Michael Stern’s JDS Development Group is seeking an equity investor for its planned Dolce & Gabbana-branded supertall.
The property is on the market with Newmark’s Adam Spies, Marcella Fasulo, Hampton Beebe and Avery Klann, according to marketing materials. The site at 888 Brickell Avenue is valued at more than $100 million, according to a source. The Promote first reported that the site is “in play.” Another source said that JDS plays to stay in the deal, and is only seeking a minority equity investor.
It’s one of two major projects JDS has left in South Florida. At 888 Brickell, the firm plans a 1,049-foot-tall condo-hotel tower with 250 units on the site. It’s designed to include two lobby bars and a pool club, an indoor padel court, golf simulator, yoga and Pilates studio, a spa, theater, lounge and lap pool. Studio Sofield is the architect, with interiors designed by M2Atelier.
JDS paid $61.2 million for the half-acre development site in the spring of 2024, financing the deal with a $35.7 million loan from G4 Capital Partners.
The project has been in limbo. In May, One Sotheby’s International Realty sued an affiliate of JDS, seeking more than $500,000 in allegedly unpaid commissions, expense reimbursements, marketing fees and other costs the brokerage has incurred while selling the project. According to the suit, One Sotheby’s secured contracts for 36 units at the project. It was announced as Dolce & Gabbana’s first residential tower. Other vendors and subcontractors have filed liens against the property, records show.
Nearby in Brickell, Stern’s firm is tied up in foreclosure litigation with its lender, Cottonwood Group. The developer is working on closing a $1.1 billion rescue debt package with Jeffrey Soffer’s Fontainebleau Development, though Soffer’s firm has not yet confirmed the partnership or the deal. That financing includes about $250 million in Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) financing, a source previously told The Real Deal. The Commercial Observer recently reported that the billion-dollar loan package is set to close by the end of this year.
Last year, Stern transferred ownership of the 1250 West Avenue development site to a partnership led by David Martin’s Terra. Stern secured a major upzoning for the property in the summer of 2025, persuading the city commission to grant him an overlay zoning district to allow for a 330-foot high rise on the site. This week, Terra and its partners secured a $507 million construction loan from Adi Chugh’s Tyko Capital for the property.
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