Asian companies are behind the two largest commercial projects in Miami this year, with Hong Kong’s Swire Pacific obtaining approval for Brickell CitiCentre, and Genting Malaysia Berhad paying $236 million for the waterfront site of the Miami Herald. The Brickell project is a $700 million plan of retail, hotel, residential and office space. According to Mayor Tomas Regalado, the Swire project will bring in $2 million in permit fees next year, along with $5.5 million in annual property taxes. Regalado visited Taiwan in May, and city officials are planning a trip to Peru in November. In all, overseas buyers bought $447.9 million worth of commercial property in the first half of this year in Miami, according to Real Capital Analytics. “The large-scale projects indicate the interest to stay in the market a significant amount of time,” said Ben Thypin, market-analysis director at Real Capital. “I think of Miami along the lines of a San Francisco or Manhattan.” [Bloomberg]

Florida strengthens Brazilian ties.  Motivated by a residential market largely buoyed by an influx of Brazilian homebuyers, Florida Realtors led a trade delegation to Brazil last week to discuss real estate investment in Florida. "Brazilians love owning a home in Florida for a variety of reasons," said Patricia Fitzgerald, president of Florida Realtors and a member of the delegation. "Brazilians see the entire state, from Key West to the Panhandle, as not just the place to be but the place to buy." According to the organization's 2011 Profile of International Homebuyers in Florida report, Brazilian buyers had an 8 percent share of the foreign buyer market last year. Related CEO Jorge Perez told The Real Deal last week that Brazilians, along with Latin American buyers in general, had "saved" Miami's market. [World Property Channel]

http://therealdeal.com/miami/articles/florida-strengthens-brazilian-ties