Chetrit Lands Partner and Financing for Miami Beach Hotel

Chetrit Group is nearing the finish line of a long-awaited Miami Beach hotel project.

Joe Chetrit’s firm refinanced its loan on the Collins Park Hotel at 2000 Park Avenue with Kawa Capital and brought in a new partner, The Real Deal has learned.

The new loan from Kawa totals $88 million, and Chetrit Group chipped in a significant amount of capital, according to a source familiar with the deal. Chetrit will now partner with Lotus International, a Montreal-based firm, which operates about 10 hotels with partners in France, Montreal and Miami.

Henry Bodek of Galaxy Capital arranged the financing.

The 280-room Collins Park Hotel is about six months away from opening. It aims to be a four-star hotel with rates of about $350 a night, according to the source.

It has been under construction for nearly a decade, and Chetrit has scored various financings for the project over the years. The developer secured a $62.5 million construction loan from Maxim Capital in 2021 that paid off a $55 million loan secured in 2015. In 2022, the developer landed a new $82.5 million loan from Kawa Capital.

New York-based Chetrit Group is among the largest developers in New York. Its South Florida projects include the $1 billion Miami River project and the Hollywood Beach Resort redevelopment. Chetrit is also constructing new condos in Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

But the Miami Beach project is among the developer’s more challenging and long endeavors.

Chetrit began amassing a group of hotels and apartment buildings near Miami Beach’s Washington Avenue and Park Avenue in 2012 for about $10.8 million. The original buildings were damaged in a fire in 2007, further complicating the development timeline.

The project sits across the street from the Miami Beach Convention Center and is close to Collins Park and The Bass museum.