Developers of The St. Regis Residences, Sunny Isles Beach, Miami Secure $418.3 Million Construction Loan Package

Fortune International Group and Château Group, developers of The St. Regis Residences, Sunny Isles Beach, Miami, announced today that they have secured a $418.3 million construction loan package. Bank OZK was the lender. The total package ranks among the largest ever for Sunny Isles Beach real estate.

The latest financing for the under-construction, two-tower oceanfront development comes on the heels of significant sales activity and international buzz. The Residences’ South Tower is now 90% sold, while at the adjacent North Tower – the community’s second and final building – the volume of contracts continues to underscore sustained buyer demand.

“We are pleased to confirm that The St. Regis Residences, Sunny Isles Beach, Miami closed its construction loan with Bank OZK, which was the existing lender on the property for a number of years, completing the capital stack of the project,” said Edgardo Defortuna, CEO of Fortune International Group. “Securing this loan confirms the strong confidence lenders have in our vision.”

“This loan reflects the pace-setting sales and sustained demand for this project and South Florida’s evolving luxury market,” said Manuel Grosskopf, CEO of Château Group. “Our project has firmly established itself as one of the region’s most desirable new developments. We look forward to delivering its completion and welcoming our owners.”

Featuring an unprecedented 435 linear feet of oceanfront – the most of any residential enclave currently rising in the region – The St. Regis Residences, Sunny Isles Beach, Miami was designed by the acclaimed architectural firm Arquitectonica, with construction overseen by industry authority Coastal Construction.

The South Tower, with 170 residences, is on track for completion in late 2028. The North Tower, comprising 150 residences, will break ground next year. The total sell-out for both towers is projected to exceed $3 billion.

Remaining residences start at $5 million. The on-site, oceanside sales gallery is located at 18801 Collins Avenue, Sunny Isles Beach.

Interior renderings via Binyan Studio unless otherwise noted

The St. Regis Residences, Sunny Isles Beach, Miami are not owned, developed or sold by Marriott International, Inc. or its affiliates (“Marriott”). La Playa Beach Associates, LLC uses the St. Regis marks under a license from Marriott, which has not confirmed the accuracy of any of the statements or representations made about the project.

For more information about The St. Regis Residences, Sunny Isles Beach, Miami, private showings or purchasing/ leasing information please fill out the form below:

Meet the Panelists Speaking at The PROFILE South Florida Capital Markets Summit at E11EVEN Residences Miami

On Wednesday February 7, 2024, PROFILEmiami will host its inaugural Capital Markets Summit, bringing together some of the biggest movers and shakers in real estate development in Miami to explore the state of financing and capital markets in the real estate industry. Discover the intricacies of commercial real estate investment and financial markets where industry leaders will dissect the impact of changing interest rates, inflation, and global economic conditions on investment decisions. The exclusive panel is set to features industry leaders including developer Dan Kodsi of Royal Palm Companies, Dev Motwani of Merrimac Ventures, Raul Llanes of City National Bank, Michael May of Silverstein Capital and Justin Oates of Cain International; moderated by Matt Einheber of TitleEQ.

Panelists will have a comprehensive discussion about the current capital stack in commercial real estate deals and explore strategies that sponsors can employ to optimize their capital structure. The discussion will also delve into the market's underwriting standards and loan-to-value ratios, uncovering their influence on loan approvals; as well as a spectrum of financing options, from debt and equity to mezzanine financing and EB-5, and grasp typical terms offered. The discussion serves to educate attendees to anticipate future challenges and opportunities in the commercial real estate financing landscape while acquiring best practices for managing and mitigating risks, particularly in times of economic uncertainty.

Meet our panelists and be ready for the interactive Q&A session to follow:

Dev Motwani, President & CEO, Merrimac Ventures

Dev Motwani serves as President and CEO of Merrimac Ventures, a Fort Lauderdale based real estate firm that focuses on value-add investment and development opportunities. Property types owned and operated include hotels, condos, retail, office and rental apartments primarily in South Florida but also throughout the United States.

Dev is also Founder and Managing Partner of Ramesh Properties, a distressed real estate investment fund focused on opportunistic investments in residential and commercial development sites throughout South Florida. He currently oversees nearly $750 million in development projects. Current projects include the Four Seasons Hotel and Private Residences, The Gale Boutique Hotel and Residences, as well as Las Olas Riverfront, all in the Fort Lauderdale area.

Dev is Founder and Managing Partner of Chieftain Residential, a yield-oriented distressed residential fund purchasing single-family homes, and residential land, primarily in the Southeast US and Texas. The fund aims to balance current income opportunities through the rental markets for its single-family home inventory, while also targeting capital appreciation in single family homes and land as the US Residential Market continues to rebound.

Prior to his current role, Dev worked at Credit Suisse in New York City, where he first structured OTC Equity Derivative trades for the firm’s largest corporate clients and then for the firm’s largest hedge fund clients. Before that, he worked in the White House and on the 2000 Gore/Lieberman Presidential Campaign.

Dev plays an active role in the South Florida Community, through his involvement with numerous charities and business organizations, currently serving on the board of the Broward Center for the Performing Arts Foundation, Fort Lauderdale’s Economic Development Advisory Board, and the Downtown Council. He was recently appointed to the Orange Bowl Host Committee.

He previously served on the boards of the Riverwalk Trust, Greater Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce, and Broward County’s Small Business Advisory Board. Dev has served as Co-Chair for the Bonnet House’s Annual Impressions Fundraiser, the Ghost Light Society’s Annual Soiree, and the Jeb Bush Classic Beach Bash benefitting the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. This year the Motwani family co-founded the Laughing Out Loud fundraiser benefitting the Scleroderma Foundation, which raised over $170,000 for the charity.

Dev graduated from Duke University with a Bachelors of Science degree in Economics and Public Policy and from Columbia University’s Masters of Science in Real Estate Development Program. He has also studied at the London School of Economics.

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Dan Kodsi, CEO, Royal Palm Companies

Since 1991, Mr. Daniel Kodsi has been CEO of Royal Palm Companies (RPC). Under Kodsi’s leadership, RPC has developed over $3B in completed projects to date with over $2B in the pipeline. During the last three decades, Kodsi has delivered over 6,000 units consisting of over 14 million square feet of mixed-use and master-planned communities, hotels, multi-family, and high-rise developments.
Kodsi is known for identifying underserved markets alongside of his ability to execute large-scale, mixed-use developments, and master-planned communities. In 2011, Kodsi founded Participant Capital as the capital arm of Royal Palm Companies and a vehicle to empower individual investors to participate in ground-up construction projects. Mr. Kodsi is the CEO/Managing Principal of Participant Capital and Chairman of the Investment Committee.
Throughout his career, Kodsi has been credited for changing skylines with his award-winning projects. Kodsi has created several branded residences including the Paramount brand that includes three distinct properties including the recently completed and internationally renowned, Paramount Miami Worldcenter, which is the second largest master-planned urban project in the United States.
RPC’s latest branded residence is the Legacy Hotel & Residences in the Miami Worldcenter. This mixed-use tower will overlook the heart of downtown. It offers both buyers and investors a unique blend of business models across hospitality, real estate, preventative healthcare, and wellness that work financially independently, but also creates an asset ecosystem that appeals to the new ‘disease conscious traveler’.
Kodsi has appeared as a guest on national television newscasts, major cable business networks such as CBS World News, NBC Universal, CNN, CNBC, FOX News, MSNBC, Bloomberg News and is a regular guest on FOX Business news. He has also been a frequent guest speaker and panel member for The Urban Land Institute, Real Deal, BizNow, the National Multifamily Housing Council, and the EB-5 Council.

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Michael May, President, Silverstein Capital Partners

Michael May is a founder and the President of Silverstein Capital Partners (“SCP”) and oversees all lending operations. SCP has committed over $1.6 billion on office, industrial, residential, retail, hospitality and mixed-use projects in urban markets. SCP provides senior loans, bridge loans, subordinate loans, and rescue capital to borrowers on shovel-ready ground-up construction, heavy value-add repositioning, lease-up projects, land, and inventory loans on completed condominium projects. SCP’s funds are capitalized by two global institutional investors and Silverstein Properties, Inc. SCP also has an active separate account business.

Previously, Mr. May was a founder and Chief Operating Officer of Cantor Commercial Real Estate (“CCRE”), where he led the origination of than $50+ billion of commercial real estate loans.  Mr. May was responsible for raising institutional and private capital, sourcing corporate financing, high-yield bond raises, loan origination, loan distribution, and securitization for the venture.  From its creation in 2010, CCRE closed 2,000+ financings on all property types in 50 US states, 3 US territories, Mexico, and the Caribbean.  Mr. May oversaw conduit, transitional, large-loan, small-balance, single borrower, Agency, and net-lease lending as well as a $58 billion servicing book.

Prior to CCRE, Mr. May was a Managing Director at Credit Suisse (“CS”) where he was a senior member of the Real Estate Finance Group.  Mr. May joined CS in 1997 and oversaw West Coast and Latin American operations including the origination and distribution of CMBS, whole loans, and subordinate debt.  Mr. May originated $20+ billion in financings and innovated numerous CMBS products including securitization structures for condominiums, construction, ski mountains, and casinos.

Before CS, Mr. May worked at General Electric Capital Corporation where he focused on the acquisition of subordinated CMBS and the structured distribution of whole loans, asset backed securities, and real estate equity.  Mr. May also spent seven years at Arthur Andersen LLP in the Real Estate Consulting Group, working in the US, Western Europe, Russia, and Latin America providing advice on project feasibility, loan valuations, securitization structuring, and workout strategies.

Mr. May holds a BS in Finance and a BA in Psychology from the University of Maryland at College Park.

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Raul Llanes, Managing Director, Head of Specialty Capital Markets, City National Bank

Raul has over 18+ years in Real Estate Investment Banking, Syndicated & Corporate Capital Markets, Structured Credit, Private Equity, and Commercial Real Estate lending. Currently, he is working for City National Bank as Head of Capital Markets leading the efforts of Loan Syndications, Placement, and Specialty Lending. City National Bank originated $3.47 billion of commercial mortgages in 2022, making it the third most active commercial lender in the state of Florida.

Raul graduated from Florida International University with a BS in International Business and Business Administration and holds an MBA in International Business from University of Miami.

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Justin Oates, SVP, Cain International

Justin oversees Cain’s Miami portfolio, which includes 830 Brickell, Missoni Baia and Una Residences, among other residential, office and hospitality projects and development sites. Throughout his career, Justin has worked on over $10 billion of real estate transactions. Justin joined Cain from Dreamscape Companies in New York City. Prior to that, Justin worked at Savanna and started his career at Eastdil Secured.

Cain International is a privately held investment firm focused on real estate and business opportunities that shape the fabric of global gateway cities. The firm currently manages over $16 billion in assets through its real estate equity, real estate debt and private equity platforms. Cain is a partnership between its CEO, Jonathan Goldstein, and Eldridge.

Justin holds a Master of Commerce from the University of Virginia and a Bachelor of Science in economics from Boston College. Justin is actively involved in the Advisory Board for the Master of Real Estate Development + Urbanism program at University of Miami’s School of Architecture and is a member of PropTech Angels, a group of real estate professionals that invests in early-stage real estate tech companies.

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Matthew Einheber, Principal, Title EQ

Matt is a principal of and the driving force behind TitleEQ, a national settlement services agency serving clients nationwide, and TitleBox, the developer of technology designed to streamline risk management in the title industry.

His experience with real estate transactions began in the early 2000’s in real estate finance, which led to settlement services and ultimately his move to start his first title company in 2005.

Since then, Matt has played an integral role in forging industry-shaping technology and business processes for the settlement and closing operations of title companies, underwriters, real estate brokers and agents across the country. Matt’s current focus is TitleEQ and its family of companies; the result of years of technology development and learned execution to approach real estate settlements in a way that’s very unique.

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Buy Tickets

The PROFILE Capital Markets Summit is the next installment of PROFILEmiami’s highly-regarded PROFILEconnect bespoke networking event series, which brings together Miami’s real estate industry and business professionals to network and connect outside of a traditional business setting. PROFILEconnect is attended by Miami’s top investors, developers, business professionals, brokers, financiers, architects, designers and other service providers.

Guests will have the opportunity to network and share their experiences in South Florida through thoughtful discourse, while forging new relationships with industry leaders. The night will feature an hour of networking with sounds by local DJs DAKAP, followed by the panel discussion and Q&A, and will finish off with more networking, supplemented by an open bar by Brugal 1888 and E11EVEN Vodka throughout the night and bites by Zeroe Plant Based Caviar.

Date: Wednesday, February 7, 2024

Where: E11EVEN Residences Beyond Sales Gallery, 1018 N Miami Avenue, Miami, FL 33136

Time: 6 PM - 9 PM

Music: DAKAP

Food & Drinks: Zeroe Plant Based Caviar, E11EVEN Vodka, Brugal 1888 Rum

Panelists:

• Dev Motwani, Merrimac Ventures

• Dan Kodsi, Royal Palm Companies

• Michael May, Silverstein Capital

• Raul Llanes, City National Bank

• Justin Oates, Cain International

• Moderator: Matthew Einheber, TitleEQ

Who Should Attend: Developers, Investors, Brokers, Lenders, Private Equity, Family Offices, Architects, Lawyers, Designers, Wealth Managers, Financial Planners, CPAs and other Business Professionals.

Schedule:

• 6 PM - 7 PM: Cocktails & Networking w/ sound by DAKAP

• 7 PM - 8 PM: Capital Markets Panel

• 8 PM - 9 PM: Cocktails & Networking w/ sounds by DAKAP

Thank You To Our Sponsors:

Inside 'An Exploration Into Capital Markets Coral Gables' Presented By PROFILEmiami & MG Developer

On Tuesday July 25, 2023 PROFILEmiami teamed-up with MG Developer to present ‘An Exploration into Capital Markets Coral Gables’, bringing an immersive panel and cocktail event exploring capital markets and real estate development in South Florida to the beautiful ‘Village at Coral Gables’ showroom. The relaxed and open setting featured cocktails courtesy of MG Developer and food from Coral Gables staple restaurant, Zucca, while attendees networked with industry leaders one of Miami’s hotbed neighborhoods for business and development.

The engaging panel featured keynote speakers Catie Naranjo, CDO at MG Developer; Scott Wadler of Berkadia, Melissa Tapanes, a partner at Bercow Radell Fernandez Larkin and Tapanes, PPLC; and Ayush Kapahi, Founder at HKS; moderated by Demetri Demascus of PROFILEmiami. Topics explored included current environment of capital markets, the difficulties behind financing projects in todays market, the process a developer undertakes to obtain financing, what lenders are looking for when financing a project and the regulations that surround financing.

The evening was attended by real estate leaders such as Alirio Torrealba, CEO of MG Developer; Daniel De La Vega, CEO of ONE Sotheby’s International Real Estate; Cullen Mahoney, Senior Development & Acquisitions Officer of Continuum Companies; and Danny Schwimmer, CIO of The Allen Morris Company, amongst others.

“It is very challenging right now from start to finish. A developer handles everything from site selection, to marketing, to handling the construction costs, you name it, their ultimate goal is to get to the sales. You have to get to the finish line. The way to do that is to get a project built and capitalized as quickly as possible; and the way to do that right now is to find a project that is able to be built.” Said Scott Wadler of Berkadia.

“Cost of construction has gone up, insurance costs are up 5X, interest rates, cost of capital, both on the debt and equity side, almost everything has kind of ticked up. Lucking in Florida rents and property values have kept pace with the increased costs.” Said Catie Naranjo, CDO at MG Developer.

“Ashe market ages and moves it wants to be behind someone who knows what they are doing. It is no longer a speculative game, whether it is for sale housing or even just rental, it is about execution. It is about getting things done as fast as possible, and it is about having the right team.” Said Ayush Kapahi of HKS.

Attendees also got to explore the stunning, state-of-the-art, showroom for The Village at Coral Gables featuring curated interiors and furnishings that were selected from RH (Restoration Hardware), which have proven their design leadership in the luxury lifestyle market. MG Developer, led by Alirio Torrealba, announced on July 5, 2023 that it has secured a $67.5 million construction loan from Churchill Real Estate to build the highly anticipated Village at Coral Gables development, with groundbreaking expected this July.