South Florida Hotelier Offering Broward Hotel As DST: The South Florida Deal Sheet
Driftwood Capital wants to share its ownership in a Broward County hotel it purchased two months ago with 1031 investors looking for a like-kind replacement property.
Driftwood launched a Delaware statutory trust and seeded it with the 176-key Courtyard by Marriott Fort Lauderdale Weston, according to a release.
A DST structure allows multiple investors to hold a passive, fractional interest in a commercial property by investing their profits from the sale of another property and deferring capital gains taxes.
Eligible investors would be able to use the Broward hotel as their 1031 replacement property through the DST, dubbed Driftwood Hotel Income I DST.
The offer targets $24M in equity commitments, levered with about $17M of debt for a loan-to-value ratio of 43%, according to the release.
Driftwood purchased the hotel in April from affiliates of Artemis Real Estate Partners. The real estate sold for $22M, but hotels often sell for more than just the building and land. Driftwood spent a total of $35M on the hotel, a representative told Bisnow.
The six-story, 24-year-old hotel at 2000 N. Commerce Parkway totals 96K SF.
SALES
An entity tracing to Bar Invest Group sold a 358-unit apartment complex in Pembroke Pines to an affiliate of Waterton Residential for $80.5M, according to property records provided by Vizzda.
The Landings at Pembroke Lakes Apartments at 10650 Washington St., which was built in 1989, is composed of 17 two-story buildings and a clubhouse totaling 282K SF.
The one- and two-bedroom units range between 490 SF and 1,050 SF, according to Apartments.com.
FINANCING
Cirrus Real Estate Partners provided Gatsby Florida with a $100M loan to refinance the DiVosta Towers office property in Palm Beach Gardens, according to a release.
Berkadia’s Charles Foschini, Scott Wadler and Shannon Wilson arranged the three-year, floating-rate, interest-only loan, which refinances a $90M loan Gatsby took out in 2022 from Deutsche Bank.
The office towers at 3825 and 3835 PGA Blvd. were built in 2019 and 2020. They are fully leased to tenants like JPMorgan Chase and Virtu Financial.
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North American Development Group landed a $120M loan from Wells Fargo to start construction on a 476-unit apartment complex in Delray Beach, Traded reports.
West Palm Beach-based NADG is building Nuvo Delray Beach on 33 acres at 9494 Illumina Way and plans to dedicate 25% of units to residents making between 60% and 120% of the area median income. The four-story, garden-style community will feature a clubhouse, gym, pool and pickleball courts. It will also incorporate 12 acres of green space with lakes, trails and a bird sanctuary.
The first apartments are projected to be available by fall 2027.
CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT
Jupiter Medical Center broke ground on a 53K SF hospital in Palm Beach County, according to a release.
The 29-bed hospital at 9135 Landstar Drive will include four operating rooms, a 24-hour emergency department, a diagnostic laboratory and imaging services.
Adjacent to the hospital will be a three-story, 47K SF medical office for Jupiter Medical Center physicians dedicated to primary care, concierge medicine, orthopedics, cardiology, gastroenterology, pulmonary and general surgery. Both facilities are expected to open in 2028.
THIS AND THAT
A Broward County judge filed a final judgement of foreclosure for a resort in Hillsboro Beach, according to records provided by Vizzda.
Emerald Creek Capital originated a $26M loan to BH3 Management in 2022 that matured in August 2025. The final judgment of $40M includes accrued interest and fees ahead of the auction, which is set for the morning of July 16.
The lender filed to foreclose on the hotel owned by BH3, managed by Daniel Lebensohn and Gregory Freedman, in February.
Emerald said BH3 defaulted on the loan in March 2024 after failing to pay real estate taxes, according to court documents. The lender said it provided more than $730K.
The six-story hotel at 1159 Hillsboro Mile opened in 2021 with 81 keys. Amenities include a pool, gym, restaurant and beach access. It was previously managed by short-term rental operator Sonder, which shut down and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in November after not being able to generate cash to cover its lease obligations.
LEASES
Secured Debt Investments landed a 21K SF lease with International Workplace Group to open a coworking space at 550 Biltmore Way in Coral Gables, according to a release.
Colliers’ Jake Freeman and Maggie Kurtz represented the landlord in the deal with IWG, which operates the Regus, Spaces and HQ flexible office concepts. The type of coworking space IWG will open in the building wasn't disclosed.
SDI is underway on renovating the office building with an upgraded lobby, common corridors, restrooms, elevators, valet service and a building chauffeur. It took over the building via foreclosure from former owner CGI Merchant this year.
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A cross-border e-commerce and international air cargo operator signed a 22K SF lease at a warehouse adjacent to the Miami International Airport, according to a release.
MacLeod & Co. handled the transaction. A representative for the brokerage declined to name the tenant but described it as a "huge Chinese corporation."
The unnamed tenant, which moves hundreds of millions of packages across Asia, North America and Latin America, selected the area to anchor its U.S. logistics operations.
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Commercial real estate advisory and investment firm Surmount opened its first South Florida office at One Downtown Miami, according to a release.
The firm, which took an undisclosed amount of space at One SE Third Ave., also acquired Issenberg Britti Group, a South Florida net lease investment sales team led by Ronal Issenberg, Gabriel Britti and Kevin O’Hanlon.
Issenberg Britti Group, with more than 1,650 completed transactions and more than $8.5B in transaction volume, joined Surmount after 20 years with Marcus & Millichap.
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Ontic, an English aircraft manufacturer, signed a 100K SF lease in Weston Commerce Park, the South Florida Business Journal reported.
Cushman & Wakefield broker Christopher Metzger represented EastGroup Properties, the owner of the 134K SF property at 1951 N. Commerce Parkway. Savills’ Tom Viscount represented the tenant.
The company plans to move in by early 2027 and will use the site for equipment production. Ontic expects its headcount to grow to 300 by 2028 by hiring locally.
