Developers Related Group and BH Group won site plan approval for a 37-story, 350-unit condo tower on the Intracoastal Waterway across the street from the Diplomat Beach Resort in Hollywood.
The developers also won approval of an amended master plan that includes the condo tower and a 500-room hotel that Coconut Grove-based Related would develop with Aventura-based BH across South Ocean Drive from the 1,000-room Diplomat hotel. The additional 500 rooms are aimed to help the Diplomat draw bigger events to its convention center.
“In the world of conventions, the 1,000 rooms that the hotel has today [are] not enough to attract conventions like the American Medical Association and the American Bar Association,” Mayor Josh Levy said at the Hollywood City Commission meeting Wednesday, just before commissioners unanimously approved the amended master plan and condominium site plan.
Related and BH plan to develop a Hilton-flagged hotel.
In 2019, the Broward County Commission voted to change the land use designation of 19.1 acres on both sides of South Ocean Drive, including the Diplomat hotel on the east side of the street and the hotel’s two parking garages on the west side, to allow for development of the condo tower and hotel next to the garages.
This month, a joint venture of Related and BH closed on a $30 million acquisition of the condo development site. The seller was a joint venture of Credit Suisse Management and Honolulu-based Trinity Investments.
In February, Trinity and Credit Suisse paid $850 million to buy the entire Diplomat property, including the existing hotel, the two parking garages, and the adjacent development sites for the condo project at 3210-3690 South Ocean Drive, and for the hotel development at 3210-3450 South Ocean Drive, directly across from the Diplomat Beach Resort at 3555 South Ocean Drive.
Working closely with Trinity and Credit Suisse, Related and BH have a two-phase master plan to finish construction of the condo tower in 2026 and the hotel in 2027, according to materials the developers submitted to city staff.
Through a spokesman, Related declined to comment on details of the condo and hotel projects, including the name of the condo tower, the likely price range for the condo units, and whether the new hotel would operate as a condo-hotel. Related is led by Chairman and CEO Jorge Pérez and his sons, Jon Paul and Nick Pérez, and BH Group is led by Isaac and Liat Toledano.
Several Hollywood residents publicly criticized the height and density of the condo and hotel projects at Wednesday’s commission meeting. At 457 feet, the Diplomat hotel is taller than the planned height of the condo tower (419 feet) and the hotel (443 feet, eight inches).
“If you don’t want the beach covered with skyscrapers, stop approving them,” said city resident Catherine Uden.
Hollywood commissioner Caryl Shuham, who represents the municipal district that includes the Ocean Drive corridor along the beach, voted to support the master plan for the Diplomat property, but she also questioned the overall amount of development on the city’s narrow barrier island.
“I’ll support it, but it is with a heavy heart that we see this continued development on the barrier island,” Shuham said.