RelatedISG is now offering buyers a two-year leaseback option for units at the W Residences Fort Lauderdale.
The program is aimed at attracting buyers to the waterfront Fort Lauderdale Beach condo-hotel. The developer, Related Companies, paid $90 million for the project from the Y Group in 2009 after it was completed. The Y Group had sold 24 of 171 units at the time. Since then, Related sold 65 units, according to RelatedISG principal Craig Studnicky. That brings sales up to 50 percent.
Studnicky hopes the program will give buyers confidence in the development. “Psychologically, it takes the nervousness away from the buyer,” he said. “It gives the buyers and real estate brokers in South Florida tremendous confidence in the market. From a PR standpoint, it’s perfect.”
Under the leaseback program, buyers would receive 8 percent of the net purchase price on some two-bedroom, oceanfront units for two years. Prices range from $900,000 to more than $1 million, which means buyers would receive at least $72,000 annually for two years. After Related signs leaseback agreements with buyers, it then turns the units over to Starwood Hotels & Resorts to manage.
In the past, RelatedISG has offered to credit the project’s buyers’ condo fees, which average $1,400 a month or nearly $17,000 a year, but Studnicky said the new program “trumps everything.” Last year, the brokerage announced it was offering 6 percent referral fees to agents from New York in a push to attract buyers from the Big Apple.
Sales are led by Rebecca Batterman, who has four agents working on the project.
Related is also wrapping up a $60 million renovation of the project, led by Meyer Davis Studio.
Last year, the Related Group and Dezer Development announced a similar leaseback program to buyers at Hyde Midtown, which is now nearly 90 percent sold.