After Foreclosure Saga, Charles Cohen Plans Office Complex in Florida’s Dania Beach
By Julia Echikson September 8, 2026 10:05 am
reprints
Charles Cohen is rising from the ashes of foreclosure with plans to build a speculative office complex in Dania Beach, Fla., near Fort Lauderdale’s main airport.
The billionaire developer’s firm, Cohen Brothers Realty Corporation of Florida, is launching the Office Center of the Americas (OCOTA), a two-building development with 400,000 square feet of office space, Commercial Observer has learned.
The Nichols Brosch Wurst Wolfe & Associates-designed development will be delivered in two phases and is expected to cost about $350 million. The two buildings will each rise 10 stories and have a four-story parking garage attached at 1805 and 1815 Griffin Road facing Interstate 95, just south of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
Cooper Horowitz is handling construction financing for the project. A representative for Cohen declined to comment on the construction timeline.
OCOTA will be erected next to the Design Center of the Americas (DCOTA), a mixed-use complex that Cohen lost two years ago in foreclosure to his former lender Fortress Investment Group. Just last month, the New York-based lender, now owner, nabbed $45 million to refinance the 780,000-square-foot office and design showroom complex.
The foreclosure between Fortress Investment Group and Cohen turned contentious when the lender went after the New York billionaire’s personal assets, including a chateau and vineyard estate in the south of France, a 220-foot megayacht, and a collection of Ferrari sports cars. In June, Cohen announced that he had paid off the full judgment.
Cohen has revived plans for another 400,000-square-foot office project, this time in Downtown West Palm Beach. In July, the developer filed for permits after resolving a foreclosure lawsuit over a $10 million loan tied to the 2.4-acre site, The Real Deal reported.
Cohen follows other developers in South Florida in launching a speculative office project without signed tenant agreements. The move is somewhat unusual in the wake of the pandemic-driven shift to remote work.
Last month, Gatsby Florida nabbed a $119 million construction loan to build a speculative, eight-story office complex in Palm Beach Gardens.
Julia Echikson can be reached at jechikson@commercialobserver.com.
