UPDATED 8:15 a.m. July 23 – Fort Lauderdale-based developer BTI Partners got a financial boost from a $55.26 million tax-exempt bond issue to fund construction work at a resort near Walt Disney World.
BTI Partners is part of a joint venture finishing construction of the Grove Resort & Spa Orlando, a development that will have 878 condo-hotel suites along Lake Austin.
Proceeds from the bond issue are expected to fund construction of a water park at Grove Resort & Spa plus parking garages and infrastructure work associated with the 106-acre development.
Miami-based FMSbonds, Inc., raised the tax-exempt bond financing for the Grove Community Development District, an area that includes the Grove Resort & Spa. The bonds are backed by special assessments on land within the district.
The Grove Resort & Spa at 15665 Grand Palisades Boulevard is substantially built. It originally was developed as a timeshare property known as Grand Palisades. A previous developer suspended work on the resort’s development due to legal and financial problems and failed to open it.
BTI Partners and its joint-venture partner Westport Capital acquired the resort property at an auction in 2014 and started finishing its development in April 2016.
BTI and Westport are developing the Grove Resort & Spa in phases. They opened the first phase in March.