Joseph Kavana Seeking Equity Partner to Complete Metropica for $250M
By Julia Echikson May 2, 2023 1:26 pm
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Developer Joseph Kavana is looking for a partner to join Metropica, a mega-development in western Broward County that has struggled to get off the ground — in hopes of securing $250 million.
Billed as a “city within a city,” Metropica is a master-planned development set to include 2,500 residential units, 240 hotel rooms, 480,000 square feet of retail space and 650,000 square feet of office space, totaling 4 million square feet.
Kavana assembled the land — at 1800 NW 136th Avenue, facing the 2 million-square-foot Sawgrass Mills outlet mall, just east of Broward County’s urban development border — in 2015.
So far, though, Kavana’s K Group Holdings has built only one building on the 48-acre site: a 263-unit condominium, which was completed in 2020. Even that project was mired in delays. A couple that paid $605,000 for a unit sued the developer in 2020, alleging that construction delays had violated their purchase agreement, The Real Deal reported.
The developer is now seeking a joint-venture partner to complete Metropica, tapping Karson & Co. and Avison Young to broker a deal. The brokers expect the agreement, which will not include the completed condo building, to transact in excess of $250 million.
“In land-constrained South Florida, aggressively zoned greenfield sites of this scale are increasingly rare,” Avison Young’s Michael T. Fay said in a statement. “The equity partner for Metropica will have the opportunity to develop a ‘city-within-a-city’ with its own center of gravity, making it a true legacy asset.”
The proposal comes less than a week after the Avison Young team, which includes David Duckworth, John K. Crotty, Keith O’Donnell and Brian C. de la Fé, brokered a blockbuster land deal in Miami, in which Terra offered $1.2 billion for a 15.5-acre waterfront parcel near downtown. The deal is expected to close later this year.
Julia Echikson can be reached at jechikson@commercialobserver.com.
