Will Apogee South Beach Condo Be All That You Desire?

Sometimes the very best of the very best is not what it appears. I remember once someone gave me a fake Rolex President that looked exactly like a Rolex President. I threw it out of a car window near Lake Travis in Austin. Was a great gesture, I thought. The person riding with me asked why I did that? "Nobody would ever know," they said. "I would", I said, "it's a fake." We all like and want the real thing. And especially the market you and us are in.

Hi Kevin,

 I read the article and called "my sources" at Related who mentioned that after installing some of the cabinets (Apogee was scheduled to start closing in September), they felt that the quality was not as good as they wanted and they would not compromise the quality of the building, therefore they were dropping Della Casa and finding another (Italian) company.

From what I learned, all the TOP kitchen manufactures in Italy are flying in to Miami this week (can you imagine, breaking their sacred August vacation!!) to bid on the job and that the quality will be the same or even better than shown at the sales center. Knowing several high profile clients who bought there and how Related wants Apogee to be their "Showcase" in terms of finishes and luxuriousness, I don't think they will drop the ball here. This change will mean that closings will now start only in December (if lucky).

We should also note that Continuum II Initially had Della Casa cabinets and later replaced them with a much cheaper copy, but developer Ian Bruce Eichner of Continuum really does not seem to care about what others say about his poor finishes (every owner I know at Continuum complains about it), Jorge Perez does care for his reputation and more so at Apogee, where his partner will live at the west facing, $25MM PH.

Kevin...Related is DEFINITELY NOT Mother Theresa, I never said that and would never do it.

Even though I work for Related Cervera (affiliated with Related), I am happy to have my freedom of speech (and opinions) when it comes to their products or to the whole market. Sometimes they have products that are, in my opinion "overpriced", "too hyped" or just plain "not good enough" in my judgement, but I believe Apogee is not one of those.

My point in regards to their reputation is specifically focused on Apogee and no other building or issue that Related has had in the past. I don't think that they will let their reputation be affected by delivering the units at Apogee with a kitchen inferior to the one shown at the sales center. I think that whatever their problem with Dellacasa is (which may sound, from knowing the industry, that Related is trying to get an extra buck here), they will replace it with another TOP-OF-THE-LINE manufacturer because they have too many high profile costumers who bought at Apogee. Not only the celebrities, but high net-worth individuals that will not be fooled or that Related and Jorge would not like to under-deliver on their promise.

Maybe, if the article didn't appear on the Miami Herald, they would get by with an unbranded "cheaper" copy, but not now...too many people have their eyes on this issue now.

BTW... one day (soon) we should meet...you are knowledgeable, have very high standards and praise great ethics (not too easy in Miami...lol)...besides having a great blog and a tremendous web presence.

B-good 

This is not the First time I hear Related trying to cut corners.

LOFT DOWNTOWN... no parking

ONE MIAMI .... parking garage floors "unsealed or painted" making extreme amount of dust, problems that the assoc had to take over

If they have done it before why not now and just spin