Jeffrey Soffer’s real estate firm is seeking to raise $1.2 billion in the bond market to refinance the Fontainebleau Miami Beach resort.
The plan is for the capital stack to come from a $975 million sale of commercial mortgage-backed security and a roughly $225 million mezzanine loan, Bloomberg reported.
Soffer, chairman and CEO of Aventura-based Fontainebleau Development, is also expected to kick in about $105 million of equity, bringing the total to $1.3 billion.
The funds will refinance an existing $1.2 billion debt obtained in 2019 for the nearly 1,600-key Fontainebleau Miami Beach, as well as a $75 million construction loan scored last year for a new five-story events center.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are leading the proposed bond sale. Newmark’s Jordan Roeschlaub and Jonathan Firestone are working to arrange the debt.
Fontainebleau Miami Beach, at 4441 Collins Avenue, consists of the original Morris Lapidus-designed curving building that opened in 1954 and three subsequently built towers. It sits on more than 15 acres and includes 11 pools, a 40,000-square-foot spa and 12 food and beverage venues.
Turnberry Associates, the Soffer family’s firm, bought the resort for $325 million in 2005, before spending $650 million on a gut renovation.
In 2019, Jeffrey Soffer and his sister Jackie Soffer split their real estate holdings and projects into two companies. Jackie became CEO of Turnberry Associates and Jeffrey became CEO of Fontainebleau Development.
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The firm’s projects include partnering on the development of the 800-key Miami Beach Convention Center hotel. Its holdings include the Miami Beach resort, JW Marriott Miami Turnberry Resort & Spa in Aventura and the Turnberry Ocean Club Residences in Sunny Isles Beach.
–– Lidia Dinkova