Terra and Frisbie Buy 47-Acre Racetrack in West Palm Beach

Two high-profile South Florida developers, Terra and the Frisbie Group, have partnered to buy a racetrack in West Palm Beach for $21 million, property records show.

Called the Palm Beach Kennel Club, the property spans 47 acres at 1111 North Congress Avenue, just north of Palm Beach International Airport and adjacent to Belvedere Road. The greyhound racetrack covers 2.3 acres, while the rest of the property remains vacant or serves as a surface parking lot. 

The seller of the Palm Beach Kennel Club, the Rooney family, went under contract in 2023 and will retain the betting licenses, allowing the seller to continue operating on the site, The Palm Beach Post reported. 

About 42 acres of the site will be redeveloped into a three-phase, mixed-use project that will include workforce housing, according to a representative for Terra. Development plans floated two years ago include building up to 2,000 mid-market housing units in buildings up to 20 stories tall. 

The project will reteam Miami-based Terra and Palm Beach-based Frisbie Group. Earlier this year, the joint venture won the bid to redevelop Boca Raton’s city hall into a 2.5 million-square-foot mixed-use complex, beating out Stephen Ross. 

The Palm Beach Kennel Club project would mark a change for the Frisbie Group, which has historically built luxury condos. Last year, it sold a waterfront development site in West Palm Beach for $195 million, which it planned to construct into a RAMSA-designed project with Hines.

Terra, led by David Martin, has been making inroads in West Palm Beach, launching sales for the Mr. C condo and hotel project in Downtown West Palm Beach last year. 

A representative for Frisbie Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Rooney family could not be reached for comment.

Julia Echikson can be reached at jechikson@commercialobserver.com.