Developer Ian Bruce Eichner paid $35 million for a waterfront site in North Bay Village, where he plans to build a Continuum-branded condo tower.
Eichner’s New York-based Continuum Company acquired the 1.4-acre property at 1755 79th Street Causeway. An affiliate of B Developments sold the land, after securing site plan approval for a 31-story, 201-unit condo project on the site last year. The development will also include about 45,000 square feet of amenities. Bernardo Fort Brescia’s Arquitectonica is designing the building.
The project will mark the second Continuum development for Eichner in South Florida, after completing the two-tower Continuum in Miami Beach about two decades ago.
Sales of the North Bay Village tower could launch by the end of this year, according to a spokesperson for Eichner.
Samuel Heskiel of Beachfront Realty represented B Developments and Eichner in the off-market deal. Heskiel said the deal was “good for the buyer and for the seller.”
“Today, where can you find an acre and a half on the water?” he said, referring also to the site plan approval already in place. “There’s nothing like that.”
North Bay Village, a three-island municipality between Miami and Miami Beach, is poised to see significant development in years to come. Developers are taking advantage of the village’s 2020 zoning code overhaul that allows bigger projects.
Eichner’s site is next to the popular Shuckers Waterfront Grill. Developer Jesta Group scored approval last month to build a multifamily and hotel project designed by Kobi Karp on the bayfront site. Jesta is expected to build a 30-story tower with 273 hotel keys and 345 apartments, including 18 workforce units, on 2.3 acres.
Shoma Group, led by married couple Masoud and Stephanie Shojaee, launched sales in September of a 21-story, 327-unit condo tower planned for 1850 79th Street Causeway.
The billionaire Ansin family, which owns Sunbeam Television, plans a mixed-use project across several buildings both north and south of the 79th Street Causeway. In October, the commission granted the Ansins’ real estate firm, Sunbeam Properties, the right to increase building heights. Sunbeam can build up to 650 feet on the north side of the causeway, where heights were previously capped at 340 feet, and up to 450 feet on the south side, where heights were previously capped at 240 feet.
In a statement, Eichner compared North Bay Village to Miami Beach’s South of Fifth, where he built the two-tower Continuum.
Eichner has been busy also in Bay Harbor Islands, where he is building La Baia North and South. Broker Phil Gutman was tapped to lead sales of the north tower in the fall after selling out the south building.