Billionaire real estate moguls Teddy Sagi and Jorge Pérez are investing in Transit Village, a long-planned, transit-oriented mixed-use development planned for West Palm Beach.
Sagi’s Globe Invest and Pérez’s Related Group, along with BH Group, formed a joint venture to invest in developer Michael Masanoff’s Transit Village, a $500 million, 10-acre project at 150 South Clearwater Drive and 203 South Tamarind Avenue, according to a release.
The development, on the western side of downtown West Palm Beach, has been planned for more than 20 years. More recently, it was expected to break ground in 2018.
Sagi, who founded the Cyprus-based gambling software developer Playtech and owns a portfolio of real estate in London, is worth about $5.6 billion, according to Forbes. Globe Invest is Sagi’s family office that invests in software, technology companies, financial services and real estate.
Miami-based Related is one of the largest developers in South Florida and has been expanding nationally in recent years. Pérez’s net worth is pegged at about $1.7 billion, according to Forbes.
A spokesperson for Related declined to disclose terms of the joint venture investment in Transit Village.
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In 2016, an Avison Young team led by John Crotty and Keith O’Donnell was tapped to structure a joint venture partnership for the project. The site is approved for about 1.5 million square feet of residential, office, retail and hospitality. It connects directly to Tri-Rail, Amtrak and the county’s bus transit center.
“We had to have the right capital, the right visionaries, and the right team. Certainly it doesn’t hurt that it’s the right time,” O’Donnell said. He added that the project is now in the design and underwriting phase.
Related will develop the project, which has secured millions in subsidies and grants. In 2017, the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency approved $25 million in tax refunds for the project, according to the Palm Beach Post.
Ronald Fieldstone of Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr LLP represented Sagi’s Globe Invest in the deal. Michael Karsch of Lorium Law worked with Transit Village.
Related Companies, the New York-based real estate giant led by Stephen Ross, has also been investing heavily in West Palm Beach, specifically the office market, as more out-of-state financial companies migrate to the city. Ross, owner of the Miami Dolphins, owns a minority stake in Pérez’s Related Group.