The Related Group is reducing prices on units in ICON Brickell -- a three-tower luxury condominium project in Miami's Brickell district -- by a hefty 30 percent, hoping it will serve as a powerful incentive to get hundreds of recalcitrant buyers to close.

Alicia Cervera, president of Related Cervera Realty Services, said the Related Group had reached an agreement with its lenders, which include HSBC, Bank of America and Wells Fargo, to offer the discounts for buyers with existing contracts.

``It's a moment that a lot of buyers were hoping and waiting for and it's a very big move on the part of the banks to really bring a good resolution to our existing contract holders,'' Cervera said.

Additionally, a consortium of construction lenders has agreed to finance short-term loans for a limited number of buyers on a first-come, first-serve basis. The loans have fixed interest rates and mature in five years, Cervera said.

The price cuts and lending program represent a watershed development for the troubled $1 billion ICON, considered the pinnacle project of Jorge Perez, Related's chief executive and chairman. Closings have been stalled for months, as buyers have refused to pay full price for pre-sold units in the down market.

Perez was traveling in Europe Monday and was not immediately available for comment.

Many condo developers have been asking their lenders for permission to reduce unit prices, often to levels that require the lenders to take a loss. And many of those same construction lenders are stepping in as mortgage lenders to buyers having difficulty landing financing to close.

Financing has become a major obstacle for condo buyers in South Florida because most lenders have shunned making loans against properties considered at risk for a host of problems -- from further price declines to high foreclosure rates and bankrupt homeowners associations. ICON's discount and lending programs are being rolled out for contract holders in ICON Brickell's Tower I, followed by Tower II, Cervera said. A program had not yet been designed for the third tower, which houses the Viceroy Hotel. Cervera said almost 90 percent of the $1 billion project had been pre-sold at the present time.

Research from Condo Vultures, a condo research firm and brokerage, hows about 8 percent of ICON's units had closed by Sept. 30, for an average price per square foot of about $603, a vastly higher amount than many units are being sold for in the current market.

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