Canadian investor buys waterfront Pompano Beach development site for condos

Preliminary plans show a 42-unit boutique condominium called Entourage in the Sun

407-419 North Riverside Drive in Pompano Beach with project rendering (Google Maps, Idea Architecture, iStock)
407-419 North Riverside Drive in Pompano Beach with project rendering (Google Maps, Idea Architecture, iStock)

A Canadian investor paid $9.3 million for a waterfront apartment building in Pompano Beach that he intends to redevelop into a boutique condominium, The Real Deal has learned.

An entity managed by Jean Campeau, co-founder of Quebec City, Quebec-based Camaco, bought the 23-unit Stratford Apartments at 407-419 North Riverside Drive, according to records.

Beztak’s Sam Beznos (Beztak Properties)

Seller Farmington Hills, Missouri-based Beztak Properties paid $800,000 in 2012 for the three-story, 13,287-square-foot building, records show. It was completed in 1966.

Camaco’s Jupiter-based land planning consulting firm, Planw3st, recently submitted a preliminary application to the city of Pompano Beach for a new 42-unit condominium called Entourage in the Sun, according to documents obtained by TRD.

In a March 21 letter, Planw3st’s senior planner Paola West wrote that the apartment building will be demolished to make way for the new building. An architectural sketch shows a mid-rise building with a two-level garage and lobby as the pedestal. The floor above the garage would have three units, the pool deck and other amenities. The upper seven floors would have 39 units, including three penthouses at the top, the sketch shows.

The proposed use is permitted under the current zoning, and the project complies with the use, intensity, and dimensional standards of the code, West wrote.

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In an email, Pompano Beach urban design planner Pamela Stanton told TRD that the submitted drawings and documents were for a pre-application meeting with city staff that recently took place. A formal site plan has not been submitted by Camaco, Stanton said.

West, Camaco’s land use consultant, told TRD the project’s design firm, North Miami Beach-based Idea Architects, is still working on the formal site plan with the goal of submitting it to the city next month. Idea Architects President Stephane Lecuyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Campeau is also co-founder of GM Developpment, a real estate firm that has built office buildings, apartment projects, hotels and condominiums in Quebec City and Montreal, according to the company’s website.

Pompano Beach has become one of the hottest condo and multifamily markets in South Florida. Last month, the Related Group launched sales of Casamar, its second planned condo development in Pompano Beach, after selling out its first project amid heightened demand.

Also in March, another Quebec-based company led by Efstathios Tsatas bought a mixed-use property in Pompano Beach that is approved for a new development with condos and hotels. The buyer paid $17.7 million for the property.

In February, Garden City, New York-based The Benjamin Companies paid $145.5 million for the Morea Apartments in Pompano Beach.