Fort Lauderdale approves Bahia Mar rezoning and $1B redevelopment

Jimmy and Kenny Tate, Sergio Rok, and the Related Group won rezoning and approval for their $1 billion redevelopment of the Bahia Mar resort on city-owned property in Fort Lauderdale.

The developers plan to build as many as 350 condos, and start pre-construction condo sales by year-end. They plan to break ground by 2025 for the first two condo buildings and a new hotel to replace the 296-room DoubleTree hotel at 801 Seabreeze Boulevard.

“The development group believes very strongly, with Related and with the Tates involved, that they will be able to sell these two residential buildings fairly quickly,” Robert Lochrie, an attorney for the developers, said Tuesday night at a Fort Lauderdale City Commission meeting. “They will begin those sales in the later part of this year if the project is approved tonight.”

A total of four condo buildings, each 22 stories tall, will go up around a new 30-story hotel with 256 rooms and 60 condo-hotel units.

The redevelopment plan also includes construction of 88,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, a small public park on the west side of Bahia Mar fronting the Intracoastal Waterway, and a 25-foot-wide pedestrian promenade around the property’s west, north, and south sides. Bahia Mar has a marina and serves as one of the main venues of the annual Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show.

Fort Lauderdale commissioners approved a development agreement for the makeover of Bahia Mar and a rezoning of the 39.8-acre property from SBMHAD (South Beach marina and Hotel Area District) to PDD (Planned Development District).

In April 2022, Rahn Bahia Mar LLC, an entity run by the Tate brothers, won city approval of a ground lease that would allow them to control the Bahia Mar property for up to 100 years. As part of the approval, the city terminated the Tates’ old lease on the property, which was set to expire in 2062.

Miami-based Related Group, led by Jorge Pérez and his sons Jon Paul and Nick, subsequently entered into a joint venture with the Tate brothers’ Tate Capital and Rok’s Rok Enterprises, to pursue a $1 billion-plus redevelopment of Bahia Mar.

The scale of the redevelopment plan is significantly smaller than the original version that won city approval in 2017, which included 651 residential units.

The developers also are planning less commercial space than the 152,000 square feet for retailers and restaurants that the city previously approved. 

“With this rezoning,” Lochrie told commissioners, “you will be essentially downzoning the property to the maximum that could ever be allowed on the site, which is 88,000 square feet.”