The Kolter Group hired OneWorld Properties to handle sales of 100 Las Olas, a mixed-use condo tower planned for downtown Fort Lauderdale.
Kolter and the brokerage will open the sales center in January with construction set to begin during the first quarter of next year, OneWorld president and CEO Peggy Fucci told The Real Deal.
While the project is launching amid an overall market slowdown, Fucci said there’s pent-up demand for high-end condos in downtown Fort Lauderdale. It will mark the first new condo project in that market in a decade. “I’ve done enough projects in Fort Lauderdale to know Fort Lauderdale has its own pace,” Fucci told TRD, adding that Miami has been more affected by a downshifting market. OneWorld is also handling sales of Paramount Fort Lauderdale Beach, which has about a dozen units left, and Paramount Miami Worldcenter, which is about 55 percent sold.
Prices at 100 Las Olas will start at $800,000 and average $650 per square foot at the 45-story, 121-unit tower at 100 East Las Olas Boulevard. At 499 feet tall, the building will be the tallest in Fort Lauderdale. Kolter also plans to incorporate a 238-key full-service lifestyle hotel with meeting rooms, a lobby level restaurant and bar, and 8,500 square feet of retail space for a third-party restaurant.
SB Architects is designing the building, set to open as early as fall of 2019. Condos will be on floors 17 through 46, with about four units per floor. Condos will be delivered finished.
In May, developer Richard Zipes filed a lawsuit against Kolter alleging Zipes was cut out of a deal to develop the 100 Las Olas site together. (Zipes developed the nearby River House, a 42-story, 282-unit condo tower about 10 years ago.) In a statement to TRD, Bob Vail, president of Kolter Urban, called the suit “frivolous and without merit. The claim has had no impact to our project timing or priorities.”
Fucci said the project appeals to a similar crowd as Paramount Fort Lauderdale Beach’s buyer pool, empty nesters moving from the suburbs, as well as end users from the Northeast and Midwest and couples who work nearby. “For us, we continue selling the walkability factor,” Fucci said.
Las Olas Boulevard is experiencing a wave of transformation, including the development of Icon Las Olas, a Related Group project, and new retail plans for a four-block stretch, which is being led by the Comras Company.