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Many Developers Buying Air Rights in Miami Area

By
Real Estate Agent with ONE Sotheby's International Realty

One of the hottest types of sales to happen in the Miami real estate (view homepage website) industry over the past year have actually been for air rights, which might seem somewhat strange to some. Air rights are the rights to the air space above one and two story buildings. What does this really mean though? Often, people call air rights the “transfer of developmental rights”, as this is what it really means. A person or company that owns a short building can sell the square footage above the property to a developer who wants to create a high rise building.

While this type of sale has been growing in frequency and popularity in the past year, it’s been around for some time. One of the areas famous for this is Sunny Isles Beach (view high-rise condos for sale here), which has countless high-rise properties on Collins Avenue. They have also been popular in places with limited space, where the only way to build is up, such as NYC. The system set up in Miami works well for the buyers as well as for the sellers.

How Do Air Rights Work?

Miami 21 Zoning Code says that “qualifying sellers are those who own building in Miami designated as historic or that are within a historic district.” The revenue from the sale of the air rights then needs to go into renovating and maintaining the “historic character” of the building. This helps to ensure that some of the older buildings with a bit of history behind them will get fair treatment rather than just being bought up and demolished. It helps to preserve the history and the flavor of the area. Ultimately, it adds more character, and it still allows the developers to build the luxury high-rise properties that are so popular today.

Discover More About this Unique Trend in South Florida

This is certainly a unique trend that South Florida residents are seeing on the local housing market.  Learn more about the logistics of this "air rights" trend and discover more details you might want to know as a potential buyer by checking out my recent South Florida real estate blog.

And please make sure to contact me as well as my team of South Florida real estate experts at One Sotheby's International for all of your South Florida home buying and home selling needs!                                                                              

Richie Alan Naggar
people first...then business Ran Right Realty - Riverside, CA
agent & author

A developer I once knew had an employee that brought up keeping the mineral or ground rights on all developed properties something that very little people would pay attention too...

Feb 16, 2015 11:06 PM
Lenn Harley
Lenn Harley, Homefinders.com, MD & VA Homes and Real Estate - Leesburg, VA
Real Estate Broker - Virginia & Maryland

Commercial developers have sold "air rights" in Washington D.C. for many years.  There is a law limiting building heights in DC and "when and if" the height of buildings is increased. . . . .  well, you know who will benefit.

Feb 16, 2015 11:23 PM