continue to do absolutely nothing to resolve any of these extremely important issues. The summer will pass and the owners will start coming down in the fall/winter and I imagine that will really be when the proverbial sh*t hits the fan. In the meantime as more contractors are in the building to begin construction on the units it is becoming increasingly difficult for the staff to maintain any control. Many residents are griping and the employees appear to be having a difficult time when they are constantly being fed misinformation. There is now talk of August for the opening of restaurant but none of this is coming from the developer any longer. Afterall they originally promised January, February, March, April, May, June, and July. It is all very sad. But the statues continue to get constantly polished. UPDATE AS OF JUNE 1, 2017

The pride and joy of Oceana! http://artdependence.com/issue/may-2017/article/is-jeff-koons-seated-ballerina-a-copy-of-this-ukrainian-sculpture UPDATE AS OF MAY 17, 2017

Thank you to all the owners, employees and realtors who have complimented me on this site. In the last couple of weeks I have met with both the North American CEO of the developer as well as the District Manager of the company hired to manage the property. The meetings could not have gone more differently. In my meeting with the developer I was promised a response by the end of last week and wasn’t afforded the decency of even a reply while the management company continues to keep me updated with changes in the pipeline and their desire to do whatever it takes to make Oceana better. Unfortunately the developer has full control over the building until 90% of the units are sold which looks like it will be many, many years. Please read on and thanks for your support. I am the owner of two apartments in Oceana Bal Harbour that I bought to possibly create my dream home. Instead I find myself in a building that is thus far so inferior compared to what I expected that I thought I would create this website to help chronicle my experiences. Welcome to MyExperiencesWithOceanaBalHarbour.com!

Oceana Bal Harbour is a beautiful looking building set in a tranquil setting on the ocean in Bal Harbour. My experience began in March when I closed on my first apartment there and was welcomed by the property manager during an orientation meant to acquaint me with the property. During our moments together I asked numerous questions to the point of apologizing to her for taking up so much of her time when I thought she might have other things to do. She quickly replied that in fact she did have other things to do and that was the end of our orientation. After spending millions on an apartment I was stunned. Believe it or not from there it all proceeded to go downhill.

Even before you enter the building though, the problems begin. Good luck getting through the entrance gate in the morning. There are routinely numerous trucks lined up in the guest line that each take a few minutes before they are allowed to enter. So you say why not go through the resident's lane? First the lane is often blocked by the vehicles in the guest lane because they have to curve around since the entrance area was so poorly thought out and also the residents lane is narrow to the point where if you don't drive straight in and attempt to come in from an angle it is very easy to scrape your wheels on the side. Recently I have been entering through the exit whenever there is a line. Whomever designed this should look for a new career.

But the fun has just begun. Once you get through the gate if you choose to park your own car you enter a parking garage so poorly designed you are in disbelief. You enter an area so tight that immediately upon entering you are forced to make a sharp left turn. Upon exiting you have to turn your car in such a tight turn that there will have to be cars hitting the posts constantly. As I attempt to leave the beeps in my car from the parking sensors get more rapid as it appears I am about to hit my car. Then you have the problem of going up and down a two way ramp without mirrors where I have narrowly avoided an accident with an incoming vehicle on more than one occasion. I know this may seem crazy in a building where apartments are $2 million and up but I am really not making any of this up. As I write this they just added mirrors so it will remain to be seen how effective that will be. We shall see.

Next one of my favorite parts. Try walking between the two buildings where even on the most calm day you are met with strong winds. They have created a wind tunnel when they built the building so severe it will knock your hat off. You can literally walk out of one building and feel no wind, get to the portion between the two and feel ridiculous winds, and then once you get past the opening you feel nothing again. In the area between the buildings by the pool the servers are routinely having whatever it is they are carrying blow out of their hands. I have never experienced something like this before and I cannot imagine there is anything they can do about it at this point.

When you finally enter the building you are met with by far the biggest problem and one to this point the developer stubbornly refuses to fix. They have put down a floor in the lobby that looks as if it has been walked on for 25 years. It is a completely filthy looking mess and while they continue to search for solutions to fix it, numerous interior designers I have spoken with say it can never be fixed and will ultimately need to be replaced. They have recently made their latest attempt to fix it and it still looks terrible so why are they choosing to wait until many people have moved in in order to pull it up and replace it? There are very few people here so why wait? They now claim they once again have been giving the solution to resolve the problem by the stone quarry they purchased the flooring from but if this was the definitive solution why wasn’t it tried months ago instead of all the other options that didn’t work? And they have already tried using this method on a small portion of the north lobby by the manager’s office and it looks worse than it did before so why attempt it on the entire lobby? Do they actually believe there will be a different result? Mr. Developer, we bought apartments here in good faith and these lobby floors remain an unsightly mess months after being laid. Is it fair that you continue to waste time while we continue to be embarrassed bringing anyone to the property? There have been hundreds of millions of dollars in profit made here so why not just take care of the problem once and for all? Regardless, it will be a lengthy process and complete disarray if/when the floor needs to be replaced.

When you enter the lobby, aside from the messy floor, you see a collection of books that have the covers ripped off. I and no one else there has any idea why. It must be "a look" but instead it is embarrassing and along with the dirty looking floor makes for a low class lobby. Yet right outside the lobby you see two multimillion dollar Jeff Koons sculptures the building prides themselves on. Perhaps less expensive sculptures would have made far more sense and then put the money into a first rate lobby instead of the current low class one? Now the big story here is the inflatable Jeff Koons Ballerina sculpture recently placed in Rockefeller Center. The developer is sending out emails trumpeting the news because the whole sales pitch here seems to be about the $14M Ballerina sculpture. Maybe we can trade the one here for the inflatable one and put the balance of the money we receive towards fixing the filthy floors?

Outside by the pool there now appears to be rust coming off the terraces when you look at the back of the building. Some apartments have a lot, some less, and some not at all. Despite being terrible to look at, the question is will this now be coming off all of the terraces eventually? I am not sure as to how it can be fixed but I would think they would want to get this figured out sooner rather than later. Maybe they think everyone’s attention will be on the Koons sculpture and no one will notice?

The building is run by a property manager who is a middle aged British woman with a bruising style and a stickler for the rules. We are allowed to ask permission to do things but the answer is usually no. I know it sounds like I'm kidding but believe it or not for the most part I'm not. Thus far I haven't met a resident who likes her and the employees are all scared to death of her. You would think they would prefer someone warm and helpful especially in light of all the issues here but thus far not. I email her and she no longer responds. Can you imagine? Also be prepared to have someone from the building come into your apartment twice a day unannounced to inspect whatever work you are doing and if something they deem is wrong within minutes your contractor will get an earful from her. Makes for a very charming environment.

Contractors are still in the building everyday trying to feverishly finish the project. The restaurant is still not open and every few weeks the opening date gets pushed back. This has been going on for months and finally we were assured it would be open June 1. Once again we were completely misled because there is no way it will be open even close to that date. And they don’t even communicate the information so at this point how can I trust anything they tell me? The restaurant was sold to us as a “Stephen Starr restaurant” but in fact it’s actually not. It’s run by Starr Catering, a company Stephen Starr has nothing to do with. The spa has recently been opened although much is not functional and because it is so dirty I cannot imagine using it. Yes, on the same filthy looking floors that are in the lobby. There are no treatments available as I'm not sure they even have staff to provide these services. And by the way if you want to use the spa after 4 pm be prepared to navigate it yourself because the lone employee only works until 4:00 every day.

Appliances are not working in apartments where residents have moved in and word is they are now having to break through walls behind them in order to fix them. This is after the walls have been completed, floors put down, etc. They are now testing every unit to get them fixed before more owners finish their units. I’m told they are working through this problem and mine seem to be working.

The pool and beach have one attendant to handle both. He recently started and until then a man wearing a black shirt saying SECURITY would sometimes be around to help you with towels. The beach has cheap chairs and no cushions! Didn’t anyone tell the developer that their property was on the ocean and people would want to sit on the beach? To their credit, Starr Catering has a four item menu that they offer at no charge and usually have a nice young lady to assist with drinks. Unfortunately she is routinely being yelled at by residents angry with the service at the pool even though it is certainly not her fault.

All this is happening while the building is charging every owner full maintenance each month. Full maintenance for no restaurant, a spa that is not functional, filthy looking floors, and subpar service. I am extremely embarrassed when I bring friends of mine into the building and I get the look from them of what was I possibly thinking buying here. And they don't even know I'm paying $6000/month maintenance for my two apartments plus real estate taxes to be here with literally nothing usable!

I could go on and on but for now I imagine you can get the point. While I remain hopeful this property can turn it around, there will need to be some drastic changes and I'm not certain the cultural differences with having a foreign developer with no experience in building in America other than this building and their recently completed one in Key Biscayne will allow it to happen. I just think they may not truly understand the American market and I for one am at a loss as to why. What began with such hope and promise to bring a spectacular five star property to Bal Harbour has become a complete mess in my opinion. And literally no one has moved in yet, they still have dozens of apartments left to sell, and as word is starting to get around it has to become much more difficult to sell them at prices anywhere near what everyone else has paid, especially in a downward market. There are a couple dozen resales on the market and not one has sold since I have been here. Despite all of this I remain cautiously optimistic because there are some good people working here and although some of these problems are unfixable, many of them can be done rather easily. Let’s hope they start listening and figure it out before it’s too late.

Welcome to possibly my future home, Oceana Bal Harbour.