Peter Baytarian’s Forest Development beat out rivals The Related Group and Sonnenblick Development for a shot to develop 12 acres of Riviera Beach-owned waterfront.
Riviera Beach city council members voted to give Forest Development a chance to build its proposed $556.1 million phased development at Marina Village, an 80-acre assemblage that city officials have been trying to redevelop for more than a decade.
The North Palm Beach-based development firm must hammer out a final agreement with Riviera Beach officials in the next few months before moving forward.
Forest Development’s proposal includes a 20-story Marriott Autograph Collection-branded hotel, a possible 10-story convention center, a 20-story condo with boat storage, three three-story restaurant/office buildings, a revamped Bicentennial Park, 2,300 parking spaces and a culinary school run by celebrity chef Richard Burke that will provide scholarships to Riviera Beach residents.
The development team includes architecture firms Adache and Dwell, planning firms Insite Studio and WGI, and general contractors Moss and Gibane.
West Palm Beach-based Okeechobee Steakhouse will occupy at least one of the restaurant buildings, Baytarian told council members.
London-based event company Informa, which runs the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, has “expressed great interest” in running the future convention center, which will be 6 miles north from the 350,000-square-foot Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, he said.
The convention space would replace a 15,000-square-foot event space at Marina Village.
Project funding will come from Forest Development’s $300 million in active loans, most of which comes from leftover financing for the Nautilus 220 project in Lake Park, which included a $251 million construction loan from Fortress and nearly $15 million from iThink Financial Credit Union.
Forest Development plans to contribute $100,000 a year to a community benefit fund overseen by residents as part of the agreement. The development is projected to haul in $2.9 million a year in city revenue and result in 1,000 permanent jobs.
“No bonds. No abatements,” Baytarian told council members.
The redevelopment of Marina Village won’t be Forest Development’s only project in Riviera Beach.
Baytarian told council members that he is about to pull a permit to demolish a former Winn-Dixie shopping center at 3700 Broadway to build a sales center for Forest Development’s 25-story Oculina project. Forest Development is also negotiating a final agreement to acquire 2.2-acres of land at 1851 Broadway from the city for at least $4 million, where Baytarian plans to build a residential project.
Forest Development’s competition is active in the city as well.
Sonnenblick Development is partnering with Riviera Beach in a $481 million redevelopment plan involving 72 acres of land owned by the city and the Palm Beach County Public School District. Pacific Palisades, California-based Sonnenblick’s $304.3 million proposal for Marina Village was to be anchored by a 150-room Compass by Margaritaville hotel and include five restaurant buildings, a condominium, a waterfront aquarium and 1,300 parking spaces.
Miami-based development giant The Related Group is building a 149-unit workforce housing project at Marina Village and is slated to build a pair of 20-story towers with 418 market-rate apartments beside it.
Along with its partners BH Group, PEBB Enterprises, and Tezral Partners, The Related Group proposed a $245.4 million mixed-use project at Marina Village’s waterfront sector with a 344-unit hotel and condo building, 10 townhomes, a parking garage with a rooftop sports complex and a small business incubator. Related proposed a $47.6 million public benefits package that included rent payments to the city, park enhancement and the addition of a rooftop amenity for Marina Village’s existing 15,000-square-foot event space.
The selection committee had given the Related Group-led proposal the highest score. Albert Milo, president of Related’s Urban division, emphasized that his team was the only one to provide financial statements showing it has “excess of $200 million in liquidity.”
Related withdrew a 10-year tax rebate request, though its proposal still required the city to finance a $38.3 million bond for a garage, which it estimated would generate $500,000 in city revenue.
The bid process came with an intriguing subplot.
A February vote was canceled after the FBI subpoenaed Marina Village documents from Councilmember Bruce Guyton, Mayor Douglas Lawson and former Chairperson Shirley Lanier. The investigation’s nature is unknown, but public perception was skewed by Forest Development hiring a part-time staffer of Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, who resigned in April amid federal charges. Lanier was absent from subsequent meetings, including the final vote.