Watch the Full Panel From PROFILEmiami's Exploration into Miami's Art In Public Places Initiative

Real estate news platform PROFILEmiami hosted a thought-provoking symposium about Miami’s Art in Public Places program. Hosted on March 28, 2018, the special panel event, which took place in downtown Miami’s Arts + Entertainment District in the CANVAS condominium tower being developed NR Investments, put a spotlight on future development in the city and explored best practices for the ongoing incorporation of works of art in real estate projects. 

Panelists Featured:
- Jeremy Calleros Gauger, Deputy Director of the Planning Department for the City of Miami
- Steven Gretenstein, Dacra COO
- David Polinsky, Fortis Design + Build Principal
- Gary Ressler, TILIA Companies Principal  
- Nir Shoshani, NR Investments Principal and A+E Co-Founder
- Moderated by: Demetri Demascus, PROFILEmiami Publisher

Guests, who were treated to cocktails and hors d'oeuvres by PROFILEmiami, additionally had a question-and-answer session with the panelists, getting the opportunity to delve into important topics and gain insights regarding unique initiatives unfolding within the city.  Before the panel began, CANVAS and NR Investments also hosted hardhat tours of the property, showcasing several of the condominium building’s 170-foot interior wall murals – all of which are being painted by urban contemporary artists from around the world.

Watch above or: https://youtu.be/pU2om2b0wpw

Check out the full gallery and inside scoop from PROFILEmiami Present's Miami's Art in Public Places Initiative Panel Hosted With CANVAS

CANVAS Reveals New Renderings Of Lifestyle Amenities & 1st Mural By Daniel "Krave" Fila

NR Investments, the developers of CANVAS, the flagship condominium of downtown Miami’s Arts + Entertainment District, have released new renderings of the property’s ninth-floor amenity deck as well as an image of one of the Daniel "Krave" Fila commissioned murals. Newly revealed renderings show the 100' long, enclosed dog run overlooking downtown Miami, and a glass-enclosed racquetball court built to professional specifications. Other amenities at CANVAS include an outdoor yoga garden, state-of-the-art fitness center, movie screening room, kids play room, and three outdoor pools. 

CANVAS will deliver this summer, bringing 513 new studio, one- and two-bedroom residences to Miami’s downtown urban core. Residences are attainably priced between $386,200 and $630,000. The project is 85% sold and is Fannie Mae-approved, making it possible for qualified buyers to get financing up to 97% on units. Earlier this year, NR Investments announced that Graspa Group, the Miami restaurant operator behind the Segafredo, would team up with award-winning international bartender Daniele Dalla Pola to launch a new craft cocktail establishment to anchor the ground-floor retail component at CANVAS. The new restaurant/bar, “Esotico Miami,” will open in Fall 2018.

“CANVAS is more than a condo – it’s a vertical village. So we’ve placed a lot of emphasis on communal spaces and amenities that residents want today – amenities more typically found in high-end luxury condominiums,” said Nir Shoshani, principal, NR Investments. 
In addition to the lifestyle amenities, CANVAS is the only condominium to feature 27 floors of large-scale murals and original artwork by urban artists. The CANVAS Collection, commissioned by NR Investments and curated by Miami urban artist Daniel “Krave” Fila, brought together over 20 artists from Miami and other parts of the world to create over 200 original works of art for the property’s residential corridors.

“We took the idea of a ‘canvas’ to its most literal extreme and gave all of these artists free reign to express themselves on our walls,” said Shoshani. “It’s an unprecedented collaboration, and we took a huge risk doing this, but we wanted to stay true to our vision of creating a residential community that reflects the creativity and culture of Miami.” 

The Team Behind Segafredo Set To Launch Esotico Miami, A New Craft Cocktail Bar In The Heart of Miami's Arts + Entertainment District

Graspa Group, the team behind the Miami mainstays Segafredo, Salumeria 104 and Spris brands, is teaming up with a celebrity bartender on a new concept at CANVAS in the heart of Miami's Arts + Entertainment District. 

Dubbed “Esotico Miami,” the concept will be located in the ground floor at CANVAS, located at 1630 NE 1st Avenue. Esotico Miami will offer modern tropical cuisine and hand-crafted, exotic cocktails by internationally celebrated bartender Daniele Dalla Pola. It will also provide a home base for local musical talent, a cornerstone of the Arts + Entertainment District mission, featuring live music several nights a week. Esotico Miami will serve dinner and late-night cocktails with seating approximately 100.

“We’re delighted that Graspa has chosen the Arts + Entertainment District for its next venture,” said Nir Shoshani of NR Investments, the developer behind CANVAS and Filling Station Lofts. “This is the team that has made Segafredo one of the most beloved neighborhood cafés in Miami, and we’re confident that Esotico Miami will be equally magical, and become the de facto ‘living room’ for the Arts + Entertainment community. Graspa’s focus on good food and good people, combined with Daniele’s thoroughly original approach to cocktails, is a winning recipe.”

Graziano Sbroggio, founder of Graspa Group, and Dalla Pola launched Segafredo together in the 1990s. Dalla Pola honed his craft in Miami before returning to Italy to launch a restaurant and two successful cocktail establishments. He owns his own rum brand, Alamea and was nominated best bartender in the rum category at the International Rum Conference in Madrid, and one of the best bartenders in the world by Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans.

“Daniele is a true artist, and every great artist needs a good manager behind him,” said Sbroggio. “He was the first to suggest the location at CANVAS and it didn’t take long to convince me. We see a lot of people moving into the Arts + Entertainment District. It has great connectivity to Downtown, Wynwood and Miami Beach and has a really strong community of local artists and entrepreneurs. We see this as the next great neighborhood in Miami.”

Alex Acker and Frank Rodriguez Melo of Cedano Realty Advisors represented the parties in the transaction to lock up the 2,700 SF space on the ground floor southeast corner of CANVAS. Esotico Miami is expected to open this fall (2018).     

Inside PROFILEmiami's Art in Public Places Panel Event Featuring Leaders from City of Miami, A+E District, Design District and Wynwood

Real estate news platform PROFILEmiami hosted a thought-provoking symposium about Miami’s Art in Public Places program. The special panel event, which took place in downtown Miami’s Arts + Entertainment District in the CANVAS condominium tower, being developed NR Investments, put a spotlight on future development in the city and explored best practices for the ongoing incorporation of works of art in real estate projects. 

Moderated by PROFILEmiami publisher Demetri Demascus, the event featured a display of autos by Prestige Imports.  Panelists included Jeremy Calleros Gauger, Deputy Director of the Planning Department for the City of Miami; Dacra COO Steven Gretenstein; Wynwood BID Board Member and Chairman of the Planning & Transportation Committee David Polinsky; TILIA Companies Principal Gary Ressler; and NR Investments Principal and A+E co-founder Nir Shoshani. 

Guests, who were treated to cocktails and hors d'oeuvres by PROFILEmiami, additionally had a question-and-answer session with the panelists, getting the opportunity to delve into important topics and gain insights regarding unique initiatives unfolding within the city.  Before the panel began, CANVAS and NR Investments also hosted hardhat tours of the property, showcasing several of the condominium building’s 170-foot interior wall murals – all of which are being painted by urban contemporary artists from around the world.  

PROFILEmiami Presents Miami's Art in Public Places Program | March 28 @ 7 PM

RSVP (FREE): https://www.eventbrite.com/e/miamis-art-in-public-places-program-a-panel-discussion-tickets-44163577449

PROFILE Exclusive: Energizing Miami's New Arts + Entertainment District With The Skyline Changing CANVAS

PROFILEmiami had the exclusive opportunity to sit down with Ron Gottesmann and Nir Shoshani, founders of NR Investments and the masterminds behind CANVAS as well as Miami's new, burgeoning Arts + Entertainment District. Get inside the neighborhood changing developers' minds as they discuss how CANVAS came to reality, what drives the Arts + Entertainment District forward, bridging art and lifestyle within a residential community, and how they brought life and vibrancy to a dilapidated area in the heart of Downtown Miami. 

PM: This area was completely flat, there wasn’t any development in the A + E District, when you guys got here, what did you find and how did you get the land

Ron: We built Filling Station Lofts, and after we completed that project, we created CANVAS. Prior to that, we looked at everything happening around us and decided we wanted to do something different… so we started the Arts + Entertainment District, which was formerly the Omni District.

Nir: When we talked about forming the Arts + Entertainment District, before Filling Station Lofts, there wasn’t much in the area. Our idea was to create an urban village. One essential component was public transportation. Fortunately, that feature was already in place – a MetroMover station – but it was underutilized. Another was density. We needed to create density, which, in turn, would create energy. And another component was mixed-use retail. Ron and I took our time picking the right people to help us build that energy… all of which was necessary to bring people to the area. This wasn’t a renaissance… it was a ground-up effort. Virtually nothing existed within these 16 blocks.

Ron: This is a true story: We took some people from our company on a fishing trip to the Tropic Star Lodge in Panama. One evening, we were sitting around a table and there were some guests nearby from New York. They asked us where we were from and we said Miami; so they said, ‘you have to go this cool place,’ and they started showing us photos of Filling Station Lofts and the rooftop. All of us looked at each other and we were in shock. We said, ‘you know what, we did it!’ This was a validation of what we had built. It was our dream to create a concept and connect it to the community. Even through the Miami Flea, we have given residents who live in Filling Station Lofts the opportunity to further their own businesses. That’s why we started the event -- to give people who actually live in Filling Station a platform to grow their businesses and achieve recognition.

Nir: To date, we have hosted more than 180 public events in an effort to further the growth of the District. I think that’s been one of the most important aspects of creating a genuine community…and through a very holistic approach.

PM: So you guys decided to build condos because you already had the rentals via Filling Station. Did people demand for condos or did you guys do your own market research?

Ron: It was a dream. It was a vision. At the end of the day, we wanted to develop something affordable – something that was luxury but not too expensive. We also wanted to maintain Fannie Mae approval, which prevents selling to bulk buyers.  In the beginning, we were approached to sell in bulk, but we didn’t. Fannie Mae approval creates a healthy project…and when it comes to delivery, people can really buy and finance with 5% down on their units. This was our intention from day one.

Nir: From the get-go, CANVAS has been an end-user product. We’d like it to be a place where families and professionals will be able to fulfill the American dream.

PM: We discussed that the clientele who likes the Arts + Entertainment District, design and style may not like real estate business and developers, where do you see a lot of your buyers coming from? Are they investors looking for rental units or end users?

Ron: It’s a mix of people. We have investors, we have end-users, we have domestic buyers, we have foreigners who come here to study. The area itself is such a unique location…one that’s close to Miami Beach, the University of Miami, Miami International Airport, etc. -- so you find yourself in a place where you can easily be mobile. In the past, this was the Omni District.  We succeeded in changing the branding to the Arts + Entertainment District. That was the first stage. Then came the push to sell to people who really wanted to use it. The majority were end-user buyers. We never pitched or sold units as rental opportunities or promised returns. We don’t believe in selling something we cannot commit to. Quality product, amenities, connectivity between people…that’s what we’re looking to create and provide.

Nir: Although I dislike the word, it’s about “lifestyle.” We see this area as offering the urban community lifestyle, not the South Beach lifestyle. We are stressing that in our amenity deck…we are stressing that in the joint activity offerings through the gym, the racquetball courts, etc.  We want our residents to connect through these features.

Ron: Not only that, but also with retail. We believe that retail shapes an area. For that reason, we are paying a great deal of attention to the retail space… and we aren’t rushing into the maximum rent per square-foot. We want to preserve and build the community. We are not looking for the top restaurant… we are looking for the restaurant that can serve the neighborhood – grocers and other retailers that will connect with the community.

PM: CANVAS will feature art installations throughout, etc. How did this idea evolve?

Nir: I think it’s very much part of what we are about. It’s another key element.  All of these individual aspects are not “THE” factor that will make the project a success… they make up the entire package. The first similar experience we had with an art installation of such magnitude was within Filling Station Lofts, where we decided to work with Wynwood-based muralist Daniel “Krave” Fila, along with seven local artists, and create small, original works of art in the lobby.  We subsequently saw a huge demand. So in CANVAS, we decided to scale up, going from framed works to murals. We will therefore have 27 residential floors in the building with original curated murals on every one.

Ron: We decided to bring Wynwood into the building, but in a classic way. We implemented something similar in the Filling Station Lofts; and therefore, I think we have proven that it can be done successfully. The building is unique and the response has been phenomenal.

PM: When the buyer closes on the unit and you give them the keys, what is one feature in the building or their newly purchased unit that will stand out and make them happy they bought here?

Ron: Everything. Absolutely everything from A to Z. We don’t cut corners. When the clients move in, they will get everything ready to go. The only thing they’ll need to bring with them will be their shirt and their furniture. The amenities are there, the retail is there, and the community is there.  

PM: What does CANVAS mean to the Arts + Entertainment District and to the city of Miami?

Nir: For me, CANVAS is the first milestone in the District – one that will bring more people to the area and subsequently create even more energy around us. Architecture is important. Structure is important… and that is what we have worked to do with CANVAS.

Ron: I think it’s the next phase in the continuation of building up this area and the District. People are in love with the community. It’s a place that residents will be proud to call home.

About Nir Shoshani, Ron Gottesmann & NR Investments:

NRI is a privately held real estate investment company with focus on commercial and residential real estate co-founded by Nir Shoshani and Ron Gottesmann. NR Investments is built upon the belief that small investments in communities and local culture result in large returns in real estate value. NR Investments has completed neighborhood changing projects across South Florida, including Filling Station Lofts, and Lima, Peru. Prior to forming NRI in 2001, Nir Shoshani was president at TiS America, Inc. a subsidiary of Top Image Systems Ltd. (NASDAQ: TiSA), a publicly traded, high-tech firm headquartered in Israel with operations around the globe. Mr. Shoshani is a graduate of the Belgrano School of Business in Buenos Aires. Co-founder Ron Gottesmann was a former mortgage banker who oversaw the operation of the Miami branch of GFI Mortgage Bankers Inc. of New York. Today, NRI is a fully integrated developer, owner and manager of real estate, with holdings that include large-scale office buildings, commercial shopping centers and multi-family housing.