Kolter Multifamily has broken ground on a 55-plus apartment community west of Boynton Beach. The company is taking a different approach to traditional 55-plus housing options.

“We think of the project as a cruise ship on land,” said Kolter’s Jeff Quinlivan. “Typically, senior communities provide residents with smaller units and 24-hour care driving up residents’ monthly costs. Boynton Tropical will be lower acuity with more emphasis on overall wellness-focused amenities and activities.”

The development will feature 210 apartments ranging from 800 to 1.400 square feet and about 15,000 square feet of amenities, such as a resort-style pool, a fitness center, a dining area with a bar, a craft room, a salon, a yoga studio, and a ping-pong room.

Boynton Tropical will be located on the 8.9-acre site at 7401 Tropical World Way, on the east side of Hagen Ranch Road. A Kolter affiliate purchased the property for $4.75 million in 2020.

Boynton Tropical should be completed in winter 2026.

Cannon Commercial obtained $60 million in financing to acquire a 2 million-square-foot industrial portfolio comprising two buildings, one each in Jacksonville, Fla., and Hammond, La. The properties are both fully leased to regional grocery chain Winn-Dixie. JLL secured the 10-year, fixed-rate CMBS loan.

The Jacksonville location is 12 miles from Jacksonville International Airport in the Riverside submarket, while the Hammond site is between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, La. Both assets are considered mission-critical distribution centers for Winn-Dixie, a subsidiary of Southeastern Grocers, which is owned by ALDI.

JLL’s Jeff Sause facilitated the deal along with Joshua Blank. Sause said Winn-Dixie’s long-term occupancy and the assets’ locations in growing Southeast markets made this deal attractive to lenders.

Cannon TTM is an arm of Cannon Commercial, a private real estate investor. The firm recently acquired Wilshire Rodeo Plaza in Beverly Hills, Calif., from Nuveen for $211 million.

Register Today to “Be in the Room” when Michael Brennan receives Connect CRE’s Lifetime Achievement Award and will participate in the Keynote Interview with Kevin Brennan, also of Brennan Investment Group. Join us at Connect Industrial Midwest 2025 on the afternoon of Wednesday, March 5, at Joe’s Live in Rosemont, IL, for this exclusive presentation! 

Marathon Asset Management’s Commercial Real Estate platform originated a $154.5 million mortgage loan to a joint venture between Monarch Alternative Capital LP (“Monarch”) and REDICO (the “Sponsor”) to fund the refinance of The American House Florida Portfolio.

The Portfolio consists of six senior housing communities encompassing 817 units: 409 Independent Living units, 306 Assisted Living units, and 102 Memory Care units. Five of the six communities were built between 2015 and 2018 in Florida markets experiencing significant demographic growth.

REDICO developed four of the communities from the ground up, and in 2017, it expanded the Portfolio by acquiring two additional communities. In 2021, Monarch acquired the Portfolio through a recapitalization event, during which REDICO remained as both a joint venture equity owner and manager.

Marathon’s Commercial Real Estate Team, led by Joseph Griffin, worked with the Sponsor to originate the senior acquisition loan. Aron Will and Adam Mincberg of CBRE National Senior Housing arranged the financing.

Continental Realty Corporation, on behalf of Continental Realty Fund IV, L.P., has completed the sale of Ridge Plaza, a nearly 140,000 square-foot retail center located at 9000-9200 W State Rd 84 in Davie, Florida, for $22.25 million. JLL represented CRC in the sales transaction.

After acquiring the asset in 2017, the Baltimore-based real estate investment company individually sold all six of the free-standing pad sites at the center for a total price of about $13.1 million. One of those pad sites was a vacant land parcel that was ultimately sold to a local medical office group to develop their own building. With the sale of the shopping center, CRC generated a total exit value of approximately $35.35 million, compared to the company’s purchase price of $21.3 million.

Located in Broward County, Ridge Plaza was approximately 99 percent leased at the time of sale. Anchored by Paragon Theaters, Goodwill Industries and Off The Wall, the center consists of about 15 retailers, restaurants, and other specialty service providers.

Real estate investor and promoter Grant Cardone has purchased two Miami-area multifamily properties: the Manor at Flagler Village in Fort Lauderdale and the Laurels at Jacaranda in Plantation. The S. Florida Business Journal reports that Nuveen was the seller.

The Manor at Flagler Village has 382 apartments and about 25,000 square feet of retail space. It will be rebranded 10X at Flagler Village.The Laurel at Jacaranda at 9733 N.W. Seventh Circle has 468 apartments spanning about 31 acres. It will be rebranded 10X at Jacaranda. Cardone Capital also has the Edge at Flagler Village, a 382-unit complex at 475 N. Federal Highway, under contract for more than $100 million. He expects to close on September 16. It’s also owned by Nuveen. All three involve cash sales.

Cardone is believed to own about 15,000 apartment units, more than 10,000 of which are in Florida, plus others in Georgia, Alabama and Texas.

Orlando-based Holidays Network Group paid $27M for a Miami Beach apartment building that is approved for conversion into a 107-room hotel, The Real Deal reports. The 88-unit apartment complex at 2618 Collins Ave. was sold by a joint venture of investors Eli Dadon, Avi Dishi and Richard Waserstein. 

Holidays Network Group paid $27M for an apartment building at 2618 Collins Ave. in Miami Beach.

The sellers had paid a combined $10M between 2014 and 2017 to acquire condos at the property before converting it to rentals. The Miami Beach Historic Preservation Board approved a plan in 2018 to renovate the half-acre property into a boutique hotel. 

Holidays Network Group secured a $35.3M loan from Phoenix-based Western Alliance Bank as part of the acquisition, signaling that it plans to move ahead with the renovation. The property was built in 1951 as an art deco hotel designed by Roy France and has historic designations that prohibit full demolition.

SALES

The 103-key Marriott West Palm Beach Airport traded for $20.5M, the South Florida Business Journal reported. MHG Hotels, which has headquarters in Boca Raton and Indianapolis, purchased the hotel at 1800 Centrepark Drive E from an entity managed by Jay Batra, the CEO of Ohio-based Regal Hospitality. 

The 63K SF hotel, which includes a pool, restaurant and fitness center, was built on a 2.5-acre parcel in 2001. MHG Hotels is planning a $4M renovation that will include updating guest rooms, modernizing common spaces and updating the exterior. 

***

An affiliate of Macklowe Properties closed on the $47.7M purchase of a 51-unit co-op called Biscayne Sea Club in North Bay Village, the SFBJ reported. The seller was Bay-Four and Biscayne Sea Club, the nonprofit that governed the co-op, located at 8000 East Drive.

The buyer, a firm led by New York developer Harry Macklowe, financed the purchase through a $32M mortgage from an affiliate of Hallandale Beach-based Kawa Capital called CRE TI LLC.

Macklowe had the property under contract since May, and Biscayne Sea Club terminated all the leases at the property and approved the sale earlier this year. Macklowe is also reportedly under contract to buy a nearby apartment building at 7941 East Drive for $10.6M, but property records indicate the sale hasn’t closed.  

CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT

The company behind the South Florida-based restaurant chain Moon Thai & Japanese filed plans to build a three-story restaurant in Wynwood, Commercial Observer reported.

Moon Thai Group is planning the restaurant on a quarter-acre site at 82 Northwest 28th St. that it acquired for $6M in 2021. The proposal for a 350-seat restaurant is a pared-down version of an earlier plan in September to build a five-story restaurant on the site.  

Moon Thai, founded by chef Jack Punma, first opened 23 years ago in Coral Gables. It has since grown to include eight South Florida locations and one in Charlotte.

Eight tenants signed or renewed leases at Citigroup Center in Downtown Miami.

LEASES

More than 38K SF of leases have recently been signed at the 34-story Citigroup Center office tower in Downtown Miami, according to a release. The six new tenants and two lease renewals at the 810K SF tower at 201 South Biscayne Blvd. are:

• The Miami Downtown Development Authority, an independent agency of the city of Miami, which is relocating from another Downtown building into 9,295 SF. Blanca’s Danet Linares represented the tenant.
• Trion Properties, a California-based multifamily real estate investment sponsor, which will take a 3,700 SF spec suite for its first Miami space. CBRE broker Alina Plasencia represented the tenant.
• Marex Solutions, a London-based subsidiary of Marex that creates and distributes currency and commodity derivatives, which signed on for a 3,200 SF spec suite that will be its first Miami office. It was represented by Damla Barrett at Colliers. 
• Kili Topco Ltd. and its subsidiary K2 Human Capital Solutions, which leased a 2,500 SF spec suite. The recruiting firm is relocating from Brickell and was represented in the transaction by RE/MAX’s Alex Ferran. 
• Lithium Capital Management, a Chilean investment advisory firm, which inked a deal for a 2,400 SF spec suite. It was represented by NAI’s Jeremy Larkin. 
• Pisec Group, a steel trading company, which will relocate from Brickell into a 2K SF spec suite.  
• A Brazilian investment advisory firm called Galapago Advisory that renewed its lease and expanded its footprint to 4,600 SF. 
• An unnamed law firm that renewed its 11K SF lease. 

Citigroup Center is owned by New York-based Monarch Alternative Capital and an affiliate of CP Group, a Boca Raton-based real estate investment firm. The CP Group entity purchased the property in February 2000 for $115M, according to property records, and Monarch purchased a majority stake in the property in 2021 for an undisclosed price.  

The landlord was represented in the leases by Steven Hurwitz, Doug Okun and Madeline Fine at JLL.

***

Hephaestus Pharmaceuticals signed a five-year lease at Prologis Beacon Industrial Park, located at 10913 Northwest 30th St. in Doral. The 13K SF space has a 24-foot clear height and includes nearly 3K SF of office space. 

Hephaestus plans to build a sterile compounding facility in the warehouse where it will manufacture and pack prescriptions. The tenant was represented by Michael Avendano, vice president at Lee & Associates.  

While the national industrial vacancy rate sits at 3.9%, unstable economic conditions continue to worry lenders, investors and developers alike, causing a chain reaction of skepticism to spread throughout the sector. Because of this, demand has somewhat softened. However, it continues to be strong on a relative basis.

One market that is still on the upswing is South Florida.

This year, the South Florida industrial market closed Q1 with a 3.7% vacancy rate, below the national average. The market also has 13.3M SF currently under construction, a significant uptick from last year’s 10.4M SF.

The market is showing signs of growth and resilience, and BBX Logistics Properties, a South Florida-based infill logistics development company, is focusing on finding opportunities where others have not. Backed by BBX Capital Real Estate, BBX Logistics Properties understands the importance of quickly meeting the evolving needs of its clients and the industry at large, said the firm’s president, Mark Levy.

“Given the team’s tenure in industrial real estate, we use a very specific set of analytics to seek out and analyze development opportunities,” Levy said. “While we remain bullish on the Florida market, we are in a period of transition where markets are normalizing and values are resetting. Given the sophistication of data intelligence, more attention will be given to investment fundamentals and sustaining long-term value.” 

Levy will be speaking at Bisnow’s South Florida Industrial and Logistics Summit, along with other local leaders in the South Florida industrial market, including Malcolm Butters, principal at Butters Group, and Erin Byers, executive vice president of industrial at Colliers, on June 15. Register here.

Bisnow spoke with Levy about what inspired him to speak at this event, the challenges the market is facing this year and the new trends that investors and developers should be aware of in South Florida.

Bisnow: What inspired you to speak at Bisnow’s South Florida Industrial and Logistics Summit? What topics will you cover? 

Levy: Bisnow does a great job of reaching a broad audience, so it is an opportunity to talk not only about all the work that BBX Logistics Properties is doing in the market, but to discuss more broadly the market opportunities and challenges that we’re observing. The logistics sector is an important component of the South Florida real estate landscape, and we appreciate the opportunity to add to the overall conversation.

At the event, it is important we focus not only on opportunities, but also how to effectively navigate challenges brought on by the current market uncertainty. We also will touch on how we are underwriting differently today and offer a forecast on rental rate growth, land values and how demand is evolving.

Bisnow: Can you tell us about the business plan you put in place at the launch of the business and what projects the firm has been working on?

Levy: We started the company with no pipeline, and have opted to build our deal flow by taking on challenges where others may not. The entitlement process takes time and has great inherent risk, and we’re fortunate to have an experienced team to lead us through this complex process.

We are in the midst of entitlements on a number of projects in Broward and Palm Beach counties, as well as in the early stages in the Tampa and Orlando markets. We just received final approvals on an approximately 700K SF, three-phase project in Delray Beach, at U.S. 441 and Atlantic Avenue, which we plan to commence later this year. This project symbolizes our thesis of delivering best-in-quality logistics space in severely constrained, high-barrier locations. I’ve been very fortunate to have worked in multiple eastern U.S. markets, and as such, we also have a steady pipeline of interesting opportunities outside of Florida.

The firm is focused on properties that meet our defined criterion, and as I stated previously, we exercise tremendous discipline in our location analytics. It’s not just infill, per se, it’s a confluence of a series of factors that drive our decisions.    

We’re also focused on helping our customers create a better employee experience. The war for talent isn’t easing. This involves focusing on amenities and quality-of-life elements. We also strongly believe in community benefits, and are laser-focused on ensuring we are integrated into the communities in which we build.

Bisnow: What are the long-term goals for BBX Logistics?

Levy: Our goal is to build an enterprise that delivers maximum value to our investment partners, customers and the community.

From a geographic standpoint, Florida presents opportunities few other markets do. We’ll focus on key markets throughout the state and will be opportunistic in other key growth markets such as Charlotte, North Carolina, and Texas. We’d be remiss not to enter the New York and New Jersey markets, as we are also convinced of the permanent drivers that exist there. What we won’t do is speculate on markets or build projects based on the theory of ‘build it and they will come.’ We will leave the market-making to others. 

Bisnow: What challenges are industrial investors and developers facing in South Florida? 

Levy: The basic challenge is land availability. We need to think about how we build projects in the future with respect to verticality and mixed-use orientation. This may also be exacerbated by Florida Senate Bill 102, which will reflect the ability for affordable housing to be constructed by-right on sites with an underlying commercial or industrial zoning.

We are also dealing with a paradigm shift — money has a cost, construction labor shortages are real, and supply chains will take years to correct. Due diligence is ‘en vogue’ again, and scrutiny and more comprehensive deal level analysis is back.   

Bisnow: What trends should investors and developers be aware of in the South Florida industrial market?

Levy: Redevelopment is the major trend across the board in South Florida. We are beginning to see some opportunities to repurpose obsolete office and retail assets. We will also see opportunities in redeveloping older industrial assets. Mixed-use is a growing component of this equation.

We’re also focused on developmental impacts in the communities in which we live and work — both socially and environmentally. In South Florida, we need to become role models for how companies give back to their communities, as well as partnering together to build a better future. Environmental considerations are especially important, including how well a property is positioned to handle climate-related risks like rising ocean levels and extreme weather. We’re conscious about seeking specific building certifications to limit our environmental footprint and operate at the highest standards to increase overall efficiency.

For more information on BBX Logistics Properties, please click here.

This article was produced in collaboration between BBX Logistics Properties and Studio B. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.

Studio B is Bisnow’s in-house content and design studio. To learn more about how Studio B can help your team, reach out to studio@bisnow.com. 

Florida’s Indian River County has for years been battling a new, privately run train. Now, the county will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether $2.7B in tax-exempt private activity bonds were issued illegally to raise funds for it.

The train — today called Brightline, but being rebranded as Virgin Trains USA — already runs between Miami and West Palm Beach, and there are plans for it to expand to Orlando and Tampa.

Courtesy of Brightline

Brightline President Patrick Goddard waves to riders May 19, 2018.

After being built and advertised as a high-speed train, actual ridership has been less than half of initial projections. The train is adding new stops in Aventura and Boca Raton this year, which will slow it down and also compete with a lower-cost public train service, Tri-Rail.

Brightline has been lauded for smooth, comfortable, luxury service, but also criticized over profitability and safety issues. More than 40 people have died on the tracks, with many of those deaths ruled suicides. A Virgin Trains USA IPO planned for last February was scuttled. 

The train has faced strong resistance and several lawsuits from residents of Florida’s Treasure Coast, north of Palm Beach, where trains would pass through but not stop. There, residents have complained about safety, environmental concerns and the local taxpayers’ responsibility for costs of maintaining crossings.

Indian River County sued the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Railroad Administration in federal court, alleging that $2.7B in tax-exempt private activity bonds were issued wrongly, partially because the project isn’t a “qualified highway or surface freight transfer facility,” a condition of qualifying for the bonds. The matter was also debated in congressional hearings. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis opposed the bonds when he was a congressman. 

But both a federal court and a federal appeals court in Washington ruled that the bonds were permissible. After having spent more than $3M fighting the case, the Indian River County Commission voted 4-1 in January to end further appeals.

But now, a group of residents organizing under the banner of the nonprofit Alliance for Safe Trains say they have been advised that they have a reasonable chance for the appeal to be considered by the U.S. Supreme Court, TCPalm reports.

Between 20 and 30 residents committed to raising $200K in private money for the county to pursue its case, the group’s leader, local resident Jack Preschlack told TCPalm. The county commission voted Tuesday to proceed with the suit using private funding. The county could also use a remaining $400K it had previously allocated for legal fees if the Supreme Court takes the case. 

Virgin Trains is a subsidiary of private Fortress Investment Group LLC. Grupo Mexico in 2017 bought the FEC Railway from Fortress, and runs freight — including hazardous liquid natural gas — on the tracks.  

Critics of Brightline have theorized that if the passenger service fails, a Fortress subsidiary will still have made money on real estate deals surrounding the train tracks, and Grupo Mexico would benefit from expanded tracks, but bondholders could be left holding the debt.  

Brightline has said it is planning to meet a goal of 2.9 million riders by 2021. With Virgin launching a cruise line out of Miami this year, and growing its hotel chain, tourists could soon shuttle back and forth between Disney World, where a station is planned, and Miami. (A hyperloop has been floated, too.) 

Brightline President Patrick Goddard has emphasized the need to get Americans out of cars and predicted that in 10 years, Virgin Trains would connect four or five medium-haul corridors, such as Charlotte to Atlanta, Houston to Dallas or Chicago to St. Louis.