UPDATED, Oct. 3, 11:13 p.m.: Kushner Companies is making its first big real estate play in Fort Lauderdale.
The company, led by Charles Kushner, Nicole Kushner Meyer and Laurent Morali, is under contract to purchase three properties for $49 million across the street from the Virgin Trains station in downtown Fort Lauderdale’s Himmarshee District, sources told The Real Deal.
Swire Properties of Hong Kong and its partner Lionheart Capital are selling the lots at 200, 300 and 520 West Broward Boulevard. The land totals 4.2 acres and Kushner is planning a mixed-use project on the site.
New York-based Kushner could not be reached for comment.
Development has ramped up near Virgin Trains’ stations in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. Virgin Trains is also considering adding more stops throughout South Florida, including one in Aventura.
Kushner’s Fort Lauderdale site borders an Opportunity Zone, but is just outside of it. The firm is paying about $270 per square foot for the assemblage.
Records show that Swire affiliate FTL/AD General acquired the land between 2006 and 2007. In Miami, Swire is working on the second phase of Brickell City Centre. It’s also planning a residential project on a site immediately north and west of Brickell City Centre with Colombian businessman Carlos Mattos.
Kushner recently expanded to South Florida, acquiring two sites in Miami.
The company is under contract to purchase the property at 2000 Biscayne Boulevard in Miami’s Edgewater neighborhood, where it’s planning to develop the site into a 1,100-unit apartment project with a local as-yet-undisclosed partner. That assemblage is in an Opportunity Zone.
The second project for Kushner is in Wynwood, where it’s partnering with Block Capital Group on two mixed-use developments on Northwest 26th and 27th streets. Kushner and Block Capital paid $32 million for the assemblage, which they’ll develop into 152 rental apartments, 50,000 square feet of office space, 34,000 square feet of retail space and parking.