This week, pictures surfaced of what appears to be a sales center going up at OKO Group’s development site in Brickell. But the product to be sold there is anything but luxury condos.
A spokesperson for OKO, led by Russian Billionaire Vladislav Doronin, told The Real Deal that the developer has leased out its 830 Brickell Avenue site to Equinox Fitness for the next 10 months.
Rendering from architect Ricardo Bofill of a potential 830 Brickell development
The fitness club is building a sales center there to drum up memberships for a new location, the spokesperson said. Equinox is planning to open a three-story facility at Brickell Heights.
OKO’s lease-out of the land is a creative way to squeeze some financial gain out of land that would otherwise sit vacant. Plans for the project are still in the works, the spokesperson said, but “no timeline is available just yet.”
The developer’s spokesperson said OKO is “laser-focused” on its ultra-luxe 146-unit Missoni Baia project in Edgewater, which is currently one of the most expensive condo towers being developed in the neighborhood at $900 per square foot.
Doronin’s firm scored the 0.8-acre development site across from Brickell City Centre as part of a land swap with his former partner Ugo Colombo. The two were originally involved in a joint venture for both 830 Brickell and Brickell Flatiron, but the swap gave full ownership of Flatiron to Colombo and 830 Brickell to Doronin.
According to its website, Doronin’s firm plans a 712-foot tower on the site with a mix of luxury residential and retail portions. Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill had worked up a design for the site when it was still under both Colombo and Doronin’s control.