Luxury condo tower with 350 units to rise across from Hollywood’s Diplomat Resort

When the beachfront Diplomat Beach Resort Hollywood changed hands last year, the new owners were quick to offload two pieces of land on the Intracoastal Waterway to a pair of long-time development firms.

Now, Miami-based Related Group and BH Group of Aventura  are formally unveiling what they have in mind: The Icon Beach Waterfront Residences, a 37-floor luxury condo tower with 30,000 square feet of amenities including access to an on-site marina, full-service beach club, health club, spa, and wellness center.

“The property will also feature an expansive pool deck, complete with outdoor cinema and summer kitchens, magnificent waterfront event space, and a curated collection of museum-quality pieces from the Jorge M. Pérez Contemporary Art Collection,” the companies said in a statement released Wednesday.

In short, it’s yet another potential landing spot for upper-income new arrivals to South Florida, or for current residents looking for a fresh take on luxury living not far from the beach.

For Hollywood, it’s a validation that the South Broward city is making progress in its quest to up its game as a prime destination as it continues to rehabilitate its downtown and improve its accessibility through projects such as a local commuter rail.

Related and BH acquired the two sites last year at 3660 S. Ocean Drive, on the west side of State Road A1A, from a joint venture of Trinity Real Estate Investments of Honolulu, Hawaii, and Credit Suisse Asset Management, which acquired the Diplomat Resort for a reported $835 million.

At the time, Hollywood Mayor Josh Levy said the Related-BH Group plan involved a “public plaza” along the Intracoastal Waterway and additional hotel rooms on the west side of A1A.

On Wednesday, Levy hailed the evolving project as a move that will buttress the Diplomat’s standing as one of the city’s largest employers and the county’s largest convention hotel.

“This residential component is part of the Diplomat Activity Center that was approved by the city and county some years ago, and includes the public access component along the Intracoastal that will benefit the surrounding condo neighbors, who came out and supported this new addition,” he said in a statement to the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

Condo tower to be followed by hotel

In a telephone interview Wednesday, Nick Perez, president of Related’s condo development division, said the Icon condo tower is essentially the first phase of a two-part project that will ultimately include a 500-unit condo hotel that is now in the planning stages.

“The first project which we’re speaking about now is a 350-unit residential tower,” he said. Unit owners will have access to the oceanfront beach behind the Diplomat, among other amenities.

“There are going to be a lot of synergies with Trinity and the Diplomat Resort,” he said. The hotel will serve as a kind of “extension” for the 1,000-room Diplomat, which regularly plays host to large conferences and conventions each year.

Related, he said, expects to draw both domestic and South American buyers to the condo tower.

“We’re not doing extremely large units,” he said.

Buyers will have the choice of one- to three-bedroom condominiums ranging in size from 948 to 2,500 square feet. Prices will run from $825,000 to $2.8 million. Dezer Platinum Realty, led by developer Gil Dezer and Sebastian Tettamanti, is the project’s exclusive sales and marketing partner.

“Given the the variation of one to three bedrooms with a reasonably sized condominium, we think it’s going to be a pretty good mix of primary and secondary homebuyers,” he said. “We believe we will have a healthy South American demand.”

The project will take two years to build. Sales are beginning this week.

Established in 1979, Related Group has built, rehabilitated, and managed over 100,000 condominium, rental, and commercial units. With a portfolio worth more than $40 billion, it has more than 90 projects under development.

Over the last several years, it set its sights on Broward County with a variety of rental and condo projects. They include the Icon rental tower on Las Olas Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale, a workforce housing project called Gallery at FAT Village, and other luxury projects in downtown Fort Lauderdale, Pompano Beach and Hillsboro Beach.

The company is also partnering with  the Tate brothers and Rok family of Miami to redevelop Fort Lauderdale’s Bahia Mar with a 250-room hotel and four standalone residential towers.