Bank OZK Provides $100M for St Regis Condo in Sunny Isles
The new loan brings the total financing to $219 million
By Julia Echikson April 1, 2024 3:36 pm
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Another day, another Bank OZK (OZK) loan closes in South Florida.
The Little Rock, Ark.-based bank provided a $100 million loan to Fortune International Group and Château Group for a St Regis-branded condo project in Sunny Isles Beach, Fla. — bringing the total financing to $219 million.
The debt, which will go toward advancing the early stages of construction, increases Bank OZK’s existing land loan on the 4.7-acre, oceanfront site at 18801 Collins Avenue.
Back in 2014, Carlos Slim’s Bank Inbursa provided a $50 million loan to buy out the existing condo building on the site, which the developers demolished. In 2016, the Mexican bank increased the mortgage to $85 million. Four years later, in 2020, Bank OZK took over the loan and upped it to $119 million.
The Miami developers are now in talks to secure a construction loan to complete the works, and an agreement is expected to close this year, said a spokesperson for the project. In August, the joint venture, led by Edgardo Defortuna and Manuel Grosskopf, broke ground on the 62-story tower, which was scheduled to be delivered in 2027.
The latest loan increase comes on the heels of the 175-unit project hitting $1 billion in pre-sales, accounting for about 85 percent of the inventory, per the developer.
Last month, the partners launched sales for a second, similar tower on the 4.7-acre, oceanfront site. Together, the St. Regis high-rises are expected to bring in $3 billion in sales.
The tower development will mark Fortune International and Château’s third luxury condo tower in Sunny Isles Beach, a town north of Miami Beach lined with tall, luxury condo buildings. In 2020, the Miami joint venture completed a Ritz-Carlton-branded condo building, selling it out for $800 million.
Further north in Pompano Beach, Fortune International is building another Ritz-Carlton-branded condo development after securing a $259 million construction loan, also from Bank OZK, in December.
In recent months, the regional bank has emerged as the most active construction lender in South Florida, funneling nearly $1.4 billion to high-profile developers, such as Hines, and CMC Group, and Oak Row Equities.
Just last week, it closed on both Related Group’s $328 million construction loan for the Baccarat Residences in Miami’s Brickell district and Turnberry’s $172 million construction loan for One Park Tower condo in North Miami.
Julia Echikson can be reached at jechikson@commercialobserver.com.
