Integra scores approval for Ocean Park hotel and condo project in Fort Lauderdale

Integra Solutions won site plan approval for Ocean Park Hotel and Residences, a planned condominium and all-suites hotel development in Fort Lauderdale near the Intracoastal Waterway.

The Fort Lauderdale City Commission on Tuesday approved a site plan development permit for the mixed-use project on 1.26 acres just southwest of the intersection of Birch Road and Sunrise Boulevard. The Fort Lauderdale Planning and Zoning Commission had voted 8-0 on April 20 to recommend approval of the Ocean Park site plan.

Miami-based Integra is planning the mixed-use Ocean Park project as a 12-story, 100-room hotel next to an 11-story, 54-unit condo building. The condos will range from 1,092 square feet to 2,105 square feet. Ocean Park’s hotel will have 825 square feet of retail space, a 663-square-foot pool bar, and a 3,210-square-foot restaurant.

The former Franco and Vinny’s Restaurant is one of several commercial buildings, some vacant, that now occupy the development site at 2851 and 2901 Northeast 9th Court, along a short canal that links to the Intracoastal Waterway.

The land use designation of the site is “Central Beach RAC” (Central Beach Regional Activity Area), and the zoning is “Sunrise Lane Area” (SLA).

Several existing condominiums are near the Ocean Park site, including Le Club International, a 15-story, 66-unit condo building at 2845 Northeast 9th Street.

“Le Club was the last project approved in the Sunrise Lane [zoning] Area. So, this area has seen no meaningful new development in about 23 years,” Nectaria Chakes, an attorney for Integra, told the city commission.

Ocean Park Hotel and Residences will have its own drainage system, enabling the development site on Northeast 9th Court to contain the stormwater that now cascades into the street, Chakes said.

“Almost the entire site is concrete and buildings. There is no landscaping. There’s actually no drainage on the site. So, what happens is, all the rain and stormwater sheet-flows into the street,” she said. “When this project [Ocean Park] is constructed … the sheet-flowing will no longer occur.”

Victor Ballestas, Paulo Melo, and Nelson Stabile manage both Integra Solutions LLC, incorporated in November 2005, and Integra Investments LLC, incorporated in August 2009, according to state corporate records.

Among other projects, Integra Investments has a partnership with Miami-based Related Group to develop two condominium towers at 1809 Brickell Avenue in Miami under the St. Regis brand. Integra Investments has owned the Brickell Avenue site since 2014, when it paid $14 million for the property.

In May, David Edelstein’s Tricap, Integra Investments and Alex Karakhanian’s Lndmrk Development paid $23 million for the 1-acre property at 3601 North Miami Avenue in Miami. The site had been planned for Triptych Miami, a mixed-use hotel building, but the previous owner lost it through foreclosure. The buyers plan to build a 20-story Class A office tower with a retail and restaurant component.

In February, Integra Investments and Activate Hospitality sold the Sixty-Six condo-hotel in Miami Beach for $23.5 million, or 55 percent more than the $15.5 million they paid for the property in 2020.

In 2020, Integra Investments and two partners bought a waterfront development site at 11295 Biscayne Boulevard in Miami for $15.5 million. The developers plan a 380-unit residential project called Biscayne Shores on the site next to the Jockey Club.