DTZ Retained for Grand Bahama Residential Project
By Damian Ghigliotty December 12, 2014 4:12 pm
reprints![Discovery Bay development site.](https://commercialobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2014/12/discovery-bay-development-site.png?w=538)
A Florida-based hospitality and residential development firm has hired DTZ’s Capital Markets group to secure $75 million in construction financing for a three-phase residential project on Grand Bahama island, Mortgage Observer has learned.
The development, Discovery Bay, will include single-family homes, townhouses and condominiums, totaling 163 units.
Phase one of the project is set to include 18 beachfront homes and 17 ocean-view homes, one lot off the beach, according to DTZ Managing Director Jeffrey Donnelly. Phase two will include 48 oceanfront villas and phase three will include 80 canal-front condominiums.
The sponsor, Big Bear Developers, is looking for lenders or co-investors willing to provide the entire $75 million or start with a $25 million financing for phase one, said Mr. Donnelly, who leads the firm’s capital markets group out of New York.
“This is an exceptional site that sits on a tract that extends from pristine white sand beaches through to prime canal-front acreage with significant deep-water dockage rights,” he told MO.
The development’s beachfront homes will start at $1.5 million and the ocean-view homeswill start at $1.1 million, according to DTZ Vice President Joel Weinberg. The luxury condos and townhomes of phases two and three will be priced “well under $1 million,” he noted.
“This is a project with a super risk profile and compelling value proposition,” Mr. Weinberg said. “We are delivering a luxury beachfront project to the market with unit pricing that is at a fraction of the cost one would see 80 miles west on the Florida coast.”
The Discovery Bay site lies within a 20-minute drive from Grand Bahama International Airport and 12-minute drive from Downtown Port Lucaya, the main shopping hub of Freeport, Grand Bahama.