Jeffrey Soffer’s Fontainebleau Development advanced plans for Savoy, a 10-story oceanfront condominium in Tequesta that will replace an older building on the site.
The project is part of a broader trend of developers targeting aging South Florida condominiums, where increased safety-inspection requirements can expose owners to costly repairs.
Savoy will replace Island House South East, a four-story, 27-unit condominium with a swimming pool built in 1967 on 2.3 acres at 300 Beach Road in Tequesta.
“The building that is there now is in the 50-year age bracket … All condominiums of that age in this area will need to be looked at for [standard safety] inspections,” George Gentile of Jupiter-based 2GHO, an agent of Fontainebleau Development, told the Tequesta Village Council at their meeting last week.
The village council voted Thursday night to approve a site plan for Savoy, which Fontainebleau is developing in partnership with a company led by Phil Perko, a developer in northern Palm Beach County. Soffer is chairman and CEO of Aventura-based Fontainebleau Development.
A company managed by Soffer paid $30.5 million for 24 of the existing 27 units, or 89 percent of all units, at Island House South East in a bulk purchase about two years ago, according to a 2021 report by the South Florida Business Journal.
Asking prices for the planned Savoy condo units, a construction timeline and plans for pre-construction sales are unclear. Neither Soffer nor Perko was available for comment.
Soffer and Perko also teamed up last summer to acquire Regency Condominium, another oceanfront condo building just south of Island House South East. Perko, a Jupiter resident who runs Perko Development Partners, is a partner of Soffer’s Fontainebleau in the planned development at 250 Beach Road. Property records show that Fontainebleau paid about $100 million in August for all 40 units at Regency Condominium, an eight-story building constructed in 1969.
The 179,320-square-foot Savoy condominium would have 26 units ranging in size from 3,915 square feet to 5,695 square feet, three swimming pools, and a monument-style sign, according to the site plan application. Each unit is designed with three- or four-bedroom floor plans, and balconies with summer kitchens and an east or west view. Each Savoy unit also would have a private entry and a private, air-conditioned two-car garage. Three penthouse units and two lanai units would have roof terraces equipped with a spa and plunge pool.