Jesta Approved for $300M Mixed-Use Development in North Bay Village
By Julia Echikson January 17, 2023 4:13 pm
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Another mixed-use development is coming to North Bay Village, an island town between Miami and Miami Beach.
The town’s commissioners greenlighted Jesta Group’s proposal for a 30-story project that will include 345 rental units, of which 18 will be workforce housing, as well as a 273-room hotel, restaurant space totaling 14,500 square feet and 677 parking spots.
Jesta, a Canadian real estate investor, has owned the 2.31-acre site — located between 1819 and 1855 79th Street Causeway, just west of Miami Beach’s Normandy Isles — since 2016, when it paid $15 million. The waterfront parcel now houses a five-story Best Western motel and the seafood restaurant Shuckers. The motel will be torn down but the restaurant will remain in the same location, according to Jesta’s plans.
The development’s overall cost is expected to come to $300 million, a spokesperson for Jesta told Commercial Observer. The developer, which is only now starting talks for financing, hopes to start construction in about a year and anticipates delivering the project in 2026.
“We are incredibly bullish on South Florida,” Anthony O’Brien, senior managing director of Jesta, said in a statement. “As we develop this landmark project, we will continue to grow our portfolio of world-class assets in this tremendous market.”
The Canadian investor’s South Florida portfolio includes the Clevelander Hotel, Essex House Hotel and Stiles Hotel, all Art Deco establishments in South Beach.
The Jesta’s approval comes just four months after the Ansin family, owner of local television station WSVN Channel 7, won approval for a 7.3 million-square-foot development, also on North Bay Village. The approved plan includes 1,936 residential units, of which 5 percent will be workforce housing; 200,000 square feet of office space; 670,000 square feet of commercial space; a hotel; and a marina.
Julia Echikson can be reached at jechikson@commercialobserver.com.
