Fontainebleau Secures Another $63M for Marriott Resort in South Florida

Jeffrey Soffer’s Fontainebleau Development raised $475 million to refinance the JW Marriott Miami Turnberry Resort & Spa in Aventura, Fla., property records show.

The financing from J.P. Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs (GS) adds $62.7 million to an existing $412.2 million loan, bringing the total debt for the property to $475 million, according to mortgage documents. Wells Fargo (WFC) will serve as an administrative agent.

The latest round of financing appears to have replaced a loan from the Bank of China, which has been the resort’s lender since 2017.  

Located at 19999 West Country Club Drive, the property holds 685 rooms, a spa, a water park and two 18-hole golf courses, one of which was originally designed by the late Robert Trent Jones. In 2018, the compound underwent a $300 million renovation, which included the addition of a 16-story tower. 

The property came under the ownership of Fontainebleau Development in 2019, when siblings Jeffrey and Jackie Soffer divided up the real estate assets from Turnberry Associates, the company created by their father, Donald Soffer. In the breakup, Jackie Soffer kept the nearby, 2.8-million-square-foot Aventura Mall. 

In 2020, billionaire brothers David and Simon Reuben purchased a 25 percent stake in the Aventura JW Marriott. Just this month, the British moguls expanded their hospitality portfolio in South Florida, buying the W hotel in Miami Beach for $425 million.

A representative for Fontainebleau Development did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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