Château, Fortune Score Changes for St. Regis Sunny Isles

Château Group and Fortune International Group secured changes to their site plan for St. Regis Residences, Sunny Isles Beach.

Sunny Isles commissioners last week approved the tweaks, which reduce the density and increase the floor area ratio, or overall project size, to allow for fewer but larger condos. Manuel Grosskopf, CEO of Hallandale Beach-based Château, said buyers are looking to combine their units.

The site plan was amended to include up to 361 condos, FAR of nearly 6.0, a reduction in the number of cabanas to 14 from 17 and guest suites to 10 from 13, and an added level of below-grade parking to the second tower.

“Market demands have changed and a density decrease and minor design and program revisions are both necessary and desirable to enhance the overall project,” Shubin Law Group attorney Ian DeMello, who represented the developer, wrote in a letter of intent submitted to the city.

The site plan was originally approved in 2022 to include 490 condos.

The St. Regis is a planned 62-story two-tower luxury condo development on the oceanfront at 18801 Collins Avenue. Sales of the south tower launched in 2022, and the building is now about 90 percent presold, Grosskopf said. Sales of the north tower launched nearly a year ago and are at about 30 percent.

The estimated sellout for both buildings is $3 billion, Fortune CEO Edgardo Defortuna previously said. In April, the developers secured a $100 million financing boost for the project from Bank OZK, bringing the lender’s total financing to $219 million.

Grosskopf said the developers are still working on securing a construction loan and will likely convert their existing loan into construction financing within the next two months. Construction is underway.

Bernardo Fort-Brescia’s Miami-based Arquitectonica designed the project, with São Paulo-based Patricia Anastassiadis handling interiors, and Fort Lauderdale-based EDSA leading landscape design. The project will have a fitness center, sports courts, three ocean-facing pools, residents lounges and more.

The project has been in the works for more than a decade. Fortune and Château spent $113 million to buy out nearly 350 individual condo owners at the former La Playa de Varadero condo-hotel in 2014. The 4.7-acre site has 435 feet of ocean frontage.

It’s one of at least three St. Regis-branded condo developments in the pipeline in South Florida. Related Group and Integra Investments are building the St. Regis Residences, Miami in Brickell. Related Group, Tate Capital and Rok Acquisitions plan the St. Regis Resort and Residences, Bahia Mar Fort Lauderdale.

Developers will sometimes go back to the drawing board for projects they are already preselling. In Fort Lauderdale, Bill Malhotra’s Claridge Homes relaunched the 3000 Waterside condo project in Fort Lauderdale with more units. Originally designed as a 15-story development with 103 units, it now will have 129 units and will be 18 stories tall, according to a press release.

Kate Hinsche contributed reporting.