Miami Condo Developer Carlos Rosso: 5 Questions

In his plans for a 28-story, 950-unit condo tower in Miami’s Midtown neighborhood, Carlos Rosso is devoting much of his attention to the public spaces outside the project.

“It’s about more than just a kitchen or a bathroom,” said Rosso, founder and CEO of Rosso Development. “It’s about how do we take this 5-acre property and conscientiously design an urban space that people want.”

Commercial Observer caught up with Rosso, and discussed plans for the Midtown Park Residences by Proper, which will include 120,000 square feet of retail space and 60,000 square feet of office. Rosso also talked about completing a separate 228-unit development nearby, market challenges, and more.

The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Commercial Observer: You’re wrapping up one project and starting another. Give us the overview.

Carlos Rosso: We’re completing the Standard Residences, 228 units in Midtown Miami. It’s 97 percent sold. We are finishing it in the next month and starting closings in the third quarter. We have units starting at $550,000 and up to $1 million. We’re in that price range that is attainable. There is a pickleball court inside the project, a beautiful rooftop pool with its own restaurant, a beautiful fitness center, coworking space.

Now we’re launching Midtown Park, which is to the south. That’s a 5-acre mixed-use project with four towers and 950 units for sale. Prices will be $600,000 to $2.5 million for the bulk of the units, and up to $4 million for the top penthouse units. It’s a big project that incorporates a lot of public space. We are investing substantial amounts now in the land and the marketing.

We’re bringing a little bit of the Design District into Midtown — that’s the idea. We’re incorporating 60,000 square feet of office. We are talking to a pre-K school. We are doing an eight-court padel club. You get a lot more than a condo with a pool and a gym.

Midtown is a very special place. It was planned from day one as a landlocked, master-planned community. Once you enter Midtown, the streets don’t take you anywhere, so you have to slow down. Slower streets are great for retail.

Your background is as an architect. As you’re describing streetscapes, you sound like an architect rather than a developer.

Public space has always had a negative connotation: “People are going to sleep there, who’s going to maintain it, blah blah blah.” The reality is if you have public space in front of your project, it’s going to make the units more valuable.

Some of the most valuable residential space in the world is near public spaces. Think of all the units in New York overlooking Central Park. Think of the units in Paris overlooking the Champs-Elysee. People walk past and say, “I want to live there.” It’s really what Miami needs — more open space, more parks, more pedestrian streets.

So how do you make that vision a reality?

As we were designing this, we went to different areas and measured the width of streets. We went to the Design District, we went to Coral Gables, we went to Coconut Grove. We looked at dimensions and designs of spaces. We said, “This works, this doesn’t work.” 

People want very simple things. They want sidewalks with retail. They want streets that give a sense of pedestrian safety. They want shade and plenty of trees.

What’s your biggest challenge?

The biggest challenge is making sure we hit the market at the right time. There are some uncertainties. People are waiting for the clouds to clear. Hopefully, we’re going to get a good path to move forward.

Speaking of uncertainties, has demand slowed?

A lot of the employees for these companies moving their headquarters from other states are still not here yet, even though they made the commitment a couple of years ago. Amazon signed a lease in Wynwood, but they’re still not fully open. Citadel isn’t fully here yet. The migration is continuing.

Jeff Ostrowski can be reached at jostrowski@commercialobserver.com.