Miami Attorneys Secure Fort Lauderdale's Biggest Residential Construction Loan
A Rennert Vogel Mandler & Rodriguez team closes $210 million in financing for the Four Seasons Hotel and Private Residences Fort Lauderdale.
January 14, 2020 at 12:15 PM
4 minute read
Two Rennert Vogel Mandler & Rodriguez attorneys can add a note to their resumes: They closed what's believed to be the biggest residential construction loan in Fort Lauderdale history.
Firm partners Scott Levine and Alicia Morales-Fernandez in Miami closed a $210 million financing for the Four Seasons Hotel and Private Residences Fort Lauderdale, a condo-hotel under construction north of popular Las Olas Boulevard steps from the ocean.
Levine and Morales-Fernandez secured the loan on behalf of an affiliate of Miami-based developer Fort Partners LLC from New York-based real estate private equity firm Madison Realty Capital on Dec. 5.
"We did negotiate the terms of the deal for a very long period, and we worked hard to close it from beginning to end," Levine said.
The terms of the loan were negotiated for six months, and the deal took about another month to close.
"Once the decision was made to close, it was working pretty much round the clock," said Morales-Fernandez.
"That's right," Levine chimed in. We worked "round the clock for about four weeks to get it done."
The attorneys declined to disclose the total construction cost and loan terms, only allowing it was a floating interest rate.
The 22-story building will have a 148-key Four Seasons hotel and 83 condominiums broken down into 42 private units and 41 furnished hotel residences on 1.8 acres at 525 N. Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd., according to the project's website.
Over 60% of the units have been pre-sold, and the building is scheduled to be ready in 2021.
The private residences will be two-, three- and four-bedroom units ranging from 2,000 to 6,200 square feet, according to its website. They start at over $3 million.
The hotel residences will be one- and two-bedroom suites ranging from 775 to 2,100 square feet. They start at $1.2 million and could be leased short-term, according to Levine.
"Buyers buy a unit and, if a buyer so desires, the buyer can then participate in a program which can assist the buyer in having the unit rented out," he said.
Amenities will include a spa, gym, two pools, beach butler service, yachting service, pet concierge and on-call veterinarian.
The Four Seasons hotel-condo will be adjacent to the Conrad Fort Lauderdale Beach hotel to the north and the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort directly to the south.
The Fort Lauderdale project is Fort Partners' third Four Seasons property. The company developed Surfside's Surf Club, also a hotel-condo project next to the historic barrel-tile roofed Surf Club and the Four Seasons Palm Beach Resort.
"Four Seasons Hotel and Private Residences Fort Lauderdale is making incredible strides to redefine Fort Lauderdale as an international destination," Nadim Ashi, founder of Fort Partners, said in a news release. "We are extremely pleased to have closed on this important transaction with a highly regarded investment partner."
Lender Madison Realty, founded in 2004, focuses on debt and equity investment strategies on behalf of global investors. It has closed $12 billion in multifamily, retail, office, industrial and hotel deals, according to its website.
Madison Realty was a flexible lender willing to work through the deal hurdles, the attorneys said.
"I found the lender themselves to be not particularly difficult to work with from a business standpoint," Levine said. "I found them eager to want to get the deal done. They were in my opinion more flexible and business mind-oriented than other lenders in the past that have been a little more rigid."
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