ASRR Capital Ltd., the publicly-traded Israeli company led by New York real estate moguls Alex Sapir and Rotem Rosen, and Turkish businesswoman Ozlem Onal, have bought out their third partner, Suzer Group of Turkey, as they move forward with plans for their luxury condo project in Surfside, The Real Deal has learned.
The partners repaid Suzer’s $30 million investment and signed off on Friday on a $90 million construction loan from Bank Leumi USA, with plans to begin construction soon on Arte by Antonio Citterio, a source told TRD.
Herrick, a law firm in New York, represented the bank. Hunton & Williams’ attorney Carl Schwartz in New York represented ASRR Capital and Onal.
A joint venture between Miami-based John Moriarty & Associates and the French construction firm Bouygue Group will build the project for ASRR Capital and Onal, whose family owns the Turkish luxury hotel chain Dedeman Hotels & Resorts, which operates 16 hotels in Turkey, Russia and Kazakhstan.
In December 2016, ASRR Capital tapped Citterio to design the 12-story condominium tower at 8955 Collins Avenue. It will mark the prominent architect’s first project in the United States.
Arte by Antonio Citterio will have 16 condominium units, sized at 5,500 square feet and up, Sapir and Rosen have said. Sales will not begin until after the tower is completed at the end of 2018, and they have declined to disclose pricing, saying it is too early to know.
Overall, the project will total 150,000 square feet, with 80,000 square feet of sellable space, Rosen has said.
The units will be delivered furniture ready, with the interiors also designed by Citterio, and each unit will have access to enclosed, air conditioned garage spaces for three cars, the developers previously said.
Inside the tower, amenities will include a spa and indoor and outdoor pools. And across the street, at 8926 Collins Avenue, a separate amenity building is planned, with a garage, 24-hour valet, a golf simulator, club room, cigar room and rooftop tennis courts, Sapir said.
Citterio is known for furniture designs as well as his architecture. He is the exclusive architect and designer for Bulgari’s hotels and resorts worldwide, including Bulgari Resort Dubai on a private island off the coast of Dubai.
“We have been huge fans of his for many, many years, and we always wanted to select a project for him to design,” Sapir said previously. “And this one was the perfect fit for him.”
Surfside is undergoing a major transformation, with luxury oceanfront condominium towers rising along the ocean, like the recently completed Fendi Château Residences and the Surf Club Four Seasons, which is now under construction.
“From 87th Street you have Renzo Piano’s, then ours at 89th, then 90th is the Four Seasons, then 92nd is Fendi, then you have 97th the St. Regis, then Oceana, then the Ritz-Carlton,” Rosen had said.
“It’s like the Monte Carlo of all the East Coast in that specific area,” he had added. “America never had a real Riviera, and this is becoming the Riviera. All the wealthy people of the world are coming to Surfside.”
ASRR Capital made its first foray into South Florida in 2015 when it paid $40 million for an oceanfront building (that has since been torn down) on the Surfside site, in its previous joint venture with the Istanbul-based conglomerate Suzer Group. In February 2016, ASRR Capital paid $33 million for a Miami property that runs from 17th Terrace to 18th Street, and between Northeast Second Avenue and Northeast Second Court in the Arts & Entertainment District. It excludes the “Real Padel Miami” courts but includes S&S Diner. The site is 60,000 square feet wide and has 1.5 million square feet of air rights. In May, ASRR said it brought in Hong Kong and Chinese investors to help redevelop the property.
In October of 2015, ASRR Capital teamed up with fashion heavyweight Gerard Guez on a $13.3 million contract for an office tower in downtown Miami. The deal for Tower 33, a 14-story, 95,000-square-foot building at 33 Southwest Second Avenue in Miami, equated to $140 per square foot.
Among ASRR’s deals in New York, Sapir and Rosen leased 2.3 million square feet at 11 Madison Avenue to Credit Suisse, Sony and Yelp in 2014, and then sold the office building for $2.6 billion in August 2015, marking the largest single-building sale in New York history.
Sapir and Rosen also opened Zuma in Las Vegas with billionaire Farit Sahenk and restaurateur Arjun Waney. The partners also own Zuma in New York.