Major Food Exits Michael Stern’s Miami Condo Partnership
JDS Development’s Michael Stern and Major Food Group partner and co-founder Jeff Zalaznick with renderings of the project at 888 Brickell Avenue (JDS Development, Major Food, Illustration by The Real Deal with Getty)
Major is no longer. Major Food Group parted ways with Michael Stern’s JDS Development Group to co-develop the hotel-condo tower in Brickell, The Real Deal has learned.
Major, a 90-story tower planned for 888 Brickell Avenue, is now called 888, according to a joint statement from Stern and Major Food Group partner and co-founder Jeff Zalaznick. The two New York-based companies partnered in December to reveal plans for the 259-unit development, which marked Major Food Group’s first foray into residential real estate.
Rendering of the project at 888 Brickell Avenue
“In mutual alignment, Major Food Group and JDS Development Group have come to the decision not to proceed in their collaboration on the MAJOR tower,” the statement reads.
Sources said the two companies didn’t have a signed contract for Major.
Stern is still moving forward with the project, launching condo sales in the fall and breaking ground next year, according to JDS. Studio Sofield and Ken Fulk are designing the project. The supertall, at 1,049 feet tall, could become among the tallest in Miami, with other towers also planned at that height.
Property records show Alphatur N.V. owns the half-acre lot, which currently is home to an office building.
Prices for Major condo units previously were expected to range from $1.6 million to $11 million, excluding penthouses.
The building was planned to include a private club and food and beverage concepts operated by Major Food Group, with 115,000 square feet of amenities across eight floors, including a pool deck, indoor paddle court and boxing gym. The developer now will likely work with a new hotel operator.
Major Food Group, led by Zalaznick and co-founders Mario Carbone, and Rich Torrisi, has been expanding quickly in South Florida. The restaurant group has more than 30 restaurants, hotels and private clubs around the world. In South Florida, that includes Dirty French Steakhouse nearby in Brickell, Carbone and HaSalon in South Beach, Sadelle’s at The Boca Raton Resort & Club, Sadelle’s in Coconut Grove and the members’ only ZZ’s Club in the Miami Design District.
Major Food Group also plans to open a 10,000-square-foot Sadelle’s Restaurant and Market Place at 1212 Lincoln Road in Miami Beach, which will include a gourmet market.
In addition to 888, Stern’s projects locally include Echo Brickell, a condo tower he co-developed with Property Markets Group; and Monad Terrace, a luxury condo development in Miami Beach.
JDS also recently secured an $86 million construction loan from Maxim Capital Group to build the 1 Southside Park mixed-use development in Brickell.
