Jeffrey Soffer’s Fontainebleau Development Buys North Miami Marina
Fontainebleau Development’s Jeffrey Soffer and PowerHouse Marina at 13255 Biscayne Boulevard (Fontainebleau Development, Google Maps, Getty)
Jeffrey Soffer’s Fontainebleau Development picked up a North Miami marina for $10.1 million, more than $9 million above the property’s last sale price 27 years ago.
An affiliate of Aventura-based Fontainebleau acquired PowerHouse Marina at 13255 Biscayne Boulevard, records show. The seller, an entity led by David A. Marcus, purchased the 1-acre site for $912,500 in 1995. A nearly 10,000-square-foot, two-story building and 12 slips were completed in 1967, records show. The property also has a boat repair yard.
PowerHouse Marina has been in operation since 1980 and sits on a canal entering Biscayne Bay, according to the company’s website.
Soffer, Fontainebleau’s billionaire chairman and CEO, and President Brett Mufson did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment on whether the firm plans to redevelop PowerHouse. Fontainebleau also owns and operates Turnberry Marina, a 68-slip facility in Aventura that can accommodate vessels up to 160 feet in length, according to the firm’s website.
Last month, Fontainebleau paid roughly $100 million for all the units at Regency Condominium, a 53-year-old beachfront condo building in Tequesta. Motcomb Estates, an investment vehicle for billionaire brothers Simon and David Reuben provided an $80.5 million mortgage for the bulk condo acquisition. The Reuben brothers have previously worked with Soffer and own a 25 percent stake in Fontainebleau’s JW Marriott branded hotel in Aventura.Fontainebleau recently submitted plans to demolish the eight-story oceanfront Tequesta building with 40 units and replace it with a 10-story condominium with 34 luxury units, according to published reports.
Also last month, Fontainebleau refinanced the JW Marriott Miami Turnberry Resort Hotel & Spa with a Bank of China New York loan. The loan refinanced $339.5 million in debt, while adding another $72.6 million, records show.
Bank of China has increased the loan three times since assuming the mortgage from Wells Fargo Bank in 2017.
In February, Soffer’s second attempt to buy the oceanfront Diplomat Beach Resort in Hollywood failed. His firm had planned to pay $850 million to purchase the 1,000-room hotel from Brookfield Property Partners. The resort ranks as the second largest in South Florida, after Fontainebleau Development’s Fontainebleau Miami Beach.
