Apogee Beach

Regions Bank has given a Related Group affiliate a $7 million construction loan, the South Florida Business Journal. The funding will be used on the Apogee Beach project in Hollywood. The affiliate, PRH-Sian Holllywood, includes Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross as a partner, and is controlled by Related CEO Jorge Perez. Apogee is located at 3951 South Ocean Drive. Apogee was the first new project to break ground in South Florida since 2007 when it launched construction in December 2011. [more]

Related Companies Chairman and Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross Related Companies Chairman Stephen Ross appeared on CNBC today to explain his support for Mitt Romney in the upcoming presidential election (see video after the jump), most recently exhibited by a fundraiser he threw for the candidate two weeks ago in Florida. [more]

CityPlace

Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross has negotiated a loan modification on the CityPlace mixed-use development in West Palm Beach, following a foreclosure by Miami Beach-based special servicer LNR Partners, according to the South Florida Business Journal. While complete terms were not disclosed, the deal likely lowers the monthly payments on the loan. CityPlace is the largest delinquent commercial loan in South Florida. [SFBJ]
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From left: Related Companies Chairman Stephen Ross and partners Jeff Blau and Bruce Beal

Only 18 months ago, Miami Dolphins owner and developer Stephen Ross thought U.S. banks were a wise investment. Now, it seems, he’s changed his mind.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Ross and partners in the New York-based Related Companies Jeff Blau and Bruce Beal each put $100 million of their own money, in addition to $1 billion raised from investors, into a fund called SJB Escrow Corp. in 2009, and spent a year researching U.S. banks, hoping to buy or invest $1.1 billion in lenders. The deeper they looked however, the more worrying things became; they saw troubled assets, weak loan demand, rising regulatory costs and few growth prospects.
“We’re disappointed to see the opportunity evaporate,” Ross said. “If you look at the environment today, I feel even more comfortable that we made the right decision [not to invest].” [more]

The Related Companies’ plans to construct a 150-unit luxury waterfront condominium at 4400 North Flagler Drive in West Palm Beach, the Palm Beach Post reported, with the Stephen Ross-led company now proposing a project three times larger than what was proposed five years ago.
The development, which was delayed by economic difficulties, would include two towers, at 4308 North Flagler and 4416 North Flagler, reaching 22 and 23 stories respectively. It would feature 506 units, priced from the low $200,000s to just under $1 million. [more]

Real estate mogul and Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross may have to return the $1.1 billion he raised to invest in a vehicle called SJB Escrow. Ross raised funding from firms like Greenlight Capital, Maverick Capital and Elliott Management more than a year ago, but if no investment is made by August, the money must be returned, a source said. SJB was an initial bidder for ING’s online banking wing, but later withdrew. [The Street]
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He’s built a real estate empire, become a television personality and has hinted (though he did so in 1999, too) that he may even run for president in 2012. But in South Florida, Donald Trump is also a local. He owns Palm Beach’s famous Mar-a-Lago club, where he spends plenty of time each winter, and he’s the namesake of several of the area’s biggest condo towers (and one that no longer has his name). He also recently presided over a mortgage burning ceremony to celebrate paying off the $210 million construction loan on Trump Royale in Sunny Isles Beach, which was itself a reenactment of a similar mortgage burning in 1986 when he helped save a Georgia farmer’s home from foreclosure. The Donald answered The Real Deal’s questions about his career in the region, including whether he’ll ever make a play for a professional sports team like fellow mogul Stephen Ross of Related. [more]

In an effort to keep summer business with the Marlins’ move to a new
stadium in Little Havana, Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross is looking to
turn a 40-acre parking lot next to Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens
into a water park. The park could open in spring 2012, the same time the
new Marlins park is scheduled to open. The park, which would include
private cabanas and a “swim with the fish” pool, would be the first
major attraction of its kind in South Florida since Jungle Island opened
in 2003. [Miami
Herald]

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Disbarred Fort Lauderdale attorney Scott Rothstein has been sentenced to 50 years behind bars, after pleading guilty to perpetrating a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme. Millions of dollars worth of personal property was revoked from Rothstein following his arrest, including 22 real estate properties, an 87-foot yacht and a fleet of pricey sports cars. Federal officials hope to use that money to reimburse those victimized by Rothstein. Among Rothstein’s group of investors was Manhattan-based developer Stephen Ross, whose Related Companies funneled $4 million to Rothstein’s firm. [Sunshine State News]

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CityPlace, the retail hub of West Palm Beach, is in danger of imminent default on a $150 million loan, according to Fitch Ratings Service. The default complicates matters for Related Companies, which has an ownership stake in the site. Related is now in the process of developing a convention hotel across the street from CityPlace, having been tapped in March by the Palm Beach County Commission. CityPlace says the loan is not problematic, and that no payments have been missed, but one New York firm believes that it will have difficulty meeting its yearly $9.6 million debt payments. According to Ross, Related could spend $26 million of its own funds on the project and finance $39 million. [Palm Beach Post]

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