A group of South Florida real estate investors has purchased the iconic Bahia Mar Resort and Marina in Fort Lauderdale with visions of upgrading the waterfront property and adding shops, restaurants and condos.

According to the Miami Herald, Miami real estate developers, Jimmy and Kenny Tate, co-owners of Tate Capital, and their longtime friend Sergio Rok, president of Rok Acquisitions, along with Rialto Capital Management and RCI Marine, paid an undisclosed price for a long-term lease on the 39-acre parcel in the heart of Fort Lauderdale Beach. The Blackstone Group had owned the lease on the property located on the Intracoastal Waterway across from a public beach for years. “It’s iconic, it has a great name, great image, great reputation and great brand recognition nationally and, obviously, locally,” said Jimmy Tate, chief executive of Tate Capital. “However, the asset is very tired and it hasn’t had a lot of capital improvements made over the years.”

The Bahia Mar currently includes a 250-slip marina that can accommodate mega-yachts up to 230 feet in size, along with a 297-room DoubleTree Hotel by Hilton, both of which will remain in place, Tate said. The location, south of Las Olas Boulevard at 801 Seabreeze Blvd., will also continue to be the site of the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, a major economic driver for South Florida for the past 50 years. “Whatever we do is going to complement the boat show, complement the marina and complement the hotel,” Tate said. The new owners are considering adding a condo-hotel, and additional restaurants, shops and offices, all in a renewed park-like setting along the waterfront.

For several years, the previous owners had worked on putting together a $250 million plan to redevelop Bahia Mar with a highrise featuring a five-star Waldorf-Astoria condo-hotel and a waterfront park, though nothing ever came to fruition. The plan for the “new and improved” Bahia Mar will be one to watch closely in the coming year! As exhibitors at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show for 15 years, the Gayle Borden Group is very interested to see how the property is made even better!