Witkoff Joins Blavatnik, Scher on Stalled Miami Beach Project

Witkoff Group formed a joint venture with Ocean Terrace Holdings, reviving development plans for a mixed-use luxury condo project in North Beach, The Real Deal has learned.

Witkoff, led by Chairman Steve Witkoff and his son, CEO Alex Witkoff, is joining existing partners Alex Blavatnik and Sandor Scher on Ocean Terrace in Miami Beach. The new partnership closed on an $85 million preconstruction loan from J.P. Morgan, according to a spokesperson for the joint venture.

The project has been in the works for at least a decade.

In 2021, the Miami Beach Historic Preservation Board approved the latest version of the development. It includes construction of a 20-story, 75-unit luxury residential building; renovating the historic Broadmoor and Ocean Surf properties and adding a new building for a 127-room hotel; adding 15,000 square feet of commercial space along Collins Avenue and about 3,000 square feet along Ocean Terrace. The development also calls for the partial demolition and restoration of existing buildings.

Rendering of Ocean Terrace in North Beach (Revuelta Architecture International)

The condos would range from two to five bedrooms and feature curved balconies.

At the time, the city also approved Ocean Terrace Holdings’ funding of a $15 million, 5-acre public park designed by Raymond Jungles connecting the North Beach Bandshell to Alton Del Mar Park with a pavilion, art installations and landscaping.

Revuela Architecture International designed the project. The hotel would also include restaurants, an outdoor pool deck, rooftop lounge and other amenities.

Alex Witkoff said in a statement that Ocean Terrace is “one of the last developable prime parcels in Miami Beach.” The new joint venture plans to launch sales of a luxury Ocean Terrace condo project “in the coming weeks,” according to the spokesperson.

Months before Ocean Terrace secured its approval from the historic preservation board, Miami Beach commissioners approved a settlement agreement with Ocean Terrace Holdings tied to a lawsuit the developers filed against the city. Ocean Terrace Holdings, which had challenged the city’s interpretation of space included in calculating floor-to-area ratios, agreed to pay the city $3 million.

Witkoff has worked with the Blavatnik family before. In January, Witkoff and Len Blavatnik’s Access Industries sold a 10-acre portion of the former Banyan Cay Resort & Golf Club in West Palm Beach to homebuilder Schickedanz for $15 million. Witkoff and Access Industries took the project over after it floundered under the previous developer, Domenic Gatto Jr.

And in New York, the two companies are working together on One High Line, previously known as the Xi.

In Miami Beach, Witkoff is also leading the redevelopment of the oceanfront Shore Club property into the Shore Club Private Collection, an Auberge Resorts Collection-branded 49-unit condo and hotel project at 1901 Collins Avenue.

J.P. Morgan provided the developers with financing for that project, as well. In 2023,

Witkoff and Monroe Capital secured a $430 million construction loan from the bank for the Shore Club.

Witkoff’s Steve Witkoff has been spending more time working with President Donald Trump as the U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East. The former co-CEO played a role in the ceasefire agreement reached between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Last month, Witkoff spoke about rebuilding Gaza, a process that he said could take between 10 and 15 years, Axios reported. And on Sunday, Trump said he is committed to “buying” Gaza, according to Reuters.

Witkoff also played peacemaker between Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis last year.