Neighbor Trump? Four Seasons Developer Buys West Palm Rental Facing Mar-a-Lago

Is the Four Seasons coming to West Palm Beach, Fla.?

Fort Partners — the owner of all the Four Seasons in South Florida — paid $20 million for a waterfront apartment complex at 3906 Washington Road and 3907 South Flagler Drive, which faces President-elect Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club and residence from across the Intracoastal Waterway, property records show. 

The property holds two buildings — one housing 17 units and the other eighth, which were built in 1972 and 1955, respectively — on nearly an acre. 

The New York-based seller, Philips International, purchased the complex for $4.3 million in 2015, according to property records. Four years later, it proposed turning the site into a nine-story, 27-unit condo building, but that was never built. 

While representatives for Fort Partners did not immediately respond to a request for comment, the aging apartment complex will likely be redeveloped. 

Luxury condo developments near West Palm Beach’s waterfront have surged since the pandemic, when wealthy northerners gobbled up housing on Palm Beach, an island town home to billionaires such as Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman and activist investor Nelson Peltz. Stephen Ross’s Related Ross is developing a Robert A. M. Stern Architects-designed condo complex, about two miles north from Fort Partners’ new property.  

The Fort Lauderdale-based Fort Partners owns all the Four Season-branded properties in South Florida, including the Four Seasons hotel in Palm Beach.

In 2017, it completed the Surf Club, a market-setting complex that includes a 77-room Four Seasons Hotel and 150 condo units, in addition to a Michelin-starred restaurant helmed by world-renowned chef Thomas Keller. Last month, the firm secured a $111 million construction loan for a boutique condo project next door, just as closings for condo units at another nearby project got underway. 

Sales for a Four Season condo development in Miami’s Coconut Grove neighborhood launched this summer. Fort Partners, led by Nadim Ashi, also owns the Four Seasons hotels in Brickell and Fort Lauderdale. 

Update: The story was updated to include the name of the buyer. 

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