Fortune maneuvers to bulk-buy Miami Beach condo building for $40M

Edgardo DeFortuna’s Fortune International Group could be positioning itself to buy out a waterfront condo tower in Miami Beach.

Fortune is eyeing a takeover of the Marlborough House, a 1960s-era condo building with 110 units and a 43,000-square-foot lot on the beach.

According to the South Florida Business Journal, affiliates of Fortune recently filed a series of documents with Miami-Dade County essentially paving the way for a bulk buyout of the building at 5775 Collins Avenue.

Not only is the developer looking to terminate the building’s condominium status, which removes the headache of having every unit owner agree to the terms of a sale, but the affiliates have assigned leases and rents to the building’s association, essentially turning it into an apartment complex.

The Marlborough’s individual owners do have to consent to the condo termination.

Fortune’s purchase is slated to go through July 8 and is valued at $39.9 million, according to the Business Journal.

The development firm is working on several luxury condo buildings in nearby Sunny Isles Beach including Jade Signature, the Ritz-Carlton Residences Sunny Isles Beach, and a twin-tower project under the working title Varadero.

As The Real Deal reported in its April magazine, bulk condo purchases are becoming a popular tool for developers looking to score waterfront land. With developable land in Miami Beach and its neighbors becoming scarcer and more expensive, paying premiums to buy out unit owners of distressed or older buildings can sometimes be a more viable option.

[South Florida Business Journal] — Sean Stewart-Muniz