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CushWake brokers’ entity pays $22M for Fort Lauderdale dev site

Denny St. Romain and Robert Given paid $2M per acre

Cushman & Wakefield's Denny St. Germain and Robert Given with 1151 Southwest Ninth Avenue in Fort Lauderdale
Cushman & Wakefield's Denny St. Germain and Robert Given with 1151 Southwest Ninth Avenue in Fort Lauderdale (Cushman & Wakefield, Google Maps)

Denny St. Romain and Robert Given are usually brokering land sales for someone else. But in a recent $22 million deal for 11 nearly vacant acres in Fort Lauderdale, the Cushman & Wakefield brokers are the buyers.

The duo’s Delaware entity, New River Point, paid $2 million an acre for a two-bedroom house completed in 1958 at 1151 Southwest Ninth Avenue, and five adjacent and contiguous vacant parcels, records and Vizzda show. Zoned for single-family development, the assemblage is near five estate houses fronting a canal.

New River, whose president is St. Romain, obtained two balloon mortgages totaling $16.5 million from the seller, an entity managed by Michael and Gene Whiddon in Fort Lauderdale, records show. The Whiddons acquired the properties via quit claim deeds from Angelyn Whiddon in 2012.

Angelyn Whiddon paid $18,000 for the six lots in 1968, records show. In 2017, the Whiddons filed plans with the city of Fort Lauderdale to rezone the assemblage for 215 multifamily units, but they did not move forward, city records show.

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Given declined comment via email. St. Romain did not respond to two voicemails seeking comment.

In June of last year, Given was part of an investment group that sold the majority of a 1.3-acre development site at 409 Southeast Eighth Street in Fort Lauderdale. The buyers, a partnership between Jorge Pérez’s Related Group and Henry Pino of Alta Development, paid $15.5 million for the property.

Given invested in the real estate on his own, separately from the brokerage, he previously told The Real Deal. His entity paid $11.3 million for the entire lot in March of last year, flipping 1 acre to Related and Alta for a $4.2 million gain.

Development site sales have slowed somewhat recently from their pandemic highs. Last month, A Delaware entity tied to Coral Gables investor Maria Menzel paid $12.5 million for six vacant parcels in Miami’s Edgewater, records show. Also last month, Rishi Kapoor’s bought a Coral Gables development site for $35.6 million.

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Cushman & WakefieldDev SitesFort Lauderdale