By David Lyons | Contact Reporter
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Fort Lauderdale is getting a new 22-story hotel and condo project on the beach. The luxury Four Seasons is on track to open by late next year, its developer said Wednesday.
The Four Seasons Hotel and Private Residences will rise at 525 N. Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd., with more than 50 percent of the units already sold, said Nadim Ashi, the Miami developer.
Ashi’s Fort Partners also announced the hiring of Coastal Construction Group of South Florida to build the development.
The structure will include 130 rooms and 90 residences that will range in size from one to four bedrooms. Each residence will have an outdoor terrace with views of the Atlantic Ocean and Intracoastal Waterway. Also included will be two restaurants, a spa, fitness center, children’s recreation room and ballroom and meeting facilities.
Ashi and Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis appeared at the Four Seasons sales gallery — at the Hilton next to the now empty Four Seasons lot — to announce the retention of Coastal as the general contractor and Lehrer Cumming as the project manager.
Coastal built Fort Partners’ Four Seasons Hotel and Residences at The Surf Club in Surfside. Its condo and hotel project portfolio also includes the Porsche Design Tower in Sunny Isles Beach, as well as the St. Regis Bal Harbour and Ritz Carlton South Beach, among others.
Real estate brokerage Douglas Elliman is handling sales of the Four Seasons Fort Lauderdale residences.
Originally, the project was scheduled to be completed and opened by last year.
In 2015, Fort Partners announced construction would begin in 2016 and end in 2018.
But the market wasn’t ready at the time, Ashi said Wednesday. Since then, upper-income buyers from high tax states in the Northeast and elsewhere in the U.S. have been descending on South Florida in search of smaller residences than the expansive homes they now own. High interest also is emanating from Central and South America, said Dev Motwani, president and CEO of Fort Lauderdale-based Merrimac Ventures, a partner in the project. He also noted the steady growth of international flights now serving Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
Ashi, who holds the Four Seasons franchise rights along Florida’s east coast, also operates the Four Seasons in Palm Beach and overhauled the iconic Surf Club into a Four Seasons property. “This is a game-changer for Fort Lauderdale the same way Surf Club was a game-changer for Miami Beach,” Ashi told an audience of real estate agents, local politicians and businesspeople.
Trantalis touted the growth of the downtown, the arrival of the Brightline/Virgin Trains USA regional train station, and impending projects to install a professional soccer venue at the old Lockhart Stadium, build a new Parker Playhouse and renovate the Broward Performing Arts Center.
“When you go to sell these units, you have an awful lot to talk about,” Trantalis said.
Founded in 1960, Four Seasons operates 110 hotels and resorts and 38 residential properties in major city centers. More than 50 projects are being planned or are under development, the company said.