Integritas Capital proposes a 57-story tower with apartments and a hotel in Fort Lauderdale, as investment and development intensifies in the city.
The New York-based firm filed a site plan for 550 apartments and a 253-key branded hotel at the tower’s podium at 111 Southwest Third Avenue, said Stephen Palmese, who leads Integritas. Brooklyn-based Heights Advisors is partnering on the project.
Integritas, through an affiliate, paid $6.6 million in 2021 for the nearly 1-acre site, according to records. The two-lot property is now a parking lot.
Designed by FSMY Architects + Planners, the project is headed to the Fort Lauderdale Development Review Committee at a yet unscheduled meeting, Palmese said. If approved, construction is expected to start next year.
The proposal comes at a crossroads for the area. Fort Lauderdale has become a magnet for investors and developers in recent months. At the same time, economic headwinds remain, including increased expectations of inflation due to the Trump administration’s tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, as well as mass deportations. Interest rates generally remain elevated, though the Federal Reserve imposed three benchmark rate cuts last year, and the 10-year Treasury yield recently dropped.
Integritas’ plan to overcome headwinds partly is due to its reliance on its own concrete from a plant in Broward County, Palmese said.
“We are going to be providing some of the materials ourselves and will be saving [about] $40 to $45 a foot for concrete,” he said, adding that Integritas also will sell concrete to others.
The firm will consider developing 300 of the planned residential units as condos, instead of the current plan for apartments, in case South Florida’s multifamily supply overhang persists.
A record 18,600 apartments were completed last year in the tri-county region, outpacing 15,000 net new leases signed, according to CoStar Group. This has slowed lease-ups and led to a flatlining of rents, with some submarkets experiencing drops.
If Integritas develops 300 of the units as condos, asking prices will start at about $500,000 to $600,000 and won’t be more than $1 million, according to Palmese.
“We would probably draw a fair amount of attention into the market,” he said.
Rents for apartments will be about $5.50 per square foot.
Palmese, who founded Integritas last year, previously was a broker with Cushman & Wakefield and JLL, and also invested in New York multifamily projects, though the 2019 New York rent law on rent-stabilized buildings hit landlords’ revenue.
More recently, Integritas turned to South Florida. The firm, as well as New York-based Invictus Real Estate Partners and West Palm Beach-based Tannenbaum Capital Group Real Estate, provided a $96 million construction loan for the Sixth&Rio condo project in Fort Lauderdale in November, Palmese said. OceanLand Investments plans the eight-story, 94-unit project at 501 Southeast Sixth Avenue.
Integritas and Heights Advisors also paid $7.9 million for the nearly 1-acre site at 100 and 110 Southwest Third Avenue, as well as 109 and 111 Southwest Second Avenue in Fort Lauderdale. The pair have no immediate plans for the property, which is across the street from the development site for the 57-story tower.
Fort Lauderdale has emerged from the shadows in recent months. Last month, DWS Group sold the Las Olas Centre I & II office complex at 350 and 450 East Las Olas Boulevard for $208 million, and then the Bank of America Plaza at Las Olas City Centre at 401 East Las Olas Boulevard for about $220 million.
Also, developers Steve Hudson and Charlie Ladd plan the 12-story Whitfield Las Olas with 81 hotel keys and 17 condos at 1007 East Las Olas Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale.
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