Rockpoint drops $180M on industrial site at The Pomp megaproject in Pompano Beach

Buyer partnering with sellers on 1.5M sf of rentable space on 88 acres

Cordish, Caesars Entertainment Sell Development Site to Rockpoint

From left: Rockpoint’s Bill Walton, Tom Gilbane and Keith Gelb along with a rendering of the planned industrial project at The Pomp in Pompano Beach (Getty, Rockpoint)

Rockpoint bought an 87.8-acre industrial development site within The Pomp mixed-use megaproject in Pompano Beach for $180 million. 

The Boston-based firm, through its Rockhill Management affiliate, plans to develop and manage 1.5 million square feet of rentable space, according to a Rockpoint news release. Sellers The Cordish Companies and Caesars Entertainment will partner with Rockhill on the development. 

The Baltimore-based Cordish and Reno-based Caesars are developing the 225-acre The Pomp, which includes the renovated Harrah’s Pompano Beach Casino that was rebranded from Isle Casino Racing Pompano Park and Pompano Park. 

The project would consist of 4,000 residential units; two hotels; 1.3 million square feet of retail and entertainment space; and 1.4 million square feet of offices, according to a May news release from Cordish and Caesars. The Live! Entertainment District would consist of 25,000 square feet of food and beverage tenants, including Sports & Social and PBR Cowboy Bar. Topgolf is expected to open its facility on the site this year. 

In 2020, Cordish and Caesars tweaked plans to reduce 650,000 square feet of office space at The Pomp in favor of a 1.5 million-square-foot industrial project. 

Site work for the industrial portion is expected to begin in May, according to Rockpoint’s news release. 

The Pomp development site was formerly a racetrack and is located roughly between Pompano Park Place and North Cypress Bend Drive, and between South Pompano Parkway east to the Tri-Rail train tracks.

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The Real Deal independently verified the $180 million price tag that Commercial Observer first reported. 

Cordish, a family owned and led company founded in 1910, focuses on commercial real estate, including entertainment districts under its Live! brand, sports-anchored projects and gaming properties. In Florida, the firm partnered with the Seminole Tribe of Florida to develop the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood and Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa. David Cordish is company CEO. 

Caesars, which traces its roots to 1937 when Bill Harrah opened Harrah’s Bingo Club in Reno, merged in 2020 with Eldorado Resorts. Its brands include Harrah’s Caesars, Horseshoe and Eldorado. Thomas Reeg is the CEO. 

Rockpoint is a hefty South Florida real estate investor. Its managing members include Tom Gilbane, Keith Gelb and Bill Walton. 

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Last year, Rockpoint reaped a bonanza in Miami’s Brickell neighborhood with the sale of Shops at Mary Brickell Village and the 1221 Brickell office tower during the height of the area’s real estate market. Rockpoint sold Shops at Mary Brickell for $216 million, nearly double what it had paid in 2015, and 1221 Brickell for $286.5 million, also nearly double what the firm had paid in 2017. 

In May, Rockpoint and Related Group sold the Manor Lantana rental community that they developed at 861 Water Tower Way in Lantana for $138 million

Also in Pompano Beach, Related and Merrimac Ventures plan a Waldorf Astoria-branded condo at 1350 South Ocean Boulevard.