Michael Stern’s JDS Buys Dolce & Gabbana Brickell Tower Site

As questions swirl about the future of Michael Stern’s Brooklyn supertall, the developer appears to be all in on Miami.

Stern’s JDS Development Group paid $61.2 million for the half-acre site at 888 Brickell Avenue, where the firm plans a Dolce & Gabbana-branded condo-hotel tower, property records show. A company tied to Grupo Mezerhane, led by Mashud Mezzerhane, sold the site, according to records and real estate database Vizzda.

New York-based JDS has been in contract for years to acquire the property, which includes a seven-story office building that will be demolished. JDS financed the deal with a $35.7 million loan from G4 Capital Partners.

Michael Stern’s JDS Buys Dolce & Gabbana Brickell Tower Site — A rendering of 888 Brickell (JDS)

The planned supertall, called 888 Brickell, will mark the first Dolce & Gabbana-branded residential building. At 1,049 feet tall, it could become among the tallest in Miami, with other towers also planned at that height. Studio Sofield is designing the project. The Italian design firm M2Atelier is designing the interiors.

The condo-hotel tower will include 250 rooms and suites; six food and beverage outlets, including a restaurant on the ground floor; two bars in the lobby and a pool club restaurant and bar. Other amenities will include an indoor pádel court, golf simulator, yoga and Pilates studio, a spa, theater, lounge and lap pool.

Official, the Side-backed brokerage co-founded by top brokers Oren and Tal Alexander, is leading sales of the condos. Owners can put their units into the hotel’s rental program or live in them. Units will have up to three bedrooms.

Dolce & Gabbana came into the project after Stern and Major Food Group parted ways on their version of the planned building, called the Major. Major Food Group is now working with One Thousand Group and Terra on Villa Miami, a waterfront condo tower planned in Miami’s Edgewater.

Dolce & Gabbana plans another residential development in Spain and a hotel in the Maldives. The Italian design firm announced its real estate plans last year.

Branded luxury condo projects have boomed in South Florida. Others completed or in the works include Aston Martin Residences, Bentley Residences, Baccarat Residences and the Mandarin Residences.

Stern, who owns a waterfront mansion on North Bay Road in Miami Beach, is also planning a major mixed-use project with a Mercedes-Benz-branded condo component in Brickell. His firm launched sales of the nearly 800-unit car-branded project in February with Serhant. It is designed by SHoP Architects.