Turnberry turns to Wynwood, plans mixed-use hotel project

Turnberry Associates is planning a mixed-use hotel project in Wynwood on a site it acquired from the Bacardi family, The Real Deal has learned.

Aventura-based Turnberry, led by Jackie Soffer, paid $13.1 million for the properties at 127 and 135 Northwest 24th Street and 128 and 138 Northwest 25th Street, Vizzda data and records show. One of Soffer’s brothers, Rock Soffer, will lead the project. AJC Partners, a family office based in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., is a partner.

A company led by Luis L. Bacardi sold the properties. The Turnberry affiliate financed the purchase with a $7.9 million loan from Terrabank.

The Bacardi entity paid just $2 million for the 0.7-acre assemblage in 2006. Bacardi is CEO of Rumbum Racing.

Rock Soffer, a partner at Turnberry, said the site will likely be developed into a hotel with a food and beverage component, and possibly office or retail. The site’s zoning allows for five stories, plus more if the developer takes advantage of bonuses.

Soffer said Turnberry is working with its design team and is patient when it comes to finalizing plans, but that it could break ground in two years.

“We want to see how the neighborhood will evolve,” he said.

The site is sandwiched between two major developments. To the west, PMG and Greybrook Realty Partners are building Society Wynwood, a 289-unit apartment development at 2341 Northwest Second Avenue. To the east, multifamily giant AMLI has a 316-unit apartment building under construction at 70 Northwest 25th Street.

AJC, Turnberry’s partner, is led by Michael Colman, Eric Bean and Richard Mark.

Soffer, through Turnberry Associates, is also working on a market-rate apartment project in Miami’s Little River. He’s partnering with Gaudi Castro and Jose Vizcarrondo on the development of 123 and 137 Northeast 79th Street.

In 2019, Soffer, Elion Partners and members of the Sredni family completed 17 West, a mixed-use building that includes a Trader Joe’s in Miami Beach.

Construction is bountiful in Wynwood, where more than 2,200 apartments and condos are in the pipeline, according to a TRD analysis.

Evolve Companies recently closed on its second development site in Wynwood Norte.

In November, Bazbaz Development paid $12 million for the property at 2134 North Miami Avenue, where the New York firm plans two interconnected buildings with 229 apartments and 79 extended stay hotel rooms.

Moishe Mana, a large landowner in the neighborhood, this month secured a $275 million line of credit for a portion of his portfolio. The properties are on Fifth and Sixth avenues and 22nd and 23rd streets.

Mana received approval in 2016 for a special area plan in Wynwood, which calls for 51,000 square feet of civic space, about 3,500 residential units, 8,500 parking spaces, and a 2.5-acre privately owned park called Mana Commons. The size of the SAP has varied, but Mana’s website describes it as a 30-acre project.