Charles Cohen is angling for a comeback.
After the developer’s high-profile, yearslong foreclosure saga, Cohen now plans a pair of office buildings at 1805 and 1815 Griffin Road in Dania Beach. It marks Cohen Brothers Realty’s second planned office project in South Florida.
Designed by Nichols Brosch Wurst Wolfe & Associates, the development will consist of 400,000 square feet of offices in 10-story buildings, each with a four-story garage, according to a Cohen Brothers Realty news release. The development, estimated to cost $350 million, is called Office Center of the Americas.
Floorplates will span up to 14,000 square feet, and the towers will connect with landscaped terraces and promenades.
Cooper Horowitz is working on the project’s construction financing, the release says.
The development site is south of the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. It’s also near the Design Center of the Americas showroom, which Cohen lost about two years ago in a foreclosure battle with his then-lender Fortress Investment Group, according to Commercial Observer, which first reported on the planned office project.
Fortress and Cohen had been battling it out in recent years. He recently closed the book on the legal saga, after Fortress pursued guarantees tied to defaults on a $534 million loan portfolio. Cohen satisfied an $187 million debt to Fortress last month, and his attorney filed a demand letter claiming $204 million in damages from the creditor over a foreclosure auction of four of his former properties.
As Fortress sought to collect on the $187 million judgment, an Italian court issued a temporary seizure last year of the Cohen family’s 220-foot megayacht.
Cohen dusted off plans this year for a 25-story, 400,000-square-foot office building at 850 South Quadrille Boulevard in downtown West Palm Beach. Cohen Brothers had originally revealed the planned project, called West Palm Point, in 2020.
Palm Beach County records show the developer started the permitting process this year.
Cohen isn’t the only one betting on spec office space in South Florida. Market watchdogs often cite Palantic Technologies’ headquarters relocation as a sign South Florida is again a magnet for out-of-staters, especially amid the blue-to-red state migration.
Yet, data shows that leasing and vacancy rates have remained relatively flat compared to 2019, the benchmark for “normal” office leasing times. While Brickell and downtown West Palm are considered the prime office submarkets, spec projects are popping up elsewhere.
This summer, Gatsby Florida landed an $118.6 million construction loan for a 200,000-square-foot office and retail development in Palm Beach Gardens.
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