LeFrak Buys Related Group’s New Multifamily Tower in Fort Lauderdale for $180M

The LeFrak Organization has acquired Related Group’s new waterfront rental tower in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., for $180 million, property records show. 

The 36-story building, called Harbour at New River, houses 337 apartments on a 1.4-acre site at 401 Southwest First Avenue, facing the New River, a block west of South Andrews Avenue. Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company supplied a $100 million acquisition loan. 

As part of the sale, LeFrak Organization agreed not to convert the units into condos until 2033. 

Related Group, in partnership with Rabina Properties, completed the 936,012-square-foot asset last year. In 2022, the developers secured a $99 million construction loan from Truist Bank, although public records estimate the project cost $75 million to build. 

Harbour at New River was part of a three-phase project, which the joint venture has already sold off. BJ Verde Properties purchased the 26-story, 349-unit New River Yacht Club, while the 20-story Regatta at New River sold for $115 million in 2021.

The sale comes less than a year after Related Group sold another luxury rental tower in Fort Lauderdale: the 46-story Veneto Las Olas, which Zara’s billionaire founder Amancio Ortega bought for $180 million. 

The purchase appears to be LeFrak Organization’s first acquisition in Broward County. The New York-based firm is perhaps best known for the LeFrak City housing complex in Queens, which it developed in the 1960s and still owns. 

In Florida, the LeFrak Organization has mostly focused on Miami-Dade County, where it developed the SoLé Mia mixed-use master planned community and the Link multifamily towers near the Douglas Road Metrorail station. The third phase remains under construction.

Representatives for Related Group and the LeFrak Organization did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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