Billionaire Jeffrey Soffer offloaded part of his Broward County gambling site, a portion of a parking lot, for $31.1 million.
An affiliate of Soffer’s Aventura-based Fontainebleau Development sold 12.2 vacant acres of the Big Easy Casino at 831 North Federal Highway in Hallandale Beach to an affiliate of Kadima Developers, records and real estate database Vizzda show. The price amounts to more than $2.5 million per acre.
Aventura-based Kadima, led by co-founders Alejandro Chaberman and Joseph Melul, partially financed the acquisition with a $17.6 million loan from RMWC. Kadima immediately flipped three of the 12 acres for $12 million to an affiliate of Persea Ventures, a Miami-based, technology-focused venture capital firm led by Mateo Pugliese-Bassi, per records and Vizzda.
Kadima will develop the entire 12 acres into a master-planned community with apartments, condos, retail, entertainment and warehouses, a spokesperson said. The firm will act as project manager for the 3 acres sold to the Persea entity.
The firm is planning two other projects in Hallandale Beach.
Kadima started construction in October on Seven Park, a $70 million mixed-use development at 218-220 Southeast Seventh Street that will have 121 condo units and 4,500 square feet of ground floor retail. The developer tapped Fortune Development Sales to lead sales and marketing, with condo prices starting at $375,000.
Kadima paid $5.3 million for the 1.1-acre site last year. The firm is also developing Blue Park, a $40 million, eight-story, 185-unit multifamily building in Hallandale Beach.
Soffer acquired the nearly 28-acre former parimutuel property, previously known as Mardi Gras Casino and Race Track, for $12.5 million in 2018. His firm Fontainebleau Development owns the Fontainebleau Miami Beach, a historic 1,504-room oceanfront hotel that is mired in a recent controversy.
Last month, dozens of activists, preservationists and residents voiced opposition of a planned waterpark at the Miami Beach property that includes a mid-rise podium connected to a network of waterslides, a kids play pool, new bathrooms and new cabanas.